January 18, 2019

This is Yvonne, my turn to blog. I rounded with the inpatient team today, with Dr. Benjamin and several volunteers. It was an interesting group effort, with us learning much about malaria and HIV from Dr. Benjamin, and I think we contributed in management of several of the patients, especially gyn and cardiac issues. After rounds we went to the nursing school, for the equivalent of a "white coat" ceremony. The students danced for us, and in front of the table of the pastors, teachers and other officials. None of us could imagine our medical students performing a dance for their professors at theri white coat ceremony! But fun to watch. Then it was on to the Swahili lesson. The sentence structure and pronunciation fairly easy, but a lot was crammed into an hour. My brain was definitely in a daze when we reached the point of how to count into the thousands and ten thousands. I will be happy to say "harabi" and "asanti" and rely on my younger volunteer friends who absorb this much faster!  So many interesting new things to learn! It has been fun.

Day 2

Today was very unique. We had students from Gustavus Adolphus college visit the town of Ilula. They joined us for church service in the morning at 8am. Amongst them were students who are studying nursing, pre-med, engineering, and other disciplines. They entertained us with two beautiful songs: one sung in both English and Swahili and the second sung in Swahili only.  After the morning report, we took the students for a quick tour of the hospital. They had snacks while we went for rounds. We had lunch and went for a walk across the town. We sat down at a local bar and had drinks. We later came home and had a fun night singing and playing populator tunes.

First Day in Ilula

Today was our first full day in Ilula. Because we arrived late last night, this morning was the first time we saw Ilula in the daylight. The view from the back porches of our dormitories is a breathtaking green scenery! For me, this morning as I looked at the mountains in the distance was the moment that I stopped and thought “Wow... I’m actually here in Tanzania.”

We started off the morning with the daily worship service, morning report with the clinicians, and many, many, friendly introductions. All of the Minnesota team members were split up into four different groups to go to different areas of the hospital -  the outpatient clinic, the inpatient ward, the HIV clinic, and the OB ward. The day was packed full of interesting clinical cases, learning from our Tanzanian colleagues, and many discussions comparing U.S. and Tanzanian standards of care. 

After debriefing our day in the afternoon, we decided to take a walk around Ilula in the rain. As if being surrounded by mountains wasn’t stunning enough, a double rainbow painted the sky. 

I can’t wait to see what the next 4 weeks will bring.

Journey to Ilula

We had quite a long but exciting day! We had some missing luggage that we have now been reunited with. We made the 10 hour drive from Dar es Salaam to Ilula. We were greeted by many friends at Ilula Hospital and enjoyed a wonderful meal. We are now all settled into our housing and are looking forward to jumping into clinical experiences. Lala salama (sleep well) my friends! 

Pictured: a group selfie on the bus and our delicious welcome cake

Dar es Salaam

Jambo Friends and Family! After a 20+ hour journey through nine time zones I am proud to announce that we and (most of) our bags arrived safely to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania last night. We started our time together with a team bonding exercise of suitcase sharing. Nothing seems to bring people together quite like that fresh mint toothpaste flavor. While we patiently wait for our final few bags to catch up with us tonight we took the opportunity to explore the wonders of Dar. The morning was spent at the US embassy learning about the structure of the USAID program in Tanzania, the foreign service, and overall influences on Tanzanian health. Special shoutout to our gracious host Jennifer who came into meet with our group despite the government shutdown. After a lovely chat with our new friends at the embassy we took in some of the local life by exploring the fish market. Upon arrival we were quickly approached by a knowledgeable local. With his assistance we were able to people watch and see the purchasing process from beginning to end. One of the items that surprised many of us during the preparation process was the amount of ink that came out of the squid when it was being chopped up. Our group later had the opportunity to sample this squid along with some fresh shrimp. The remainder of the day was spent enjoying other local cuisines and getting to know each other better before beginning our 10 hour bus ride journey to Ilula tomorrow. We all are excited to see what Tanzania has instore for us the next few weeks and look forward to getting to work together as a team.

Pictured below: Tanzanian men bidding on a recent catch

First wave departure

Deann, Sarah, Maja, Megan, Michaela and Kaylin

Bob, Yvonne, Michael, Randy, and Deepthi

Today we sent off the majority of the first wave of travelers to Ilula, Tanzania. Several of the travelers have gone independently and will rendezvous in Dar es Salaam.  So today was an exciting day! It even seems quieter here for some reason, although that may simply be because nearly all my details are completed.  Now Birdie and I will focus on packing ourselves over the next 10 days. There is stuff to gather and centralize from scattered locations. I hear myself thinking, “I know I put that where I wouldn’t misplace it.” I wonder if the others go through this?

Perhaps I will publish a link to our detailed itinerary for friends and family to peruse if they wish. For now, I will just publish two photos of the group, lacking Gina, Michael and Selei.

Pre-Travel note

Dear Friends,
This blog tells the stories and events we experience at Ilula Lutheran Hospital near Iringa, Tanzania. The writers are Learners and Faculty from Shoulder to Shoulder spending time at the hospital and surrounding area. The group has been preparing for many months. Some of us have been multiple times, some never before. You can expect to see some entries around January 12, possibly before. Feel free to tell your friends and family about the blog. It is our way of recording the happenings, thoughts and feelings we are experiencing while in Tanzania and perhaps even before or after arrival.