Arrived in Zimbabwe on Wed in the capital city of Harare and met the main coordination team for the MSF (Médecins Sans Frontières) projects in the whole country. I stayed with David from Spain and his 2 kids.
After a couple days of briefing at the headquarters, took a nice bus (think greyhound) 6hrs across country to 2nd biggest city where I'll be for the year of projects- Bulawayo.
My team consists of 65 people. Only 4 of us are international, the other 61 are Zimbabwean. Coordinator, Ashay from India is here with his wife, Jesse and adorable 6mo old boy, Adi. Sarah is the pediatrician from Ireland that is handing off the project to me. She's around for the next few months doing research on the amazingly cohort of 3,500 children with HIV (confirmed/suspected).
We are very fortunate as we live in a safe compound with a guard that is rented from a successful farmer in the area for a good deal. My bedroom overlooks our large yard and gets lots of sunshine as well as sounds of tropical birds waking me at 5am every now and then. Wakes me up and reminds me I'm in Africa.
My official orientation begins Monday morning. The weather has been amazing (75-80) and sunny with a few rains here and there and lush greenery with kind people everywhere. This is going to be a tough and challenging project in an amazing setting.
for more on the City of Bulawayo
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