What we're trying to do here

So I suppose now I’ll catch you all up on what I’m doing.

I’ll be here until August 24^th. Maybe. At least that’s the plan now. And then I go back. Maybe. And do a PhD? A Job? Maybe. Bounce around the world a little bit? Stay on the Togo project a bit? I’m not sure yet. I have options, which is great. Being here has invigorated me, and made me realize I’m still young, healthy, and able to really have the freedom to gather new experiences at my choosing. But for the moment…

I got this gig through Hopkins’ Research2Prevention project: www.jhsph.edu/r2p. It’s a USAID funded effort to find out more about what we call HIV MARPs, or “Most-At-Risk-Populations”. The populations we are focusing on here in Togo are MSM (Men who have sex with men) and female SW (Sex workers, aka prostitutes). There is really hardly anything known about what’s going on with these populations in West Africa because they are so stigmatized and hidden, but it’s about time somebody started paying attention. Funding for HIV/AIDS prevention out here typically goes to projects that are general, blanketed… that paint billboards of a man and woman couple holding a condom leaving MSM thinking that they’re not at risk. The point of this research is to first of all, get the prevalence of HIV and other STIs in MSM and SW and estimated the size of the populations. We’re doing this in Togo, Burkina Faso, and Cameroon. There are pretty cool methods to do this, and Annie is the advisor for these numeric, quantitative research activities.

 Then there is a qualitative side of it- which is what my job is focused on. We want to know the in-depth experiences of these populations as they relate to HIV prevention, testing, and treatment. Are they accessing services? We’ll being doing interviews and focus groups and talking analyzing qualitative data to really paint a picture of these populations that to this day are still many unanswered questions about.

But we are far, far from collecting the data. The project is interesting yet, but the preliminary work is tough. It’s going through documents, protocols, budgets. And Annie is great- she commands the room, knows how to push things along. But as for me, I just chime in every once in a while. It’s quite funny how Togolese, or most West Africans I am aware of in general, work. Every since line is debated upon, examined… And they typically show up at least 45minutes sometimes an hour late to the meetings. Our job at this point is translate the documents, let them work on them, and just to be there if they have questions, which they have lots. Our favorite in the past week was “Well why do we need to pay the participants for the qualitative interviews? They’re just coming into talk!”

We have quite a cast of characters. Some spunky women, sharp but menacing young men, a plump and jolly accountant, and a suave and hip, yet terribly fidgety young, gay guy.  Yet they are all very educated, and though the pace of work is slow here, they are really doing a good job. There are moments of laughter, moments of arguing, moments, many moments, in which I have no idea what is happening. But we are looking to finish the documents on Monday, which will be quite a relief. Then, we’ll work on trainings and site development. I’m not sure what to make of all this yet, but so far so good. Is this kind of work, this kind of life for me in the end? Too early to tell.

We had a little 4^th of July lunch for our colleagues. Annie and I impressed ourselves by making a genuine American picnic- hamburgers, hotdogs, potato salad, and a good ole apple pie.

I miss you all but have heard its quite hot back home. The ocean breeze and the rainy days are keeping us pretty cool. We’re off to some mountains for a hike today. I’ll get better about taking pictures.

Hope you are still reading-

Emily