May 30 - June 5

Have a good connection here in Arusha.  Here are some updates from May 30 - June 1

Monday, May 30

Harvest Moon

·         We went to a prayer meeting first thing in the morning at the diocese.  There were some prayers and some formality, however, the big thing was to introduce the group.    After the prayer meeting, we went up to meet Timoth, the assistant bishop, to discuss what has happened in our two weeks in Shighatini and the need to push for staffing at the health clinic.

·         We met with Rosemary, the person in the diocese that is in charge of women’s and children’s development.  We discussed ways that we could help them market their crafts in order to make money.  There are things that we could take back to the US to sell.  There was a good amount of discussion on Fair Trade to make sure that the things that could be sold in the US were made by adults and they would get a fair amount for their work.

·         We went to a “quaint” African restaurant.  It was kind of fast food.  I couldn’t eat it.  The chicken was horrible.  I can’t stand rice, although I’ve had to have it.  Of course, the French fries were covered with Spinach.  Needless to say, it was not very satisfying.

·         We met with Bishop Charles Mjema of the Pare Diocese… The person that visited Shighatini the previous week.  Again, of course, I emphasized that Carla and I were married by Phil Hougen and that Pastor Mike leads our church.  He was interested in our experience in Shighatini.   He is a nice man.  His baby girl, we think, has malaria and is in the hospital.  He seemed a bit distracted.  She is about 1 year old and just got back last week from America.

·         After the meeting with The Bishop, we went to tour the government hospital.  It is a dismal place.  I guess it is pretty good by Tanzanian standards, but pretty dismal.  We met the medical director the hospital.  He took us on a tour.  We were able to visit the Bishop’s wife and baby.  Jeff and Deb were able to examine her.  The baby is a real cutie.

·         On our way back, I was a person with a white sheet over them.  There was a patient that did not make it.

·         After the hospital we spent a couple of hours shopping in Same on the same streets we have been on before.  I guess this is the Michigan Ave of Same without the fancy stores… in fact a shack for stores.  We were looking for fabric so the ladies of the church could make us some shirts, dresses, etc.  I picked out two pieces of fabric that are quite fashionable I must say.

·         Now, to the Harvest Moon.  Since Dr. Jeff has worms and other things invading his stomach, we insisted that we take stool samples.  We went back to the hotel and Ali, Rob and I harvested our poop and returned it to the hospital.

·         Once back to the hotel the men and the women split, the girls were looking at the wares we brought back from the ladies of Shighatini.  Carla took a couple of things.

·         There were several monkeys outside of our room.  I was nipped at the heal by two monkeys.  A monkey followed me to my room.  After quickly getting to my room and closing the door he or she peered inside my door and wouldn’t leave.  I felt trapped.

·         If we had the same thing that Jeff has, we would need to start taking drugs.  This means no drinking.  Jeff has been off the beer for several days.  Seeing that this might be the last night for drinking, we went back and had a few drinks and dinner at the “restaurant.”

·         We went to bed.  Carla said I snored all night and she did not get any sleep.  What’s new?

Tuesday, May 31

Good News

·         Our morning started off at the hospital.  Good news.  Ali, Rob and I were clean.  We escaped the most risky part of the trip without getting worms!

·         Ali stayed with Mama Rose at the diocese.  The rest of us went to the small village of Vudee (Voo-day) to visit the palliative care team.    It was a long, winding, dirt road with many bumps.  We say many animals in the road.  There was a goat asleep in the middle of the road.  Carla, without hesitation, pulled the goat off the road.

·         The team in Vudee had “breakfast” for us (yams, rice, flat bread).   After breakfast we went through their market.  Jeff and Deb bought pots.  We continued our journey up the steep mountain, of course, with a narrow dirt path.  Drs Jeff and Deb visited the patient with the 12 members of the palliative care team.  Then, it was down the mountain for lunch and a debrief session.  Again, lunch was not very appetizing to me.   Carla stood up and thanked the group on behalf of the group for the wonderful food.  She did a nice job.

·         We met the pastor of their congregation.  They just entered a sister relationship with Redeemer Lutheran Church in Indianola.

·         After lunch we had a session with the 12 members of the palliative care team.  Dr Deb talked about stroke patients.  Jeff led a Q/A session.  They were very appreciative of our visit.  We finally left down the bumpy road off the mountain.  It took just over an hour to get back to The Elephant.  On the way backed, we discussed the possibilities of creating a training video on subjects like how to take blood pressure or how to use a glucose meter.  Also included would be job aids like we’ve been creating a Root.  It is what they need to be more effective with their patients.

·         Carla and I showered after we returned with the thought if we showered when nobody else showered we could get some water pressure.  It was my best shower since a week ago Sunday in Arusha.

Wednesday, June 1

Doctor Down

·         The morning started with the regular Elephant Motel breakfast.  For me, a plain omelet sandwich.  For the others, it is the Spanish omelet.

·         After breakfast we went to the diocese for a chance to hook up to e-mail and the Internet. 

·         We had to stay on schedule so we did not have a lot of time.  Mama Rose (it was her birthday), Eli and the rest piled in the Forerunner.

·         Deb wasn’t feeling well so she stayed behind.  She was our back-up doctor.  Now she is down.  Jeff is taking drugs for his worms and such so he is at least up and running.

·         Our first stop was the small village of Kisangara to visit their palliative care team.  The village was right off the road so no dirt bumpy roads.  We were treated like the guests of honor again.  After a chat from Dr. Jeff about a few medical things, he visited an AIDS patient.  After the Doctor was finished, we ate a lunch of rice, chicken, beans (yea!) and bananas.  After a word of thanks for the meal from Rob, we packed up and left.  Again they were very appreciative of our visit.

·         Our next stop was Kafulia, another small village very close to Shighatini.  This was Rob’s thing.  It had to do with pottery.  After the formal introductions, we had a small lunch of just rice and coke.  The people of Kafulia seemed to like our sense of humor.  They giggled as us several times.  The junior pastor and his staff welcomed us.   We hopped into the Forerunner and drove up a narrow path to where they make the pottery.  It was a beautiful spot.  The artist was a beautiful African lady.  In their shop they were having a pottery class.  Outside the building there were pieces of pottery being sun dried.  We bought a couple pieces for about $4.50 US. Or about 3,500 Tanzanian Shillings.  I gave the artist 10,000 Tsh and told her to keep the change.

·         Our next stop was a trip back “home” to Shighatini.  Eli needed to visit Glen Ripke, a member of Empower Tanzania, staying at the guest house.  Carla got to meet Pastor Mwanga.  The pastor said, “We learned quite a bit from him about scripture.  He is a good preacher.”  That comment made me laugh inside.  We also went up to the clinic to see the whole gang.  Rob yelled for everyone to come out when we were about 200 feet from their house.   They all ran out like they have not seen us for years.  Carla got to meet our old friends.  Godlisten was sleeping so Mwanamkas went to wake him up.  We went up to the clinic to give Carla a tour.  You could see that he was proud of the work we all did in cleaning and organizing the clinic.  Before we left the village we made sure that Mwanamkas was signed up for Facebook!  After or good-byes, we left back for The Elephant.  I had not gone to the bathroom all day so it was time to get back.

·         The power went out as soon as we entered the room.  We showered in the dark and went up to dinner.  Jeff and Deb went to Eli’s house to check on is pregnant wife.  Deb was back up an feeling much better after a day of catching up on sleep.  After dinner we retired to bed.  For the first time since I arrived in Tanzania, there was no reason to get up early.

Thursday, June 2

I Get A Kick

·         No need to get up today.  I got up at about 9:30, Carla at 10.  I am spending the first part of the morning catching up on the journaling and watching the monkeys play.  Jeff and Deb were up in the clinic for the first half of the day while Rob and Ali took a walk to find the blacksmith store which they never found.  They were about 200 feet away before they turned back.

·         We went to the Lutheran Diocese to e-mail and get the IT guys from Root to load and program my modem…  There was poor connection but we did it.

·         We went to visit a guy that Jeff met on a previous trip.  James and his family invited us over for “tea.”  Tea means a pretty full meal, it is just between a meals so they call it “tea.”  We had the regular meal items.  We prepared a bowl of peanut butter and protein bars for his family.  They lived in a three bedroom house.  Jeff said the kids are malnourished.   They were thrilled to receive this gift.

·         James is the coach of the local soccer team.  We went to a soccer game with some friendly rivals.  We later found out that they “staged” the game for us.  We went out to meet the teams at halftime.  We gathered around and put our hands in the center and did a cheer.

·         They told us at halftime they told us they need soccer balls and uniforms.  I think that is why they wanted to stage the game.  They need us for donations.  We ended up taking James to the store.  We purchased four soccer balls and a pump.

·         Home, dinner and bed.

                                   

Friday, June 3

Kalemawe Kids

·         After my standard fried egg sandwich, we left on our journey for the day.

·         Stopped at the Pastor Rose Mfunko in Mdunga.  We had no rice!  We had coffee, amarantha porridge and bread.

·         Our next top was the health clinic to visit palliative care team in Ndunga.  Of course, we needed to sign another guest book.  Everyplace we went we signed the guest book.  We then traveled to a small lakeside village, Kalemawe.  Jeff and Deb visited a patient that was “bed” ridden (although there was no bed).  The man lived in a one bedroom brick hut.  The only thing between the man and the floor was a few grocery bags.  The village was very poor.  The kids broke your heart.  We handed out the nutrition bars to the kids that were around the house.    There was one particular girl, I would say a teenager, afraid to accept our gift.  She ran away from Ali.  I wanted to get a “Fullbar” to her.  I approached her very slowly motioning at my mouth saying “food.”  She took the bar, tore it open immediately, smelled it, licked it, and ate it.  She ran away.

·         The doctors had another patient in the village.  Outside the home was a dozen or more kids curious about the white people.   These kids were so poor that they used broken plastic for toys.  I gathered them around me and taught them a song.  I la-la’d Jingle Bells and sang “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star.”  The kids parroted the words perfectly.  Carla thought to hand out one of the deck of cards, a couple per kid.  You would have thought they received the Christmas present they’ve always wanted.  It was Carla’s African moment.  Our kids have so much and these kids were happy with a few cards. Before we left I gathered all the kids in a circle with everyone’s hand in the middle.  We sang “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star” and said “woo” and our hands went in the air at the end of the song.

·         We went to lunch at a little hotel in Mdunga.  Again it was the regular rice, chicken and some kind of greens stuff.

·         After lunch we headed back to Same… but first, our driver stopped at a hotel named Timba (means Elephant).  The bar was shaped like an elephant.  We had a couple of beers (including Godfrey, the driver).

·         On the way back to Same, Godfrey exclaimed,   “The Germans left some money behind this balbob tree.”  Hi just needed to take a leak.

·         We were supposed to meet Anka, the nurse from The Netherlands.  We were running a bit late.  She was leaving to go back as when we arrived at the Elephant.  She needed to go back so we planned on meeting her on Sunday.

Saturday, June 4

Gonja Here We come

·         After our regular breakfast items, we went to Gonja.  Our first stop was to visit ETI’s vulnerable kids’ program.  The program is designed for children that need extra help in their studies.  These are very poor kids.  They have very little, but due to the generosity of others, are able to have uniforms and go to school.  We were touched by their voices as they sang to us a welcome song.  Our main mission was to take photos of all 50 children so the people sponsoring them in Iowa would have a photo of the child they are sponsoring.  We had fun interacting, playing and singing with the kids.  We, of course, had a meal and signed the guest books.  The headmaster o the school invited us back to see their church after we visited the hospital.  After a good-bye song (they sang in English), we went down the hill to the Forerunner.  The kids ran down the hill and after the vehicle to wave good-bye.

·         Gonja Lutheran Hospital was our next stop. Just a short distance from the school.  Sister Dora, a nurse, took us on a tour of the hospital. We were welcomed with flowers and hugs.    It was pretty brutal by our standards.  Of course, we needed to do another meal and a round of guest book signing.  Same meal, same signatures.

·         We did stop by the church on the way back.  We thought we were going to look at an empty church.  There was a confirmation service going on inside.  They brought us in and sat us in the front row.  Saturday night service, finally something familiar.  We had introductions at the front.  Jeff said a few words, and we had an offering.  We got in at the last minutes of church so it was just about 20 minutes.

·         On our way back to the Elephant, we stopped at the Timba Hotel for a couple of beers.  Then we started on our Two hour bumpy road home.

·         It was getting dark on the ride home.  There were dozens of people walking on the road in the pitch darkness.  It was very dangerous.  We almost rand two donkey over.  Luckily, Godfrey, was able to stop on a Tanzanian Shilling or we would have had two donkeys down.

·         We invited Eli, his wife, Francesca and his two children, Victor and Mary to dinner at The Elephant.  We did not get started until 9:30.  IT was quite late.  We set up in the breakfast room so we could have regular sized tables.  We even had candles and cloth napkins.  After I delivered the prayer, we had a nice meal.  We presented Eli with a cash gift of about $250, which is half of a month’s salary.  He said school fees were due for Victor.  He said that he did not know where he was going to get it.  He said, “God delivers.”

Sunday, June 5

Our Last Day to Be Official

·         Since went to Saturday service, we did not go to Sunday church service.  We knew we had a big day of packing and for the women, shopping.

·         Carla and I got up in time to start to pack.  We went up for breakfast and had our regular items.  Carla decided to go back to bed.

·         We were on the patio when Pastor Npenda and Eli arrived.  We spent about an hour or so with him.  He runs the palliative card program.  Jeff, Rob and I started, then Ali came, then Deb and finally Carla work up and came down.  Anika came in as we were wrapping up.  The Pastor, Godfrey and Eli parted to group to figure out how much we owed for the driving.  When they came back they said they had enough in the budget to cover EVERYTHING (even my trip to Arusha).  That was very nice of them to do that.

·         We had lunch with Anika.  The girls went shopping with her after lunch while the men stayed behind and sipped Scotch.

·         We invited Godfrey, his wife Gertrude, and Rosemary over for a final good-by dinner.  We enjoyed getting to know them both.  Before dinner, we bought our shirts from Rosemary.  They ladies of the church made them as well as the skirts for Carla, Katie and Samantha.  She brought some other things that the ladies’ made.  We ended up buying another bowl and a wood-carved rooster as a remembers of all the coo-coo we ate,

·         Godfrey was a funny guy that kept our long journeys interesting.  Rosemary is such a sweet person with a big heart.  We had a nice meal with him before we left.   We presented Godfrey with an envelope with a sizeable tip.

·         After our good-byes, we bought a round of drinks and took them to Jeff and Ali’s room.  The power went off, then, why wouldn’t it go off.  All of a sudden we heard Godfrey’s booming voice.  He found us.  It turns out that Jeff gave him the envelope with the receipts not the one with the money.  We all had a big laugh.  Godfrey made sure he had the one with the money before he left. 

·         Tomorrow is what I hope starts the relaxing part of our trip… The Safari.

May 22 - May 30

It is May 31 today.    I found Internet connection at the Lutheran Church offices in Same (Som-A).  Yea Lutherans!!

Here is a recap of what has happend since I last posted:

Sunday, May 22

The Road back to Shighatini

·         Sunday started with a trip with Godfrey and his son.  We stopped about halfway so we could have a Coke and a bottle of water.   We were able to stop and take a photo of the peak of Mt. Kilimanjaro.  The clouds parted just enough for us to see the peak.

·         It took us about 2.5 hours to get back to Shighatini.  I arrived just at the end of church service.  There was more church to come.  There was a choir concert at 2 pm with several choirs around the area.  It lasted about 3 hours.  We were unable to move off the hard wooden benches.  We couldn’t get up because we were in the front row as the “honored” guests.  The music and their spirit were great.  We even got up and danced a little with the Shighatini choir.

·         After the choir concert, we proceeded to “dinner.”  Beans and bread for dinner.  We were desperate for entertainment.  We even smoked a rolled up paper napkin… just because it was there.  We will owe them a fresh table cloth.

·         I found out that Ali had a rat in her room over the weekend.  The rat found some power bars he liked.  Needless to say, there was some drama in the house over the weekend.

·         We sang “White Christmas” to the ladies that serve us dinner (Martha, Raheema, and Earnestina).

Monday, May 22

Teacher, Teacher, Teacher Part III

·         Breakfast was a few muffins and coffee.  Ali said while I was gone she opened up the muffin and there was a moth in it… pretty appetizing.

·         Ali, Rob and I started our day at the primary school.   The students spoke little English.  We think they were 12 or 13 years old.  They were very respectful.  We introduced ourselves and had the children say, “My name is…”   The lesson was about their first president. 

·         I read the text book in English and their regular teacher translated about every two sentences.  Again, there were three text books for about 20 students.  If I read and the teacher translated it would be more efficient than having the children read aloud.  At least they were able to hear us speak English and have it immediately translated.    

·         Rob gave them the oral test.  We taught them how to cheer after they got the answer right.  That seemed to be a good thing for the children. 

·         They asked about my children.  I told them about Katie and Samantha.  They said “Hi Katie, Hi Samantha as I video’d them.  Overall, I thought it was a good experience for everyone.

·         After school we went to visit Jeff at the clinic.  He was pretty busy.  We found out two of the hospital worker have malaria (Mwanamkas, nurse; Sara, the home health person).   Mwanamkas said, “I’m ok, it is just a bit of malaria.  You can still come over to dinner tonight.”

·         At 3:00, Joseph, a local farmer walked us “600 steps” to his farm.  He was very proud of his farm.  He grows bananas, guava, papaya, avocado, pumpkins.  He also raises chickens and cows for milk.   He had a 14 day old grandbaby, Gloria, and her mother staying with them for a short time.  He invited us in his house.  He did have a TV with a satellite dish on his house he built 20 years ago.  In fact, he said he saw me on TV at the Drake game in Arusha.

·         He served us cold chicken, hard boiled eggs and Tanzanian Tea.  Jeff was the only one to try the coo-coo.  Joseph said most people eat one meal a day, supper.  He said most people live on under $1.00 per day.

·         It was very interesting sitting in their living area.  The conversation went like this… “Good Tea.”  “Tea from Tanzania.”  “Local coo-coo.”  “Local coo-coo is best.”  “Local coo-coo eggs are good too.”  “Mmm, that’s good tea.”  “Tanzania tea.”  Etc. etc.

·         When we started our walk back, it started to rain.  We were pretty wet when we got back to the guest house.

·         After drying off and short happy hour, Godlisten collected us to take us to his house for dinner.  Again, quite nervous about the food, we walked up the dirt trail about a quarter mile to the home built by Bethesda.  Godlisten is an early 20s “Physician’s Assistant” that runs the clinic.  Jeff has been doing a terrific job mentoring him about the ways of medicine.

·         In Godlisten’s little compound lives Mwanamkas, the nurse.  Sara, the home health aide lives next door in a shabby brick house with cardboard windows.  It appears that Godlisten rules the roost.  He has the ladies cooking for him while he sits back.  The dinner featured coo-coo (chicken) that tasted pretty good, rice and a tomato concoction.  I mixed the rice and tomato stuff together.  They like listening to Kenny Rogers.   After dinner we chatted and laughed a bit with them.

·         We found out that all three of them have malaria.  The can call that neighborhood Malaria Row.

·         Note to self… If you leave fruit in the hallway, there will be big chunks taken out of it when you get up in the morning.  There are just a few critters running around the house at night.

Tuesday, May 23

Pottery Barn

·         Today was our turn to go without electricity.  I guess everyone takes turns not having electricity in the village.  Due to a dry rainy season, there is not enough water to generate the hydro-electric power.

·         We had a fascinating morning climbing the mountain to visit a woman named Presca.  Presca is one of two people left in the village that does ceramic pottery.

·         The journey up narrow, rocky and slippery mud paths is about a mile or so in the mountains.   Harrison, a young man in his early 20s served as our guide.  Harrison is very involved in the church, especially in worship music.  He had been a tour guide in some of the safaris.  He was quite knowledgeable about the plants and animals in the area.   For example, the monkey sounds we were hearing at night were “bush babies,” a cat sized primate with big eyes that do their work at night.

·         When we reached Prisca’s house, she welcomed us with open arms and hugs.  She had been part of Ali’s women’s group.  She was very prepared for our visit.  Rob, our art professor, was particularly interested in this art form.  Prisca could not speak a word of English; however, Harrison did a great job of translating.  She showed us step by step of the process of making a ceramic bowl… from pounding the clay, to shaping it, and burning it in an open fire.  I made sure I got every minute of it on video.  This is a dying art and pretty soon you won’t see it any more.

·         After lunch we met with Josiah and the church’s natural conservation committee.  They basically look after all of the projects going on in the church.  Josiah read a list of 20 some projects that have been sponsored by Bethesda Lutheran in Ames.  They have been blessed by the partnership.  There seems to be a lot of projects going on around the village, however, no one seems to be in charge.  They need a mayor or the like to help prioritize the needs of the community.  In our opinion, the first priority is to get a full time doctor at the clinic.  There is a person that would do it; however, the government needs to assign him here.  It wouldn’t take any money on the village’s part; the government would pay the salary.  They just need to be persistent in writing letters and being the “squeaky wheel.”

·         Another project in the works is the milk production facility.  They are building it next to the guest house.  That is a big project.  Again, they need someone in charge… a project manager that will keep things moving and on track.  Hopefully, Empower Tanzania, Inc.  can serve in that role.  That is what we suggested any way.  There is a lot of equipment needed to make it work.  By having a milk processing facility, local farmers would be able to sell their milk and have it delivered to the people of the village.  With a deep freezer it would keep longer.  They would not only process milk, but also yogurt and possibly cheese.

·         The other project is their multi-purpose building that in only half done and has been half done for several years.  It looks like an old Roman ruin.  We suggested focusing on the efforts that will make the biggest difference like getting a doctor in the clinic and finishing the milk processing plan.

·         Josiah invited us to his home for dinner… again a thing that made us a bit nervous because we did not know what to expect.  We walked about a mile into the jungle up the mountain on muddy path to get to his house.  He lived in a pretty nice house judging from what others live in around here.  He built the house by himself over several years.  Every time he had a little extra money, he built a little more.

·         Josiah’s wife served us rice, coo-coo, cabbage, beans and French fries.  I actually ate beans and rice together.  It was tasty.  Josiah’s wife added a bit of coconut to the beans to add some flavor.   Josiah ate with us while his wife and children must have eaten before us.  I hope.

·         The house had a color TV, a satellite dish, DVDs, etc.

·         We walked back through the jungle, in the dark, with flashlights to the sounds of nature.  Jeff wanted to walk back by ourselves.  We would have been toast.  Luckily Josiah walked us back.

·         After a short happy hour, we went to bed at about 9:30.

Wednesday, May 24

Oh, My.  There is something on my wall

·         Today we had electricity and a cold bucket washing.

·         After breakfast and our bucket wash, we went to the clinic to finish a couple of the last rooms before a government officer is coming to inspect the clinic.  I think that is where we’ve made the biggest difference in Shighatini.

·         After we were finished at the clinic, Jeff visited Mwanamkas, the nurse, who was getting worse with her malaria. 

·         Around three we were hosting the church women’s group.  They gathered on our veranda to do their crafts.  Jeff helped get the sewing machine working… a multi-talented doctor.

·         Once he got it working him and I went to visit Mwanamkas to check on how she was doing.  I was able to go in a visit her and give her a word of encouragement from my daughter, Samantha, who she gave a word to for her surgery on her finger.  She was very weak; however, I think she appreciated the word of encouragement.

·         After Jeff and I returned we walked about a half mile to a small market.  We bought biscuits and soda pop.  It was a bit scary.  The cigarettes were being delivered by a man with gun that looked like he would “shoot first and ask later.”

·         Dinner seems to be getting later and later.  Finally sometime after 9:00 the Shighatini Shufflers came with our meal of beans, bread and french-fries (with green oranges for desert).

·         At dinner we had a long discussion about how the next visitors would handle the lifestyle.  The next group from Bethesda will be a group of kids and some chaperones.    We decided to write an e-mail to the person brining them over so there are no surprises.  We are finding that four adults in the prime of their lives are finding it quite a challenge.

·         At bed time, I went in my room and exclaimed, “Oh, my.  There is something on my wall!”  It was a four inch slug invading my space.  On the bright side, it wasn’t a bush baby or rat.

Thursday, May 25

Rat Bastard

·         In a couple of weeks a group of 12 people, six of them youngsters, will depart the US to visit Shighatini.   We e-mailed the lead chaperone from Bethesda Lutheran Church in Ames to help them in preparation for their trip.  This gives you some insight to our living conditions:

Jambo Gerald,

Hope this finds you well.  Ali, Rob, Bryan and I have had quite an experience in Shighatini.  We’ve had a wonderful time working in the health center, teaching the children and working with the various groups at church.  They feel blessed to have a relationship with the people of Bethesda Lutheran.  Ali is even sprucing up the banner that hangs in the front of the church with more permanent letters.

We wanted to send some helpful notes to you and your fellow travelers that will help make your experience a bit better.

Bathrooms:

·         It was our understanding that you thought the bathroom in the front was renovated.   They removed the tub, replaced it with a shower (that doesn’t work).  The sink is still very old and dirty.  The toilet dripped but we fixed it and replaced the tank valve and installed a new toilet seat. The toilet bowl is still the old one which is not only an appearance issue but it doesn’t rinse the bowl leaving a prominent urine smell.

·         In the back bathroom, we repaired the leaking plumbing and replaced the toilet seat.  The sink and toilet now are in workable condition.  The reason the showers don’t work is because the water pressure is low.  We are able to clean ourselves by filling small pitchers at the faucet that we will leave for you. 

·         Bring flip-flops and hand sanitizer.  These are two essentials key to sanitation.

Bedding:

·         We realize that there may be bedding challenges putting 12 beds in the house.  We trust that you and the pastor will figure that out.  While there are bed linens here, some of your guests may prefer to bring their own bed sets and pillows.  Do not buy them here because they may be dirty.  While packing a pillow may seem excessive, the pillows we have are folded up foam.

·         Make sure all of the beds have mosquito netting.  All three of the clinic personnel caught malaria during our stay.  Take every precaution to keep the mosquitoes at bay.  Netting, anti-malaria drugs and 40% Deet insect spray are necessary for your safety.

·         There is one rack and one dresser in the entire house.  You will have your clothes in your suitcases for the entire trip unless you get one of these items. 

·         We were planning to make suitcase stands but have been busy with projects at the health clinic. 

Food:

·         Purchase large quantities of bottled water and any food items before you get to Shighatini.  There is not much here to purchase.   We suggest we purchase your items in Moshi.

·         Keep all food you have with you (including cough drops and gum) in the refrigerator.  We’ve found that something with big teeth, bigger than a mouse, had a nice meal with our food.   Prepare your party for possible critters roaming the house at night.  Keep your suit cases zipped shut at all times.

·         Food at the house is cooked by the ladies of the church.  They are very nice and well prepared, but the choices are limited and mostly starches.  A typical breakfast was plain muffins and an occasional vegetable omelet.  Lunch and dinner are mostly rice, beans, fries, meats and an occasional plain pasta dish.  While this is fine for us, some of the kids my want to bring nutrition bars.

Electricity:

·         The electricity is rolling on a schedule that is hard to predict.  It is on about 40 – 50% of the time.  You will have one day without power all day.  On our trip, it was Tuesdays.  EVERYONE needs a good flashlight with battery backups.

Laundry

·         The ladies of the church (the cooks) do the laundry.  They do it by hand and due to the climate it takes a couple of days to get it done.   Be sure to stay ahead of the laundry.

Phone and Internet:

·         As you know, there is no wireless Internet service in Shigatini.   You will need to have a modem that you can hook to your laptop to use cell phone signals for Internet.  It will be very slow.  We found that using the Vodaphone service works best in this area.

The people of Shighatini have made us feel very welcome.  We feel we’ve made a connection with them and that our time here has been full of purpose.  We have focused on getting the health center in shape.  We and the health center staff have cleaned sorted and completely organized every room of the facility. We had new shelving constructed to help with the organization and the staff seems very motivated and inspired. We’ve also had six benches built for the women’s crafts group and feel confident that we are leaving Shighatini bit better than it was when we arrived.   

Hopefully this letter can help you set some expectations for your travelers and help you better prepare for a productive experience.

Thanks, again, Gerald, for all of your guidance and help during our preparation.

Yours,

Jeff

·         So, that is the letter we sent!

·         After we connected to the computer, we took about a 6 mile walk.  I know because I had my fancy Garman with me.  We walked up the mountain.   We were trying to find another village, Usange (you-song-ee).  We went about three miles and turned back because we couldn’t find anything.  We later heard that we did not go quite far enough.  The views up the mountain were spectacular.  We could see Kenya AND the snow capped Mt. Kilimanjaro.

·         We had lunch when we got back.  I decided to take a full bar and a bucket bath.  It was ice cold, but refreshing.  Two of the ladies that are coming to Iowa in October invited us to their house for “tea” or something.  Upendo (you-pend-o) picked us up to take the long journey to her house.  We went back up the mountain then on the little mud/dirt pathways.  The pathways are very uneven and steep.  These ladies do it every day in Flip Flops or dress shoes.  They walk many miles a day to go to work.  Upendo served us some kind of corn-type coffee and some biscuits.   Her granddaughter was there.  She has juvenile diabetes.   They were watching Michael Jackson videos on the TV.

·         Upendo then escorted us to the house of Viosena (vee-o-seen- a).  Again we went down and up the mountain on the dirt paths.  Viosena lives in a nice little, well kept compound.  She offered us tea, eggs, and bananas… pretty safe.  Her son (who can’t speak but can hear) and his wife live in a house next to Viosena’s.   She also had a nice chicken coup and a cow “barn.”   After our time there, we went back to our home base.  We stopped by the store to buy a few more beers.

·         Back at the house, the power went out.  So we lit the candles.  Dinner came early!  It was 7:30 and we had a nice dinner… eggs and fries mixed together.  Almost like having my eggs and hash browns at the Retro Diner.

·         The night sky was unbelievable.  There are no lights, no pollution.  Just a clear, bright sky full of stars.  I could see the Southern Cross for the first time (well last night was the first time).  Tonight, was the most spectacular sky I’d seen in my life.

·         Now for the “Rat Bastard.”  In the middle of the night we heard scurrying in the bathroom.  It woke both Rob and I up.  It was over so we went back to sleep.  We found out that Jeff had an encounter with a rat… an African rat.  He killed it with his flip flop and threw it out.  He told us the next morning.  We agreed not to tell Ali until Saturday.   The day we were leaving.

Friday, May 26

Out of My Comfort Zone

·         Our second to the last day.  Not a lot scheduled.  We went up to the clinic to try and do some e-mails.

·         Bishop Charles Mjema of the Pare Diocese came with a group of German Missionaries to visit Shighatini.  While up at the clinic I spoke briefly the bishop.  He knows Pastor Mike from Hope and Bishop Haugen.  Small world, isn’t it?

·         Pastor Mwanga is most impressed with how far the clinic has come in the two weeks we were here.  He wanted to make sure the visitors from Germany and the Bishop could see the clinic.  All reports are good.  It looks like Jeff and the rest of us got the ball rolling with some good things happening at the clinic.

·         In the afternoon the ladies’ craft group from the church had their farewell to the group.  There are about a dozen or so in the group.  They presented us banana leaf hats, a hand woven bag, and an authentic African pot.

·         They also had crafts they wanted us to sell back in the states.  There was a lot of stuff so Ali and Jeff bought all of the crafts.  Rob and I will see what we want and chip in as well.  It was less than $200 for all the crafts.  Ali and Jeff can sell some at the nursery or we can give them as gifts.

·         We bought the church ladies some new benches for their meetings.  They were thrilled and did their little high-pitched sound they make with their tongue when they are happy.  They all hugged each of us.  It was quite overwhelming.  It seems in all cases the little things we do mean so much to people who have very little.

·         Now, to the out of my comfort zone part…  Godlisten, Sara, Jeff and I went about ¾ of a mile to visit Johnny, a home bound cancer patient.  He is 16 years old and will be alive for a few more days at most.  Jeff has been making him comfortable with pain killing patches they used on Ali and Jeff’s friend Jean who died right before we left for Africa.  My plan was to sit in the living room while Jeff cleaned up his wound and put on another patch.  Godlisten said, “Bryan, come in.”  I did.  It was a shocking site.  His tumor was big.  I can’t even write about is condition.  Godlisten could tell I was praying as Jeff treated Johnny.  His mom wanted to thank Jeff and the rest of us.  She served us some fruit juice and we had a toast to Johnny.  At this point, we think that he still thinks he has hope.  It turns out that Jeff left the patches at the house.  We would come back tomorrow morning.   I told Godlisten to tell the mom I was praying for her.  Jeff suggested I come back in the morning and say a prayer with Johnny and his family.   As we walked back I could hardly speak.

·         On the walk back we ran into a small boy, named Bryan.  Godlisten showed me his homework…. 100%!  We had our picture taken together.  A low and a high so close together.

·         In the meantime we found out that Dr. Jeff has worms, amebas, and other things going on in his stomach.  He is taking drugs so he is unable to drink.  Poor Jeff!  He suggests we have our stool tested to be sure we don’t have it.  We were feeling fine so we passed.

·         After we returned, we went down to the store to get pop for the evening.  We had a big party to prepare for on the deck… the health clinic staff.  They came over about 7:00.  We had a great time and a lot of laughs with them.  We taught them “Beans, beans, the musical fruit, the more you eat the more you toot...”  They thought that was one of the funniest things they ever heard.

Saturday, May 27

Fare thee well Shighatini

·         It was early up for us on Saturday.  We needed to get up at 5 a.m. to take precautionary worm medication.  Jeff picked some up at the clinic just in case.

·         We were to meet Godlisten at 7:00 a.m. to go to Johnny’s one last time.  Jeff and I were going to beat on his door to get him up at 7:35.  He might have had a rough night.  We introduced him to red wine the night before.  I am not sure he’s had alcohol.  As we went up to his house we say him bolting down our way.  Since we had some extra time, we told Ali about the rat.  She was speechless.  All she could make our strange sounds.  She would have left the premises on Friday if she knew there was a rat in the bathroom.

·         We went up to Johnny’s house.  Before we went in to put on the patch, we talked to his mom and his uncle (who could speak English pretty well).  We wanted to make sure that his mom realized that Johnny was going to die within days or weeks.   Jeff explained that it might be good to let Johnny know so he could say his final good-byes.  His mother elected not to tell him.  We went into the room and Jeff put on the patch.  Johnny gave me permission to say a prayer.  They called the entire family in as I prayed for Johnny.  We did not even translate.  Godlisten said that God would answer my prayers no matter what language.  Since they did not want him to know he was dying, I was careful not to lead the prayer in that direction.  I asked God to provide comfort and strength to Johnny and his family.   It got pretty emotional.  After the prayer was finished, Johnny’s uncle thanked Jeff for his support over the past couple of weeks.  Johnny’s uncle and mom broke down.  It was a sobering moment for everyone.

·         After we left had breakfast we went up to the clinic.  I wanted to hook up Godlisten and Mwanamkas to g-mail on their old computer.  I was able to get Godlisten an account.  He even wanted an account on Facebook.  We got him all signed up.  For some reason we did not have the same luck with Mwanamkas.  We will try and get her set up with an account after we leave.

·         We had lunch with the Pastor, Josiah and a few of the church women.  The men eat first and if there is anything left, the women can eat (although Ali still ate with us).  We did leave enough for the ladies.  After we were though with lunch, this small group sang a good-bye song that meant thank you and safe travels.  It was beautiful harmony.  It was quite a touching song, let by the pastor.  After all we had been through with the accommodations, it was sad to leave the people… our friends.  Martha, one of the servers really had a hard time saying good-bye.  They presented each of us flowers to give us a send off.

·          Our next stop was a town called Same (Som – A).  We left Rob and Ali off as Jeff and I needed to back track an hour to go to Kilimanjaro Airport to pick up Carla and Dr. Deb, a long time friend of Jeff, Ali and Rob.

·         Jeff and I had great conversations on the way to KIA.  We arrived at the airport in the nick of time… just as Carla and Deb were leaving with their suitcases.   It was good to see Carla.  I had so much to process about my first couple of weeks in Africa.  There are things you can only share with the one who knows you best.

·         We spent about 30 minutes or so trying to find the Parkview again.  We finally found it again and had our traditional beers in the “bar” before retiring for the evening.

·         Carla thought the mosquito nets around our bed were pretty neat.

Sunday, May 28

Rob Sleeps with Monkey Poop

·         We got up early, ate some breakfast and were on our way to the Elephant Motel Same.

·         We arrived in Same in time to go to church.  It was a two and a half hour church service.  There was a layman giving the sermon.   Mama Rose, sat by me to interpret the sermon.  The 60 minute sermon seemed to be putting a guilt trip on the congregation about giving money.  He asked people to stand and read the bible passages about giving money.  I think the guy had a very different spin on things than I would have.  Our group had a rough time making it for 2.5 hours of things we could not understand.  This church was a bit bigger than the one in Shighatini.  They had more instruments and a more “modern” church.  There was a cross made of florescent lights above the churches alter.

·         We ate lunch at the motel.  There were monkeys everywhere.  Finally, after two weeks in Africa, I was able to see some friendly monkeys.

·         At lunch we discovered that when Rob woke up, we spotted poop in his bed.  It is a good thing he did not roll over to get a piece of poop in his face.  He did not notice it until morning.  There are so many monkeys around the motel that we figured that when the housekeepers were cleaning, they left the door open and a monkey entered.  As the housekeeper tried to shoo the money out, it crapped on the bed.  Believe me, we heard about it.  Rob said we did not react big enough.  After all that has happened to us, it was just one other thing.

·         After lunch we went to the Sunday markets.  A place within walking distance.  It was a place for the people of Same to sell their fruits, veggies, and other retail items.  It was pretty much a mess.

·         After dinner and a couple of Kili’s, we went to bed.  The rooms at the Elephant Hotel seem like the Four Seasons compared to our accommodations in Shighatini.  There is electricity that is pretty reliable and what seems to be running water.

Monday, May 29

Harvest Moon

·         We went to a prayer meeting first thing in the morning at the diocese.  There were some prayers and some formality, however, the big thing was to introduce the group.    After the prayer meeting, we went up to meet Timoth, the assistant bishop, to discuss what has happened in our two weeks in Shighatini and the need to push for staffing at the health clinic.

·         We met with Rosemary, the person in the diocese that is in charge of women’s and children’s development.  We discussed ways that we could help them market their crafts in order to make money.  There are things that we could take back to the US to sell.  There was a good amount of discussion on Fair Trade to make sure that the things that could be sold in the US were made by adults and they would get a fair amount for their work.

·         We went to a “quaint” African restaurant.  It was kind of fast food.  I couldn’t eat it.  The chicken was horrible.  I can’t stand rice, although I’ve had to have it.  Of course, the French fries were covered with Spinach.  Needless to say, it was not very satisfying.

·         We met with Bishop Charles Mjema of the Pare Diocese… The person that visited Shighatini the previous week.  Again, of course, I emphasized that Carla and I were married by Phil Hougen and that Pastor Mike leads our church.  He was interested in our experience in Shighatini.   He is a nice man.  His baby girl, we think, has malaria and is in the hospital.  He seemed a bit distracted.  She is about 1 year old and just got back last week from America.

·         After the meeting with The Bishop, we went to tour the government hospital.  It is a dismal place.  I guess it is pretty good by Tanzanian standards, but pretty dismal.  We met the medical director the hospital.  He took us on a tour.  We were able to visit the Bishop’s wife and baby.  Jeff and Deb were able to examine her.  The baby is a real cutie.

·         On our way back, I was a person with a white sheet over them.  There was a patient that did not make it.

·         After the hospital we spent a couple of hours shopping in Same on the same streets we have been on before.  I guess this is the Michigan Ave of Same without the fancy stores… in fact a shack for stores.  We were looking for fabric so the ladies of the church could make us some shirts, dresses, etc.  I picked out two pieces of fabric that are quite fashionable I must say.

·         Now, to the Harvest Moon.  Since Dr. Jeff has worms and other things invading his stomach, we insisted that we take stool samples.  We went back to the hotel and Ali, Rob and I harvested our poop and returned it to the hospital.

·         Once back to the hotel the men and the women split, the girls were looking at the wares we brought back from the ladies of Shighatini.  Carla took a couple of things.

·         There were several monkeys outside of our room.  I was nipped at the heal by two monkeys.  A monkey followed me to my room.  After quickly getting to my room and closing the door he or she peered inside my door and wouldn’t leave.  I felt trapped.

·         If we had the same thing that Jeff has, we would need to start taking drugs.  This means no drinking.  Jeff has been off the beer for several days.  Seeing that this might be the last night for drinking, we went back and had a few drinks and dinner at the “restaurant.”

·         We went to bed.  Carla said I snored all night and she did not get any sleep.  What’s new?

Tuesday, May 30

Good News

·         Our morning started off at the hospital.  Good news.  Ali, Rob and I were clean.  We escaped the most risky part of the trip without getting worms!

·         Ali stayed with Mama Rose at the diocese.  The rest of us went to the small village of Vudee (Voo-day) to visit the palliative care team.  They had “breakfast” for us (yams, rice, flat bread).   After breakfast we went through their market.  Jeff and Deb bought pots.  We continued our journey up the steep mountain, of course, with a narrow dirt path.  Drs Jeff and Deb visited the patient with the 12 members of the palliative care team.  Then, it was down the mountain for lunch and a debrief session.  Again, lunch was not very appetizing to me.   Carla stood up and thanked the group on behalf of the group for the wonderful food.  She did a nice job.

·         We met the pastor of their congregation.  They just entered a sister relationship with Redeemer Lutheran Church in Indianola.

·         After lunch we had a session with the 12 members of the palliative care team.  Dr Deb talked about stroke patients.  Jeff led a Q/A session.  They were very appreciative of our visit.  We finally left down the bumpy road off the mountain.  It took just over an hour to get back to The Elephant.

·         Carla and I showered after we returned with the thought if we showered when nobody else showered we could get some water pressure.  It was my best shower since a week ago Sunday in Arusha.

All for now.  We will see when we get Internet connection again.