Giving Thanks…

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(Maletsunye Falls)

Looks like another six months has come and gone, so a blog update is long overdue. And since I literally travel non-stop for work, I have much to say. But before delving into work-related discussions, I’ll backtrack to last summer (or technically, our winter) to June of 2018.

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(Gorgeous scenery)

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(Gearing up for horseback riding)

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(Semonkong – Throwback to the Wild Wild West)

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Darren and our two dear friends, Maria and Alla, decided to meet me on one of my work trips to celebrate Darren’s birthday in Semonkong, a small town in central Lesotho. In Sesotho, the local language, Semonkong literally means ‘Place of Smoke’, a reference to the huge 200m Maletsunye Falls located near the town.

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(Man and his horse)

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(Love the Basotho hat)

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Lesotho’s beauty is difficult to describe. It’s known as the Mountain Kingdom for a reason, as the entire country sits atop a high plateau. And there’s something extra special about Semonkong – it feels like a throw-back to the Wild Wild West as everyone travels on horseback. So it was only fitting that we arranged a horseback riding adventure to the nearby Maletsunye Falls.

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(Amy & Darren)

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(The girls)

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(Riding into town)

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(beautiful trails)

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We started off our adventure by riding into town to pick up a few things for our trip. Unfortunately, what we didn’t realize at the time was that this detour took us away from the well-beaten path to the falls and led us directly up a steep, rocky cliff. And poor Maria, this was her first time horseback riding, and let’s just say it wasn’t a pleasant introduction. The horses struggled to get up the mountain! They couldn’t get their footing along the sheer surfaces of the rocks, and it was stressful watching them slip and trip over their feet. We eventually had to jump off and lead them up and over the mountain pass. Definitely not for the novice rider…but after a few shed tears (Maria was concerned for the horses) and some steep climbs, we worked our way to the majestic views of Maletsunye! Well worth the blood, sweat and tears!

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(Blanket Tour with Esther)

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(Spitfire Basotho Blanket)

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(A 3-hour tour…)

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(And one more of Esther…)

Another highlight from our trip to Lesotho was walking to the home of one of the lodge’s employees, Esther, who offers a private blanket tour. We set our expectations quite low as we were primarily interested in supporting her business venture – but wow, we were blown away!

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(Hiking in the valley)

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(Rudy!!!)

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(Hiking)

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(Amy)

The history of the Basotho traditional blankets is fascinating and can be traced back to European traders and missionaries as far back as the 1800s. According to legends, King Moshoeshoe I was presented with a blanket by a British man in 1860 who was so impressed by the cloth that he wore it in preference to the traditional leopard skin kaross. Soon these blankets gained popularity throughout the Lesotho region.

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(Cheetahs)

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(Wild dogs)

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(Mongoose)

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(Rhino)

Today, the Basotho blanket is not only part of everyday life, but also plays an important role in cultural identification and status.

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(Reconnecting with Elizabeth, my housekeeper, in Malawi)

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(Hanging with the boys of Senga Bay)

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(The village chief)

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(The village chief’s wife in Aston and Richard’s Village)

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(Happiest in the village)
Across the Kingdom, a variety of blankets are worn to represent different rites of passage in society. Esther spent three hours meticulously describing the significance of the different colors, patterns and quality of the Basotho blankets. For instance, boys don a special fertility blanket known as a moholobela as they prepare for their circumcision ritual. After the ceremony when they’ve reached adulthood, they don a different blanket called the lekhokolo.

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(Gulu wamkulu)

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(Beautiful Lake Malawi)

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(mother and child)

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(Pure beauty)

I was intrigued by the gender-based themes that permeated throughout the history of the blankets, from masculine and feminine colors to designs and patterns to the appropriate direction of wearing the pin stripes. Even the way blankets are worn differs, with women pinning the blankets over their breasts and men pinning the blankets over their right shoulder.

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(Returning photos to the villages)

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(Classic look)

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(Washing dishes in the lake)

But the pattern that I found most fascinating links to WWII. The people of Lesotho (formerly Basutoland) collected money to pay for 25 Spitfire fighters for the Royal Air Force. They flew as the ‘Basutoland Squadron’ in the Battle of Britain. As such, many of the Basotho blankets are emblazoned with Spitfire planes and bombs.

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(Beautiful woman in Aston’s village)

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The blanket tour remains one of the highlights from Darren’s birthday weekend in the Mountain Kingdom.

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(Mop vender at Old Town Market in Lilongwe)

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(Distributing photos at the market)

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(I’m getting to know all the vendors in the market)

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(Beautiful mother and child)

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(My favorite market)

Work continues to keep me busy. I’ve been traveling frequently to Malawi as I’m spearheading a huge initiative to develop and implement a National Adolescent Girls and Young Women (AGYW) Strategy. Ultimately, we are working across four different line Ministries (Education, Gender, Youth and Health) to streamline and integrate a core package of services targeted towards this audience.

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(BBQ in Texas w. Family)

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(sisters)

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(Shopping for boots)

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(Bats on Congress Bridge)

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(Boat dock @ Town Lake)

We have hired two Global Health Corps Fellows who have been seconded to the Ministry of Youth to assist with implementation of the strategy. I’m serving as a mentor to the Fellows as well as working across sectors to garner support for the myriad of factors that need to come together for this strategy to be a success.

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(Family outing to watch the bats)

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(Sami and Ben)

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(The Oasis with Kathy and Josephine)

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(Another rare family photo)

On one of my return trips I reconnected with my housekeeper, Elizabeth, who I haven’t seen since I moved away from Lilongwe more than ten years ago! She’s led a hard life. I broke down in tears when she informed me that her daughter (who also lived with us) was murdered by her boyfriend…literally beaten to death! Heartbroken by the news, it only reinforced the urgency and importance of this National AGYW Strategy in which one of the goals is to reduce gender-based violence.

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(The girls)

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(My beautiful nieces, Maia and Jazzy)

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(Sami, Maia and Ben)

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(Merryland and Koshieland)

When in Malawi, I also make it a point to return to the two villages in Senga Bay where I have had an on-going history for the past decade. I always bring gifts for the village chiefs – usually cooking oil, sugar, tea, milk, bread, salt, biltong, laundry detergent, toothpaste, soap and other treats. And I do my best to bring back photos to the community. I can’t even begin to describe how meaningful it is for them to have pictures of themselves and their family.

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(Happy Hour)

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(Sisterly love)

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(Greyson!!!!)

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(Matt, Brandy, Lily and Henry)

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(Photo bombed while walking around town lake)

Sadly, I printed several pictures of children who had died since my last visit. Congo, my friend, didn’t know if the parents would want to receive the photos or if the memory would be too painful. I don’t know what he decided, but it broke my heart nonetheless. What we take for granted each and every day is mind-boggling. Just a reminder to be a bit more thankful on this Thanksgiving.

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(Yellow-billed Stork)

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(Korybuster)

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(Lilac-breasted Roller)

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(Goliath Herron)

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(Oxpeckers)

Immediately upon my return from Malawi, I boarded a plane to the states for an impromptu visit with the family. Ultimately, Sami bought tickets from Geneva to Austin, which set wheels in motion for my mom and dad to also make plans for an Austin reunion. So it only made sense for me to jump on the bandwagon and purchase a ticket, too.

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(Elephants of Chobe)

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(hippos)

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(Giraffe)

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(Elephant River Crossing)

I’m so grateful that I could spend quality time with family! It’s the one aspect of life overseas that I often struggle with – being so far away from loved ones. Unfortunately, Darren couldn’t join on this trip as it wasn’t really planned (plus, Darren made his own solo trip back to the states to apply for his Social Security number – which can only happen in person).

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(Leopard Sighting)

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(Elephants)

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(Warthogs)

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(Leopard chilling in the tree)

We literally spent the week hanging out by the pool, eating way too much yummy goodness, and walking around Town Lake.

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(Cape Buffalo)

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(Elephant Close-up)

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(One of my favorite photos – elephant tusk)

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(Perfect timing – Bush back water crossing)

We are returning to Austin in January to celebrate our 50th birthday…so am hoping to spend more quality time with friends at that time! Mark your calendars now for the afternoon of January 5th. We will hold a braai at David’s place during the day from 12pm – 4pm.

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(Lions in Chobe)

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(Sunrise – taken from my tent)

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(More elephants)

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(Gorgeous all around)

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(Another hippo)

And seeing that my life is one constant whirlwind, as soon as I returned from the states I hopped on a plane and flew to Kasane, Botswana for two weeks of Data Quality Assessments. Ultimately, we worked with the Ministry of Health to verify the total number of patients currently on antiretroviral therapy (ART).

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(A quick trip to Zanzibar for a wedding)

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(The colors of the ocean)

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(Gorgeous beaches of Nungwi)

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(Darren and Amy @ Kiwengwa Beach)

We are trying to reach HIV epidemic control (90-90-90), meaning 90% of people living with HIV know their states, 90% of those that know their status are on ART, and 90% of those on ART are virally suppressed.

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(Stone Town – I think they’re flipping me off)

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(Stone Town)

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(Ice Cream)

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(Doors of Stone Town)

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(Beaded jewelry of the Masai)

Due to poor data quality, we don’t have a good handle on the second 90, the number of patients on ART. As such, we needed to verify the number of patients that are alive and on ART, those that have stopped treatment or defaulted, and those that have sadly died.

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(Nungwi)

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(Boats of Nungwi)

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(Our hotel in Nungwi)

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(The Pier in Kiwengwa)

We went through every single medical record in the hospitals and clinics, with some sites having more than 10,000 patient files. A huge undertaking! Fortunately, I lucked out by being on the Kasane team, which is a hop, skip and a jump away from the most world renown game reserve, Chobe!

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(Kiwengwa beach cleanup)

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(Drinks on the beach)

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(Doors of Zanzibar)

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(Fishing)

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(Darren on the beach)

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(Fashion Model)

I took advantage of the weekends and went on several game drives, even staying in a tented bush camp.The wildlife in Chobe is unlike anything I’ve ever seen. The sheer volume of wildlife is staggering, with enormous herds of elephants, giraffe, and cape buffalo. Plus, the birds! I kept channeling Merryland each day as I spotted Lilac Breasted Rollers, Fisheagles, Kingfishers and Yellow-billed Storks, to name just a few.

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(Amy & Darren at Marion and Johan’s wedding)

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(Celebrating with the bride and groom)

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(Wedding Party)

Chobe is truly an amazing destination for families (if anyone is looking for a holiday). Chobe borders Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Namibia! And it’s an hour away from Victoria Falls…so lots to see and do!

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(Amy & Darren)

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(Back to Soweto with friends)

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(Sunshine)

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(My favorite tree, the Baobab)

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(Lizard)

Will keep this blog relatively short as I want to make sure that I send this out before Thanksgiving. On the next blog I’ll highlight a similar DQA process that we underwent in Lesotho, more adventures in Malawi, and our annual Christmas celebration at Karabo Asara Orphan Center.

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(Beautiful smiles)

Wishing everyone a Happy Thanksgiving. Enjoy spending time with friends and family.

Sending so much love,
Amy

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