Thursday, was I’d say quite a successful day. We have only been here a week and already doctors and staff members are recognizing that Soren and I are actually capable of helping them significantly. We’ve already received many thanks!  We went to the labor ward to return a heating lamp that’s now working BUT in the process of plugging it in, Soren got shocked while touching the metal casing of the heater. We immediately thought that maybe we had re-wired it improperly and took it back to our work area to see. Testing it in an office, there was no shock! So we went back to the labor ward to check out the electric sockets. Turns out that the sockets we found around the wall are wired badly, there is about 100 volts across the neutral and ground wires… for those who don’t know, it should be ZERO! The staff hadn’t noticed because the equipment they had plugged in had plastic casings. The best we could do for now since they need the heater for the newborns was a warning sign on the wall saying to unplug it before touching the heater. Although it’s nowhere near perfect, in these circumstances, it’s the best we can do at this point! 

 Just as we were thinking our heater was a big problem, we entered the ward while the nurses were resuscitating a new born that was being kept warm by the heater we’d just placed in! It was amazing to see that little bundle start breathing after laying on the table for 10 minutes without moving whatsoever. With the little resources they have available, the staff sure can work some magic sometimes. I was able to talk to a nurse volunteering from the UK who had been assisting in the labor ward the past few weeks. She received a lot of wide eyed gasps from me as she described the general procedures of giving birth at the hospital. The thought of giving birth to a child is alarming/scary enough, the “primitive conditions,” as she said, here are interesting to see, but it’s just how it is and since the services provided by the hospital for giving birth is free, there’s not much that can change I don’t think.

After lunch, Soren went to the lab to check on the status of a machine they want fixed so I went to… the newborn room of course! I talked to the main nurse about which pieces of equipment she uses and needs most often and it was quite evident that I wanted to work on their broken oxygen concentrator next. Yesterday, there had only been about 5 babies in the room, but today there was probably around 20. There were 3 babies hooked up to oxygen concentrators and she said she had been toggling between babies since there wasn’t enough to go around at once. I found Soren and he carried it back to our little “work station” aka a bench outside to look at (they are so heavy!). Luckily it was an easy fix just fixing and cleaning the tubing along with cleaning out the filter as best we could because it was all preventing air flow. It was the greatest feeling returning it working just fine that day, knowing it will be used immediately. I’m still thinking hard about what I’d like to do for my secondary project but I haven’t put my finger on anything just yet!

This week at the hospital has been quite interesting and of course I’m always learning.

Favorite Swahili phrase of the week: Shagala bagala – meaning a mess, and can be used quite frequently with the work we do and see!

Monday was a rather boring day, our lovely guide and head doctor were both in a meeting until 11:30 so we tried occupying ourselves in the lab seeing if there was any possible way to fix their blood bank fridge and replace the specific hinges on the centrifuge that had broken off (no such luck yet!). We were also introduced to a Thermo blood testing machine that wasn’t running properly on their computer, so they let us take a manual home to try and find out how everything was supposed to be installed. Then Nuru took us to the labor ward to meet the doctors there. Almost 75% of the lights in the building were out and where they perform C-sections doesn’t even have an operating lamp- just 4 hanging ceiling lights. We are determined to get them replaced and all fixed! We are also now signed up to watch a C-section, I am pretty darn interested to see how it goes as long as I don’t faint in the process! After work, Soren and I went into a market near our hospital (we have such a good location to access anything being based right in Arusha) and bought vegetables, fruit, bread, and spaghetti for the week. I’m trying my best to learn how to cook good, cheap food!

Tuesday, my body decided to rebel against all the food and water I’ve been drinking. It’s been a real challenge ensuring that food is cooked properly and finding out if there are any food items my stomach just doesn’t like here. So, I ended up staying home the whole day and slept until noon feeling much better after. Soren came back from the hospital early to make sure I was alive and of course had a highly successful day where he fixed an electrosurgery machine that hadn’t been working in years! They’ll be using it in a surgery sometime this week! Well for me, after lounging around all day watching Pulp Fiction and hearing the good news, I started feeling decent. I decided it was finally time to start taking Cipro, which has been working absolutely wonderful and my stomach hasn’t been upset since!

On Wednesday, we finally got to tour the other half of the hospital and boy oh boy… we have lots of work to do the rest of the time we are here. All but one ward we went to had at least one thing that they wanted us to repair. From wheelchairs to oxygen concentrators, there is now a list of over 30 items that we’ve repaired or will attempt to repair in the next 3 weeks!  Since the tour took so long we just worked on getting a tea kettle, BP machines and a stethoscope up and running for the antenatal ward. Tea kettle fixing is sometimes just as appreciated as a machine since they do love their chai breaks here, and I don’t blame them! I will certainly be investing in an electric kettle when I get back home. It’s now up to us to categorize what should focus on and what we think is most important. Of course, my love of babies and kids immediately makes me want to ensure I can make even a small difference in the labor ward since they pointed out so many problems.

Our first two days working at Mt. Meru Hospital were pretty successful. It was quite a stressful morning on Thursday packing up leaving Makumira, arriving at my new home and immediately going down to the hospital. It was quite the challenge readjusting when I’ve gotten so comfortable in my home stay. Soren and I timed our walk to the hospital and it takes about 20 minutes (it’s all downhill so it takes a bit longer on the way back up). The first day we headed to our little workspace by the storage department and tried finding our “bosses” for the next month who EWH has worked with in the past. Turns out, both of them are gone until next week, so there we were confused and a little disappointed until I showed them my Swahili translation of “Can we get a tour of the hospital ?” where we found a great resource. It fell in the hands of Nuru, who has been working for our “boss” the past 6 months and speaks wonderful English. So we went around to half of the hospital (it’s so big that Nuru wanted to do just half in one day) and we introduced ourselves in Swahili then she told them to drop anything off that isn’t working and we can work on it. The tour was really great, we were shown about 5 pieces of equipment that weren’t working properly so it was a good start!

Friday, we couldn’t find Nuru anywhere so we just went back to the same departments and started figuring out what we could do. So far, we fixed a blood pressure cuff, a metal table and are still trying to find something to replace hinges on the top of a centrifuge machine. I’m excited to start tackling bigger projects and we haven’t toured the operating/surgical wards yet so I’m guessing there will be plenty there. Hopefully we will be able to figure out what our typical schedule should be like but for now it’s just kind of up in the air.

This weekend was great! On Friday, I went to sleep early because I was so worn out from the week and then Saturday I had lunch in Arusha then headed to Cradle of Love Orphanage again to help out and give the kids some much needed attention. Then, I stayed at my mama’s house and had spaghetti and meatballs- still my favorite, even in Tanzania! I had already started missing my bed so it was nice and relaxing to make a trip out by myself, riding the dala dala and getting around alone for the first time- exciting! This morning I got up early, made some pancakes (the equivalent of crepes in America) then headed to Arusha National Park to spend the day with giraffes and baboons. It was a great way to unwind from the stresses of readjusting and it was Larry’s last day so it was sad to say goodbye L This week should be packed with adventures at the hospital and hopefully lots of problem solving! It will become easier as we set a schedule and get to know more of the staff. I still can’t believe I now have little less than a month left, but I’m excited to see what Soren and I can manage at Mt. Meru!

The past two days have been quite eventful! Yesterday, we got our final hospital briefings, making me even more excited about heading out. It is really sad moving out of my host family’s house now that I’m comfortable and settled in but the good news is that I will be closer to my hospital. I’m now going to be living in a house with 7 other EWH members, where we are on our own to buy our own food and cook! I am lucky in that I will be about a 20 minute walk from my house to the hospital where others have to take shuttles or dala dala rides to get to theirs. It will definitely be a big change going from living with a Tanzanian family to living on our own with just EWH members. This will be a great resource though since we will all be able to discuss what problems and equipment we’re working on in each of our hospitals. I have to start brainstorming on what I’d like to do my secondary project on in the hospital. I’m hoping to do something with the pediatric ward just so I can be around the kids more :) Speaking of which, today I FINALLY made it over to Cradle of Love baby orphanage to take a tour and visit with the babies. I had been meaning to do so ever since I got here and, for once, we got out of lecture early today so Aubrey and I headed over there. I had looked at the Cradle of Love website prior to coming to Tanzania and knew that I had to go eventually (google it and check it out!). I have never been around that many little babies, it was crazy! They currently have 39 kids ranging from newborns to four years old. Aubrey and I were just expecting to get a tour around but ended up helping out with feeding the kids chakula cha jioni (dinner) which happened to be the porridge I’ve been missing that I used to eat in Kenya almost every morning! I will definitely be spending some of my free weekends there this month- that is for sure. Dinner tonight was bittersweet knowing it was our last one while living in the house, mama gave an extra long Kiswahili blessing on our food. After, Ash and I gave our presents from home which was lots of fun. I blindly had to choose what to bring since they didn’t tell us what our host family would be like, but it worked out perfectly! I brought 3 pairs of earrings, bracelets, a world map puzzle, crayons, a soccer jersey, tea, and of course… Mardi Gras beads (NOLA represent!). The family loved it all and I was so happy it worked out so well :D Tomorrow should be extra exciting as we get dropped off at our new house and introduce ourselves at the hospital.

Again, it’s hard to believe that I’ve now been here for one month! It’s pretty awesome because having intensive classes four times a week have made it easy to gain a basic knowledge of Swahili. I’m sure what we’ve learned so far is about what you’d learn in an entire semester at school. I really hope I can manage to keep studying when I get back!

Anyways, Friday we went to Selian Lutheran Hospital, which is Aubrey and Lotte’s hospital next month and what a huge difference from the one I will be working at. Mt. Meru is public and government owned while Selian is private. I didn’t know that it’d make such a difference!  I think everyone’s hospital experiences will be completely different just based on the working environment and whether or not there is a fundi (a technician) - mine doesn’t have one. Anyways, at Selian we were taken to a big storage unit that the fundis had placed equipment they couldn’t fix or didn’t have the parts for. Our large group grabbed on to whatever they brought out and started working. Soren and I decided to do an autoclave a.k.a. a simple pressure cooker. The only autoclaves I’ve ever seen (in the lab I work in at school) are much, much more complex. This one we just had to find a new heating element, re-due the wiring and replace the switch. We think they had turned it on with no water in it so all the wires were completely corroded and burned (you can see a picture of it below). The biggest challenge of the day as usual was the power source. We ended up not being able to finish because we couldn’t turn on our soldering iron the last hour we were there.

 

After we left, back at TCDC there was a traditional dance and music show which was pretty cool. I’d still like to learn how to carry things on my head like the women do here- they had pots of fire while they were dancing (another picture below).  Friday night I went home to chat with my family and went to bed early because living here just makes you more tired. Also, I never realized since Tanzania is so close to the Equator, they have the same amount of daylight and nighttime year round. It makes sense, but I had never even thought about it! It is now the middle of winter so it is quite chilly. I wear jeans and a sweatshirt almost every day except when the sun comes out in the afternoon.

 Saturday I went to Usa River Orphanage, which was great to see because it was actually really nice. The orphanage admits kids who either don’t have parents or their mother is unable to support them. We were also told three of them have HIV. It is a really big problem here and there is an orphanage right next to TCDC that primarily deals with AIDS orphans. The program they run is really great though because as long as the kids follow the rules and do well, they even support them through college. They have a 24 year old right now currently enrolled in university. Larry brought from home donated coloring supplies, books and a laptop so it was fun to deliver them along with meeting the staff and kids. After that I went into Arusha to explore a little more, had dinner at home and then back to Arusha to catch some of the nightlife. About half of our group went to Masai Camp so it was fun to dance with locals and other “mzungus.”

I spent Sunday studying, resting and went out to dinner with my family at Perfect Bar. I also ran to a local market which was fun. It’s pretty funny because Tanzanians don’t randomly go for a run (pretty sure they’re daily routines/work is enough exercise!) so Aubrey and I were definitely laughed at, especially while stretching. I’m quite used to being pointed out by now so it’s no big deal.

Yesterday was the last day of learning new Swahili grammar and today we took our final “test.” It is crazy that Thursday I am headed to my hospital and new house! We are getting our final briefing on what we can expect our work will be like and what people to try and meet with first. I will miss my mama’s cooking so, so much, but I am excited to get out in the markets and bargain/cook for myself! I think I’m probably going to be eating lots of fresh fruit and veggies since they’re so cheap here. I told mama that she needs to come over to teach me more and hang out at our house J Tomorrow is our official last lab and class so I’m excited to get out in the “real world” and be on my own! Soren and I are very excited to get started at Mt. Meru.

        It’s amazing to think I’ve already been in Tanzania for 3 weeks now. I don’t know where the time has gone! I have one more week of classes and then we are all off to our different hospitals. It is a little sad that the whole group will be spread out all over the place but I am excited to visit and see everyone on the weekends. This week was the usual and we got some extra Swahili practice at the Tengeru market. We were all given 1,000 shillings each (about 75 cents U.S.) and it was amazing what we were able to buy with our bargaining skills! I bought about 15 bananas and an avocado with my $0.75, now if only that could carry over when I have to buy food at college next year. My new favorite food in general is avocado- my mama introduced one of the best ways to eat it! Simple and easy- slice and avocado the long way and then sprinkle a little salt and lemon juice on the slice, so, so yummy! I also had spiced rice with beef for dinner tonight but this time with every bite of rice, you put a little slice of banana with it, what a great combination I’d never think to do! I am going to ask mama to write down all my favorite recipes so I can attempt to cook them as good as her in the U.S.
         Anyways, lab this week was pretty fun, we tore apart and put back together 7 different pieces of equipment (the coolest being an electrosurge device) and practiced trouble shooting with some of the circuit boards we made. At Mt. Meru, Soren and I fixed and rewired a heater and then I helped with some more wheelchairs. I’m happy to know I will have PLENTY to do when it’s just us next month. Above I’ve posted a picture of a “storage” room right next to where we work, I’m glad I love to organize things- we will see if I can even begin to pick through the useful/useless things.  My Swahili is improving a little and I hope to keep growing a larger vocabulary so I can talk with the workers in the hospital. At TCDC each week, we switch Kiswahili teachers so it is neat to get to know each one and it’s fun to have different teaching styles.  
        This weekend was our one and only long weekend to do whatever we wanted so I thought it would be awesome to go to a beach resort that a friend had recommended to me. We ended up going with 14 EWH members and it was an absolute blast, I had never been to a “tropical” beach or ocean so it was really nice and relaxing. For $33 a night we had beautiful bandas, excellent food and even went snorkeling. Peponi Beach Resort is now one of my favorite places ever (Peponi means heaven in Swahili so it was quite suitable)! I saw maybe 5 other tourists, other than that it was just us, the beach, and a few locals/villages surrounding the area. I of course collected shells half of the time I was there and couldn’t believe what I found casually walking around! This weekend I plan to bond with my family, hopefully go to an orphanage with Larry (our wonderful tech guy!) and maybe even head to Arusha National Park. Well you can check out some of my favorite pictures of the week and I love all the comments I’ve been getting. Feel free to leave anything or ask any questions :D

Well, I cannot believe it’s been a full week since my last blog! The time goes by so fast when you are on a set schedule. I am now in a routine with everything and all settled in at home.  Monday through Thursday make for long days of class. I wake up around 6:30 or 7:00 a.m. every morning to ensure I have at least a half hour for breakfast and to ride the dala dala to TCDC to use the internet and check in with everyone back home.  So we have Kiswahili class from 8:30-12:30 with a half hour break for chai and then from 1:30 to around 5:30 we have a lecture about medical instrumentation/problems in the developing world and our lab. This week we made a LED “flashlight” and a variable power supply with some extra soldering practice (I’m getting better!). Every Friday we will be going to Mt. Meru Regional Hospital (My hospital assignment!) to practice and get some hands on learning. It was quite amazing, we arrived and there was a large pile of various equipment, wheelchairs and carts waiting for us! Unfortunately I got a little sick that morning so it was hard to work with an awful stomach ache but it was a great learning experience. It’s amazing the little things that can be done to fix large, complex machines! I can’t wait for next month when Soren and I will be there every day. This weekend was really fun. Saturday, I went to a market in Tengeru which was complete craziness, the biggest secondhand store ever but in market form! This week our group is going again on Wednesday (because it’s every Wednesday and Saturday) to practice our bargaining skills J After that, I went to TCDC and hung around until a going away party started for the family my Mama cleans for. It was a lot of fun with excellent food. The family is from Denmark and it was the craziest thing trying to listen to their four year old that mixes Swahili, Danish, and English in all of his sentences haha. Today I went to the Meserani Snake Park which was really awesome. We got to see all kinds of snakes, including the infamous black mamba, hold a baby crocodile, tortoise, snake and then ride a camel! It is a very neat center where they actually produce anti-venom for the local Maasai and help to sell their jewelry. I felt like I was back in Losho, Kenya seeing all of the Maasai beads and shukas. After that we headed back and explored Arusha a little more and I bought a soccer ball so I can play with my little brother! He’s taking me to a local soccer field tomorrow so I’m really excited! Ash is testing her cooking skills tonight in the kitchen and I’m going to on Tuesday- I fully intend to be able to cook like a Tanzanian by the time I leave :D Here’s some of my favorite pictures of the week, and happy 4th of July to all of you back in the U.S.!