Hi all,
So three weeks have passed and I have settled into Tanzanian life. Work is going well, some days are very slow and there is nothing to do, but other days are very hectic. Monday, Wednesday and Friday the baby clinic is busy and Tuesday and Thursday the other volunteers and I float throughout the clinic between the nursing station where we take blood pressure and weight of the patients, reception, and the wards. This week we are going to try and get into the lab to test ourselves for malaria ect. I have seen three c-sections but no natural births yet (apparently most of the happen during the night, haha, I don’t know how they work that out). On Tuesday and Thursday afternoons I go to a school up the street to play games with the kids.
Weekends are peaceful, we tend to lounge around the house, do laundry and go out for food. Yesterday Leah and I went on a road trip to our friend Nelson’s village near Moshi. He is fixing up his old house there and turning into an orphanage with the help of one of the past volunteers. His village was amazing, absolutely beautiful, the orphanage is going to be awesome, he still has quite a bit of work to do but hopes to be able to move the kids in soon. We met a lot of the orphans that will be living there and gave them new clothes and toys that we brought over. Most of the kids are currently living with neighbors or relatives but are not being treated well so hopefully they will be able to move in soon. We also gave an HIV talk to the women and some of the men in his village, which went very well. They were very appreciative and hopefully will pass on the information to their families and friends. It was a long but wonderful day. The drive was stunning, it made me so happy to be here, Tanzania is one of the most beautiful places I have visited.
Today we all went for breakfast at one of the hotels up the road. It was so good to eat cheese and fruit and drink real coffee. The food at home is great, but there are a few things that we miss. Isaac (our cook) tends to only buy fruit once a week, and is eaten very quickly- luckily we pass orange carts all the way home from work so we can easily buy fruits ourselves, but it was a treat to have an endless supply at breakfast. The coffee was also amazing… at home we drink Africafe instant coffee (I drink a lot of tea instead), it sure makes real coffee taste amazing though! Haha. After breakfast a few of us went on a walk to the new Basecamp house, we are moving in September to a smaller house that is closer to most of the placements. Our house right now is too big for the low season because there are generally only 5 volunteers at a time, the new house is amazing though, it has a beautiful front yard and huge garden that the landlord is going to have maintained, it is all on one floor with 4 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms. Moses (our country coordinator) has even agreed to get a dog (that I will have trained by the time I leave), our house right now has two dogs, but they belong to the family who lives next door. I am very excited for the move… and it means my walk to placement is only 20 min rather the 45.
That’s all that is new over here… Oh, Leah and I, along with 5 other volunteers, are heading to Zanzibar on Friday for 6 days and then 10 of us are heading out on safari when we get back!!! It should be an amazing week!!!
xoxo from Africa!
PS. I know you all probably want some photos, but the internet is very very slow here, so it might not happen, we might be able to put them up through the internet at one of the hotels, I will let you know if we manage to get it to work!
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Exciting News
I am officially a nurse! My parents sent my results via e-mail. Now I can stop stressing. Thanks to everyone for their encouraging words.
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Our Address
Oh I forgot.
Our address is:
P.O. Box 16963 Arusha Tanzania.
Just in case anyone wants to send anything. You can address it with our name also. Thanks!
Our address is:
P.O. Box 16963 Arusha Tanzania.
Just in case anyone wants to send anything. You can address it with our name also. Thanks!
Food Selection
Hi All,
I realized we have not yet discussed our food selection here in Tanzania. We have a cook that comes to the house Monday-Saturday. He cooks breakfast & dinner & packs us a lunch each day. There is the same schedule of food every week. So Tuesday's, tonight, is Makande, which is beans & ugali (maise) balls. It is quite delicious but I am sure I will get tired of it soon. Other items on the menu include: Ugali, some sort of chicken in "orange sauce", vegetables in "orange sauce", & sometimes he throws in some random items. It is all delicious though.
We have also gone out for food quite a few times. When you have traditional Tanzanian food everyday it is nice to go out for Indian or just Pizza. One of my favourite things I have come across is call Chips Mayai. It is the most delicious thing ever & the first time I tried it was after a night out. We literally just told our taxi driver to take us to chips mayai & he finds a random street vendor for us. It is Tanzania's version of street meat. Though they usually have delicious beef skewers also. So, you are probably wondering what this chips mayai entails so here goes: it is french fries which go in a frying pan and then they pour egg over top. And that is it. It is a french fry omelet. Don't hate it until you try it.
On the weekend I also had something called a hairy sausage...not really sure what makes it hairy so mixture of spices & being deep fried but again delicious. Nothing here is remotely good for you, except the corn that the women cook & sell on street corners. I have it about every other day! That is about it for food.
Fenz & I booked flights to Zanzibar today so we are very excited about that. There is a group of 6 of us going so it should be a lot of fun.
Surgery day was cool. I was glad to see it was pretty legit, unlike some of the other things that go on at the hospital. I saw a C-section, a hysterectomy with suprise appendectomy & a guy with a badly broken tibia & fibula that was reset & casted. So, it was pretty fun, there is another C-section scheduled for Thursday so hopefully it will be while I am at the hospital.
I think that is all for now. Hope it starts to warm up there & stops raining.
xo, Leah
I realized we have not yet discussed our food selection here in Tanzania. We have a cook that comes to the house Monday-Saturday. He cooks breakfast & dinner & packs us a lunch each day. There is the same schedule of food every week. So Tuesday's, tonight, is Makande, which is beans & ugali (maise) balls. It is quite delicious but I am sure I will get tired of it soon. Other items on the menu include: Ugali, some sort of chicken in "orange sauce", vegetables in "orange sauce", & sometimes he throws in some random items. It is all delicious though.
We have also gone out for food quite a few times. When you have traditional Tanzanian food everyday it is nice to go out for Indian or just Pizza. One of my favourite things I have come across is call Chips Mayai. It is the most delicious thing ever & the first time I tried it was after a night out. We literally just told our taxi driver to take us to chips mayai & he finds a random street vendor for us. It is Tanzania's version of street meat. Though they usually have delicious beef skewers also. So, you are probably wondering what this chips mayai entails so here goes: it is french fries which go in a frying pan and then they pour egg over top. And that is it. It is a french fry omelet. Don't hate it until you try it.
On the weekend I also had something called a hairy sausage...not really sure what makes it hairy so mixture of spices & being deep fried but again delicious. Nothing here is remotely good for you, except the corn that the women cook & sell on street corners. I have it about every other day! That is about it for food.
Fenz & I booked flights to Zanzibar today so we are very excited about that. There is a group of 6 of us going so it should be a lot of fun.
Surgery day was cool. I was glad to see it was pretty legit, unlike some of the other things that go on at the hospital. I saw a C-section, a hysterectomy with suprise appendectomy & a guy with a badly broken tibia & fibula that was reset & casted. So, it was pretty fun, there is another C-section scheduled for Thursday so hopefully it will be while I am at the hospital.
I think that is all for now. Hope it starts to warm up there & stops raining.
xo, Leah
Friday, July 17, 2009
Placement - So different & a little scary
So, I have now started my placement. It is a general hospital with a white building in the front, housing reception, assessment rooms and the diabetic and outpatient clinics. As I walk further back there is a courtyard housing the laboratory, pharmacy, payment window & offices. And at the back there is a newer building with 9 rooms, 6 doubles & 3 private rooms. However, the private rooms are always empty because no one can afford to stay there. Room 7 is where I keep my stuff locked in the closet, so obviously there is never anyone in there. The operating theatre is also in the back building though I have not seen a surgery yet. Doctors come from other hospitals to perform all scheduled surgeries on Saturdays. Our doctors only do emergency surgeries such as C-section’s, appendectomy’s, etc. I am planning on going in tomorrow to view a few of the scheduled surgeries, however most of my weekends are getting filled up with trips I am planning.
The beginning of my week was quite boring, I sat in on report, which luckily is mostly in English, except for when they go on random tangents. I then did ward rounds and took part in a few of the clinics (diabetic & CTC an HIV clinic), however I just stood there as they spoke in Swahili the whole time and didn’t explain to me what was going on.
Yesterday I was paired with an amazing nurse in the Reproductive & Child Health Clinic. She explained everything to me & we had a few good chats about Canada & our health care system. The children were adorable, ranging in age from 1 month to 4 years. They came to be weighed, & get their immunizations. This also gave us an opportunity to discuss family planning with the mothers. The clinic is also for expecting Mother’s, though this is a little sketchier as we determine the fetal heart rate by placing a metal cone type thing to the women’s belly & putting your ear to it. In fact, I couldn’t hear the heart rate at all & the calculate beats per minute without even looking at a watch…???
Today was a good day, I felt semi helpful. I worked on the inpatient ward, did rounds, inputed patient’s charges (they have to pay for service) into the computer & dispensed medications. Unfortunately, giving medications was the most frustrating experience as it took over 1.5 hours to give out approx. 12 medications. Everything here is very disorganized & takes years to get any work done.
We are currently looking at flights for Zanzibar Island for the weekend of August 1st. So excited!!! No big plans for this weekend so far. One of the volunteers just had a play structure built at the orphanage he is working at so we may go to help paint it this weekend. Other than that, surgery day tomorrow & relaxing Sunday.
Love & Miss you all. Hope you are all enjoy the summer weather at home.
Xo, Leah
The beginning of my week was quite boring, I sat in on report, which luckily is mostly in English, except for when they go on random tangents. I then did ward rounds and took part in a few of the clinics (diabetic & CTC an HIV clinic), however I just stood there as they spoke in Swahili the whole time and didn’t explain to me what was going on.
Yesterday I was paired with an amazing nurse in the Reproductive & Child Health Clinic. She explained everything to me & we had a few good chats about Canada & our health care system. The children were adorable, ranging in age from 1 month to 4 years. They came to be weighed, & get their immunizations. This also gave us an opportunity to discuss family planning with the mothers. The clinic is also for expecting Mother’s, though this is a little sketchier as we determine the fetal heart rate by placing a metal cone type thing to the women’s belly & putting your ear to it. In fact, I couldn’t hear the heart rate at all & the calculate beats per minute without even looking at a watch…???
Today was a good day, I felt semi helpful. I worked on the inpatient ward, did rounds, inputed patient’s charges (they have to pay for service) into the computer & dispensed medications. Unfortunately, giving medications was the most frustrating experience as it took over 1.5 hours to give out approx. 12 medications. Everything here is very disorganized & takes years to get any work done.
We are currently looking at flights for Zanzibar Island for the weekend of August 1st. So excited!!! No big plans for this weekend so far. One of the volunteers just had a play structure built at the orphanage he is working at so we may go to help paint it this weekend. Other than that, surgery day tomorrow & relaxing Sunday.
Love & Miss you all. Hope you are all enjoy the summer weather at home.
Xo, Leah
Monday, July 13, 2009
Long over-due update!!
Mambo Rafiki’s
Sorry for the lack of communication, here is a long update about what has been going on! … we have been here for just over a week now, but it seems like we have been here for so much longer, Arusha is slowly becoming home and we are getting more and more comfortable around town. Orientation week is almost over, our last activity is a long hike up to a waterfall on Mt. Meru tomorrow.
The past few days have been very busy. We are become much better at Kswahili and are having fun chatting with the locals and bargaining at the markets. Our Swahili lessons are now over, so from now on we just have to practice!
Wednesday we went to a coffee plantation that had a jewelry workshop next to it. The jewelry was all made by deaf or disabled individuals, because they are rarely educated here and have a hard time finding employment. The place was gorgeous, we started off by having a tour of the workshop, then checked out the store next door. They then brought us amazing coffee and cakes in a couched seating area in the yard, just as we were finishing our cakes monkeys started coming out of the forest. There were tons of them that started running around and playing on the furniture, they provided us with great entertainment. Once we finished our snack we had a tour of the coffee plantation and saw how coffee was made, it was really neat to see the different steps of the process… I will definitely be going back to buy some coffee to bring home.
Thursday we checked out our placements, which we started today… I will go into more detail at the end. Friday we split up into groups and did ‘amazing race Arusha’ – basically we put to use everything we learned during orientation, we bargained at the market, road a dalla dalla down the street, and ran all over the city doing a variety of tasks, it was awesome and I feel so much more comfortable now. Saturday was the last official day of orientation, we did a 7 hour hike to a beautiful waterfall, it was tough but amazing once we got there.
Yesterday we had the day off and all went to a place called Magi Moto hot springs, it was absolutely stunning, we drove for 1.5 hours through very very dry land and all of a sudden there was a hidden oasis, we swam and hung out for a few hours before going back. On our way back however our engine started to over heat (a friend of ours owns a dalla dalla and took us there) so we had to pull over and he threw water on it which sprayed everywhere, once it cooled down a bit we hopped back in and were on our way, we were all very happy when we arrived home… a side note about the roads here - there are no speed limits so there are speed-bumps randomly placed along the road (including on the highway), the speed-bumps are so big though that the bottom of the cars scrapes them… hence the dalla dalla having trouble towards the end of our journey.
And finally today: our first day of placement!
I am working at Arusha Health Center for Women and Children, it is a very very small clinic that serves mostly women and children of low SES. Some of the practices are a little strange, and would shock most of the nurses that read this, but it is going to be very educational, and I am looking forward to it… They have a lot of good things going at the clinic as well, today I worked at the baby clinic weighing and helping vaccinate babies. They all have baby books, just like at home, and return every month to be weighed; we also graph their weight in the book so the mothers can see if their baby is over or underweight for their age. The most exciting part of my day however, was an emergency C-section this afternoon. We scrubbed in and watched the doctors cut through layers and layers, which was slightly gruesome, but very cool, and then all of a sudden there was a baby!! … We started to go into the other room to watch the nurses clean it up and weigh it, but then we saw another baby coming out!! … it was unreal, because of the lack of good ultra-sound equipment they did not know it was twins, both were healthy and happy, it was such an amazing experience!
Leah is working at the AICC which is the nicest and largest hospital in Arusha, most of other volunteers are jealous of her hospital, it is luxury compared to most of the placements… she will describe her experience more in the next post.
That is all!!! Sorry for the long post this time, but they will get shorter!! Oh and for all the Mulgravians reading this, I saw Nolo today!!! She has not change a bit, it was so good to see her!!
Xoxo
Sarah
Sorry for the lack of communication, here is a long update about what has been going on! … we have been here for just over a week now, but it seems like we have been here for so much longer, Arusha is slowly becoming home and we are getting more and more comfortable around town. Orientation week is almost over, our last activity is a long hike up to a waterfall on Mt. Meru tomorrow.
The past few days have been very busy. We are become much better at Kswahili and are having fun chatting with the locals and bargaining at the markets. Our Swahili lessons are now over, so from now on we just have to practice!
Wednesday we went to a coffee plantation that had a jewelry workshop next to it. The jewelry was all made by deaf or disabled individuals, because they are rarely educated here and have a hard time finding employment. The place was gorgeous, we started off by having a tour of the workshop, then checked out the store next door. They then brought us amazing coffee and cakes in a couched seating area in the yard, just as we were finishing our cakes monkeys started coming out of the forest. There were tons of them that started running around and playing on the furniture, they provided us with great entertainment. Once we finished our snack we had a tour of the coffee plantation and saw how coffee was made, it was really neat to see the different steps of the process… I will definitely be going back to buy some coffee to bring home.
Thursday we checked out our placements, which we started today… I will go into more detail at the end. Friday we split up into groups and did ‘amazing race Arusha’ – basically we put to use everything we learned during orientation, we bargained at the market, road a dalla dalla down the street, and ran all over the city doing a variety of tasks, it was awesome and I feel so much more comfortable now. Saturday was the last official day of orientation, we did a 7 hour hike to a beautiful waterfall, it was tough but amazing once we got there.
Yesterday we had the day off and all went to a place called Magi Moto hot springs, it was absolutely stunning, we drove for 1.5 hours through very very dry land and all of a sudden there was a hidden oasis, we swam and hung out for a few hours before going back. On our way back however our engine started to over heat (a friend of ours owns a dalla dalla and took us there) so we had to pull over and he threw water on it which sprayed everywhere, once it cooled down a bit we hopped back in and were on our way, we were all very happy when we arrived home… a side note about the roads here - there are no speed limits so there are speed-bumps randomly placed along the road (including on the highway), the speed-bumps are so big though that the bottom of the cars scrapes them… hence the dalla dalla having trouble towards the end of our journey.
And finally today: our first day of placement!
I am working at Arusha Health Center for Women and Children, it is a very very small clinic that serves mostly women and children of low SES. Some of the practices are a little strange, and would shock most of the nurses that read this, but it is going to be very educational, and I am looking forward to it… They have a lot of good things going at the clinic as well, today I worked at the baby clinic weighing and helping vaccinate babies. They all have baby books, just like at home, and return every month to be weighed; we also graph their weight in the book so the mothers can see if their baby is over or underweight for their age. The most exciting part of my day however, was an emergency C-section this afternoon. We scrubbed in and watched the doctors cut through layers and layers, which was slightly gruesome, but very cool, and then all of a sudden there was a baby!! … We started to go into the other room to watch the nurses clean it up and weigh it, but then we saw another baby coming out!! … it was unreal, because of the lack of good ultra-sound equipment they did not know it was twins, both were healthy and happy, it was such an amazing experience!
Leah is working at the AICC which is the nicest and largest hospital in Arusha, most of other volunteers are jealous of her hospital, it is luxury compared to most of the placements… she will describe her experience more in the next post.
That is all!!! Sorry for the long post this time, but they will get shorter!! Oh and for all the Mulgravians reading this, I saw Nolo today!!! She has not change a bit, it was so good to see her!!
Xoxo
Sarah
Still alive, Tanzanian internet
Just letting everyone know we are still alive. Our internet has been down for the last few days but is finally back up and running. A longer more encompassing blog is on it's way.
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Daladala's, Snakes, Alligators, & Camel Humps
Basecamp is awesome! Everyone is really nice & orientation week allows us to really get to know one another & the town of Arusha. We are living in a four bed room (2 bunk beds) with only one other women. She is in her early 50's and was in Arusha last year with volunteer abroad, so she is a good resource of what to do & where to go around the town.
The house is gorgeous, it is called the "White House" and has a great balcony across the front of the house. We also have a small balcony off of our bedroom which is quite nice for some extra light. There is a small lawn out front which is great to lay on & read a book, or write in the journal.
Neither of us has started our placements, we have been involved in orientation activities including: language training, tours of the town, museums, and markets. Today we went to a poor area that is actually just down the street from our house. We went with our language teacher and attempted to speak with the people there, with some success and many failures. The children were adorable and yell Mzungu Mzungu (which is a tourist, or white person, esencially us) to get our attention. The also were grabbing at our skin and holding our hands, really just adorable.
In the afternoon we went to a snake park which had a lot of poisonous snakes as well as constrictors and alligators. We got to hold a small alligator and a snake. Afterward we were given a tour of the Massai (a local tribe) museum and their traditions and way of living. After which, we took a camel ride to a Massai village. The camels were very cool until we almost fell off a couple of times on the way back from the village. Luckily we had each other to hold on to. When we got to the village we were surrounded by smiling children. It was amazing to see them but also quite sad as some of the children did not have pants to wear, and there were flies all around.
We are having an amazing time and are looking forward to the rest of this week and the activities planned for us. We are thinking we will have a different account for pictures as we can only upload one at a time on here and the internet is far too slow to do that.
- Leah
The house is gorgeous, it is called the "White House" and has a great balcony across the front of the house. We also have a small balcony off of our bedroom which is quite nice for some extra light. There is a small lawn out front which is great to lay on & read a book, or write in the journal.
Neither of us has started our placements, we have been involved in orientation activities including: language training, tours of the town, museums, and markets. Today we went to a poor area that is actually just down the street from our house. We went with our language teacher and attempted to speak with the people there, with some success and many failures. The children were adorable and yell Mzungu Mzungu (which is a tourist, or white person, esencially us) to get our attention. The also were grabbing at our skin and holding our hands, really just adorable.
In the afternoon we went to a snake park which had a lot of poisonous snakes as well as constrictors and alligators. We got to hold a small alligator and a snake. Afterward we were given a tour of the Massai (a local tribe) museum and their traditions and way of living. After which, we took a camel ride to a Massai village. The camels were very cool until we almost fell off a couple of times on the way back from the village. Luckily we had each other to hold on to. When we got to the village we were surrounded by smiling children. It was amazing to see them but also quite sad as some of the children did not have pants to wear, and there were flies all around.
We are having an amazing time and are looking forward to the rest of this week and the activities planned for us. We are thinking we will have a different account for pictures as we can only upload one at a time on here and the internet is far too slow to do that.
- Leah
Saturday, July 4, 2009
Happy Birthday Brigid
Happy Birthday Brig,
We miss you, and hope you are having an amazing day.
... My (Leah) phone number is: 001 255 688 044 087
It is free for me if you want to call. Obviously I am not expecting you to call but if you feel the need to talk to me I will have it with me most of the time.
Fenzzi is probably getting a cell phone tomorrow, stay tuned for details.
xo Have a great day!
We miss you, and hope you are having an amazing day.
... My (Leah) phone number is: 001 255 688 044 087
It is free for me if you want to call. Obviously I am not expecting you to call but if you feel the need to talk to me I will have it with me most of the time.
Fenzzi is probably getting a cell phone tomorrow, stay tuned for details.
xo Have a great day!
We have arrived!
Hello All!!!
We are here!!! We arrived in safely last night and spent the morning walking around town exploring. Basecamp is beautiful and everyone is very nice. We have a busy week ahead of us getting to know the area. Tonight we are having a traditional African meal and a bonfire in the yard. We will keep you posted as the week goes on and we have more to say!
xoxo
Leah and Sarah
We are here!!! We arrived in safely last night and spent the morning walking around town exploring. Basecamp is beautiful and everyone is very nice. We have a busy week ahead of us getting to know the area. Tonight we are having a traditional African meal and a bonfire in the yard. We will keep you posted as the week goes on and we have more to say!
xoxo
Leah and Sarah
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