Chaka

That's how it feels after struggling with an idea
or project and then see it come to fruition.
Especially when it is a sort of pilot project,
never been tried (in the village).By the way,
chaka means good in the San (Khwedam)
language.

I am referring to the health videos we've been
working on. After the mired in super glue state
we were in, it's been a total one eighty.

This morning upon arriving at the clinic, I was
met by three excited health workers. What
happened yesterday was that the TB counselor's
boss arrived for a visit. The TB counselor
(Regina) showed the DVD we made concerning
TB. Her boss was excited and impressed and
told her that she was doing a great job. She
also said that it was tremendous that it was in
a local language and that everyone could
understand the message.

So, Regina is really animated about participating
in other movies.

But the best part is that she had 7 people in the
last two weeks just come in for TB tests. She's
been counseling in this village for about 9
months and she told me that it was the first
time that people came in voluntarily to be tested.
Usually people are referred to her for testing.

It isn't the end of the world and it isn't the cure for
cancer but, it is a small victory that keeps us
motivated and wanting to do more.

From my side of it, I am happy as heck. It was
one of those days that nothing could affect
the good feeling.

It was funny that Regina's boss said: "How did
you guys do it. What equipment did you use, it
came out pretty clear"?

The best part ... it was with my tiny Canon A570IS
camera, Windows Movie Maker and someone
else's disk burner. The total cost was ... about .66 cents
USD. Just the price of the blank DVD.

It is good that they can see that we can do meaningful
work/projects with the limited resources we have.

Hard to explain that good old feeling of success that
comes from some idea or project going pretty much
right. Especially if it is behavior change based.

So, the 'sometimes it's good' can't last and tomorrow
is another day. But we live in the now ... and now is
pretty darn good.