Hello, how are you? How have things gone in this first half of the year? I cannot yet realise that we are already at the end of May! Time goes too fast, may be is because I am enjoying it. Yes, I am working hard but I am still excited of being in a new country, where there is so much to find out. Here come some updates about me:

It is now 7 months that I am here, not very long, but enough to decide that I like it, therefore I decided that I will extend my stay at least up to next summer.

The project of antiretroviral (ARV) therapy is on its way: we still have many problems to solve, but I am optimistic about it. Things here move very fast: the prices of the ARV drugs have decreased of 70% and I think more has to come. The challenge now is to find strategies in using them properly without all the means available to rich countries. My activities will be on different fronts including some clinical work, which means going back to being a real doctor. Yes, seeing patients, it has not been really my main activity since long time... It will be the occasion for some refreshing, it will also help me have a better idea of the problems we are facing and will help my collegues that are overwhelmed by the load of work.

I have also to foster a network of doctors working with ARV so that we can share experiences and learn together. It is not as easy as it sounds. Here professional exchanges are not common, but can be very helpful in the field of HIV therapy, so new in this part of the world.
We are also working on different strategies of psychosocial support for HIV+ people, another new subject in Cameroon. Not easy where no social security is un place and AIDS is still highly stigmatised and related to death. It would be great to have more time in order to apply structurally my anthropological insights, but I don't really have the time to go in this direction. But it is true that anthropology is helping me to always keep an eye on the context in which things are happening.

We are also proposing a new project in the largest city of Cameroon, Douala. There is still so little offered for people living with HIV in Douala. I am excited about the project, our partners there seem very interested and competent, this should make it easier.

I moved to a new home a month ago. My housemates and I left our hollywoodian villa, for an apartment, near the clinic and facing a small forest. I sleep with a concert of frogs and bats. Yes not the most romantic animals, but you feel like being in the bush. At dusk the bats leave their hanging positions and thousands of them fill the sky, I never stop to get impressed by the quantity of them.
Our cat is pregnant and we have to get prepared for the delivery. Any advise? I hope she will manage alone, we are all at first experience with cats.

Social life? I met some people that are slowly becoming friends. It is not easy in a city. Which is one of the reasons that convinced me that the next mission will be "back to nature". But who knows what will be next???
I have yet to travel around northern Cameroon as I had planned. (I am always planning holidays that I never take) Many people say it is one of the most beautiful areas of the country. Do you want to join?

This is it for now. I'm sure you are still wondering what I do here. My days are so different one from the other that it is difficult to explain. I am sorry to deceive you if you're imagining me saving children as in a typical MSF poster.
Imagine: meetings, discussions, searching information on what is going on in the field of HIV in the country (don't think it is easy, information sharing is not common here), networking (sounds good, no?). Helping in problem solving from the field, writing reports and proposals. But I love it, it lets me meet great people (some nasty as well), having to understand the way they perceive and think about problems and reality and work out solutions together, at least try to do so.

It is raining hard tonight and some fresh air is coming in, perfect temperature for a great sleep. Hope the rain will make frogs shut up. Kisses and write when you have some time. L. Ciaffi