An Overdue Update

Hello all!!!! Mambo Vipi?

I realized today that it has been a long time of no communication and maybe time for an update! A lot has happened in the past few weeks and I am officially past the halfway point of my stay in Tanzania. Leah left me three weeks ago, along with all of the other July volunteers. The house was very quite for a while, with just one other volunteer and Moses (our country coordinator). As soon as the last July volunteer left we actually packed up the house and moved. White House (where Basecamp has been based for the past 3 years) is too big for the number of volunteers during the school year so head office asked us to move! It was quite an experience to move in Tanzania, they are incredibly efficient, it was in total a two day process. We packed up the house on Saturday and a HUGE truck came on Sunday and moved everything in one load to the new place, by the end of the day we were pretty much moved in and unpacked.

The new house is very nice, it is much closer to my placement then the old house (20 min walk rather then 45), though it is much farther from town, which is a slight inconvenience. It is nice to be in a smaller house, it feels more ‘homey’ compared to the old house. It also has a beautiful front yard and garden that I have been enjoying after work. It is in a nice neighborhood with a lot of friendly people on my road to work.

The new group of volunteer arrived 2 weeks ago, and has just had their first week of placement. I have two girls working with me and the first week went very well! I am loving work and finding myself more and more useful as the time goes on. My Kswahili has been improving enough to run reception, I run the nursing station (blood pressure and body weight) and have been getting experience in the lab. Our hospital is quite short staffed at times so we fill in wherever we can! I have seen many C-section and a few appendectomies so far, this experience has definitely confirmed my desire to be a nurse.

This past Thursday I was invited to my first local celebration! My friend Editha from the clinic invited the new girls and I to her younger brother’s graduation. It was lots of fun and so interested to be at such a local and momentous event… We were definitely out of place, but everyone was happy to see a few Mzungu’s there, it was a little like we were an attraction at the zoo that everyone wanted to have their picture with. We had a great time though and the school grounds were in the most beautiful area, it was so lush and green. Everywhere I go here I am constantly amazed by how beautiful the city is. I am truly going to miss Arusha (and Tanzania) when I leave.

5 weeks left, I know it is going to go very fast, which makes me excited but nervous and scared at the same time. It is going to be very hard to leave this place, but I truly am missing everyone at home! … Heading off to Uganda as my last trip before leaving, I am going to Raft the Nile with a couple of friends and Bungee Jump into the source of it. I will try and post more often but I no longer have internet at home and the closest internet is too slow to access the blog site… Next weekend check back!

Xoxo Love from Arusha!