more challenges on the horizon.

this morning i received an email from sally, the US coordinator for all things concerning faith alive, and the person who got me on board with this organization. she is an excellent source of information, and her passion for faith alive, as well as for nigeria and drug access is inspiring. i certainly feel a depth of gratitude for her work and involvement, which is a shining example of altruism at its finest. of course, i always retain a bit of excitement for any emails i receive from her, as they are a reminder of the adventure that awaits me over the summer. however, this particular email was the bearer of horrible news.

to summarize, faith alive's main building suffered a damaging fire due to a power surge in the laboratory. fortunately, no persons were harmed, but the already humble clinic is in dire need of resources to compensate for the losses of this accidental catastrophe. if you would like to contribute any donations, please comment or email me at vtnguyen(at)berkeley(dot)edu and i will be happy to pass along the information. here is the complete mennonite central committee news release:

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MENNONITE CENTRAL COMMITTEE (MCC) NEWS RELEASE

Blurb: Faith Alive Clinic, a free HIV/AIDS clinic supported by MCC in Jos, Nigeria, was destroyed by a fire in the early morning hours of April 13.

April 13, 2006

MCC-supported clinic in Nigeria is destroyed by fire
By Tim Shenk

Faith Alive Clinic, a free HIV/AIDS clinic supported by Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) in Jos, Nigeria, was destroyed by a fire in the early morning hours of April 13.

No people were harmed in the fire, but everything in the clinic's main building was destroyed, including its pharmacy, medical equipment and computers. The clinic's antiretroviral drugs which prolong the lives of AIDS patients survived the fire.

The fire was apparently caused by a power surge in the clinic's laboratory, reported MCC country representative Joanna Bergen, who is from Winnipeg, Manitoba, and lives in Jos.

MCC is providing $12,700 Cdn., or $11,000 U.S., to Faith Alive Clinic for immediate needs after the fire. MCC is also providing the clinic with 12,000 HIV test kits to replace kits that were destroyed.

Faith Alive Clinic provides free medical care to thousands of HIV/AIDS patients in Jos, a city of about 800,000 in central Nigeria. It is a Christian organization and is staffed largely by volunteers, including physicians, counselors and people with HIV/AIDS.

MCC provides $59,000 Cdn., or $51,000 U.S., in annual support for Faith Alive Clinic. MCC is appealing to its constituents for additional funds to help Faith Alive Clinic recover from the fire. The exact amount needed is yet to be determined.”

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the implications of this event on my future are two-fold: with the destruction of the lab, my infectious disease emphasis with my internship at faith alive needs to be more creative and rudimentary in a sense; and my presence at faith alive has never been more of a necessity than now. aside from helping the clinic get past this event, i will be faced with a situation that has extremely scarce resources to aid me in problem solving. this is precisely the career path i wish to take, with my interest in infectious disease issues in developing countries. the frustration of obtaining knowledge without the resources to implement a solution will be an encompassing theme of the career path i have chosen. i am not sure what this paragraph of rambled sentences has revealed about my thoughts on what happened in jos a few days ago, but i am curious to see how this situtation will pan over the course of the summer.

in much more pleasant news, another berkeley student has come on board to volunteer this summer. alicia (a graduate student from the school of social welfare) will be joining lani and i in jos. she is in my international health class this semester. i am definitely relieved that i will be sharing this experience with other students at cal. it will certainly make the transition a bit smoother, if that's at all possible.