Monday/Tuesday Update from Kristen - Trauma Program

Yesterday we started the second two-week session of our Trauma Program. We're working in Kitwe, about a half-hour from Mufulira, in the heart of the copper belt. Kitwe, in the local language, literally means "head," and is named as such because it is nearly the largest city in Zambia, second only to Lusaka. It is a relatively wealthy area due to the copper-mining industry. About 40 km from Kitwe is a copper mine that claims to be the largest open-pit mine in the world - think Grand Canyon without the pretty sunrises. Every morning we'll be working with the Stop The Spread team that was formed last year. It consists of four women and three men. They have been working with Wiseman (a local pastor) and a teacher at Chabote High School to keep a STS club running throughout the school year. Tannen, Jeremy, Carol (she's joining us this session) and I will split up the women and men on the team and do training with each group separately. Because of gender issues, we thought it best to have Jeremy train the men and Tannen, Carol, and I train the women. Today will be day one of training for them in this format. In the afternoon, we'll all head over to Chabote High School and start our program there. We'll be there from 1300 hours to about 1430. This is, of course, all subject to change - at any moment. TIA.

The team as a whole seems to be doing well, we're excited to have some new faces in the house - Jami, Megan, Abbie, and George (pardon if I butchered the spellings). Dan is especially excited to have some additional testosterone around to combat the estrogen ocean. And I have a friend visiting, Annie, who has been serving in the peace corp for the last year in the southern province. She lives in a village - mud hut, no running water or electricity - so there has been a lot to learn from her time here as well.

Oh, and one last event of note: thanks to the skills of Dr. T, we now have a brand-new Geyzer! (Anyone not familiar with the situation - the Geyzer is a British term for water heater.) It is now possible to take a shower all by yourself...meaning no one has to stand by to turn the hot water on and off. The house will be much quieter. And we don't have to worry about the thing exploding, which is also a plus.

Well, we're off to start another day...

Kristen