9 April

Pole sana for taking so long to post. The internet has been out at the house for around two weeks and we can’t get on the blog website at work (and the internet at work has gone kaput)...very frustrating. There is a lot to report so I apologize if things are a bit disjointed. First thing to report: no dogs. Dr. Tambukwa decided they would be too expensive to keep which I don’t get it since they’d eat leftovers and a flea bath is only 500 Tsh which is less than fifty cents. I must admit I am sad that we don’t have them but maybe it’s better since at night the dogs on the street start a barking chain similar to the one in 101 Dalamatians. Our last Germans left, Monika didn’t get the job she came here to check out which was very sad and the new person looking at the job (who is also staying at the guesthouse) is not someone I care for. We have a Canadian lady staying with us for a month and she is nice although way more energetic than I am (she doesn’t like the idea of lazing around reading/doing crossword puzzles/eating etc. as much as I do). We have yet another German staying with us now...he seems nice enough despite Jenny’s description of him as a heavy smoking, short short wearing beer drinker. Somewhere in there we had an American who will be taking a high up position in Mbeya with Walter Reed and Edward (the country director) at the house too. Busy busy.

Work has been going very well for the past week or two. We haven’t had the time to continue teaching the HIV course because we have been tied up visiting NGOs to assess their nutrition assistance programs. Last week we went to NGOs in Mbeya town, almost all ones that we had visited back in January when we first arrived. We had the opportunity to spend time with the Anglican NGO which we hadn’t visited before and they took us to the home of a woman who was involved in mushroom growing as an income generating activity which was really neat. With KIHUMBE, we went to a school to look for a child to interview and ended up causing a mini-riot of children wanting to practice their English with us. This week we have been visiting NGOs in districts far from here. Monday we went to Tunduma, which is where the Zambian border is, and visited one NGO there and one on the road back. The visit went well but because of transportation issues we didn’t leave until 1:30 and Tunduma is around 120km so we didn’t get home until 8 p.m. Tuesday we traveled to Kyela which is right by the border with Malawi where we visited three NGOs. We didn’t have time to meet with clients because once again we got a late start. Kyela is also 120km or so away and the area is totally different from here...it’s hot, humid, flat, and full of thick vegetation. At one of the NGOs that focuses its work on orphans and vulnerable children we saw one kid who looked like he was two or three but was actually five...apparently he was so malnourished when the NGO started looking after him that he couldn’t even sit up or talk. As sad as it is to think about that, it is amazing what a difference the NGO has made. Yesterday we went another 100 plus km away to a place called Mbarali where we visited another three NGOs. While visiting the organizations went really well, the highlight of the trip might have been when we pulled into the middle of the “town” and say a 7-11 sign complete with the logo. Sadly it wasn’t actually a 7-11 but instead was a restaurant where we later went for a soda and not the slurpee I was secretly hoping for. The scenery in Mbarali reminded me a lot of Ghana...dusty and dry. Thursday we went to Tukuyu where we visited a Lutheran NGO and then we went to a Catholic mission hospital. The Lutheran NGO we had seen before but it was our first time at Igogwe which seemed like a pretty nice hospital. In addition to getting info on nutrition assistance at Igogwe, we got to see the orphanage they run for kids who are up to 3 years old. All of the kids were sooooo cute and there was a sassy little girl who seemed to be the leader of the pack. As we walked around it was obvious that some of the kids were severely malnourished and we saw one baby that I thought was a doll at first. He was two months old and his head was about the size of an apple...I wanted to scoop him up and take him home with me. It seemed like the place was really well run and once the kids are developing well and hit 3 or so, they are sent back home to live with relatives (all of the children are mother-less and many have lost their fathers as well). On the way home we stopped at banana central a.k.a. Kiwira where we managed to buy approximately 15 passion fruit (fruits?) for about 50 cents...40 or so little bananas (or maybe even more) are around 80 cents total.

Friday we didn’t go anywhere and it was nice to be able to rest. Saturday we went to Mwanjelwa, the big clothing market here, with Juliana (the secretary/receptionist from work) and the lady staying at the house (Yasmin). It was a lot of fun to dig through clothes and see a completely different way of shopping. We spent a good part of the afternoon watching shipments of bags from Korea (all used of course) be unpacked...it was a really interesting and entertaining experience. A bunch of clothes in Mwanjelwa had Salvation Army and Goodwill tags on them so I guess they were rejects from there. Today we went to Ifisi with Elizabeth, Mama Martha, and one other doctor to visit their new CTC. It’s a really nice mission hospital that has been set up by some Swiss doctors. On the way there we were pulled over for speeding—apparently they have radar guns here although I am not sure if they actually work or if they just have a set speed that shows up on the screen. They had no problem with the fact that we had too many people shoved in the car...just the fact that we were doing 50 in a 30 (kph not mph). Luckily after pretending we were headed to Ifisi for an emergency they let our driver off with a warning and not a fine. On the way home we got to ride in an ambulance (kind of like a Land Rover with a stretcher and bench seat in the back) which was amusing.

I have a feeling the next few weeks are going to fly by and it seems like we are going to be home in no time at all. This week we have Tuesday and Friday off and also Easter Monday when we are going to go to Juliana’s (I’m super excited...she is cooking for us and I think we are going to get to see marriage preparations take place which will be really cool). Perhaps during our mini vacation we will hike on our days off or maybe we will laze around (last week was super exhausting). I can’t think of much else...we keep buying large batches of maandazi (the donuty cake things they make here) from Juliana. They are tasty tasty and will probably turn us into small elephants. We purchased a bootleg DVD of Tom Hanks movies so maybe we will be spending our days off watching those (we’ve watched DaVinci Code and Philadelphia so far). I think that’s all for now...hope spring has arrived (we have been having SO much rain which means mudddddy showers) and that everyone is getting excited for Easter (candy)!!

18 March

Jambo everyone! Last week ended pretty uneventfully work wise. We finished up two articles that we were writing for Kelley in the US Walter Reed office. One article looked at the improvements in the care and treatment center since it was moved to the COE. It was a fun article to write because we were able to interview Mama Martha and we also managed to talk to a patient who had a lot of good things to say. The other article focused on the Saturday pediatric clinic and the new toy area which meant we got to take lots of pictures of the kids playing. Apparently Friday we were supposed to begin teaching the HIV/AIDS awareness course but that message was not relayed to us so it didn’t happen. I think Dr. Tambukwa wasn’t happy about it but there wasn’t anything we could have done...oh well. Over the weekend we went to Tunduma, the Zambian border town, with Juliana (she’s the secretary-ish person at work), her son Stephen, and Ajabu, one of the drivers. The weather was pretty nasty but it was still fun. We managed to walk into Zambia without showing passports or talking to a single authority which was very strange seeing as we had to walk under a gate thing, through a customs parking lot and then through another gate. If we had wanted to, we could have gotten on a bus and gone pretty much anywhere in Zambia we wanted. I have now been in 5 African countries (Ghana, Burkina Faso, TZ, Malawi, and now Zambia) and if there is one thing I’ve learned about crossing borders it’s the importance of the word no. No I would not like to exchange money, no I would not like to get in your bus, no I would not like to buy a tie, no I do not want any bananas/peanuts/etc.

Monday we taught our first HIV awareness course. By taught I mean I gave basic guidelines to Mama Martha and she told them everything in Swahili. Instead of addressing the whole waiting area, we decided on taking a smaller group to a room to talk. Having fewer people meant everyone was paying attention and also allowed for a sort of open discussion about things. Since everyone is HIV positive, the point of the course is to answer questions, highlight the ways to prevent transmission to others, let people know about services for the HIV positive population, and encourage everyone to spread their knowledge to others. I think it will take a few weeks to really get the hang of things but so far so good. Ultimately we will take the HIV fact sheet we have made and translate it into Swahili so that it can be handed out to patients and healthcare providers here and at the other Walter Reed sites. Tomorrow we are going to get underway with the nutrition assistance survey. We are now the proud owners of a fancy scale and soon to be owners of a height measurement thingie (all to calculate the body mass index of people on nutrition assistance). It finally feels like we are doing things that are useful and which will have a positive impact even after we leave. Hey it’s only taken 2 months to get to this point! Slowly slowly/pole pole.

We have a new German, Monika, staying at the house for 3 weeks. Norbert, another German who has been staying with us for a month, leaves Thursday or Friday and we are getting two more people. I had no idea we’d be staying in such a busy little guesthouse. Today or tomorrow we will be getting two dogs at the house—they were found by Elizabeth, Jeni (we finally know how spell her name thanks to an invitation we found on the counter!), and Juliana in an empty compound. Jeni has been feeding them and while they are guard dogs and won’t be allowed in the house I’m still excited. I want to name them Snorklebert and Humdinger but Melissa has vetoed these names and we have yet to settle on any. Not a whole lot else to report...the weather the past few days has been icky with lots of rain (yeah yeah I know we are in rainy season but it’s been especially bad). Tomorrow everyone in the office is supposed to return from Dar so after 2.5 weeks things won’t be so quiet around here. 2 months down, 2.5 to go...

Photo-graphs

Waiting area in the COE














Play area we set up for the kids














A present on my pillow from Melissa...














A terrible picture of the tea room in the COE














The cross at the top of the mountain behind the house

10 March

Apparently time is flying by—I thought it hadn’t been very long since my last post but I am way off about that. I’m not really sure where to begin with the updates. Work wise there is little to report (as usual). You all probably think we don’t do anything but we do...just nothing that is super exciting to report. The past week we have been working on a HIV fact sheet so that we can teach lessons to the patients at the hospital. Not sure when we will start doing that but Dr. Tambukwa seems like he really wants us to and it is sure to be entertaining. We’ve also been working on a survey to administer to a few people who are supposed to be receiving nutrition assistance from the various NGOs. The ultimate goal is to get a better idea about exactly what nutrition assistance is being provided. It’s a project that I think will be really worthwhile assuming that we get it off the ground. No one was in the office last week, they are gone again this week, and next week most people will be in Dar. Luckily Mwaipopo will be around so hopefully he will be able to help us out. We’ve also made visits to the CTC to check on the toy corner that we set up and it seems to be a success. One day when we went up to check on things we found that the nurses had locked up the xylophones and the mini piano things presumably because the kids were making too much noise. If they are playing with them you can hear them out the windows of the CTC when you are walking up there which is really funny. I’m glad the toys are finally being put to use, especially on the pediatric HIV clinic days—I think it’s only fair that those kids have something to look forward to when they come to the CTC.

We got our visas extended until the beginning of April (we were given two months when we first arrived). Mwaipopo happens to know some high up guy in the migration office here in Mbeya, so Juliana took us there (Mwaipopo was traveling with everyone else). Not sure what will happen in April but the worst case scenario is that we will have to cross a border. Two weekends ago we spent Saturday night at Utengule, the coffee plantation that’s about a 20 minute drive away, with Elizabeth. The place is beautiful and sits up on a hill overlooking a valley on the road to Zambia. We ended up eating with three Irish people and while the food wasn’t too spectacular (although the banana splits for dessert were amazing) it was nice to be out and about. Sunday we hiked again, getting lost along the way. We ended up in a village where some angry children threw dirt at us (they were mad we didn’t have anything to give them). After booking it out of there we finally made it to the cross that is on top of the mountain sort of behind our house. It was a nice hike although very slippery on the way down and, much to the amusement of Melissa, I ended up on my behind a few times. This past weekend we didn’t do a whole lot of anything which was nice since the last few weekends have been busy. We walked into town and bought some little ice cream things which were very tasty but other than that we just lounged. One of the Germans has left and the other one was at Matema (the beach on Lake Malawi) for the weekend so we had the house to ourselves which was nice. I can’t think of anything else to report except that Mama Martha now thinks my name is Jenny and Melissa’s name is Mona (or Mona Lisa depending on the day). Today is a day off—it’s some Muslim holiday based on the moon so we had no idea which day we’d get off. We thought Monday was supposed to be the holiday but we got no calls telling us it was and Melissa likened the feeling to getting pumped for a snow day only to wake up and realized the storm hasn’t actually happened. It was a nice surprise then when Jenny told us last night that we didn’t have to work today. She told us that we should use the day off to “Sleep, sleep sleep, eat, watch dstv, sleep, sleep, sleep”. This weekend we might be driving to the Zambian border just for fun (Dr. Tambukwa’s idea) so we’ll see what happens...it could be an interesting/entertaining Saturday excursion. That’s all I can think of to report for now. Hope everyone is doing well!

Our most social week yet and a whole new meaning to ants in your pants...

Sorry I’ve been slacking on the posting...I get a little computer lazy sometimes and then the internet breaks and there is no way to post. After I last posted, Melissa and I opened our Valentine’s Day packages which Mom had sent along with one of the Americans who had visited a few weeks ago. Not only did we have the giant bar of Cadbury we bought but we also had m&ms and Cheez-its (for me...and crushed but that didn’t matter...I just ate them with a spoon) and zebra cakes for Melissa. At work, we were mainly focused on our malaria project, which has been interesting, as there hasn’t been a lot to do with the outreach team. It’s been a little frustrating not having Walter Reed work to do, but hopefully that will change over the next week as we let our US contact know and she is going to help as much as she can from her end. We had more Americans (Walter Reed) people staying with us during the week which was nice...we are beginning to prefer having a full house to an empty one. Thursday night we were invited over to the Wabitsch’s house—they are a German couple, both doctors. The wife, Elizabeth, works for Walter Reed and it is her husband, Rudi who is helping us with the malaria project. It was nice to get out of the house for an evening and we had some amazing food: homemade pizza (with all sorts of fresh garden veggies), salad (they grow the lettuce in their garden), and for dessert, cooked bananas and honey and ice cream. Needless to say we were in heaven. Friday night there was a going away dinner for the Americans that we were invited to. It was at a restaurant that the Americans thought was called carnivore but is, in fact, called carnival. Although carnivore is an appropriate description as it is a bbq place where you basically have a drink and then there are plates of meat brought out and you eat whatever. The meat was all delicious even if we weren’t always sure what we were eating...the goat there was the best I have had to date (yes, I’ve eaten goat on a number of occasions).

Saturday we got up and went over to the CTC to see the pediatric clinic in session. It turned out to be far from exciting as the nurses run a tight ship and the nurse we usually work with was no where around. We spent the rest of the day lounging and enjoying the empty house (we were going to go into town but it stormed). Today we went hiking up the mountain behind the house with Rudi, Elizabeth, and one other German (Karen I think). On the way up there were some amazing views of Mbeya and large numbers of ants. The ants were of the biting variety and if you weren’t careful where you stepped they would end up in you pants in a matter of seconds where they would bite you until you squished them. Melissa had the first round of them and then at later points we all ended up with nasty biting ants in our pants. In addition to the smaller biting ants, Melissa was nibbled on by a massive one that refused to let go and took a chunk of skin when she finally got him off. When we got to the top of the mountain, Rudi decided to explore another route home which turned into quite the adventure. Our path down included a rickety bridge, some extreme rock climbing down, and a thunder storm which would catch up with us every so often. Despite the difficulty of the trip back down the mountain (we had to ask all sorts of people which way to go...luckily Elizabeth knows a good amount of Swahili) and the mud and the rain, it was a fun thing to do and it felt amazing getting exercise.

Sunday night two Germans arrived and from what we can tell they will be staying here for a few weeks...they seem nice enough. Not much to report from the work end this week except that we are currently without our little office as Edward, the country director, is here from Dar for the week. We celebrated fat Tuesday by going into town and buying an ice cream bar and a bar of chocolate. We tried to explain the idea of Mardi Gras to Jenny who didn’t understand and was sure to inform us that she would be checking to see if we were fatter today (she says we are the same). Tomorrow we are supposed to set up a play area in the CTC for the kids. Dr. Tambukwa also mentioned the possibility of having me teach an HIV prevention awareness course to people attending the CTC at some point so we will see where that leads. That’s all for now...hope everyone is doing well!!

Pichas

A rickety little bridge we had to cross














Donkey and amazing tree














Melissa sporting her rain coat and refusing to pet the donkey we found

I believe this was right before she got ants in her pants

A bush with Mbeya in the background

Hiking through a eucalyptus forest

The waterfall we pass on the way to work

The river that runs from the waterfall that reminds me of the jungle ride at Disneyland

Our Valentine's Day spread

14 February (Valentine's Day!)

Happy Valentine’s Day! Today officially marks one month since Melissa and I arrived in Tanzania and it seems like things are finally settling into place. I know it’s been a while since I last posted but we had some pretty uneventful days between then and now. Monday and Tuesday we helped Rehema, who heads the home based care program, with some data entry and I helped her put together a presentation for a training that was taking place later in the week. She has discovered that we can type quickly and as a result, I have become her go-to typer. On Wednesday almost everyone left to conduct the training which was scheduled for Thursday and Friday in a region that is a couple of hours away. Dr. Tambukwa went as well which meant Melissa and I were on our own with absolutely no work to do. Wednesday we hung around the office and ended up coming home about half way through the day since we saw no point in sitting at work with nothing to do. On Thursday we decided that despite not being given the go ahead from Dr. Tambukwa, we go ahead and work on a project with one of the German doctors, Rudi (I mentioned his wife Elizabeth in another post I think). The project involves getting records from patients who were admitted to the male ward during two separate months and collecting data regarding malaria testing and diagnoses from the files. While it sounds like an easy project, it looks like it might be on the harder side. First there is the issue of getting the files which means going to the records department, home of Mr. Msafiri who loves loves loves talking. Once we pull the files (another tedious process compliments of the confusing filing system) we then have to decipher what is written in them. It appears doctors world wide have terrible hand writing and in addition to that little problem, the files all seem to be thrown together haphazardly. Despite these challenges I think the project will be interesting and will give us something to do with our time. Obviously any Walter Reed projects that come up will take priority but I don’t think any conflicts will arise. In addition to talking about the project, we talked with Rudi about all sorts of international health things, especially problems that are exemplified so well at the hospital. He’s been working in international health for a long time and, boring as it may be for Melissa, I really enjoy hearing his perspective on things.

Thursday afternoon we came home early again and went for a walk around the neighborhood. We ran into two Tanzanian guys who wanted to marry us...luckily I always have a ring on so I can pretend to be married. Melissa on the other hand gets full declarations of love despite her claims of having a boyfriend or fiancé back home. Friday was when we met with the records department and began sorting through things and preparing data to pull files. We came home after work and didn’t do a whole lot...we went to watch a DVD later in the evening and spent 20 or so minutes trying to figure out how we got the DVD player to work last time. Yesterday and today the weather has been amazing which probably means more rainy days soon. Today we finally went in to town with Jane (Jenny...there is confusion over this since Jane is often pronounced Jenny) and she showed us some restaurants, the market and a mini-mart where we bought a massive bar of Cadbury chocolate which we plan to eat tonight to celebrate Valentine’s Day. Now that we know where things are I think we will be heading into town a lot more often. We also saw a whole lot of white people (sadly most looked much older than us)...by a whole lot I mean 5 or 6 which is way more than the 1 or 2 we usually see.

There isn’t a whole lot else to report. We are getting more American visitors tomorrow and I’m not sure how long they plan on staying but we have discovered that when there are visitors (that aren’t us) the office buys mandaazi (donut things) for tea which is fantastic. Our quest to learn Swahili is coming along very slowly...it seems like telling people we don’t speak Swahili is not an option...if they don’t speak English they just keep talking as though we understand. There have also been a lot of hilarious conversations with people who speak minimal English because they fail to use the correct pronouns. She could mean he or she...I could be you or I...etc. Final thing to report: the things I want most right now from home are my pillows. The ones here just aren’t doing it for me...

8 February

It’s another rainy evening here in Mbeya and there isn’t a whole lot to report since the last post. The Americans that were here have left so Melissa and I have the house to ourselves again...I can’t decide whether I am liking the emptiness or not. Wednesday we had a meeting with Dr. Tambukwa and some of the outreach team to see what sort of work we will be doing. A couple of ideas were thrown around and for now I think that we have settled on collecting data on home based care patients as well as assessing the quality of nutrition assistance being provided by NGOs. It should be interesting work if it all comes together which I am doubting right now. We also met with a German doctor who asked if we wanted to help on data collection for a project relating to the over-diagnosis of malaria. It’s something that I would love to help with but Dr. Tambukwa was hesitant as the work isn’t funded by the US...I am really going to push in hopes that we can work on it as long as we put the Walter Reed stuff first. There is also the possibility that a project looking at the prevention of mother to child transmission will be approved and we will get to help with that. We’ve been here for three weeks already and haven’t done a whole lot but I am hoping that things will finally change. Friday we made a random friend (nurse Frida) and she insisted that we go visit the children’s ward with her. Most of the kids there were malnourished but we found out that there is a kitchen behind the ward where cooking classes are taught so mothers learn how to use local ingredients to make the healthiest food possible for their kids.

It’s been a dull weekend. We were going to go into town yesterday but Melissa ended up sleeping all afternoon instead. I read and did some GRE practice which was thrilling. The power was out last night which is always fun especially since that means only selective things work in the house (we’ve only discovered one outlet that functions when the generator is on). That’s all for now...maybe something exciting will happen in the next few days that will be fun and exciting (we did get real peanut butter which is awesome but it’s just not as good as JIF)...

3 February

Hey hey hey. Sorry I haven’t posted in a while—the internet was down until last night and I can’t tell if it will keep working or poop out again. In addition to internet with an attitude, we have brown water (tap water not drinking water) thanks to all of the rain...I can’t decide if it is grosser not to shower or to shower in slightly muddy water. Anywho here is a briefish recap of what I’ve been up to since last Wednesday.

Thursday we headed back to Oak Tree to spend time doing home based care visits. We went out with three Oak Tree volunteers—one of them was the counselor who had conducted the counseling and testing session we went to on Wednesday and apparently he speaks pretty decent English (we thought he spoke no English). It was, in my opinion, the most interesting of our home visit days. We visited one house that was right off the main road and then we headed a few kilometers down a really rough dirt road (Melissa seems to have a bobble head and managed to hit her head on the window at least 3 times in the course of the drive which amused everyone in the car). The three houses that we visited were the poorest we have seen so far and for the most part, the people living there were without food or money. Many HIV positive individuals find themselves unable to work or farm as a result of disease and fatigue. This translates into no income and no food (either purchased or home grown). For HIV positive people on ARVs (HIV drugs), proper nutrition is a necessity for them to work; without it, the drugs fail to make people healthier. As a result, the people in the poorer households had more advanced HIV and couldn’t even afford the bus fare to get to the clinic at the hospital (for appointments they walk around 10 kilometers each way). After visiting these homes, we headed off to another area of the city where we saw two of the sickest patients we have seen in home visits. Overall it was a very interesting and somewhat depressing day. We had some power/TV problems in the evening so we played Scrabble with the two Americans that were here. I won. Just.

Friday we spent part of the day with another NGO, SHDEPHA (Service, Health and Development for People Living with HIV/AIDS) where all members are HIV positive. We sat in on a very long meeting conducted entirely in Swahili that was the bimonthly meeting of the HIV Club. From what I could tell ideas were being thrown around about different services SHDEPHA offers and there was some sort of voting going on as well. After the meeting we met with the director and learned about soap and chalk making (some of the income generating activities the NGO funds) and saw a sewing class in action. The rest of the time we spent with two of the counselors and ended getting tested for HIV (their suggestion). Don’t worry, we were both negative. When we got back to the office, Dr. Tambukwa suggested that we go with Kathleen, the remaining American, to Matema on the shores of Lake Malawi for the weekend.

We left late Saturday morning with Charles (one of the Walter Reed drivers) and got to Matema around 2, ate lunch (chicken and very delicious chips and safe to eat tomatoes), and then headed to the beach. I’m pretty sure I could move to Matema and never, ever leave. The Livingstone Mountains come up to one side of the very tiny town and there are tons of banana, cocoa, and palm trees. The lake itself is gorgeous with clear water that we dipped our feet into (perfect temperature)...we decided not to go for a swim mostly because I didn’t feel comfortable in my swim suit with all of the Tanzanians around (I mean we don’t show knees and rarely shoulders). We had a tasty dinner of fish and rice and some random green stuff and all four of us sat around and talked for a while although Charles occasionally turned on his portable radio to see if he could find some soccer game or other to listen to (very amusing). Matema only has power if the hospital turns the generator on, so we headed back to our little beach huts knowing that we’d be in complete darkness at 10:30. The stars were amazing and you could see all the little fishing boats with their lights on out in the water. Sunday we woke up to cloudiness, ate breakfast, and headed out. We were going to go to one of the border towns, Kyela, and walk around on the way home but it was raining. So instead of Kyela we went to another town on the Malawian border, crossed the border for a few minutes (no passports needed thanks to the friends Charles has in the customs office), and headed home.

Yesterday (Monday) we spent most of our time in the Care and Treatment Center learning even more about what goes on there. In the evening some more Americans (we met one of the women, Becky, at home before we left) arrived, which was fun and with the Becky came some gifts from home (don’t worry Mom I hid the Valentine’s Day gifts). Today we didn’t do much of anything although we have discovered that if we sit in the tea room up at the CTC, people offer us little tasty snacks at tea time, 10 a.m. This evening Kathleen left and a Kenyan doctor moved into the guest house (he stayed last night at a hotel) so all rooms are full. Luckily Jenny made enough fruit salad with dinner for everyone to have multiple servings. Now I am enjoying having the internet back and hoping the power stays on (it’s stormy right now) but we’ll see...

Finally! Some Pictures...

Tanzanian beach architecture?














Oh hey Malawi














Livingstone Mountains














More Lake Malawi

Lake Malawi

Sometimes Melissa dances when she emerges from bathrooms in small beach huts...














Pretty terrible shot of Mbeya from up on a hill




















First day of work...




















Peanut butter sandwich en route to Mbeya

28 January

It’s hump day! Although I’m not sure that I am looking forward to the weekend because I don’t know that we will have anything to do but perhaps that will change. Yesterday we went to Tukuyu, a town that is about an hour away on the road to Malawi to visit ELCT, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania. We met with the pastor that heads the organization and learned all about what they do. In addition to the usual counseling and testing, home based care, etc., they also deal with human rights, especially relating to gender equality and women’s rights, as well microcredit loans. Unfortunately we were unable to go out in the field as the pastor had a whole bunch of reports whose deadlines were approaching. Before we left he took Melissa and I and our driver, Moses, to tea where we sampled Tanzanian chai (milky tea...this cup tasted sort of like butter and burnt the heck out of my tongue) and some donut like things that reminded me of fried bread. On the way home I saw the 2^nd Georgetown item since being here (first a jersey—ish thing, then a jacket) and saw my 3^rd (a hat) before we made it back to Mbeya. I plan on returning home with a whole set of Georgetown gear...we’ll see how successful I can be. Talk of Georgetown and basketball led Moses to tell me that he had met one of the big players on University of Conneticut’s team, Hasheem Thabeet who happens to be Tanzanian, in Dar over Christmas which I found very amusing. When we got back to the office there was nothing for us to do as everyone is still tied up with the Americans that are in town, so we headed home early and hung out at the house.

Today was one of the more interesting days we have had. We went to visit another NGO, Oak Tree, that again deals with home based care and voluntary counseling and testing. Our time was spent with one of the counselors who is also the lab person for the organization. He showed us how the blood is tested (using blood they had stored in the facility) which was neat to see especially since we keep hearing about testing but didn’t know the lab specifics. After this, he conducted a counseling and testing session with a girl. The meeting was conducted in Swahili but luckily we had one of the Walter Reed people with us to do some translating. There were definitely some awkward moments, especially when discussing the spread of HIV, but I am very glad that we had the opportunity to see how VCT works. After the girl was counseled, she consented to having blood drawn for the test. The results were ready within five minutes but those five minutes were unbelievably nerve-wracking. Thankfully the test came back negative—I don’t know what I would have done if we had to witness someone being given a diagnosis of HIV.

Once again when we returned to the hospital there was nothing to do so we walked home for lunch (the weather today has been amazing—sunny, breezy, and warm...sorry for all of you who hate the snow and cold even though I don’t see how that is possible). We hung out at the house a bit, walked back, sat on a bench, moved to an office, and walked home. Liss and I had our first big fight since being here and she is still not talking to me (apparently I am the worst big sister ever...makes me feel great!)...I guess I knew fights were inevitable and hopefully this experience will, in the end, bring us closer together. Tomorrow we are scheduled to go back to Oak Tree to do some home based care visits...this should work assuming transport to Oak Tree is available. One thing we have discovered here is that getting to and from places can be a challenge...while Walter Reed has a bunch of trucks it seems that one is always in the garage and others are in Dar and others have been reserved.

Our first full weekend...

...was very uneventful. Saturday we slept in for a while (til 10 and sleeping that long was a struggle) and basically did nothing all day. We had wanted to go exploring but it rained most of the day and while we could have used our raincoats we were lazy. For the little time the sun was out I sat out on the porch and cracked open the GRE test prep book I lugged over here with me. In the evening the US people who are staying here for a while arrived...they are part of the Henry M.(?) Jackson Foundation (or as Melissa and I first thought, the Andrew Jackson Foundation) that is a major donor for the projects that go on here. We had a big dinner with fruit salad and rice and chicken and beef stewish and such. The samosas were the best part because earlier in the day all I wanted was a fried wonton...the samosas tasted quite similar actually. Liss and I wrapped up the evening with a game of Scrabble (I dominated).

Sunday morning we got up and went to mass which was quite the experience. First off it was in Swahili and I understood maybe ten words of the entire thing. Mass was supposed to start at 10, which was when we got there, but the previous mass had not even let out...we didn’t get back to the house (which is a 2 or 3 min. drive) until 12:30. The service was way more enthusiastic than most masses I have attended in the US. By far the best part was the music which involved a whistle being used as an instrument, a tiny organ that doubled as drums, and lots of dancing-while-singing. I also determined that I will never complain about the kneelers in church at home after using ones that were just wood. I have bruises.

Today (Monday) was a pretty eventful day. When we got to work we were told that we had to go to a staff meeting with everyone else to meet the wazungu (white people). Side note: the visitors were driven to work while Liss and I had to walk...not that we mind since it only takes 10 minutes to get to the office. Anyways we went to staff meeting where, along with everyone else we had to awkwardly introduce ourselves. Luckily we didn’t have to stay long because we were heading back to KIHUMBE (the NGO we visited on Friday). We spent most of the day going around with one of the home based care volunteers (he spoke very little English which made things very entertaining). His job is to go around and visit HIV positive individuals in the community to make sure that they are doing alright, have enough to eat, etc. The people that he visits have sought out KIHUMBE for the services and support they provide. All of the homes we visited were within walking distance of the KIHUMBE offices (although it felt like we walked forever) and we visited four altogether.

In each of the homes we were invited in to sit down and had the opportunity to ask questions. It was a really neat and eye opening experience, especially when the standard of living is so drastically different from what it is in the US. At the last home we visited, we were given tea and potatoes and I was trying hard to be polite and not freak out as I sat there and thought, what if this makes me sick...I am no where near a decent bathroom and I have no immodium. Luckily all was fine and my stomach didn’t have any issues. After the visits we went back to KIHUMBE where we spent a while talking with a girl who is at Colby but who is from Mbeya. It was fun to discuss what we were seeing and local atmosphere with someone who is a local but has the American perspective as well. We wrapped up the day by meeting some of the kids who come to KIHUMBE for lunch on school days because they are unable to be fed at home. Overall it was a good day but doing visits can be very sobering because you know that the people you are interacting with—mothers, fathers, and children—are carrying around a death sentence. At the same time, however, they are healthy and seemingly happy which makes things easier to handle.

I think that is all there is to report right now...I am hoping the wazungu get here soon so we can eat the massive spread of food that Jenny has made (including amazing fruit salad)...

23 January

Whoop whoop yesterday was another uneventful day. Actually in the morning we met with Mama Martha, David Mwaipopo (awesome last name), and Dr. George to go over the ins and outs of the Care and Treatment Center (CTC). Things here are divided up into the clinical aspects of treating HIV and the community outreach necessary for supporting HIV positive patients. It was interesting learning about how people end up at the CTC (they come to be tested, they are tested in the hospital and are positive, they are referred by NGOs, etc.) and what happens once someone is a patient at the CTC.

Today started out with a staff meeting which was endlessly inefficient and incredibly funny. It started out with a very long discussion about how the minutes for the meeting were in terrible English and made no sense. This led people to attempt to come up with a plan involving two people doing the minutes for future staff meetings. Then everyone was making fun of everyone else and trying to pick a second person to help with the notes which was no small task (there were maybe 20 people at the meeting if that). That whole thing took a good 30 or so minutes. The next part of the meeting was dedicated to discussing time sheets, a concept that is very, very un-Tanzanian. On the time sheets there is a place to put the date (obviously) and it looked like this ___/___. Apparently it was decided by someone that the space was not for the day/month but instead just for the day. This led to people wondering why there was a slash because then when writing say the 23 of January you would be writing 2/3 (“a fraction not a date!!”). I am sure that description makes little sense but the whole point is that a pretty easy thing to figure out took FOREVER to explain. And that was only the beginning.

Luckily we were saved when Mwaipopo took us out of the meeting to drive us over to KIHUMBE, one of the NGOs that Walter Reed supports. We spent the first part of the time there learning about how the organization was founded blah blah blah. Then after seeing the compound they are housed in, we headed out to see some of the programs that KIHUMBE supports. We started out at a vocational school for vulnerable children (kids who have lost one or both parents to AIDS and who are in need of major support). There was a tailoring class going on as well as a class on weaving. After seeing that we headed to an alternative secondary school that is aimed at vulnerable children who are older than normal high schoolers. It was a really nice complex and I think our whiteness amused the kids endlessly. Our next stop was a ways outside of Mbeya. First we went to a training center where HIV positive patients and families are taught how to help a sick person, how to make a bed using local materials, etc. Then we went into the back pen where goats are kept for people to raise as an income generating activity. I have to say goats are one of the more amusing animals in existence.

After seeing the training center we went with a home based care agent to two homes of HIV positive patients to do visits. Once again I was amazed by the welcoming nature of the Tanzanians. There they were allowing complete foreigners into their homes in a situation which clearly indicated we knew their HIV status. And while the stigma attached to the disease here isn’t as bad as it is in some places, people are still not yelling their HIV status to the world. Afterwards we headed back to Mbeya where the KIHUMBE people took us out to a local lunch of kuku (chicken) and chipsi (potatoes). We went back to the office for a while and now we are watching Return to Me.

The other day mzungu (white) doctor from Germany...she was really nice and we also discovered that we live next to some mzungus. But really white people seem to keep to themselves which is disappointing since we have no friends. Then again, we’ve only been here for a week (actually not even that long). In fact white people tend to give us weird looks when they see us (usually when we are walking to or from work). Also, we keep being told that Swahili is easy to learn but so far I understand very little...it would be pretty awesome to come back fluent so that Melissa and I can talk about people without them knowing. I’ll keep you updated on my Swahili acquisition skills. Other things to report...our dinners, while they taste pretty good, all look the same...I think it’s the addition of oil to everything that is not rice. It’s raining again. Yes, I knew that I would be coming here in rainy season but I still like the sun from time to time. I think that’s all for now. Happy weekend!!!

21 January

Yesterday was day two of work and it was slightly more eventful than day one. We spent the morning meeting with the outreach department who handles home based care, orphans and vulnerable children, and voluntary counseling and testing. Then we sat around and did nothing for over an hour. We went back to the project house for lunch where we couldn’t eat other than bananas anything becaaaause the power was out (surprise surprise). I’m thinking that we need to stock up on crackers and such for when there’s no power. After lunch one of the drivers took us around town to show us the market, the clothing market, and two mini-marts. Side note: the hangers here are big circles to show how the clothes can accommodate large hips and posteriors. He even bought us a bar of chocolate at one of the mini-marts; we tried to refuse but he was adamant that he buy us something. It never ceases to amaze me how warm and welcoming the people here are. We came to the office afterwards and sat on a bench only to be told that because people were behind schedule there was nothing for us to do soooo we went home. Luckily the power cooperated with us and we were able to watch the whole inauguration.

Today is a rainy day which is icky but I guess we better get used to it. We are at the office right now waiting for something to do but thankfully some of the outreach department is out on field visits so we have desks and internet to keep us occupied. It sounds like we will be meeting a few more people today but for the most part it sounds like there is not a lot to do. I’m sure eventually we will be of use but who knows when that will be. Friday we are supposed to go out to visit one of the partner NGOs that Walter Reed works with...this is assuming that there is a truck to take us which is always iffy. I know that I am sounding negative right now and making it seem like we are being totally useless but I know that most of the problem is getting used to the slower pace of things here. In the US you would never be at a job for a week without having something to do but here that’s the way things are. I think that is all for now. The next time we have a sunny day I will be sure to take pictures of the house and post them so you can see our sweet digs. Why wait for the next sunny day you might ask...because the lighting in the house is terrible and makes everything look dismal. Perhaps that’s part of the reason that the first night we were in such low spirits...eating dinner under a half working light bulb.

Things I am already craving:

-Cheez-its (reduced fat of course)

-real bread

-brownies

19 January

Today was our first day of “work” here in Mbeya. We live walking distance from the hospital where all the offices are but for the first week or two we are getting rides there and back until we are more familiar with things. We got to see some of Mbeya and the surrounding areas (including a cement factory...) on Sunday afternoon but I think it’s going to take a while to figure out the layout of things. Anyways back to work. Apparently we will be getting our own office which is supposed to be ready tomorrow so today we sat at an empty desk in Dr. Mboya’s (director-ish). Dr. Tambukwa (our supervisor) showed us around the hospital complex some and then passed us along to Mama Martha (one of the head nurses) who took us around the hospital even more...we meet a billion people and I remember maybe 3 names. All afternoon we sat around waiting for a car to come back to take us around town again but all the vehicles were out so eventually one of the staff members brought us home. Hopefully tomorrow will be more eventful but I learned in Ghana that sometimes finding things to do takes a little (or a lot) of time.

Today was our first day with internet which was wonderful (sad how much we rely on it) but it felt nice to be connected to the rest of the world. This evening the IT guy from the office and some random man in a sweater vest (apparently upper 60s is cold) fixed the internet in the house which is great. It (mostly) works as long as the power doesn’t go out which it has multiple times (in fact, the generator is going now). A few other random things: We had rice and beef stew and what I think are broccoli leaves for dinner (it tasted just fine). There is a cat that sits on our front porch and meows obnoxiously loudly. The bananas here are pinky sized but fat and are sweet and very tasty.

First few days

Karibuni (welcome everyone) to my Tanzanian blog. I’ll do my best to update as often as possible but based on the fact that the internet has already proven iffy we’ll see how that goes. The trip from DC to Dar es Salaam wasn’t so bad. Melissa and I had four seats to ourselves so we were able to sleep although people kept whacking me as they walked in the aisle. We had a 7 or 8 layover in Heathrow which wasn’t fun. Melissa managed to sleep a whole lot but I kept waking up when, once again, people kept running into me. I ate a Mars bar. That made me feel better. Our flight from Heathrow to Dar was long but uneventful. There were mostly white people on the plane which was really weird to me since on my flight to Ghana us whiteys were way in the minority. The second we got off the plane we were hit by the smell of Africa (What does it smell like you ask? The most identifiable smell is burning fires/trash/etc) and a massive wall of heat and humidity—bye-bye straight hair, hello frizzy mess. It seemed to take forever to get through customs but once we did and got our bags we discovered a man with our name on a sign (fancy, fancy). The Isabelle de Zamaroczy (the mom of the family we stayed with) had to send a driver for us since her car had broken down. Our first day passed in a daze (we got in at 7 am); we ate some food, bought phones, picked Zita up from school, went to the beach for a while, napped, ate dinner, and went to bed. Thrilling, I know. Day 2 we lounged around since the car was still in the shop and that night we went to the circus. It was kind of like Cirque du Soleil but scaled down to African size. There was dancing, juggling, some hilarious rapping mixed with hat juggling, lots of acrobatics, many contortionists (a guy managed to fit through at tennis racket...gross), etc. Friday we went with Isabelle to the fish market, went into downtown Dar for a meeting with some of the Walter Reed people, and then headed to the yacht club (ex-pat central) to watch the sunset. For dinner we ate crabs that made Chesapeake crabs look like the puniest creatures alive.

Saturday a driver appeared at 7 a.m. to take us to Mbeya. We did some driving around Dar to get gas and pick up James, the accountant (I think) who Melissa and I met in MD a few months back) and then were on our way. The drive was realllly long (we got here at 6:30ish) but it wasn’t too bad (the road was paved the whole way!). First we were in some hills then we dipped down to the savannah where the highway (by that I mean the main road that mostly has one lane each direction, sometimes a little less) goes through Mikumi National Park. We saw baboons, some deer like things, some other large unidentified African animal and 3 herds of elephants. For those of you who don’t know, elephants are my favorite animal so you can imagine how excited I got. It also made me angry that the US doesn’t have any fun animals like that wandering along main roads. We had a pit stop right after Mikumi then continued into the mountains, my least favorite part of the drive. The scenery was amazing but the huge trucks going super slowly and broken down on the narrow road every few kilometers made things a little nerve racking. We ended up on top of some mountains were there these huge valleys where towns are and then behind them are these hills of massive boulders and grass...it sort of reminded me of middle earth from the Lord of the Rings movies (please don’t mock my nerdiness). We stopped just outside of a big town, Iringa for the driver and James to get lunch and Melissa (we had peanut butter sandwiches with us) had her second or third experience with a pit toilet which was endlessly entertaining to me (especially since it was clean and could be flushed). For those of you who don’t know what a pit toilet is I’ll describe. There are two foot shaped ridged porcelain areas on either side of a hole type thing. That of course is a nice one, they only go downhill from there. The next part of the drive took us through pine tree farms (for paper mills) that looked like southern Virginia. I was especially amused by the wood fences that were around some houses and reminded me of Jamestown. We finally made it to Mbeya while it was still light. Not quite sure what to think of the town but James is going to take us around this afternoon to give us a better feel for things. The house we are in is nice—4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms (ok 1 bathroom has a toilet and sink room, a shower and sink room, in addition to the sink in the middle of the hall...), a kitchen with lots of food, a dining room and living room area (with cable tv!!!) and there is a beautiful yard. Mbeya is really pretty...we are up in the mountains where everything is very green and it is warm out (maybe in the 70s). Apparently the rains should be coming soon which could be interesting since our house is off a dirt road.

I have to admit that last night when Melissa and I got here we were more than a little homesick (or even just homesick for Dar). We ate some dinner which the housekeeper, Jenny, had made for us and checked out the house before falling asleep. I have to say I feel a lot better about things today, and I am excited to go to work tomorrow and see what the offices are like. This morning I made Liss and I some scrambled eggs and toast which was fine. Ok well the toast was fine (and the tiny bananas) but my eggs were a little over done...the yolk in them was closer to white than yellow which confused me. We just finished unpacking all of our stuff (we are sharing a smaller room with twin beds), so things are feeling a little homier in here. Thankfully we have mosquito netting so I am currently in a nice bug-free haven (the netting is mostly protecting me from the flies which there aren’t even that many of).

Sorry for the boring-ness of these few paragraphs, hopefully I’ll have more exciting things to share once I discover more of Mbeya and see the office/finally find out why I am here.

Swahili for today:

-Karibu/Karibuni: welcome (singular/plural)

-Safari njema: safe journey

-Asante sana: thank you very much (you should all know that from Lion King)

-Nzuri: fine

-Hapana: no