Kadoma and the National AIDS Council Strategic Plan

I spent most of last week in the city of Kadoma, attending a National AIDS Council (NAC) strategy meeting. A new strategic plan was created to help the organization achieve its goals in the continually changing environment in the country. The meeting was attended by NAC employees from all ten Zimbabwean provinces as well as individuals from the Head Office in Harare. All Directors, the CEO, and most of the Board of Directors were also in attendance. Everything was discussed... from NAC's mission, vision and values, to specific challenges and actions needed to address them.

The hotel where the workshop was held was very nice, and not unlike most other fancy rural hotels in Zimbabwe, it is spread out over a large area, with a lot of vegetation all around and rooms in the form on small houses... Also, there were a bunch of peacocks just hanging out undisturbed on the hotel grounds :)

I also got to see a bit of the city of Kadoma. It is much smaller than Harare, about the size of Masvingo (the town by Great Zimbabwe). It appears the main industry here is still mining. I was told there are several small gold mines around there, and apparently in the past this was a major industry in the area providing employment for a major part of the population. Similar to other parts of the country, agriculture is also very prominent and there are many farms surrounding the main town.

Electricity here seems to be a major problem. It is usually off at night everywhere for several hours :) and often times it is down during different times of the day as well. It's almost funny when you have an important meeting, with the organization's Directors, CEO, and Board of Directors in attendance, and the power goes off, so you can't run a presentation. Now I have new appreciation for having regular access to electricity, mostly so I can charge my phone and my laptop :) I don't so much mind candles :)

During our stay in Kadoma, one of my co-workers (Trust) and I stayed with a friend of his, at his farm house in a suburb of the city. It was very good (I even got to take a proper shower)... aaand one of the nights I'm pretty sure there was a frog in the bedroom where I was staying :) getting in touch with nature I tell you :)

For all of my (few) pictures from Kadoma, click here.