A Conversation with Kate Adams ( a ZHTS Trustee)

What do you do professionally?

I am a GP in Hackney. I also work at the Royal London A and E and for the Out of Hours service in Tower Hamlets. I do some consultancy work for the BMJ. I am a Council member for the Royal College of GPs and sit on the BMA’s Ethics Committee.

What has been your involvement with NUST?

Through ZHTS I have supported NUST with its ongoing development of the medical curriculum and assessment. I have also been a visiting lecturer.

What were your main highlights during your time at NUST?

I really enjoyed the sessions teaching the students and hearing about their experiences. They are very hard working and committed people.

How did you involved with ZHTS?

For a number of years I was deputy Chair of the BMA’s International Committee and was very interested to explore ways in which the BMA could support Diaspora doctors who want to support health care systems back in their own countries. I had previously visited Zimbabwe and was very concerned about the deterioration of the health system.

What do you see in the future of ZHTS?

ZHTS will need to expand its membership and try and attract more health professionals from the Zimbawean diaspora for its continued success. The link with Kings IDU is exciting because of the track record that Kings has working with its Somali land link

How do you view the relationship between Project Zimbabwe and ZHTS?

I really value the link we have with Project Zimbabwe. I have been very impressed with the enery and enthusiasm of the Project Zimbabwe students. There are some really great projects particularly the teaching of sex education in Zimbawean schools and the medical student buddying system. I hope that those involved with Project Zimbabwe will consider joining ZHTS when they graduate.

What are your hobbies? I really enjoy the arts and culture scene in London. I also sing with the City of London Chamber Choir.

A Conversation with Jen

This week, I had the opportunity to speak to Jennifer Clifford-Garner, the former President of Project Zimbabwe:

What made you decide to run for President of Project Zimbabwe?
--> I had been involved with PZ since its inception, working with the
founding president, Kirsten Scott, to build and expand the project. I had
invested a lot of time and energy in to the general running of PZ and also
played an active role in fundraising events. I guess I could see the big
potential PZ had and I wanted to put into place all my ideas and
aspirations. I had also not undertaken such a role before and relished the
challenge on a personal level.

What were your main goals during your Presidency?

--> My goals for PZ including refining the charity with a specific number
of well run umbrella projects with good branding, advertising and possible
sponsorship for each. I wanted to raise the profile of PZ within the
college to bring new talents to the group and develop new project ideas. I
also wanted to increase the amount of funding available to PZ so that all
our ideas could be realised.

What were the challenges you faced?

--> Challenges of running PZ included arranging successful fundraising
events and keeping on top of administrative tasks whilst in my final year of
medical school. Our hugely successful book project also involved an
enormous amount of time and manual labour. Gaining interest and support from
fellow students and interested parties, I am happy to say, was never a
challenge.

What was the highlight of your Presidency?

--> After some long periods of hard work, I was thrilled to receive a
letter from the King's Fund, stating our funding application to be a
success. I also thoroughly enjoyed all of our African Music nights - seeing
the coming together of a range of people, all enjoying the entertainment,
knowing that 100% of the outcomes would be for the benefit of PZ projects. I
was also very proud to pass on the role of presidency to the new brilliant
presidents, safe in the knowledge that all the hard work gone before
wouldn't be in vane.

What are you up to now?

--> On top of working as a foundation trainee doctor at Whipps Cross
Hospital, I am also the part-time administrator for ZHTS, PZ's parent
charity. My role for ZHTS includes running the website, maintaining the
membership database, creating all graphics and many general administrative
duties.

A conversation with Womba

Womba you played at the Project Zim Open Mic Night Last year, what have you been up to since then?

I have performed at various open mic nights all around london including the Cavendish Arms and The World's End. I recently secured a management contract with Iconic Artist Management who have been supportive in helping me further my music career.
http://www.iconicartistmanagement.com/
Aside from that, I am one of the regional finalists for the competition called 'Live and Unsigned' for original artists around the country which is a great honour.

What was the highlight of performing at last year's open mic night?

The biggest highlight of performing last year was knowing that all the money was going to a great cause. It made everything so worth while. And I thought all the other performances were fantastic. I had a great time.

Where are you from originally?

I am originally from Zambia which is in the Southern part of Africa.

What would you say has been the main influence on your singing and songwriting style?

I would like to think that I have a unique style of singing and songwriting. I listen to all types of music. When I was younger I listened to a lot of Christian music that my father had. As I grew older I would say I started listening to a lot more Soul, RnB and Soft Rock. Artists I like include Norah Jones, Beyonce, Tracy Chapman, Eva Cassidy, Adele, Amy Winehouse. Quite a range of styles as you can see. I am also liking Lady Gaga at the moment.

What's on your Ipod at the moment?

This is embarassing to say but I don't own an ipod anymore. However, I have a huuuge collection of CDs, I am very old fashioned like that. I like to go out and buy CDs and listen to them on my radio at home. I have a range of musicians in my collection but really liking Gaga as mentioned earlier. I have also started listening to Eva Cassidy again and Tina Turner. Beyonce's I AM album is exceptional too.

What are the main challenges of being an upcoming singer/songwriter?

I would say my main challenge is getting people to listen to my songs. As an unknown artist it is a constant struggle to find people that will support your music without a record label behind you.

Here's a clip of Womba:

Project Zim Open Mic Night!

Conversatons with Fungai

This week, we're talking to Fungai from Fungai Neni:


What does Fungai Neni mean?

'Think with me' as well as 'Fungai and I' - in essence, I am asking that people be actively engaged in the content that I produce.

What do you do professionally?

I work in media and communications for the South African National AIDS Council.

What inspired you to start your blog?

It was long overdue - I had been talking about it for over a year and had just never found the time for it. So I just decided one afternoon to get it done and that's how it all began.

What's the aim of your blog?

To stimulate thought and discussion around contemporary issues, as seen through my eyes.

What advice would you give to other bloggers?

Keep it at - sometimes it goes good and sometimes it goes bad. But if it's your passion, please pesevere! Look for opportunities to grow always.

When you're writing do you think about your audience or do you prefer to just write?

I just write - whatever comes, comes. My blog is honest, although I sometimes think about what my audience might think about what I say...

Other than blogging do you have any other hobbies?

Of course! reading, music, travelling, writing other things like poetry and short stories, researching issues,etc.

How did you get involved with Medyouth?

Through my good friend, Rachel Adams, who invited me to one of their peer education courses in Bulawayo.

An interview with Kirsten Scott

What made you decide to start Project Zimbabwe?

I had just been involved in starting ZHTS (Zimbabwe Health Training Support) and felt that it would be great to get students involved directly through a student-run project. I know that King's students had lots of energy and that the project could be a brilliant success.

What were the initial challenges to starting such a group?

At the beginning, although there was a lot of interest it was difficult to find a group of committed people to take things forward. I really wanted people to help shape the aims and the projects rather than just dictating things so it took a while before the project got going properly.

What was the highlight of your time as President?

While I was in Zimbabwe before the start of the first Medyouth program all of the NUST students got together and thanked me for everything I'd done. Having spent so many hours writing emails, speaking to people, raising money and organising tons and tons of books it was great to find out that it had all made a tiny difference. It was also really inspiring to see that PZ was taken over by people with so many ideas - the second highlight of my "presidency" was at the AGM when I stood down and I realised that the project wouldn't fall apart... that it would, in fact, go on to greater things.

What were the main challenges you were faced with during your presidency?

Communicating via email with Zimbabwe! I hope that this will also improve with time.

What are you up to now?

I am now working as a foundation year 1 doctor at King's College Hospital and am still a ZHTS trustee. I am trying to increase links between junior doctors in the UK and Zimbabwe at the moment and will be going on a King's visit in April 2009.

District 9

During the holidays I watched district 9 and was myself and others slightly confused. Some thought it was about xenophobia? But it was actually based on the events that occurred in the 1970's at District 6 in South Africa . The film was overall very good but it had a significant weaknesses. Why were the 'Nigerians' in the film speaking Nyanja?

Dambisa Moyo 'Dead Aid'

During the summer, I read the controversial, 'Dead Aid' by the Zambian economist, Dambisa Moyo and was incredibly excited and refreshed to hear about solutions for Africa from a female African economist.

With four degrees under her belt, and heavy weight work experience, she spent some time at the World Bank as well as Goldman Sachs, Dambisa Moyo makes an aggressive attack on the aid model. It is important to note that in her book Dambisa is talking specifically about bilateral aid and is not referring to humanitarian aid or charitable aid, though she does remind the reader that we should remain aware of what charity can do and what it cannot do.

She does indeed make some compelling arguments:

• Why is that over a billion dollars worth of aid has gone to Africa in the last 60 years but the continent is now poorer.
• Aid cripples the private sector, as well as the free market. Aid is a '...band aid solution..' that is only useful in the short term. Africans should not rely on foreign governments for the provision of public goods.
  
• There are other ways of raising money including trade with emerging economies like China and India as well as accessing the capital markets.
  

Whilst her book is a bit heavy, in that it tends to overload you with facts and some of her assertions are rather spurious, it's a good read. I would give it an overall 3/5 on the basis that some of her assertions are inaccurate. However, I am very impressed that she has ignited a conversation that is spoken of way to little and has highlighted how complicated the aid system is.

I am looking forward to her next book; 'How the West Was Lost' coming out this year.

Jeffrey Sachs, 'The End of Poverty'

Happy new year from the PZ team. We're starting of the New Year with a book review by Alix Fonfe:

Overall Rating: 3/5

As Sachs has spent many years working for the World Bank and the forward of his latest book was by Bono, I was very sceptical of this book. However, I found the first half of this book interesting. It described the history of global economics, why countries have developed at different rates and there were case studies of economic reforms in India, China, Poland and Hungary. Although the case studies were economically interesting and very readable, I felt the name dropping and Sachs ego got a little tiring after a while.

The concept I liked most in this book was how Sachs used a ‘clinical diagnosis’ of economic difficulties that countries faced which took into account geography, politics and health. This also highlighted the importance of individual countries developing their own policies for development, and not having a one size fits all policy forced upon them from the World Bank or IMF. I think this is a conclusion that most people who work within the World Bank soon realise, but often too late.

I was less impressed with the second half of the book which aimed to describe how to end poverty. The answer was to increase funding from developing countries, written in detail for too many pages. Although this may be beneficial, I expected more innovation and creativity by a World Renowned Economic Professor. After finishing the book, I felt he had wasted his time writing the second half. This perhaps demonstrates that there are no quick fixes to problems as complex as poverty but surely one of the most influential people in the world could have come up with a better idea than simply giving more money?

Overall Rating 4/5

I read this book after attending a book launch by the author. He made a lively and interesting presentation and I was looking forward to reading his book. I was not disappointed. The nature of this book is clearly in the title. It is an inspiring book, with examples of where active citizens and effective states have positive outcomes in laws, human rights, development and poverty. It was well researched by Duncan Green, who is a researcher for Oxfam, and had more tangible and practical ideas from Southern countries compared to Jeffery Sachs book. I really liked the examples of active citizens scattered in the book, and it surprised and pleased me how a group of people, who are uneducated, poor and often discriminated against, can get together and really change things. To me this really demonstrated empowerment. I recommend this book to students who are interested in development in the wider context of social and environmental injustices faced by people in poverty.