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.
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!
RSS Feed
