ups and downs

This week in Pemba has been one of ups and downs. Our first evening here, we found a great house to live in--AC, hot water, 3 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms, tile floors, firm matresses. But then the hot water heater doesn't work; water pressure it terrible; giant spiders and other undesirables have made their way in; the noise of traffic is loud; the call to prayer is from right next door (very loud!) --not at 5am like we're used to--but at 4am. But all in all, a good house.

The first morning here, last Friday, I found my way up to the public health research lab through which I was to do my internship. But no, they didn't approve our proposal, and it was quashed the minute I came in. Bureacracy and internal politics, I don't know. A semester of prep work down the drain. Things were up in the air over the weekend and as my colleague from Cornell tried to sort things out at the lab. We spent all of Tuesday picking up the pieces and developing a new plan of action, a new research proposal, new interview giudes, etc. Even with all that done, it was still pretty shaky about whether or not the new project would get approved. So I remained in "What the heck is going to happen?" mode for a few more days.

While in that uncertainty, Juma gave us a scare with what turned out to be just a sensitive reaction to mosquito bites. Each one swelled considerably, developed blisters, then burst. So it's a matter of keeping them clean and covered with neosporin and bandaids. But for a morning, we were a bit paranoid.

Finally on Friday, my colleage, also named Sera (pronounced the same as Sarah), gave me the good news that our project is 90% sure to get the go-ahead. Phphphaaa--shshsew. So now we're studying local ideas about severe anemia during pregnancy. Related to the original project, but not really.

In other news, we've hired someone to cook lunch for us, and through her I have so far met a traditional midwife, and a nurse midwife who gave me a tour of the local hospital. I also randomly met a man whose responsibility is to make all the health statistics for Zanzibar and Pemba available online. My new best friend. And Justin randomly met a fellow PhD in African history (she's a professor now), whose teenage sister became Juma's best friend for a week. All in all, a good week.