petty theft

I've become increasingly challenged recently by how I should be handling
theft from my home. The week I left Denver to start to come out here I
had a garage sale where people came by at 6am to steal my stuff before I
could get up; maybe that was preparation for what I've seen out here.
There's a fair amount of it; I've had 4 pairs of shoes, socks, a cell
phone, a water purifier, bungee cords, cement, wire, sprinklers,
shovels, hoes, candles, knives, sunglasses, books, DVDs, and bananas
stolen from my place over the past few months. Most of the stuff was
gifts, or extra things, and I have tried to maintain an attitude of
'enforced generosity -- I probably should have given that stuff away
anyway' to those donations to someone's pocketbook or feet. As Gwen,
who's lived here all her life, points out, people here are very poor.
And she's right, they are. I have an abundance of things, especially in
comparison to the villagers, and most of the things that have been
stolen have not been essentials. But it can be difficult when you're
expecting a phone call to find that your cell phone has been stolen
(especially now that there is no other way of communicating here at
Mukinge with the internet and landline phone systems not working), or to
go play basketball to find your shoes have been stolen so you have to
play barefoot, or to strap something on your bike to find your bungee
cords have been stolen so you have to make 2 trips to carry the things
you needed, or to water the garden to find your sprinkler missing so you
have to water by hand. And it's frustrating when you know they won't
have the batteries to run the purifier, or the charger to recharge the
cell phone, so those things will become useless to them in about a week
as well, doing no one any profit at all. At least I can be comforted
that my shoes, or knives, or candles are probably going to good use
somewhere. So I range between annoyance to acceptance and back again,
and try to hold possessions a little bit more loosely, and try to
remember in between thefts to continue to be generous to people who come
asking for help or money.

cash flow

I find myself in relative penury this past few weeks, although I wince
even as I write that as I look at the people around who are truly in
need while I sit here writing on my laptop with my collection of DVD's
and books in the other room, a freezer full of donated coffee from
overseas, and a pile of blankets on my floor to be given away. That
being said, I've been down to about $10 of cash for about 2 weeks, which
has forced me to make some interesting sacrifices (do I really need
butter on my toast? does the scooter really need to have its chain
repaired? what can I make for Easter dinner out of some potatoes and
evaporated milk?) and also forced me to have some hard conversations
with people when they come asking for assistance, loans, etc. which is
pretty common. I tend to respond to the needs that I have laid in front
of me, which when combined with extra expense for the labor on the
tennis court and lack of transport to the capital from whence all money
flows has put me in a bind.
I'm reminded that 'blessed are the poor' (not that I'm one of the poor,
as is very clear to me here) as per Ms. Hellwig:
- the poor know they are in urgent need of redemption
- the poor know not only their dependence on God but also their
interdependence on other people
- the poor rest their security on people, not things
- the poor have no exaggerated sense of their own importance
- the poor can distinguish between luxuries and necessities
- the poor can wait, because they have acquired patience in waiting for
needs to be filled
- the fears of the poor are more realistic and less exaggerated
- to the poor, the gospel sounds like good news and not like a threat
or scolding
These things are brought home to me right now in ways that I don't
usually feel in the states.

isn't it ironic

isn't it ironic, originally uploaded by mattcotham.

Who would have thought that perhaps one of the least sporty guys in
high-school would be the driving force to construct a tennis and
basketball court in a African town? It's been a bit silly, and a bit
frustrating, and not exactly NBA or Wimbelton standards (although it's
close to a clay court -- eat your heart out, Roland Garros) but it was
finally finished this weekend and christened with a rousing game of
tennis followed by a pickup game of H-O-R-S-E. I'm hoping that it
brings people together and provides some extra life to the community
here. It was really fun to see the kids shrieking in pleasure and
chasing tennis balls around the grass.

Lenten updates

Hey there from Kaonde-land!

It's been a good couple of months for us here at Mukinge, made possible by the fruition of some of the plans that we put together at the beginning of the last year.  Since the last time I wrote back around Christmas time, we've begun construction on the new nursing dormitory, rehabilitation of the administration block, repair of two of the staff houses, construction of a garage for our hospital vehicles, and building of the new HIV counseling center.  At the same time, the weather has caused some problems as we've had issues with lightning resulting in the burnout of our phone system, intermittent power surges, the downfall of our internet system, so we've been back to communicating by written notes carried by hand around the hospital.  It feels pretty good to not be at the mercy of the phone sometimes while on call, I must admit, despite the inefficiency of the current system.  As I remind myself on a daily basis, however, efficiency is not the goal here, but rather the relationships that you cultivate.

We're also in a transition period for staffing as two of our docs have left.  We have been lucky to enjoy the presence of a Canadian surgeon to help ease the transition and the hospital hasn't been too busy recently, so we've been managing well.  We are still facing some shortages at the end of the year when my term finishes at the hospital, especially in regards to surgical coverage and nursing supervisors/teachers.  If you know people interested in coming, let us know!

Mostly, though, I feel grateful for the progress that we've been able to achieve over the past year.  We've bought 7 oxygen concentrators for the hospital, upgraded our maternity care with ultrasounds and fetal monitors, increased our available staff housing by a total of 10 units, began much needed rehabs of different parts of the hospital, and so forth.  You have been generous to help the work go forward here, not to mention the many care packages, encouraging emails, prayers, and postcards I have received over the year.  We are continuing to look forward to exciting projects in the next few months, especially with a nutrition project that is currently in the planning stages to increase our community presence, provide much needed seed to local farmers to grow protein-rich foods like beans and peanuts, and provide education to the area.  I am also trying to raise enough funds to purchase a much needed anesthesia machine which costs around $28,000.  Seems like a big goal, but we'll see what we can do.  We've managed maybe a third of the cost so far!

Despite the comings and goings of people here on the station (mostly goings), I continue to try to strengthen my friendships with my Zambian colleagues, even despite some cultural issues.  We had a good cultural awareness seminar this past weekend which was pretty amusing as I continued to see in black and white how far away I am in my cultural expectations from Zambian culture.  I think across 12 of 13 different cultural attitudes that we quizzed ourselves on, I and the typical Zambian were exactly on opposite ends of the spectrum.  It actually amazes me that I am able to get any work done at all without immense frustrations on both sides, and it's shown me how much I am able to adjust despite ingrained cultural ideas.  It also makes you realize how much unspoken grace you are being shown by the people who work with that you are probably unconsciously offending right and left.  I had the opportunity to work at a nearby mission hospital in January and came away with a profound sense of gratitude for the more graceful way that we have dealt with those cross-cultural issues here at Mukinge over the years.

Thanks to you all.  If I can give any more details on work or things at the hospital, let me know.  We've recently been in the process of updating our website, so you might google 'Mukinge' and see what you get these days!  Don't forget to check the blog at www.mattcotham.blogspot.com. 

Best to you all,
Matt

the smell of progress

I'm surrounded by the smell of progress these days, but progress in
Africa isn't such a great smell all the time. One of my aromatherapy
candles quit quickly and the other was stolen from my coffee table,
leaving behind the tangy ammoniac smell of partially cured goat hide on
my new stool mixed with the turpentine of the varnish on the door which
I commissioned to serve as a basketball backboard. I'm inordinately
proud of this altered dwarf-sized door (short and fat) which may
represent the first major work I have ever knowingly ordered from
anyone, but the smell of varnish is particularly overpowering,
especially when I'm laying on my concrete floor already partially
overcome by the paint fumes of the Brilliant Green for the tennis court
that shredded 6 pairs of gloves and made my hands look like the
Incredible Hulk. I've been trying to scrub off this green hue with my
recent purchase of soap from the BOMA (the grocery store burned down
last month, remember, so everything's local purchases these days) which
is colored black and smells like cough drops. There's little more
disheartening than trying to scrub off green paint with black lather,
which leaves behind a disgusting black soap ring around the bathtub and
a smell of pharmacies without much improvement in the green cracks of my
knuckles or fingernails. But progress is progress, the dead-goat smell
is fading, and the tennis court is (mostly) rain-proof and ready for the
re-inaugural match next weekend.