June 28, 2005
One whole week has passed since I returned from Africa. Although I forgot to pick up my malaria medication before I left, I got a prescription in Africa and managed to make it back without contracting Malaria or any of the other diseases one is susceptible to when visiting developing countries.
Besides a lot of sleepless nights, lost luggage, slow or no Internet connections and less than desirable living conditions for me and my traveling partner, John, a film and TV student from Columbia College, we made it back without a hitch. We both lost at least 10 pounds because we had to be careful about what we ate and drank, and because we never had time to slow down.
What a trip! I must admit that I have never experienced so many diverse emotions -- from pure elation to the deepest depression. I have been told by a few therapist friends that I am experiencing something similar to postpartum depression, but a somewhat milder version than what women experience after the birth of a child. The "JOURNEY TO AFRICA" is something I've wanted to experience for years. And it was overwhelming!
I must apologize for taking so long to write my final blog. I returned on Saturday evening, rested on Sunday and then went straight to work, anchoring every evening newscast for an entire week. I'm sorry I had no energy or time to devote to writing a proper final blog to all the viewers who kept track of our journey through our video and slideshows on the NBC5.com and MSNBC.com websites. We made news all over the world, as our web blogs appeared on many news Web sites!
I must thank all the people who made it happen, including the webmasters at NBC 5 and MSNBC. Thank you to Zach Christman, Marcus Riley, Frank Whittaker, Camille Edwards, Petra Cahill and many others at NBC. And a big thanks to Matt Bedella and all the folks at Abbott, the Chicago-area based healthcare company, Dr. Mardge Cohen of Chicago, Beth Collins, Country Director for the Bill Clinton Foundation, Joe Cashion and Tammi Sunn at the Clinton Foundation, Dr. Paul Farmer from Partners In Health, and all the other people we met along the way.
Many of you have written saying you were inspired by our trip, and asked how you can help. Here are some organizations that you should check out if you want to give back:
The video and stories you can see on the Web sites are only a small part of what we saw and documented during our whirlwind trip to Africa.
We hope to have a short film/documentary of our trip available to you soon. Also, look for more stories about our trip on NBC 5 News soon.
And please, please pay special attention to the G8 Summit in Scotland during the first week of July. Africa will be a very big part of that summit. And because of our blogs, you should feel somewhat informed about what's happening on the continent.
Africa is devastated by poverty and HIV/AIDS. But there is hope and a lot of good people doing good work there to help the continent recover.
So, at the very least, for now, I'll leave you with this thought, which is one of our mottos at NBC 5; "ONE PERSON CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE." Let's all try to make a difference in our own way.
Thanks again,
Don LemonJune 14
We flew to Malawi to document the groundbreaking of Malawi's first facility dedicated to providing care and treatment for children with HIV/AIDS. The facility is funded by The Abbott Fund and will be staffed by Baylor College of Medicine. The new clinic will be constructed on the Kamuzu Central Hospital campus in Lilongwe.
According to UNAIDS, Malawi has an HIV prevalence rate of more than 14 percent, and it's estimated that almost 1 million people in Malawi are living with HIV/AIDS; 70,000 of those are children. One child in four dies before the age of 5 -- one of the highest death rates in the world.
With more than 65 percent of the population living in poverty, the country has very limited resources to fight HIV/AIDS.
While touring the older clinic, which the new clinic will partially replace, we happened upon a sad and unbelievable tragedy in the hospital's recovery unit. The children's pictures contained in this blog are victims of this tragedy.
Images: Marauding Beast Attacks Villages
According to doctors and news reports here, at least nine people were killed and 11 others were seriously injured when an unidentified wild beast terrorized three villages in a rural area near Malawi.
According to
The Nation newspaper, those killed ranged in age from 1 to 50 years old. The beast also attacked livestock and killed goats and chickens.
The animal is believed to be a rabid hyena.
According to Dr. Peter Kathyola, the director of Kamuzu Central Hospital, at least five of the victims are being treated at his facility. Kathyola also said that no adult has claimed one of the boys, and another lost his mother in the attacks. Kathyola believes all the children will survive.
Police are advising residents to sleep in groups in houses with strong doors. They have also deployed hunters in the area to find the beast.
At this writing, the animal had not been found.
June 13
A bumpy dirt road winds down into the Kibera slums, like a descent into hell.
The change from modern, thriving city to decrepitude is jarring. In seconds, you are transported to the kind of place most people in the Western world will never experience.
This is Nairobi's largest slum, where more than 1 million people live.
Images: Descent Into AIDS-Ridden Slum
The children are filthy. They play near, if not in, open sewer trenches which run like sidewalks along the sides of the roads. The adults sit and watch from wobbling, wooden shacks covered by rusty tin roofs. Some of those shacks are homes. Others are storefronts with hand painted signs.
One of the many mom and pop butcher shops here specializes in cow intestines. The intestines hang from the store window. For paying customers, the butcher slices pieces of intestine right from the window display! He weighs the pieces on a scale as flies swarm onto them before he can put them in plastic wrap. It is no wonder diseases like dengue fever, malaria and tuberculosis thrive here. But they are not Kibera's biggest disease problem, HIV/AIDS is.
Directly across from the butcher shop is the Makina Community Development Project. This medical clinic specializes in HIV/AIDS treatment. When we visited, 50-year-old Peres was being treated. Peres is the mother of seven children, all of whom somehow escaped HIV. She speaks in a mix of Swahili and broken English.
"Luckily, I haven't been too sick not to take care of them (her children)," Peres said.
Peres said she got HIV from her husband, who died from the disease a few years ago.
"Sometimes, I feel good. Sometimes, I feel bad," she said.
But she admits the atiretroviral drugs she recently started taking have helped.
Peres is one of the lucky ones. The Makina Clinic found a non-governmental organization, or NGO, to supply her with expensive antiretrovirals. Most people here cannot afford the life-sustaining drugs or don't have access to them at local clinics.
A suburban Nairobi clinic called the Thika Nursing Center is one such clinic. Thika relies on private donors. So far, it has not qualified for funding from international organizations, like the U.S.-based President's Emergency Fund For AIDS, called PEPFAR.
When we visited Thika, we met at least a dozen patients, like 2½-year-old Ian, who were in the last stages of AIDS. Antiretorvirals were not available to help.
"We've contacted some of the organizations to get the ARVs, but this is our problem," said Dorcas Githinji, the center's coordinator. "We can't afford to get the drugs."
Ian and his father, who is a widower because of HIV, live in the impoverished Witeithie village community near the clinic. There is no running water, no electricity and none of the modern conveniences.
According to Githinji, 70 percent of the residents are HIV positive. Githinji said most of the adults are widowed because of the disease. The majority of the children are orphaned or are being cared for by their grandparents.
"I sleep in this bed with my two granddaughters. My grandsons sleep in that bed," said Wamaitha Wa Kagura as she showed us the inside of her tiny one-room mud hut.
Both of Wa Kagura's daughters died of AIDS. The roof of her hut leaks, and the mud walls are nearing collapse. The hut is reinforced with plastic bags and twigs.
I visited Wa Kagura with several representatives from Abbott, a Chicago-area healthcare company. After seeing Wa Kagura's living conditions, the Abbott Kenya affiliate agreed to pay for the supplies and construction of a new home.
Wa Kagura's new home was built in one day by the male elders in the village and cost only $450 American. But, as kind a gesture as that was, it does not even begin to solve the monumental problems facing Wietethe and similar villiages all across Africa.
By the time we left Nairobi, 2½-year-old Ian had died. His HIV-infected father's health was deteriorating. Most of the 1 million people living in squalor in Kibera, Nairobi's largest slum, had not been tested for HIV. And Githinji at the Thika nursing clinic was contemplating how to tell a 10-year old girl that the child was HIV positive.
This story also appeared on MSNBC.comJune 9
A half hour north outside the Nairobi city limits, through rural villages lies an oasis of health care treatment for locals living with HIV and AIDS. Nazareth Hospital is a catholic mission center. Dr. Thomas Macharia has cared for patients here for three years.
"We call it one stop antiretroviral treatments," Macharia said.
In that time, the doctor says he's seen HIV treatment in the area dramatically improve, especially for the little ones in the children's ward like Christine. The 9-year old's condition was so bad, she slipped into a coma shortly after being admitted.
Macharia says newly available antiretroviral drugs made available by companies like Chicago area-based Abbott have saved Christine's life. Her health has quickly improved, and so has her appetite.
"Chips ... she wants chips and French fries," the doctor said.
We made sure Christine got the sausage and chips she wanted.
But the situation at the Thika Nursing Center and others isn't so promising. Unlike Nazareth Hospital, Thika doesn't receive international funding like America's president's emergency programs for AIDS relief, called PEPFAR.
"Our problem is how do we get drugs for this boy? We try to coordinate through organizations that can. But we cannot get the IRTs," the center's director said. "So, that's the problem we are facing."
Patients at this clinic, like most Kenyans, have limited access to health care. Entire families are wiped out by HIV. Samuel, 60, is HIV positive. His wife died of AIDS. Today, his 10-year-old daughter will learn that she, too, is HIV positive.
This is where the patients come from, neighborhoods like the impoverished Witeithie Village. In a tiny mud hut, this grandmother takes care of her four grandchildren whose mothers died of AIDS. But still, the people here somehow found a warm way to welcome their visitors from America.
June 8
We were up early on day four in Rwanda, and headed to the airport for an hour and 30 minute flight to the country of Kenya, where we traded Rwandan franks for shillings to spend during the Nairobi portion of our journey.
Nairobi, by anyone's assessment, is a big developed city. It's the capital of Kenya, and it has the same big-city problems common in other parts of the world. The most obvious is pollution.
The government addressed the auto exhaust problem only a year ago by outlawing leaded gasoline.
After fueling up with an environmentally friendlier gasoline, driver Sam drove us to a safari at Nairobi National Park; one of Kenya's oldest.
"It was declared a national park a la 1946. That was during colonial time," Sam explained.
"The park is quite small -- it's about 120 square kilometers. So, when you are here, if you are lucky, you can see everything, except you don't have the elephants," Sam continued. "It is too small to accommodate elephants."
There are people living around the park. On the other side, you can see it is the city.
It's winter here, and the grass is tall, making it harder to spot the animals on the lush, hilly, open terrain -- an odd mixture of Texas and Colorado.
Tomorrow, we head to Nazareth Hospital, just outside the Nairobi city limits -- a hospital on the forefront of fighting this country's overwhelming AIDS epidemic.
June 7
It was our last day in Rwanda, and we had a lot of ground to cover. We visited facilities and clinics supported by two of the world's most famous people -- former President Bill Clinton and the force known as Oprah.
The trip to the Rwandan countryside took two hours; some of it along dirt roads where we passed many homes made of clay and saw memorials to those lost in the 1994 genocide. Plastic bottles of water are a commodity here in which children place drinking water pumped from wells.
The countryside on which the Bill Clinton Foundation's hospital sits is breath-taking! The hospital had been closed for 10 years since the genocide. Patients wait in line here for free treatment of HIV/AIDS and malaria, among other diseases.
This is a multimillion-dollar pilot project announced in April by Clinton. His foundation, along with the partners in health organization, have modeled this after a well-known, highly successful program for treating rural Haitians. Dr. Paul Farmer created the model and is considered the top doctor in the world on HIV/AIDS treatment. He gave us a tour.
The red footprints on the walls are believed to be blood-stained and are a reminder of how Rwandans hid in the hospital's attic to escape murder during the genocide. The bullet holes are a reminder of those who didn't make it. Farmer and other country leaders say that genocide and the AIDS epidemic are a one-two blow for Rwandans.
Back in the city of Kigali, workers at the Icyuzuzu Clinic held a meeting to talk about the future of their facility, now under renovation.
They even gave us a look around at this clinic supported by Oprah's Angel Network.
We are seven hours ahead of U.S. Central time. Early tomorrow morning, we're off to Nairobi for a safari and to take a look at AIDS treatment there.
On a personal note, our deepest sympathy to Chris, one of the Clinton Foundation workers. After graciously helping us out with the tour of the hospital, Chris found out on our drive back to Kigali that his mother and another family member were killed in a horrible bus crash in the Congo. Chris is a genocide survivor and lost many family members during the genocide. Chris, our thoughts and prayers are with you!
June 6
Jet lag set in in the morning of day two in Rwanda, but we still managed to rise at 9 a.m. to meet Dr Mardge Cohen. Cohen is the Chicago physician who spent 20 some odd years working in the Cook County Hospital. However, for the past 15 months she has been going back and forth from Chicago to Kigali, Rwanda setting up HIV/AIDS facilities devoted to the treatment of women and their families.
On the drive this morning, we passed Rwandans in the city of Kigali making their way to work and school. School children in uniforms were fascinated by our cameras.
Right in the heart of downtown Kigali is Dr. Mardge Cohen's new facility called The New Clinic.
We met 55-year-old Bibiana Mukama who says she was infected with HIV by one of the men who raped her during the 1994 genocide.
AIDS took away her health. The genocide took away two of her four children. She is overwhelmed at times, but is still hopeful.
Next, Dr. Cohen took us to her other clinic located in suburban Kigali where she stores much needed supplies and food.
Clementine, who is HIV positive, was gracious enough to talk with us.
We gave some of the workers there Mardi Gras beads. They were thrilled with even our small gesture.
On the way home, we visited the Hotel Des Mille Collines, the famous hotel from the movie "Hotel Rwanda."
Tomorrow, we travel to the Rwandan countryside for a tour of the Bill Clinton Foundation's pilot facility. There we will meet Dr. Paul Farmer, who just happens to be in the country. Farmer is considered the utmost authority on AIDS in the world.
June 5
On Sunday, June 5 we arrived in the capitol city of Kigali in Rwanda at 2 p.m. It is the city featured in the movies, "Hotel Rwanda" and "Sometimes In April." Although the rainy season in this part of the continent started in April, it is clear, but extremely humid! We unpacked, made contact with Dr. Mardge Cohen, the Chicago doctor we wrote about yesterday. She was extremely helpful and will be showing us her new facility for treatment and some others in Rwanda.
Also, Beth Collins, the Country Director from the Bill Clinton Foundation dropped by our hotel to meet us. She told us that the city of Kigali was quiet because it was Sunday and because on of the biggest and most anticipated soccer (football here) matches of the year was being played at the local stadium. The game between Rwanda and Nigeria was sold out and our chances of getting in were slim. However, she set us up with a driver and we took our chances of getting in anyway. Our driver, 26-year-old Samuel, just happened to be a genocide survivor. He lost many of his family members in the killings here in 1994.
Upon arriving at the stadium, armed guards with some of the biggest automatic rifles I've ever seen, kept the throngs who did not have tickets from rushing the stadium. Somehow, my traveling partner, John Grkovich, a Columbia film student, managed to talk our way into the stadium and onto the field. The President and first lady of Rwanda were there, as well as many other Rwandan and African diplomats.
The game was extremely exciting. And for a moment we almost panicked when Rwanda scored the first goal and the crowd rushed the field. The guards and police very quickly gained order and the game continued. How exciting!
It took us nearly 45 minutes to get back to our driver and the car. The crowd was extremely fascinated by the two Americans with video cameras; especially the white guy with the bright red hair (John).
It was a 1-1 tie in the end and we captured it all in our video diary.
Today we are off to Dr. Cohen's new clinic, appropriately named The New Clinic. She is also efforting a trip to a clinic called Icyuzuzu, pronounced e-cheeee-zoo-zoo. Icyuzuzu is funded by Oprah's Angel Network.
Wish us luck!!
June 3, 2005
I was told by the nurse at Northwestern University Medical Center's Travel Clinic that I'm to take one Malaria prevention pill each day while in Africa. But having remembered every detail, including insect repellent with a high deet content, I neglected to retrieve my prescription from the Walgreens at Michigan and Chicago avenues. I am hopeful, however, that Dr. Mardge Cohen, who I'll be meeting in Rwanda, will graciously help with a new prescription.
You may have read about Dr. Cohen recently in the
Chicago Tribune's Sunday Magazine (May 22, 2005). After all, she is featured on the cover, arms akimbo, standing in the middle of a dirt road, surrounded by shacks and young, African children looking on. Cohen is a physician from Chicago, and has now devoted her life to the battle against HIV/AIDS in Rwanda. She's visited Rwanda 5 times in less than a year. She travels back and forth from Chicago to Kigali, setting up a new HIV clinic and research project devoted to women in Rwanda. Her story is fascinating. I can't wait to meet this woman!
The good doctor knows what many who make the 20-plus hour trek from the U.S. know -- the continent of Africa is devastated by HIV/AIDS. As reported by
The New York Times on June 3, the AIDS epidemic is most severe in Africa, especially in southern Africa.
According to a newly released report from The United Nations, 42.6 percent of pregnant women in Swaziland tested positive for HIV in 2004. Many of those women's babies are born with HIV. And, many of those babies, unlike babies born HIV positive in the United States, end up dying because they don't have access to drugs that can eradicate the disease in newborns and infants.
So while AIDS accounts for 3 percent of deaths in children under 5 years old worldwide, in hard hit places like Africa, that number rises to 50 percent. The disease has orphaned 12 million children in Africa and 3 million in other parts of the world. That is why I'm making the journey to Africa.
Friday, along with the help of Rosemary in the NBC5 mailroom and my new summer intern, Ryan, we packed into boxes a dozen deflated soccer balls, two air pumps, four dozen tennis balls, 500 pair of socks (courtesy of Niketown on Michigan Avenue), 1000 strings of Mardi Gras beads (courtesy of Steve at Heaven On Seven on Rush Street), 300 NBC5 pencils and foam frisbees and other small toys and trinkets to hand to the children we meet on our journey.
Representatives from Abbott Labs, the Illinois based pharmaceutical company, will be our guides throughout much of our trip. Their program, called "Step Forward For Children," provides much-needed drugs, supplies and medical assistance to children and families affected by HIV/AIDS. You can learn more about what they do at
www.stepforwardforchildren.org.
Our first stop is Rwanda, in hopes of meeting Dr. Mardge Cohen and some of the people she cares for. From there we move on to Nairobi, Kenya, one of East Africa's biggest cities. By the way, the East Africa region is also called The Great Lakes Region. We will get to admire the view of Lake Malawi instead of Lake Michigan.
Poverty in parts of Nairobi is devastating. The AIDS epidemic is making things there more dire. We have been promised a tour of the worst affected areas. Then we move on to Malawi for the groundbreaking of a new facility devoted to pediatric AIDS. And from there, we wrap up our trip in Dar Es Saleem, where we visit hospitals and orphanages. Most people refer to the city as Dar.
It is my desire that you will learn just as much as I will about the situation in Africa. It is also my desire that this blog will provoke intelligent discussion about what is being done now and what should and could be done to help in the future. I'm over the Atlantic Ocean now with 26 more hours to go. See you on the other side.
Don Lemon
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