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.