Day 344

Today I lost my US sim card for my cell phone. Well actually today I realized that somewhere in the last year I have misplaced my US sim card. For the most part of the year I was really good about putting this tiny little chip in my eyeglass case or in an altoid box or in any random box. Now that I have cleaned my room and packed my clothes I can not find it anywhere. I believe that the last time I saw it I put it in the altoids box which I threw in the trash on Monday. So today at lunch I went home, put on some gloves and dug through the maggot infested trash to no avail. Naomi our housekeeper and Asarimi our guard were laughing at me when I would yell out, ‘this is SO gross!’ It is definitely time to leave when I am now digging through the trash.

So basically I was all excited to call all of you when I get home, but I can not because I do not have any phone numbers. Please if you find the time send me an email with your phone number so I can put it into my new sim card when I get one.
Four days and counting!

Day 351

Eight days and counting! This week I have started the hand-over with Sharifa (from Wisconsin) and it is going well. I was happy to hear her say she was a bit over-whelmed solely for the reason that it reassured me that when I was overwhelmed last year it was completely normal.

We have opened Nketa clinic a bit over two weeks ago and put 103 patients on treatment so far. It is a fast start to the clinic, and will not continue in that manner but it was nice to end the mission on a high note like that.

This Saturday is a party at the house to say good-bye to myself along with our logistician, Brice who is leaving on the 5th of December. We invited the entire office and a few friends, which will be nice. Last year at this time it was my going to Africa party in DC when I actually started this blog……strange how quickly time goes by.

I have still not heard anything from the Clinton Foundation and maybe I should actually apply for more than just one job. You know, increase the odds of actually getting a job. I never did like that adage ‘don´t put all your eggs in one basket.’ Who would carry more than one basket of eggs anyway?!

I am practicing my Spanish and so far I have learned to ask for the luggage locker (at the airport), ask how much the luggage locker is, tell someone I am really hungry, and say my name is Nancy Dunphy. Extremely useful for next week in my opinion, however, maybe not so useful for trying to communicate in Spanish at any other moment in time.
Missing you all!

Day 341

So in three weeks I will be back in the states, at home. Hopefully I will be eating some pizza and having a Miller lite. Oh the simple pleasures in life!

These past few weeks have been action packed and heart warming! Last weekend I went back up to Victoria Falls to raft the Zambezi again. It was amazing! At one point our guide told us that the next rapid was the largest commercial drop in the world. When I asked him what that meant he told me that it was the largest drop in a rapid that is rafted for tourism. Yeah, I got the full brunt of that drop when I was holding on to the life line around the boat and felt myself suspended from it than just gave in to the Zambezi and got caught up in the rapid only coming to the surface a few feet from the boat, but it felt like I should have been much farther away, like in the Atlantic . Luckily, or not so lucky I should say, I was the only one in our boat that feel out on that rapid.

On the heart warming side we finally opended the HIV clinic! This week we put 51 patients on ARV treatment. One lady came into the consultation and said, 'I am so happy that you are finally open, and I am not dead yet!' I had to laugh because if I really thought about her comment I might cry. Everyone was so happy to be there, including me! My replacement comes on Sunday and I start my two week hand-over on Monday. Yikes, I do not even know what to say about leaving. I do know that I am thrilled about coming home though.
See you all soon!!!
Nancy

Day 333

Today was a wonderful day! First of all the city clinic finally opened! I was not there for the first day because I was in Tsholotsho doing a few presentations for their HIV training week, but the doctor I work with was and she said it went pretty smoothly.
So after months of waiting we are finally going to be able to provide more people with the treatment that they so desperately need.
Secondly, I got an email from my brother saying how he forwarded my resume to the Clinton Foundation and by doing that fast-forwarded the application process and I will absolutely get an interview. This has been a good day.
On Wednesday I received the confirmation of my flight back states-side and I will arrive on the 1st of December into Newark. I can not believe that I only have about 25 days left in Zimbabwe. I spend about 3 days in Barcelona doing debriefings and then make the last leg of the trip on the 1st.

It is a good day, now only if I could sleep. The heat (which is over 90, and still hot at night) lately has been making it unbearable. See you all soon!!
Nancy