Things are moving along well as of late – work is picking up, Sevda and I have settled comfortably into our roles at ZARAN, the office finally hired a real lawyer (!), we’ve found some more activities in Lusaka to keep us busy outside of the office, and we’ve done some more great traveling throughout the country.

Earlier this week I met with Dr. Rodwell Vongo, who is the president of the Traditional Healers and Practitioners Association of Zambia (THAPAZ). This organization is the closest thing to a governing body that exists in Zambia to regulate its over 40,000 members of spiritualists, herbalists, traditional birth attendants, and divinists. In Zambia, 80% of the population uses some form of traditional medicine or treatment, and so there is a major void in the country’s healthcare regulation considering that there is no official branch of government to overlook the practices of these healers. Dr. Vongo was kind enough to invite me to his private farm on the outskirts of Lusaka where we discussed in depth the position of THAPAZ on the use of antiretroviral drugs for treating individuals with HIV/AIDS; although it is the position of many traditional healers (including, thankfully, the president of THAPAZ) that ARVs are the best available treatment for HIV/AIDS, Dr. Vongo reluctantly admitted that many healers still are skeptical of the drugs, and as a result may advise their patients not to take ARVs or to forego their proper treatment regimens. Furthermore, he explained that despite the Association’s best efforts to monitor its members’ behavior, without extensive funding or serious government attention, there is little that can be done to ensure that individuals with HIV/AIDS who seek out traditional health practitioners will receive accurate information about the efficacy of ARVs. With access to proper healthcare limited in Zambia, traditional health practitioners play a vital role in the treatment and prevention of HIV/AIDS; however, in order for this to be effective there needs to be coordination between Western medicine and traditional health practitioners, and beyond that there needs to be proper regulation of detrimental and negative practices. Dr. Vongo explained to me that, “All of the positive help that has been provided by traditional healers gets undone and overshadowed when incidents arise where healers advise their patients to forego antiretroviral therapy.” This subject is a major focus of my research for ZARAN, and thus meeting with this esteemed and accomplished individual was a very informative and significant occasion.

Our other work at ZARAN has been fairly dynamic. This week Sevda and I attended a workshop hosted by ZARAN to inform and educate trade union officials of the rights of their employees with respect to HIV status and discrimination. As we have seen elsewhere in Zambia, misconceptions about HIV were quite prevalent at the workshop. I’ve also been continuing to work on my false cure claim case (see last blog) despite having limited legal capacity and also running into large obstacles in seeking the cooperation and assistance of the police to provide information about the case. I can confidently say that certain police officials in Lusaka lie through their teeth and have no shame about doing so. Next week I will be meeting with Transparency International Zambia to discuss the entire matter, and I am excited to finally (hopefully) make some progress on this.

Outside, it’s been getting colder and colder in Lusaka! It’s comparable to mid-autumn Toronto weather I’d say, which isn’t too bad, but also it’s like “come on, we’re in Africa, what gives!” Nevertheless, the chilly weather did not stop us from taking advantage of last weekend’s “Hero’s Day” long weekend to take an amazing trip down to Livingstone, home of the mighty Victoria Falls (biggest in the world, eat your heart out Niagara!). Also known as “the smoke that thunders,” this massive spectacle was truly a sight to be seen, which is why I even ventured back to the falls at night to witness their glory under a full moon. Being the intelligent law students that we are, Sevda and I decided it was only prudent to jump off of a 111 metre high bridge over the Zambezi river (which borders Zambia and Zimbabwe) with nothing attached to us but some towels around our legs and a bungee cord wrapped around them. It was the logical thing to do. Other logical activities included a delightful (and blurry) “booze cruise” along the Zambezi (complete with hippos, elephants, and an open bar), and white water rafting down some of the world’s best rapids. Livingstone is a very touristy place, which normally might annoy me somewhat, but I’ve noticed that in Zambia the majority of foreigners here are all doing some interesting or commendable project/research (as opposed to other destinations I’ve been where the majority of travelers are just drunk brits); so, aside from the adrenaline activities, the weekend was also full of interesting and memorable characters, ranging from Peace Corps volunteers to a stereotypical chimpanzee scientist (complete with a mad-scientist beard and an eclectic vocabulary).

That’s all for now…it’s lunch time!