The Kingdom of Swaziland

The Kingdom of Swaziland
Dreams Fulfilled

Why am I in Swaziland?

HIV is a global pandemic and claimed the lives of millions of people all over the world. One of my hopes is that there will be a cure for HIV during or after my lifetime. Not only do I believe in physical healing of HIV, but I also believe in spiritual healing by faith in God. God has called me to act on this issue and my work here in Swaziland is being done to bring Him glory. By the grace of God, I was accepted into the Minority Health International Research Training (MHIRT) program offered by the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) School of Public Health. Due to my passion for HIV research and prevention, I was selected to conduct research on the barriers to antiretroviral therapy (ART) initiation among HIV-positive children 2 to 18 months of age in Swaziland. With the relatively high rate of HIV among pregnant women and the relatively low rate of children initiated on ART in comparison to adults in Swaziland, this a major public health concern within the country.

What am I doing?

Just to get an idea of what I will be blogging about, I will be implementing a research project on the barriers to antiretroviral therapy (ART) initiation among HIV-positive children 2-18 months of age in Swaziland. I will be carrying out the study at several different health facilities in Swaziland with my research partner and fellow MHIRT trainee, Chantal Harris, who also attends the University of Florida. Our main job is to carry out the study by following the research protocol with the assistance of data clerks, the primary investigators, public health stakeholders, and doctors associated with the project and ART initiation among children. The research project is also funded by UNICEF, which allowed us to hire data clerks to assist with data extraction, survey administration, and the facilitation of focus groups for the study.

Who do I work with?

My fellow MHIRT trainee, Chantal Harris, will be working on the research project with me all summer. She also will be living with me in Dr. Peter Preko's guest house in Mbabane, Swaziland. Dr. Preko is our host and mentor as well as one of the primary investigators of the research study. Dr. Pauline Jolly is also a primary investigator for this research project and also the director of the MHIRT program at UAB. Mrs. Nobuhle Mthethwa is another one of the primary investigators and is the National Paediatric ART Officer of the Swaziland National AIDS Program (SNAP) of the Ministry Of Health (MoH). We have four data clerks helping us to carry out the study, which are two Swazi women, Nelisiwe (Neli for short) and Nozipho, and two Swazi men, Ndumiso and Sibusiso. Two other fellow MHIRT trainees, Jessica and ShaCoria, are also here in Swaziland for 12 weeks, but they are implementing a different project (association between HIV status and cervical cancer among women) and live with a host family in Manzini, Swaziland. The UNICEF budget for the research budget also rendered us the opportunity to hire two drivers from Affordable Car Hire (Smangaliso and Sipho) to take us from clinic to clinic.

Sunday, June 1, 2014

Day 1: My New Home

Dr. Preko's home
During my stay in Swaziland, I will be staying with a host family which happens to be the family of our foreign mentor for my research project, Dr. Peter Preko. He is away in Mozambique right now and will return this upcoming Friday. In the meantime, Dr. Preko's wife Lena is our primary host until he returns. She picked up up from the Matsapha Airport in Manzini and took us to her home.

                                                                        Top: View from the front of the house                                                                                                                                         Bottom: View from the back of the house                                          



So for the next three months, I will be staying in the guest house of my foreign mentor, Dr. Peter Preko. His house is absolutely beautiful! And it's right in the valley! Lena prepared a  mean for Chantal, Dr. Pauline Jolly (the MHIRT director), and I, which was beef and rice. I noticed that the fruit juice here in Swaziland is thicker and more natural than the juices in the U.S. The food was really good! Lena also gave us pound cake with our meal.

 
First African meal prepared by host mother, Lena


The Guest House



Chantal and I will be staying in Dr. Preko's guest house, which is right behind the main house. Above, you will see the entrance of the guest house followed by the pictures of the inside of the house. It's pretty small, but I absolutely love it! It's very cute and cozy. I have the top bunk and Chantal has the bottom!

Our host family furnished the entire guest house bought us a television, home appliances, towels, linens, etc. Leena has been extremely according. There is Wi-Fi within the main house, but the signal is really weak within the guesthouse so we have to sit in the dinning room inside the house or go in front of the house to get a strong sign. We asked Lena about how we would go about washing our clothes, and she told us that a maid comes to clean the house, including our guest house, and she will be washing our clothes. I was pretty surprised by that. Although I prefer washing my own clothes, it feels pretty good to come home with clothes already washed and dried. I believe they have a washing machine, but the clothes are air-dried outside and I believe our undergarments are dried inside the house. 
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