DukeEngage | Duke Center for Civic Engagement

So it’s been a while since I wrote last (thanks for noticing I’m sure you’ve missed me). Chalk one off for my ability to be Internet independent. Anyway, we’ve been busy here in Tanzania. Even though I couldn’t get on the Internet and blog, I’ve got a few blog entries saved up on my computer that I’ll go ahead and post. Just pretend like they’ve been added at the appropriate times instead of all together right now….

So we made it here alright this past weekend and the week seems to be going OK. We’ve accomplished a lot in the way of meeting people and getting to know the workings of the hospital, but completing the inventory is going frustratingly slow. I think it’s important to get to know the hospital and staff because this will likely help us move faster once we begin fixing things, but right now it’s kind of annoying.

We went into Moshi on Sunday and again on Tuesday. Both trips into town were by dalladalla (micro-van public transportation) and had their own fun little surprises like, oh I don’t know, the door falling off. I’ve found the best way to cope with some of Tanzania’s crazy shenanigans is to laugh it off and realize it makes for a good story. Sunday we met up with groups from two other hospitals and explored around a bit to get our bearings and figure out where we can go for spare parts and such. Tuesday we went into town to see Kibosho’s head doctor. She is sick and, for reasons unknown to me, she is staying at a small developing hospital in Moshi. After visiting her, we met up with the same two other hospital groups for dinner before heading back to Kibosho.

This weekend everyone’s getting back together to go climb Kili for a day. We’re going to the first base camp and, while that isn’t nearly as cool as actually climbing the whole thing, it’s as close as we’re going to get since we only get weekends off.

I promise this is the last family update – not because I now understand everything, but because I’m leaving tomorrow, so there shouldn’t be anything else really Earth-shattering. We learned that Deo is Anton’s son with another woman, who now lives in Moshi. This revelation came about when Deo left to see his mother today.

You’ve probably noticed that I’ve spent a lot of time talking about the trips we’ve been on around Tanzania, which begs the question: are these kids actually doing anything? My answer is yes, absolutely. In the past month we have learned a lot of Swahili and quite a bit about medical equipment. While you can only make so much progress in a foreign language in a month, I feel like we now have a firm foundation that we can build upon in our second month as we interact in our hospitals. With regard to the medical equipment, we’ve not only gained knowledge through lecture and lab, but we’ve worked first hand on medical equipment in Mt. Meru Hospital in Arusha. Each group has been briefed about their respective hospital, and most of us are receiving transportation to our hospitals tomorrow (my hospital is called Kibosho Hospital).

I must admit, even with the preparation we’ve undergone, I’m still somewhat nervous to be going to a remote hospital near Kili armed with just a tool kit, my own wits, and my partner, Gynter. Oh well, here goes nothin’.

At our home stay, we watch really crappy Spanish soap operas that are dubbed into English, but I don’t think they can compare with the complicated web of relationships in the home stay itself. I hope for your sake that this is the last family update I make. I’ve discovered that Lulu has no blood relation to the family, but is just staying with them. Lulu’s mother visits on occasion, but doesn’t live at our house. I’ve considered the possibility that Lulu is a daughter Anton had with another woman, but I’m inclined to think that isn’t the case. Another crazy plot twist unfolded last night when Anton’s 35-year-old son came to visit. What!? He has a 35-year-old son? Yep, Dominique (or something like that) works at a hotel nearby in Usa River.

We went on a Safari for the Fourth of July weekend and had a great time. We hit Ngorongoro Crater Saturday and Tarangire Sunday. We saw most of the characters of the Lion King including Rafiki, Simba (as an adult), Timone, Pumba, the creepy hyena guys, and all of the zebra extras. We also saw many wildebeest, several hippos, a few giraffes, some elephants, a rhino, and flamingos to name a few of the usual suspects. The Big 5 is a reference to the five most (formerly) hunted animals in Africa, which includes the buffalo, elephant, leopard, lion, and rhino.

I should also mention that we went to the UN tribunal on the Rwandan Genocide last Thursday. We were going to see the actual proceedings but unfortunately they had adjourned for the day. It was still a good trip; we saw the courtroom and learned a lot about international criminal justice and what has happened so far in the Rwandan proceedings.

I’ll go ahead and start off with another update about the family. I now think that Lulu and Deo are not Anton’s children, but are the children of his deceased siblings. We know that Anton’s siblings have passed away and Anton’s wife told us that she is the mother of Stella, Protus, and Shedrok, so I’m guessing that the family took in the children of Anton’s siblings. The problem is that I don’t want to pry too much into the family’s business, so I haven’t explicitly asked.

Anyway, we went to Zanzibar this weekend and it was a blast. It was a long weekend since Monday was off. We flew in Saturday and, after doing a brief tour of Stone Town, went on a spice tour. It was cool to see, smell, and taste different spices as plants before they make it to your kitchen table. We also had some of the best fruit I’ve ever tasted – not even stuff that was all that exotic, but it was so fresh it was amazing. We spent the night in Nungwi on the North of the island and I went SCUBA diving the next morning with two others in our group. There were many colorful fish, but my favorite part were the sea turtles and kettle fish that we saw. We also got to see a big group of dolphins up close on the boat ride back.

The weekend culminated with our bus breaking down and us almost missing our flight back to the mainland. Fortunately, they let us on the plane even though the doors had already closed and we were back in time for dinner.