Tonight I duct taped a square-shaped American flag to my bedroom wall. I miss my country! I miss not having five layers of dead bolts on my doors, downloading PDFs in less than an hour, having seasons, being able to swim in bodies of water without fear of crocs tearing off my limbs or dying a slow death from schistosomiasis, walking down the street with my laptop without fear of it being grabbed, seeing patients getting great care in the hospital, my friends, girls nights, and the New England outdoors.
Don't get me wrong. I'm still having a great time exploring Botswana and meeting new people, and I can't wait for my mom to come visit in January for Mom-fari, but I think the different pace here, referred to as "Botswana Time," is staring to get a bit on my Type A(minus) American nerves.
I suppose it's time I talk about my research project. My pneumonia severity score project is part of a larger "Botswana Pneumonia Guideline" that the Ministry of Health asked UPenn to draft for the country. To begin actually collecting data, we need ethics approval from three institutions: The Botswana Ministry of Health, Princess Marina Hospital, and UPenn. About a month ago, we got Princess Marina approval, and UPenn has told us they will follow quickly after both Bots approvals.
So, here we are still waiting on the Ministry of Health. If you're scratching your head, you're right--they did ask UPenn to draft the protocol in the first place. They have been sitting on it for five months now, which means that my mentors actually did a stellar job getting everything together ahead of my arrival, but no one could have foreseen that the Ministry would take this long. Our UPenn staff keeps having meetings with Ministry officials in which they report, "We are understaffed, and that person who reviewed your protocol is on vacation...out of the office...not answering his/her phone...unheard from." Last week I was told that the committee is having a meeting on Tuesday to plan when to have a meeting to discuss the protocol.
I keep having to remind myself that I knew things would be extremely slow, and this cultural experience is what I signed up for. All in all, while "piloting" the study, I've been doing a pretty good job finding other ways to keep busy. I bought a guitar and have been playing more than ever, I run everyday with friends, I volunteer at an orphanage, I started teaching swimming lessons, and I've been cooking more than ever. It's just so different!
So, after that rant, rest assured that I am happy and enjoying life in Botswana, and I'm just saying that sometimes it can be a little frustrating...
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