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.
