Orientation Week

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Greetings to one and all.  Today I want to share a little bit of my orientation week with you.  I learned a little Swahili but mostly had a hard time with the unfamiliar words, accents and tenses.  I do know some of the greetings and that seems to be the main thing I need to know.  My Mama says I don’t practice it enough and she’s probably right.  Many of the hospital folks speak some English so I have less incentive to learn Swahili here in Karatu.

But back to the orientation week.  We learned a lot about the culture and history of Tanzania along with current events in Arusha and other areas.  “Women in Action” is an organization that began in 1993 to combat HIV and to offer support and care to those affected by it.  In 1995, they began their home based care to prenatal women and followed it with a grant program for widows in 1996.  Typically, men are the bread winners so when a husband dies, women are left with the children and no way to earn a living.  In 2006, they expanded their work to villages allowing folks to buy shares to provide training in choosing leaders, conflict resolution and business.  In addition, they have developed a “Youth in Action” program which offers counseling on reproductive health and tires to empower youth to understand the roles of women and children and rights of children.  Their ongoing work and accomplishments are quite impressive.

Dr. Oliver Morrell, a Maasai man who has practiced medicine in the Arusha area for 43 years gave a fascinating presentation on his culture as it relates to health concerns especially HIV/AIDs.  In addition, he took us to visit a person living with HIV.  (See picture below.)  Judith, who has lost her husband and 2 children to HIV/AIDs was feeling okay the day we visited but she had a bout of shingles 2 months earlier and was not doing well at all during that time.

Dr. Morrell, Judith and Pat

Another highlight of the week was the slideshow presentation given by Erwin Kinsey, the Global Service Corps (GSC) Country Director.  I was so intrigued by it that I ask him for a copy of it which he graciously agreed to do.  I copied the power point slides into a Word document with a little bit of editing and will try to insert it into my post.  Unfortunately, the formatting did not remain intact when inserted into my blog so I’ll have to share that with you after I get back home.  However, I have included a few of his pictures below.

Many thanks to Erwin for all of his time and effort in creating the slideshow and for so generously sharing it. 

(Sorry, I'm out of time and will have to add these pictures later.)

 

 Another part of orientation week was preparing for our HIV/AIDs and nutrition training.  We discussed the curriculum, games and posters before making a practice presentation on a small section of our choosing.  Of course, we learned about the daladala (bus) and enjoyed a walking tour of Arusha.  We ended the week with a dinner at Arusha Maasai Café which everyone agrees has the best pizza in town.  And then for our weekend activity, we went on a safari to Arusha National Park.  I’ve included some photos of that fabulous adventure below.  Hope you enjoy the pictures as much as I enjoyed taking them.   

Greetings from Karatu

Habari from Karatu.  That’s Swahili for “hello”.  My days at home are filled with rooster’s crowing and an occasional mooing from a cow.  My mama’s neighbors have lots of chickens, roosters, goats and one cow.  The goats are off grazing in another area most of the time so I’ve not heard them so far.  If the electricity is on, Mama’s son plays mostly country music from his computer library so we do have some entertainment.  There is a battery operated radio but it’s hard to get a good station without a lot of static.  During the day, when I’m in the lab, I hear one of the lab techs whistling quite often along with the usual lab sounds of busy techs with crying babies and children when getting their blood drawn.  

I’m in the lab because they have the most consistent connection to the internet which I need to register and train docs on the use of Telemedicine (TM).  If you’re not familiar with TM, it’s a tool to allow health professionals to get consultations with experts from all over the world.  In AK, we had a special machine that was only used for TM but here we’re using a web-based system created by the Swinfen Charitable Trust.  The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Tanzania (ELCT) who owns this hospital collaborates with this trust and other organizations to offer TM to their 43 hospitals located throughout Tanzania.  (TM is also offered to any health professional, not just to the Lutheran Hospitals).  When I first got here, I made up a schedule for the docs to sign up for their preferred time to train but they decided they would rather just drop by the lab when they have some time.  So that means I hang out in the lab when I’m not on chai (tea) break between 10 & 10:30 or lunch between 1:30 and 2:00.  

By the way, Tanzanians like to eat their meals late so the chai break is really breakfast but morning prayers start at 7:45am so one has a lot of activities before breakfast.  I usually have a cup of coffee before going to prayers.  Supper is usually somewhere around 8:30pm which is not that much later than I have it at home but I have snacks if I’m eating that late.  But I’m trying not to have snacks or “bites” as they’re called here because I’m eating so much rice, potatoes and beans that I feel like I’m gaining weight.  They insist on eating a big meal at supper so you’ll have enough energy for your morning activities.  We do have meat including beef, chicken and more rarely fish but it’s all fried so just as at home, I don’t eat meat with every meal.  However, Mama always put some meat on my plate at dinner (to give me enough energy in the morning) but I usually have lunch with her son as she is too busy at the hospital to come around 1:30. That way, I can decline the meat at lunch.  I’m not sure when or if Mama eats lunch.  She is the “Matron” of the hospital which I think is similar to “Director of Nursing” and carries a lot of responsibility.  It’s not unusual at all for her to be called back to the hospital for an hour or 2 at night if something has gone wrong or someone needs “meds” and the staff on duty cannot give them.  Mama is an RN so she has more privileges than say an LPN.

At any rate, I’m realizing I haven’t really told you about my first 3 weeks here which were in Arusha and 2 villages called Engikaret and Njoro.  Arusha is a thriving, bustling & vibrant city of 270,000 people.  It can be overwhelming at times with numerous cars, carts and bicycles not to mention the motorcycles.  Crossing a street can be a major challenge as there are no stoplights in town.  Traffic does have to stop periodically because there is so much of it so this is your chance to get at least halfway across.  When you first arrive in Arusha, you’ll meet folks called “flycatchers” because they’ll approach you in the hope of selling you something.  They are quite persistent and will ask time and time again even though you keep saying “hapanna asanta” meaning “no thank you”.  However, after you’ve been here for several days to a week, they realize you’re not the typical tourist and they tend to leave you alone.

Lexa Koenig who is a rising sophomore at Columbia University in NYC was the only other person in my orientation group.  However there were several other volunteers who had started earlier.  One of them, Liz Elmore is from Asheville and lives on a farm out Leichester Highway.  It never ceases to amaze me what a small world we live in.  All of the volunteers who are or were with me here are college students.  Several of them including Lexa are going home tomorrow but I said goodbye to them 2 weeks ago when I left Arusha for Karatu.  I’m including some pics of the volunteers, the GSC office and the surrounding area.  One of my favorite places to get pizza is the Arusha Maasai Café so there are some pics of it too.  Next to the café is a small art gallery which I enjoyed as well.  I’ve included a few photos from there as well.

The electricity is off today so I’m on battery power on my computer and need to sign off soon.  I don’t want to deplete the battery completely so I’ll stop for now.  So I’ll have to tell you about the villages in my next blog.  Earlier I did get on the internet since the hospital had their generator on.  I hope it will be on this afternoon as well in which case I’ll just “cut and paste” this Word document onto my blog.  I also have planned to call my brother, Garry this afternoon but we’ll see if the generator is still on.  The hospital leaves it on for as few hours as possible.  My backup time to call Garry is tomorrow afternoon so we’ll see what happens.  I don’t think I’ll ever take electricity for granted again as I did before coming here.  Wishing you well and hoping things are going great for you and your family/friends. Bye for now and hopefully I’ll blog again soon.  Take care.

Arusha Maasai Cafe

GSC Office

Lexa Koenig in our Classroom

Maasai Cafe Entrance

Art Gallery 1

Art Gallery 2

Art Gallery Flamingos

Some Volunteers on Safari, Liz from AVL is 2nd from right

Life in Arusha

Imagine if you will, sitting in class when a loud clashing sound reverberates over your head.  As you nearly jump out of your skin, the volunteer coordinator just laughs and says “don’t worry, it’s just another avocado dropping on our tin roof.”  Yes, avocados grow on trees here and they’re hugh .  Coming in 3 sizes- small, medium and large, the biggest ones are about the size of a baby’s head and the small ones are still at least 2 times bigger than any I’ve seen in the states.  Numerous other fruit trees dot the landscape here along with beautiful flowers. Most people I ask don ‘t know the names at least not in English so I can’t begin to identify the pictures I've taken. I had planned to add some photos but it takes so long to upload them that I can't do that today when I'm on battery power.

Greens grow wild here and we have them at every meal except breakfast.  We also have bananas, avocados, oranges and cucumbers at every meal including breakfast.  Fortunately, I like all of them so I’m enjoying them but sometimes just have a small portion of greens.  Bananas are sometimes cooked with meat or just roasted giving them an almost potato-like texture.  They’re quite good cooked.  Last week, I tried fresh passion fruit for the first time and I loved it.  It’s sweet but also has a nice tangy taste as well.  With its unique taste and texture, I find it hard to describe.  And of course, the mango is so wonderfully delicious!!!

Getting around Arusha is not too difficult but it is somewhat spread out.  My home stay is out in a development called Sakina on the North side of town.  Located on the Narobie-Moshi Road, it’s a little too far to walk to the GSC office.  Therefore, I take the daladala (bus) starting with the yellow line to the 1^st stop light and then take the green line to just beyond the 2^nd stop light where I can take a shortcut through woods and an apartment complex to the office. 

The daladals are privately owned by individuals mostly but they may own several dalas instead of just one.  Owners hire a driver and a conductor and depend on them to do all the work.  The owner takes a percentage of the total fares for the day and then deducts an amount for maintenance and petrol.  Whatever is left over gets divided between the driver and the conductor.  So you see the incentive is to put as many people as possible on the bus.  Even when the seats are full, they still stop for folks and squeeze then in by standing or leaning whichever way they can.  With so many people on the dala, it’s impossible to see any landmarks so you just have to know the name of the stop you want so you can tell the conductor and hope he remembers it.  I think I have the names down now but at first they were so strange and unfamiliar, I could not remember them.  I still say them differently than locals and sometimes the conductors laugh at me or look at me with a comical look.   But mostly I’m managing to get where I need to go.

The daladalas are small vans with about 15-20 seats and a sliding door on the left side.  The conductor rides with his head out the window so he can spot folks who might want to get on.  (See pic below.)  When he sees a potential rider, he slaps the side of the van to signal the driver to stop.  When all the folks are on, he slaps the side a couple of times to tell the driver to go again.  Supposedly, the fare depends on how far one rides but it’s always been 300 shillings for me even if I went a very short distance.  The conductor has bills in his left hand and coins in his right hand.  Sometimes he takes the fare while riding if there are no potential riders by the side of the road.  Other times he takes the fare after you get out.  There’s very little conversation on the dala and the conductor hardly says a word.  He just holds a hand near you and you give him money after which he gives you change if needed. 

One morning I gave the conductor two coins worth 200 shillings each for a total of 400 shillings.  When he didn’t give my any change, I began protesting but he just showed me the 200 shilling coins he had in his right hand.  He didn’t have any 100 shilling coins and was not about to just charge 200 shillings.  I just had to figure this out on my own as he never said a word to me.  He just slapped the dala a couple of times and away the bus went.   However, before you think I’m being ripped off, consider that one dollar is worth about 1500 shillings so the 300 shilling fare amounts to about 20 cents and the lack of change may have cost me a nickel.  Certainly not enough to be really upset.

One day before I knew the name of my home stay stop, I was telling the conductor in English that I wanted off at the Tanzania Assembles of God.  He did not understand a word I was saying so I didn’t know what to do.  Previously, I had tired writing down the name of my stop but again the conductor had no idea what it said and he passed it around to everyone on the dala.   No one had a clue as to what I was trying to communicate.  At any rate, on this particular day, a lady in the row in front of me asked in English where I wanted to get off.  When I told her Tanzania Assemblies of God, she understood and it turned out that she was getting off at the same stop.  As we walked the short distance to my home stay gate, we chatted in English.  Judy Henry is working with Maasai Women’s Development Corporation, a private organization trying to help empower Maasai women.  The director is a Maasai woman which is quite remarkable in itself since males are totally dominant in that culture.  More typically, Maasai women have no say about anything and are expected to be submissive since gender roles are quite rigid and defined.  Judy and I exchanged phone numbers and emails and have continued to text each other when I’ve been in villages.  Last Sunday when I was back in Arusha, we met at 7Up Restaurant for a soda and chat.  It turns out her position is temporary and she is looking for another job.  She hopes to get a Masters degree at Cambridge but wants to get some experience first before furthering her education.  I’ve enjoyed meeting her but now I’m in Karatu and will not be back in Arusha until Sept 3^rd.  I don’t know if I will see her again but she texts me almost every day.  I will try to meet her and treat her when I get back as she treated me last Sunday.  Well I must stop for now so I’ll tell you about Karatu at a later time.  Hope your summer is going well.  Take care.  Bye for now.

Daladala Yellow Line

One Third of My Project Finished

Greetings from Arusha!  Actually I've been in villages more than in Arusha but right now I'm at the GSC office and the electricity is on.  Hurrah!  At my home stay, it was off last night but came on in the middle of the night and then went off some time this am.  Probably will not be on for most of the day.  As my brother mentioned, it makes me really appreciate the electricity in the US.

Will not have time to add pics today because I have not formatted them to a smaller size but will try to add some this week.  I'm going to a hospital in Karatu about 3 hours west of Arusha on Tues and am assuming I'll have more internet access there.  If so, I should be able to update more regularly.

I'm meeting a local friend I met on the Daladala (bus) after lunch so my post will have to be short today.  Just know that at the end of 3 weeks here, I've completed one third of my time and am looking forward to the next 6 weeks in Karatu.  Take care.

First Week Completed

 More photos from the Center House Hostel.

After one week and a day, Arusha is beginning to feel familiar.  The week of orientation has gone very well and I'm now in my home stay.  We're going to Arusha National Park for a safari tomorrow and next week I'll be in a village.  Several other volunteers are going as well.  My biggest challenge so far has been riding on the Dala Dala which is the bus system here.  Actually riding on the bus is not the problem, it's knowing when to get off.  The Dala has about 15 seats but they take on people even when the seats are full.  So if you're in the middle of the bus, you cannot see the landmarks to know you're near where you need to get off.  Plus I'm not very good with the landmarks yet since so many places look the same.  This morning I took the yellow Dala and missed the place I was supposed to get off and take the green Dala so I ended up in downtown rather than north of town where the GSC office is located.  I walked back to the Narobi-Moshi Road and was able to get on the green Dala so I managed to get to the training on time.

It's almost time to leave so I'll try to add a few more pictures and tell you more about my time here later.  I will not have internet access next week so probably will not be able to update until much later.  Just know if you don't hear from me that I'm still doing well and am enjoying my time in Tanzania.

Addis Ababa Ethiopia Airport

Gate 11, Addis Ababa Airport

Kilimanjaro International Airport

                                                              

Mombassa, Kenya Airport

My Plane to Ethiopia

arived safely

After flying for 12.75 hours, my flight finally got to Addis Ababba, Ethiopia.  Had to get on a bus to get to  baggage claim but I needed terminal 1 which required another bus.  Managed to get to gate 11 and wait for next 1 hr. flight to Mombassa, Keya.  Then waited an hour on the plane for refueling and then an hour flight to Kilimanjaro.  After a 45 min. ride, I was finally in Arusha badly needing a drink of water.  With 500 shillings, I soon had a cool bottle of water.  I was wiped out since I didn't sleep much on the plane.  My bed is comfortable and I slept very well so I'm feeling fine today.  Had chicken, home fries and turnip greens for dinner last night and fish stew with rice and turnip greens for lunch today.  Looking forward to a quite evening after searching town for an electrical adaptor since the one I purchased from AAA had prongs that would not work.  Still don't have a converter to change 220v to 110v for my mini computer.  I took a few pictures around the hostel which are above.   Will stop for now.

On My Way

Thanks to my dear friend and neighbor Gita, I got to the airport on time this am and had uneventful flights to Atlanta and Dulles in DC. I had a little trouble finding my luggage because my flight was listed at carousel #14 but the bags were at #13.  They finally announced the change but when I went to #13, it was not turning and there were no visible bags there so I went to the Delta baggage office.  The agent looked my numbers up and it showed the bags were there so he went looking for them.  Turns out they were on the back side of the carousel which I never looked at.

One of my bags was a box which was pretty well battered up on just the 2 flights today so I was rather worried that it would never make it all the way to Tanzania.  So I began searching for a better box.  However, I decided to first see if I could check in on the Ethiopian Airlines (EA) website.  I couldn't but I did see that my flights were confirmed and that was reassuring.  Just by chance I clicked on the baggage requirements and lo and behold, EA does not accept boxes on their flights.  So I go over to the front desk at the Best Western where I'm staying and ask if there are any shopping areas nearby.  Thank goodness, the Holiday Inn across the street has a free shuttle to the mall and Wallmart.  I was able to purchase a bag which I believe will be fine for at least 1 or 2 trips but the airlines don't take long to beat up any kind of bag.

You may be asking why I was using a box in the first place.  The answer is that my bags other than the duffel I have with me were packed with my winter and fall clothes and stashed in the attic so my neighbor, Meshon could move in and have a place for her clothes and belongings.  What a blessing to have someone who I know in the house while I'm gone.  At any rate, I'm so thankful that I checked that website before I went to the airport in the AM.

So I'm on my way but I really should back up and let you know about my wonderful "send-offs".  On Sun. June 19th, Gita hosted our Spiritual Friendship Circle for a potluck dinner.  It was the first time all 6 of us had been together in several months due to various travel and time conflicts.  The food was superb and they all had lots of questions for me about Tanzania and the work I'll be doing there.  And Gita surprised me with a world globe as a parting gift!  (See the picture below)  A good time was had by all!

Than on Tues. June 21, Gita again hosted a goodbye snack hour for our neighbors to bid me "bon voyage".  Grant and Emma (2 of our youngest neighbors) came too.  It's such fun to have children around as they have so much energy and delight in the smallest pleasures.  And I'm delighted to be living in a community where so many spontaneous activities can occur without much effort. I'll miss all my friends and my new home but I'm so excited to finally be going on a global health project that I've wanted to do for so many years.

Spiritual Friendship Circle: L to R Margaret Normile, Nancy Kuykendall, Pat J., Katherine Kowal & Gita Larson.  Photo by Susan Carlyle

World Globe Gift

 Finally, I'll share some pics of the gifts I'm bringing to my host family.  According to the material, Global Service Corps sent, the families will prize anything that has your home town written on it.  So I picked several items with Asheville on it as well as books, a collage and a black bear toy.  And I made the hand bag for my Tanzanian mama. 

 

Must stop for now and get some sleep.  I have a long flight tomorrow.  Take care all.



Preparing to Go

As many of you know, I will leave Asheville on Tuesday, June 28th for my trip to Tanzania.  Since I can't get to DC early enough for my Ethiopian Airline flight, I will need to spend the night near the Dulles Airport.  Then on Wed. June 29th I take off for Addis Ababa, Ethiopia at 12:00pm arriving at 7:45am on Thurs. June 30th.  I leave Addis Ababa at 10:20am and arrive in Mombasa, Kenya at 12:45pm.  Finally, I leave Mombasa at 1:30pm and arrive at Kilimanjaro, Tanzania at 2:30pm.  Global Service Corp will have a representative there to meet me and take me to Arusha where I will be for the first part of the project.

I'm reading lots of background material and listening to my Swahili tapes in addition to thinking about what items, clothing and gifts to take with me.  I'm very excited but feeling like I should have started the preparation much sooner.  I have just over 2 weeks to finish my preparation and will do my best to be ready.