The Past 2 Months

Alright, so I know its been almost 2 months since I last blogged but in my defense it was the holidays and then the beginning of the year was quite hectic and I have barely had a spare moment… with an internet connection… to keep this thing updated.  So I think its best if I just dedicate this post to a semi-brief update for the last two months. 

Christmas Day on top of Table Mountain in Cape Town

Shopping at the Pan-African Market Cape Town

I spent Christmas and New Years in Cape Town with Krista, the other MVP in South Africa, and Winrose, a nurse from Kenya who works for CMMB’s Medical Male Circumcision project in KZN with Krista.  It required a 20-hour bus ride from King Williams Town, but it was totally worth it!  We had a BLAST!  Cape Town is easily one of the most beautiful places I have ever been and we spent our vacation touring around, laying on the beach, and of course, eating lots and lots of seafood.  Highlights included a Christmas Day on top of Table Mountain, Hiking out to Cape Point, seeing penguins, daily time on the beach, and a few days hanging out in Stellenbosch (wine country).  I think the general consensus by the end of the trip was if we had a choice, we would never leave Cape Town. 

South Africa Strategic Planning Meeting Group Shot

So all in all, the holidays were great but I was quickly snapped back into reality when the office opened in January.  The TB project that started in August had really been gaining momentum in December, and when we came back from the holidays we found that our fieldworkers had been working over the break and were ready and raring to go.  The beginning of the year also brought lots of planning for the projects and several meetings with all our partners and the communities we work with to prepare for the needs of the coming year.

TB Nurses ready for testing at Walter Sisulu University

The end of January brought a last minute invite to Pretoria for CMMB South Africa’s yearly strategic planning meeting.  The meeting consisted of the staff from the South African head office, project managers, MVPs, staff from the US offices, and regional directors as well.  The point of this week long meeting was for everyone to come together and make a plan as to what issues need to be addressed in the projects and how will CMMB SA as an organization move forward and develop during the course of the year.  The week was extremely productive and I personally really enjoyed the opportunity to collaborate with staff from different countries, specialties, and projects. 

Training on the new PIMA machine to do CD4 counts in the office 

Despite the fatigue following a week of all-day meeting everyone seemed to leave Pretoria ready and raring to advance our projects throughout the coming year.   As a result, February was insanely busy.  Per usual, the month was filled with community events and trainings.  I am really happy to report that our fieldworkers and nurses have really gone above and beyond this month, providing services to more clients than any other month the project has been running.  Of course reaching and exceeding our targets is impressive, the truly exciting fact is that those “targets” are people who are directly benefiting from the services that CMMB is providing.