Road trip to Image and popcorn

Oh goodness, oh for cute, the whole kit-&-kaboodle!

Today started with a handful of us taking on the foggy dirt road for our usual morning run, which ended with my chatting with a group of local students who were interested in my running watch and my goofy dance moves.  I was eventually saved by a group of women who dispersed the kids off to theor school day.

My morning was spent in the OB ward where I helped the nurse place an IV line and Foley catheter (a great time to brush up on my old nursing assistant skills!). Afterwards a few of us went to the operating theater to watch a c-section — everything went smoothly!

We meandered back up to the house where we met up with a visiting group from Augustana Lutheran Church.  At first it seemed there wouldn’t be enough space on their bus for a few of us to join the visitors on an excursion to a nearby village, Image, but luck was on our side and Meghan, Michael, and myself were able to swipe the three available seats!

On the way to the village, we made a brief stop at a dispensary where the people from Augustana asked questions and took a look around while we dropped off a box of medicines.  We then continued our bumpy journey along the worn dirt road to Image.  After passing many fields and a few donkeys, we turned down a quite avenue towards a school.  As we passed through the gate, our bus was greeted by the whole student assembly who were in song and dance.  It was a warm and beautiful introduction of the school to the visitors!  The students then departed for lunch while we followed the headmaster on a tour and information meeting about the school.

Quick caveat: I’ve been living in Italy for the past 3-ish years for medical school so I’m a bit out of touch with the Minnesota culture.  It was a full-on teimmersion experience for me, ripe with idioms and colloquialisms that I haven’t heard in ages!!  Offda now don-cha know how delightful that sure was!!

Our return trip was somehow more rocky than the trip there but the panoramas of this area of the world are incredible.  The children of the area were also on their way home from school so there was lots of waving a hollering, exchanging greetings in Swahili and English.

We topped off the evening with a movie night with the nursing school students.  We brought them popcorn & a recently acquired bag of dum-dum lollipops. Due to technical difficulties we started the movie late and didn’t even make it through the whole film before calling it a night.

As we moseyed our way home, hopefully many took the opportunity to check out the clear and brilliant starry night sky!!

Baadae!
Kelsey

A day like any other (January 24th 2019)

This day started like any other day....woke up to the sound of clanging symbol
and like any other day...I rolled over and wondered how anyone could possibly wake up to ring bells. But this is a tradition like many things in Tanzania, and reverence to its complete adherence is key.

Like any other day, we lingered in our suite while morning church commenced... we are not apathetic to this event. We just like to enjoy our coffee and appreciate the splendorous Tanzanian hills and valleys. The air is crisp, while there is an overlay of mist as an afterthought of the past rain. It clothes us with a message of renewed hope. I too this morning feel renewed hope, as yesterday was a day that I felt stifled. As a self-diagnosed introverted extrovert, I am afflicted with an incurable need for solitude when faced with too much togetherness. I finally realized today that it important to take time to self reflect and each day I need to make it a top priority.

I was once again in the maternity ward. Three laboring patients today, one of whom had newly diagnosed HIV. I realized that unlike the US, there is no base viral load that this required for treatment. Breastfeeding is encouraged to women even if they are HIV positive. This practice strategy is unlike the US system. In the setting of low economic resources, unfiltered tap water, and severe malnutrition, it is likely that a child will die of diarrhea rather than any HIV complication. This sad reality is one that is faced by many of this disenfranchised and destitute nation. It saddens me to realize that many women have to choose between the lesser of two evils.

We completed our afternoon with a talk on anemia. While listening to this lecture, I looked over and saw a gentelman lowering the national flag. No one was watching him (well except me), but he took this job very seriously. He sounded his whistle and lowered the flag, folded the flag neatly and marched away like any ordinary sargeant in well formed army. Again, tradition to be respected.

Still, I am grateful to be here. I get to learn from my colleagues, get to find myself in an unfamiliar environment and get to enjoy the great splendor that is Tanzania.

Asante Sana!!

Gina

January 23, 2019

Jambo! It’s incredible to think that our group has been in Ilula for an entire week now! We have observed many interesting clinical cases, learned alongside our Tanzanian colleagues, and logged several kilometers on morning runs/evening walks.

Today, some of our group members had the opportunity to participate in palliative care rounds in the community where they visited patients’ homes with Dr. Nixon and Pastor Phillip. These home visits allowed the group to assess how the patients were doing, address medication needs, and provide spiritual support and prayer.

Before dinner, we were able to experience downtown Ilula with a cold beverage, an exciting hunt for popcorn and pineapple, and a round of pool with some locals. Whenever we are walking around town, it almost feels like we are celebrities when all the kids run up to the sides of the roads yelling “Mzungu!” (white person) and the vendors all welcome us to come back everyday.

We ended today’s festivities with a rousing game of Fishbowl (kind of like a combination of Catch Phrase and Charades). It’s great to see everyone’s creativity come alive during these games and have a little competitive fun. However, I think the group is starting to realize that Sarah and I should not be on the same team because we think a little too much alike.😜

Usiku mwema (good night),

-Deann

Jan 22

**I apologize for the formatting, our internet is spotty so I couldn’t quite get the pictures in the right order**

Hey Everyone, 

It’s Michaela & it’s my turn to blog! Today was a busy day... lots going on!

Today’s big news this morning was that the showers are working again! We’ve gone 3-4 days now without running water in the showers but we’re all feeling refreshed now! 

A few Tanzania’s were complaining how cold it was here in the morning and were shocked to hear how much colder it is in Minnesota. The weather is perfect here! 70’s during the day and 60’s at night, couldn’t be any better! 

During our morning huddle, Kikoti, the hospital administrator, called me to the front and said something in Swahili. Everyone clapped at the end and I had no idea what they were saying about me. We joked that they had hired me as the new permanent ultrasound tech without my knowledge. So we’re still unsure... maybe I got a promotion! 

(They really just said I’m here to do ultrasounds if anyone needs one since Dr. Sovelo is gone) 

Today was the first day that ultrasound wasn’t crazy busy so I actually got to eat lunch with everyone and have a lunch break! 

A group of 4, Kaylin, Deann, Gena, And Kelsey went on the outreach program today. They went out to a village where they provided family planning counseling, infant immunizations, and prenatal care. 

We got a tour of the lab in the evening and were able to learn more about what tests they have available here and what some of their struggles are. 

Megan lead a talk on antibiotics which I heard went well! 

We were invited to a small gathering in the church with the nursing students. Every night at 7:30pm they gather in the chapel, sing, and worship god. They have invited us to join them anytime and we enjoyed it very much! 

And then we ended the night with a lovely game of Headst up! 

“I bless the rains down in Africa”

I can’t recall exactly who it was, but it must have been either one of our three female pharmacy students (Deann, Sarah or Kaylin) or perhaps Michela (“the one who works with ultrasound”) since they seem to be the most musical in our group.  Anyway, one of them played a cover of the 1982 Toto song, “Africa” (remember, part of the chorus goes, “…I bless the rains down in Africa….”) while we were sitting around at Wista’s in Dar Es Salaam last week waiting for others to return with lost luggage.  The song now seems somehow prophet since it has been raining on and off every day since we arrived at Ilula.  Sometimes the rain is torrential resulting in small rivers coursing thru the drainage trenches around the hospital. Sometimes it is gentle and almost mist-like.  It can challenge the morning walkers/runners in our group, the afternoon strollers and anyone trying to hang laundry out to dry.

Monday 21Jan2019 was another good day at Ilula: we met two Swedish nurses/missionaries, Nora and Steena, at morning report. They are stationed long term in Iringa, working with the Iringa Diocese and come to Ilula twice per week to volunteer.  I, Dr. Seli and Kaylin spent some time in OPD assisting the clinical officer seeing patients. They have a new electronic medical record that seems relatively useful however the clinical officers are more than happy to have our students function as scribes since they are not familiar with using keyboards or typing. We saw a bunch of patients including a kid with amoebic dysentery, another with atopic dermatitis, a 15 yr old who had a recent miscarriage and a pregnant woman with two weeks of high fever.  It is inspiring to see how we all contribute ideas to evaluating these patients.

We have had some arrivals and departures as well as a small celebration: Dr. John Kvasnicka arrived Monday and will spend this week on the wards prior to next week’s medical conference. Dr. Yvonne Datta departs Tuesday for Arusha where she will be visiting the cancer center project there (www.tanzaniacancercare.org).  And…it was Katherine Zerbeic’s birthday today: she celebrated by making some water color paintings of the vista from the guest house; we serenaded her with a happy birthday song.  Kelsey arranged for a cake, complete with candles (the roman-candle kind!)

It is raining here in Africa, but everything is green! 

…and,…I think it is we who have been blessed.

Randy

Hi guys this is Deepthi, my turn to blog.
Like every day, our day started with morning bells at 5 30 AM ( bells to wake up the village). Every body had their usual morning work outs in the morniing after which it was time for breakfast  and thee usual morning banter. As our day progressed, we were serenaded with songs from the local church. It was refreshing, of course I did not understand a word of it, but able to enjoy the music though !!

Later we went to chruch, prayer begun with songs and traditional dance where most of the Villagers participated. We were then asked us to introduced our selves. All of us tried our best to introduce ourselves in Swahili and sang in swahili as well, which was really great. Church servicce was a little bit prolonged (total of 3 hours) today.

In the afternoon we went through the village market on our way to the orphanage . It was an interesting scene watching villagers sell and buy wares- groceries, clothes, shoes, bags etc.,with others congregating for the camaraderie.It was great to watch. I was reminded of my childhood in India.

The llula orphanage program(IOP) was our next stop. The weather was awesome as was the story about the IOP and how it was started. It started with song of welcoming and dancing, which later involved us as well. They pride themselves in educating and improving the lives of the kids who they serve with majority of their children in the 1st quartile of their national exams. Of note, these kids share the same story with the children we have come in contact with through the week; with majority of the kids dealing with or orphaned by HIVéAIDS . The IOP operates on the largesse of its partners whose donations have now made them a smooth self sustaining operation (with numerous vegetable gardens, poultry, goat, cow and diary farms around town), with the kids trained in farming, stitching, art making etc to be self sustaining when they graduate at age 18. Young single mothers are also included in the outreach of the IOP.  It is wonderful to see what the organization is doing and achieving in the community. Additionally, most of the people who are working there were once orphans who trained from the institution. Living up to the mantra of the organization - creating a standard for better living and taking with one hand and giving back with the other.

Another beautiful day in ilula, happy and blessed to be here.

IOP has website: www.IOPtanzania.org

- Deepthi

Iringa and the Massai Market

My day started like every other day since we have been here in Ilula. We however did not have to make it to morning report so the day was more laid back than our usual day. Breakfast and tea ensued with the typical morning banter.

We then gathered at the "Library"( kudos to Bob for this moniker of our hangout spot, I will let Bob explain this himself), did some studying and then decided on a walk. It was nice exploring downtown Ilula in the sun. Walking through the village I was reminded of the similarities of this place with some villages I had visited and seen in my home country Nigeria. Definitely nostalgic for me.
Children screaming Mzungu (white person) at my colleagues, running up for hand shakes and gifts( Deann gave them some pens), wanting pictures etc.

We also walked by vendors with wares of interesting colors and types ; mostly legumes and hibiscus leaves. It was definitely interesting seeing the the variances in living conditions as you walked down a stretch.
Our walk gave us an opportunity for interesting conversations and exposure to the things around us. We bought a tub of mangoes, they looked too good to pass up so 10000 TZS( later we are walking home with 3 bags of mangoes. The group thought it was cool. We felt good about our decision and action.
I personally got to talk to family today. This made me truly happy. Spotty phone service and poor internet service has made it difficult speaking with family  a shift from speaking with them multiple times a day. I was therefore stoked about my success.

Our trip for Iringa put a break in my communication today. I napped on our way there, but the tour around the industrial parts of the city as we sought for wares that would remind us of our time here was splendid. People sourced for Kangas , ketenge, massai beads, baskets, carvings etc. In the end everyone was satisfied with their buys and the cost of acquisition of each ware.

We then met up for drinks a local pub while we spoke with a USAID representative of her experiences working in TZ and other African nations she has had the honor of working in both as a peace corp member, an employee of Johns Hopkins and many other organizations she worked/ consulted for. The drinks were cold and refreshing, they also played Afrobeats reminding me strongly of home.

Our drive back was eventful as we trudged into a busy supermarket trying to replenish our snack boxes. Of note we also invested in libations from wines to whiskey, ciders, gin etc. We definitely are looking forward to weeks of bonding and relaxation post the hard work we do during the day.

In general, today was great. It was reflective of, and showcased the beauty that resides in rural life and living. As a group we continue to strive for balance and we seem to be doing a great job giving of ourselves, fulfilling destiny and dreams while also restoring our physical and mental bodies.