I have created a new blog location that can only be read by people who are invited. I do not want any information about the hospital or the staff in the public domain. If you want access to this, please send me an email and let me know and I will add you to the list. However, I may only have internet access on weekends for the next month, so don't be surprised if you don't hear from me right away.
Alex and I are all moved into a guest house right next to the hospital. A woman and her two teenage daughters from South Carolina who are working in the orphanage behind our house until Thursday are also staying in the house. There are two large bedrooms, a bathroom with a toilet and a shower with hot water, a large living area and a large kitchen with a toaster oven/hot plate combo, a fridge and a constantly leaking sink. It is definitely going to be a comfortable place for the next 4 and a half weeks.
Sunday, July 12, 2009
Friday, July 10, 2009
Off to our Hospitals
Tomorrow is the big day! We all will be traveling to our host hospitals where we will be staying for the rest of our time in Tanzania. The hospital that Alex and I will be working in, Nkoranga Hospital, is only about 10 minutes away, between TCDC and where my current homestay family lives. And after 4 weeks I feel very comfortable getting around in this area so that will make life a little bit easier. And I will definitely be visiting my host family from time to time. Alex and I will be staying in a guest house right next to the hospital. More info on this once we move in.
I am excited to finally start what we came here to do. This month of preparation has been vital, especially our Swahili instruction, but I feel as if I have been here a long time but have not really accomplished anything yet. I am not sure how regularly I will have internet access next month, but I should always be reachable by phone (the number is in a previous blog, I still don't know it). Wish me luck!
I am excited to finally start what we came here to do. This month of preparation has been vital, especially our Swahili instruction, but I feel as if I have been here a long time but have not really accomplished anything yet. I am not sure how regularly I will have internet access next month, but I should always be reachable by phone (the number is in a previous blog, I still don't know it). Wish me luck!
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
TCDC Update
So I realize that I have been talking a lot about extra-curricular activities, so I decided that I should give an update of how preparation for the next month has been going. As I talked about before, we all come to TCDC, a training center that teaches courses in Swahili and also in development, every day for class. All morning we have instruction in Kiswahili. This week has been focused on learning commands, which will be very helpful when writing instruction booklets in the hospitals, and learning words for the equipment that we will likely be working on. Yesterday we all sat down with a native speaker for an hour and a half and had a conversation in Kiswahili. This did not really faze me since I literally do this every evening with my host family, but some of the other volunteers were a little overwhelmed. I am getting much better at being able to pick out words, though I usually have to ask them to speak slowly {sema polepole}. And the more Kiswahili that I learn, the more Spanish that I forget. After less than a month in Tanzania, I feel much more comfortable speaking in Swahili than in Spanish {after 4 years of Spanish class}. And I am so much more motivated to learn the language because it enables me to impress my host family and bond with natives who don't speak much English. I am hoping that it will help me form a relationship with the hospital workers next month.
So the afternoon is all instruction in engineering and working in a hospital. Nelson has been continuing his lectures on specific medical devices, how they work, what typically breaks, how it can be fixed. When we first got here, our afternoon labs were more technical in nature, but for the past week or so they have been more discussion-based. Although it is obviously important that we know how to fix broken equipment in the hospital, it is also extremely important to know what to expect when working in a hospital in the developing world, expectations for what we can accomplish, and to have a plan for how we will approach our work (for example, it is important to take an inventory of the hospital's equipment first). Yesterday and today, since we have finished all the labs, we have been opening up the equipment that we have for donation and looking at what is inside. Although this is great practical practice, many of us were weary about opening up a piece of working equipment with the risk that it may not work anymore once we put it back together. It took our lab TA 40 minutes and a a lot of banging on the machine to get one of the screws off of the centrifuge that Alex and I were disecting. We had a lot of frustrated engineers yesterday. But as long as everything is still operable after today, there is no real damage. I would hate for someone to break a piece of equipment that is meant to be donated to a hospital obviously has a great need for it.
So the afternoon is all instruction in engineering and working in a hospital. Nelson has been continuing his lectures on specific medical devices, how they work, what typically breaks, how it can be fixed. When we first got here, our afternoon labs were more technical in nature, but for the past week or so they have been more discussion-based. Although it is obviously important that we know how to fix broken equipment in the hospital, it is also extremely important to know what to expect when working in a hospital in the developing world, expectations for what we can accomplish, and to have a plan for how we will approach our work (for example, it is important to take an inventory of the hospital's equipment first). Yesterday and today, since we have finished all the labs, we have been opening up the equipment that we have for donation and looking at what is inside. Although this is great practical practice, many of us were weary about opening up a piece of working equipment with the risk that it may not work anymore once we put it back together. It took our lab TA 40 minutes and a a lot of banging on the machine to get one of the screws off of the centrifuge that Alex and I were disecting. We had a lot of frustrated engineers yesterday. But as long as everything is still operable after today, there is no real damage. I would hate for someone to break a piece of equipment that is meant to be donated to a hospital obviously has a great need for it.
Cradle of Love
On Monday, we finished our lab for the day early, so a bunch of us decided to walk over to the orphanage that is right next to TCDC (the center where we have our classes, etc.). We had all been planning to visit at one point but had never gotten a chance because the posted visiting hours are during our class time. We walked through the gate and could not find anyone until we walked around to the back of one of the buildings. And then all of a sudden we saw lots of little kids! It was outdoor play time/bottle time, so many of the babies were laying on a blanket with a few volunteers.
This orphanage, called Cradle of Love, is a baby home that takes care of children from birth until 3 years, at which point they would be moved to another orphanage. There are 28 babies I think right now. A woman from the US founded the orphanage and either funds it herself or through donations. It is mostly volunteer-run. There were four girls there that were volunteering for the summer from Canada, France, England and the US. It was a very nice facility compared to other orphanages that I have seen in Africa. There was one large central building with big spacious rooms. It had an eating area with built-in high chairs for all of the children, two different bedrooms, one for older babies and one for the younger babies, an indoor play area, a changing room, and a laundry room. Outside, there was a deck area and a large yard with a small swing set and slide. Some babies do not have parents and some are dropped off by their parents because they are unable to take care of them. One of the volunteers told me that some parents use it as a sort of day care if they are unable to take care of their children when they are first born and will come pick them up later. It did not seem as if many of the babies get adopted while they are here. One of the volunteers had been working there for 3 weeks and had not seen anyone come through looking to adopt a child. Only Tanzanian citizens or people who have lived here for two years are allowed to adopt.
When we arrived, most of the toddlers waddled over to us with arms reached up, begging to be picked up. That is about all that we did for an hour or so; held babies and tried to get some smiles out of them. Someone had lollipops in their bag which they handed out to the older children; this inevitably led to some very sticky hands and faces. Someone else gave out crayons, which were quickly confused for lollipops by some of the babies. One kid was seen attempting to draw with his lollipop while sticking his crayon in his mouth.
I am definitely glad that we got a chance to spend some time with all of the babies, but it was very sad to see so many kids without a consistent parent figure in their life. And these babies are much better off than the many other orphans in Africa. We quickly figured out while we were there that they need all the help they can get anytime, whether it is during the posted visiting hours or not. I will be very close by next month so hopefully I will be able to make it back again.
This orphanage, called Cradle of Love, is a baby home that takes care of children from birth until 3 years, at which point they would be moved to another orphanage. There are 28 babies I think right now. A woman from the US founded the orphanage and either funds it herself or through donations. It is mostly volunteer-run. There were four girls there that were volunteering for the summer from Canada, France, England and the US. It was a very nice facility compared to other orphanages that I have seen in Africa. There was one large central building with big spacious rooms. It had an eating area with built-in high chairs for all of the children, two different bedrooms, one for older babies and one for the younger babies, an indoor play area, a changing room, and a laundry room. Outside, there was a deck area and a large yard with a small swing set and slide. Some babies do not have parents and some are dropped off by their parents because they are unable to take care of them. One of the volunteers told me that some parents use it as a sort of day care if they are unable to take care of their children when they are first born and will come pick them up later. It did not seem as if many of the babies get adopted while they are here. One of the volunteers had been working there for 3 weeks and had not seen anyone come through looking to adopt a child. Only Tanzanian citizens or people who have lived here for two years are allowed to adopt.
When we arrived, most of the toddlers waddled over to us with arms reached up, begging to be picked up. That is about all that we did for an hour or so; held babies and tried to get some smiles out of them. Someone had lollipops in their bag which they handed out to the older children; this inevitably led to some very sticky hands and faces. Someone else gave out crayons, which were quickly confused for lollipops by some of the babies. One kid was seen attempting to draw with his lollipop while sticking his crayon in his mouth.
I am definitely glad that we got a chance to spend some time with all of the babies, but it was very sad to see so many kids without a consistent parent figure in their life. And these babies are much better off than the many other orphans in Africa. We quickly figured out while we were there that they need all the help they can get anytime, whether it is during the posted visiting hours or not. I will be very close by next month so hopefully I will be able to make it back again.
Sunday, July 5, 2009
Safari!!
All 26 of us (23 students + 1 coordinator + 2 teachers) loaded into 4 safari vehicles and drove to Karatu, a town right outside of Ngorongoro Conservation Area. Each vehicle fits 5-7 people and has a soft top that pops open so that you can stand on your seat and stick your head outside. It was nice to drive out of town and through a rural area where there is a large Maasai population. We saw lots of Maasai herding their cattle alongside the road, dressed in their traditional clothing. We also got great views of the bombas (traditional round huts) that they live in. I really enjoyed driving through an area where the Maasai were so prevalent because their culture is so intriguing to me. It is so far removed from Western culture and is purely African. I just finished reading an autobiography written by a Maasai who was educated in the United States. The author gives an inside perspective not only on the Maasai but also on the potential of clashing between both cultures .
We arrived in Karatu around 8:30 and headed to dinner after a half hour of confusion over who was staying at which hotel/guesthouse (it would be very difficult to find somewhere that can sleep 26 people). There was an issue over which rooms were considered singles and which rooms were considered doubles since most of the guys were not eager to share a double bed. Luckily, our tour guides had pre-arranged dinner at a nearby restaurant since we were all starving by the time we made it there. And they had plenty of delicious food for us, all for under $5 each.
Saturday morning, we had breakfast at 5:45 am. We even all made it there relatively on time. The Bed and Breakfast that I stayed at served us omelettes with tomato, fresh homemade bread with jam, bananas, and tea. We then began the drive to Ngorongoro Crater. Ngorongoror Crater was formed 2.5 million years ago after a huge volcanic eruption. It is 16 km by 19 km in size. It is one of the best places to see wildlife since all of the animals are relatively trapped inside of the crater. It would be a huge undertaking for them to trek over the edges of the crater. The wildebeast in the crater only migrate locally within the crater, whereas all of the wildebeast in the Serengeti migrate ever year between Tanzania and Kenya.
After entering the park gate, you drive for about an hour on the rim of the crater before you get to the road that descends into the crater. Unfortunately, it was extremely foggy on this road when we were there in the morning, so we were not able to catch any views of the crater at this point. We could only see more than 10 feet away from the car once we began to descend. The floor of the crater is mostly barren grassland with a large central lake. This lake is strikingly silver in the center because it is so salty. However, animals are able to drink at the edges of the lake where there is freshwater. I don't quite understand how this works, but it was very interesting to see. The landscape of the crater is very unique since the crater bottom is a flat, round area surrounded on all sides by mountains. It was surprisingly cold and cloudy most of the time that we were at Ngorongoro, so it made it slightly less enjoyable since I was not prepared for the cold. Luckily I was able to procure a Maasai blanket to wrap around us.
The ascent out of the crater provided us with some breathtaking views and a thrilling ride.
It was a steep dirt road with the wall of a mountain on one side and a long drop on the other side. We rode with our heads out of the roof and took lots of pictures with the crater view in the background. We had to repeatedly duck our head inside the car whenever thorny branches were hanging over the road. By the way, there were huge thorn bushes/trees all over the park. The thorns were as big as toothpicks. I am pretty sure that these are the bushes that the hyenas fall into in The Lion King. Most things on safari can relate back to The Lion King in one way or another.
On Saturday evening, we all went to a restaurant in order to celebrate the Fourth of July with food and beverage. The 5 EWH-ers who aren't US citizens put up with us somehow. Most of us sat outside at the restaurant since they had a nice grassy area with lots of tables. When you show up to a restaurant in Africa with that many people, you cannot expect to get your food in a very timely manner, so we just sat around enjoying each other's company. After we had all eaten, a massive game of Flip Cup ensued; about 20 people were playing in all. After a group sing-along to the Michael Jackson music video that was playing on the tv inside, we headed back to the hotels/the bar next door. It was definitely a memorable 4th of July. I will be sad when everyone splits up this weekend to move to their host hospital for the next month.
On Sunday, we went to Tarangire National Park, which was a very scenic hour and a half drive away. When we had driven this before, it had been dark out, so it was great to be able to enjoy it during the sunlight. The views of the Ngorongoro Conservation Area and Lake Manyara were unbelievable. Tarangire is known for all of the baobabs (the tree that Rafiki lives in on The Lion King). They have huge trunks which rot out and fill with water. Elephants rip the bark off during the dry season in order to get water. Tarangire is home to lots of elephants and giraffes, both of which we got to see in very close proximity. A family of elephants crossed the road right between our vehicles after the papa elephant let out an intimidating growl in warning. Later, we drove right by a family of elephants, scaring one of the babies. It let out a surprising loud noise and then ran away. Luckily, I caught this on video. It was a beautiful sunny day while we were at Tarangire which made it even more enjoyable. It was a stark contrast to the cold cloudy weather of the previous day. We began our drive back to Arusha in the afternoon back through Maasai country. I stood with my head out the top of the car for much of the trip until the wind got to be too much.
Animals that we saw:
Ngorongoro Crater:
Elephants {tembo}, lots of hyenas {fisi}, lots of wildebeast, water buffalo, crowned cranes, Kori bustard (largest flying bird), monkeys {kima}, flamingos, lions{simba} (although from far away), maybe a rhino from far away, hippos{kiboko}, gazelles, lots of zebras {pudamilia}
Tarangire National Park:
Lots of elephants, giraffes{twiga}, baboons {nyani}, cute squirrel things, impalas, dik diks, water bucks, wildebeasts, lots of zebras, mongoose
More later…
Friday, July 3, 2009
Rwanda Criminal Tribunal
Yesterday, we visited the ICTR (International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda) in downtown Arusha. It was started by the UN over 10 years ago and is the location for all of the trials of the people responsible for the Rwanda genocide in 1994, when 800,000 people were murdered in the span of 100 days. We were hoping to sit in on a trial, but unfortunately they were finished in court for the day when we arrived. So instead, we watched a movie about how the tribunal was begun, etc and then got to see a courtroom after. More info on the tribunal later...
After our tour of the tribunal, a group of us decided to stay in town for dinner. We went to an Indian restaurant called Big Bite. Though very inconspicuous on the outside, Big Bite had extremely good Indian food. It was easily the best meal that I have had at a restaurant in Tanzania. We ordered a bunch of dishes among the nine of us (I split Palak Paneer and Chana Masala with the other vegetarian) and LOTS of garlic naan. I had been craving Indian food for a few weeks, so I was very satisfied when we left. We then headed to Via Via, the same bar and restaurant that we had been to before on a Thursday night, when they have live music. Someone bought a bag of small plastic cups and we began a large game of Flip Cup once we all arrived. This has quickly become our group's game of choice since you can play with a lot of people. And I must say that I was the Flip Cup MVP this night… I know that my parents would be proud. Most of us got a taxi home at 10pm, since I feel guilty making my host parents wait up any later for me to get home.
On Friday we had our last group work day at Mt. Meru hospital. Alex and I were looking forward to it since we had another heater to fix in the OBGYN operating room . We arrived with our toolkit and the spare heater and were getting ready to replace it when we noticed that the doctors and nurses appeared as if they were prepping for a patient. We then saw a woman standing in the door, not looking very happy, with a very large tummy carrying her IV bag. And it wasn't really an IV bag; it looked more to me like those plastic containers that are used to hold water for a guinea pig or hamster, though it was a larger version. After asking if we could use a small table as a stepping stool, I was told that the patient needed to sit there. After that, we finally decided that we should come back later since they were clearly about to start a surgery. The doctor told us to come back around 1 pm. Alex and I then occupied ourselves by fixing a digital blood pressure monitor. The cuff needed to be replaced and the device needed to be calibrated. Right as we were finishing this repair, a nurse walked up and gave us a broken light. It was a light on a long metal stand that could be used for exams or even for surgery. Not only did it not turn on, but it was also mechanically unstable. There were two spots on along the power cord that had electrical tape wrapped around, which we peeled off in order to see where wires had been connected. However, the wire was old and the connections were not very good, so no power was able to reach the light. We soldered the wires together in order to make a permanent connection. The light was then able to turn on, but the repairs were still not finished. We epoxyed the light socket to the metal surrounding the light and then epoxyed this metal to the actual lamp. Several screws then had to be tightened and then the light was ready to be released. I showed a nurse how it had been fixed and we were happy to see them wheel it right back to an exam room. Though this was a relatively easy repair for us, it was definitely an essential piece of equipment that could not previously be used. I was quite proud of our light repair. By the way, when we returned to the operating room at 1pm and then again at 2pm, they were still in surgery and thus we were not able to do the repair. That operating room sure does see a lot of traffic. There are 2 EWH-ers that are working at Mt. Meru next month, so I showed one of them exactly where the room was and what needed to be fixed, so it will still get done.
After our tour of the tribunal, a group of us decided to stay in town for dinner. We went to an Indian restaurant called Big Bite. Though very inconspicuous on the outside, Big Bite had extremely good Indian food. It was easily the best meal that I have had at a restaurant in Tanzania. We ordered a bunch of dishes among the nine of us (I split Palak Paneer and Chana Masala with the other vegetarian) and LOTS of garlic naan. I had been craving Indian food for a few weeks, so I was very satisfied when we left. We then headed to Via Via, the same bar and restaurant that we had been to before on a Thursday night, when they have live music. Someone bought a bag of small plastic cups and we began a large game of Flip Cup once we all arrived. This has quickly become our group's game of choice since you can play with a lot of people. And I must say that I was the Flip Cup MVP this night… I know that my parents would be proud. Most of us got a taxi home at 10pm, since I feel guilty making my host parents wait up any later for me to get home.
On Friday we had our last group work day at Mt. Meru hospital. Alex and I were looking forward to it since we had another heater to fix in the OBGYN operating room . We arrived with our toolkit and the spare heater and were getting ready to replace it when we noticed that the doctors and nurses appeared as if they were prepping for a patient. We then saw a woman standing in the door, not looking very happy, with a very large tummy carrying her IV bag. And it wasn't really an IV bag; it looked more to me like those plastic containers that are used to hold water for a guinea pig or hamster, though it was a larger version. After asking if we could use a small table as a stepping stool, I was told that the patient needed to sit there. After that, we finally decided that we should come back later since they were clearly about to start a surgery. The doctor told us to come back around 1 pm. Alex and I then occupied ourselves by fixing a digital blood pressure monitor. The cuff needed to be replaced and the device needed to be calibrated. Right as we were finishing this repair, a nurse walked up and gave us a broken light. It was a light on a long metal stand that could be used for exams or even for surgery. Not only did it not turn on, but it was also mechanically unstable. There were two spots on along the power cord that had electrical tape wrapped around, which we peeled off in order to see where wires had been connected. However, the wire was old and the connections were not very good, so no power was able to reach the light. We soldered the wires together in order to make a permanent connection. The light was then able to turn on, but the repairs were still not finished. We epoxyed the light socket to the metal surrounding the light and then epoxyed this metal to the actual lamp. Several screws then had to be tightened and then the light was ready to be released. I showed a nurse how it had been fixed and we were happy to see them wheel it right back to an exam room. Though this was a relatively easy repair for us, it was definitely an essential piece of equipment that could not previously be used. I was quite proud of our light repair. By the way, when we returned to the operating room at 1pm and then again at 2pm, they were still in surgery and thus we were not able to do the repair. That operating room sure does see a lot of traffic. There are 2 EWH-ers that are working at Mt. Meru next month, so I showed one of them exactly where the room was and what needed to be fixed, so it will still get done.
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