Day 59: Focus Group at Baylor Headquarters

Meal for focus group

Today is the first focus group for the controls of our study at Baylor Headquarters in Mbabane. Chantal and I bought doughnuts for the participants to have at the beginning of the focus grip and then we picked up the food from Moonlite Restaurant, which is a packed meal that we gave them at the end of the focus group session. The focus group was a good turn out! Eight participants showed up, which was the minimum number of participants expected to attend each focus group.  One of the data clerks, Neli, led the focus group today since she speaks Siswati. Another data clerk, Ndumiso took notes during the focus group discussion. The participants also seemed to have a lot of questions about pediatric ARV treatment so Dr. Sarah and on of the expert clients came into the meeting during the debriefing period at the end to answer their questions. I also ordered food from Moonlite again for tomorrow’s focus group. 

Yesterday, Chantal went back Nhlangano to finish data collection with her data clerks, Neli and Nozipho, and my data clerks resumed data collection at RFM Baylor. I went to get my official work permit at the Immigration office (since if you are in Swaziland for more than 30 days, you need a VISA or a work permit if working in the country). Then, I went to Moonlite Restaurant to order food for the focus group (the manger wasn’t there so I had to go back). Ndumiso recommended this restaruant since they sell cheap food. Then I went to RFM Baylor to assist the data clerks with data collection, and then went back to Mbabane to confirm the order  of the meals at Moonlite. It cost only 20 Rand (2 US dollars) each for a chicken meal (see top photo), 25 ($2.50) Rand for beef, 30 Rand ($3) for a pescetarian meal, and 8 Rand (80 cents) each for a drink. Finally, I went back to RFM Baylor and the data clerks finished confirming participants for focus group (3 did not pick up) and Ndumiso came back to Baylor with me to prepare for today's focus group at Baylor and Sibusiso stayed behind to finish data collection.