A Happy Ending

I am back in America, and back to the hectic way of life that describes all western cultures. I feel so awful that I haven't updated my blog in so long, but my time away from my blog has helped me to reflect on what I experienced in Africa. I wouldn't be lying if I told you there isn't one morning I wake up, or night that I lay my head down that I don't think about Africa. Random occurrences will bring me straight back to a memory of my travels in Arusha, Tanzania. 

I am in the process of researching dogs, and upon glancing at the hundreds of dog books of the New Hanover Public Library I found a book that pictured the breed that the other volunteers and I would see roaming the streets, or sleeping next to a shop on a dirt road. 

Breeds around the world from doggie book

Doggies in Arusha, TZ

Africa hasn't left my thoughts, but more importantly it hasn't left my heart. 

When I arrived at the airport at the end of my Journey on August 19th, 2014 I wrote the following note before getting called to the gate to board:

To:

Med&MoreInAfrica

August, 19th at 3:59 PM

Here I am, 3:09 PM, at JRO airport in Tanzania getting ready to take flight home. My emotions are endless. I feel like I got here yesterday, yet I also feel as I have been here for months. Truth be told, today marks six full weeks since I stepped off the plane onto African soil. This morning I went to St. Jude's Primary School. We visited the library and were read to, we visited a music class and were performed to, and we visited an art class where we were shown various works of art completed by the children over the holiday break. It was extremely special and a fantastic send off for me. I am very lucky to have gotten this opportunity to touch lives. I sure as hell didn't know how much others would touch mine. Below I've posted a few photos of the people who have impacted my life the most since my time in Arusha. 

This is Thomas.

Since my first week in Arusha, he has been leaving little handprints on my heart. His smile could light up a room, but it's his selfless ways that set him apart from all the other street bargainers. This kid's heart is bigger than the Grinch after he realized he shouldn't have stole Christmas. He always took the time to talk to Heather and I whenever he would see us out on the town (nearly every other day). I will never forget him.

The woven bracelet on my wrist is the one he made for me, and the beaded bracelet around his wrist is the one I made for him. 

These are photos of myself and heather with the ladies of the laboratory. This was the first placement we volunteered in. The ladies of this lab let us in with open arms, teaching us Swahili and techniques of lab testing. We also practiced phlebotomy with a few other Tanzania students.

One of these students is pictured above. This is Joseph. He is a sweet boy, and walked me through each step of CD4 testing. He answered every question I had about so many other lab tests (RFT and LFT). Y'all know I ask a lot of questions, so this act was very generous. We still continue to keep in touch on FB. Xo Joseph! 

The beautiful person pictured above is Angel. She is the wonderful soul that checked us out at our favorite grocery store. We often shopped there after the hospital dressed fully in scrubs, looking for banana chips and chocolate. She always helped us with a sweet smile. Her English was spectacular. She was kind to everyone, and everyone knew her and spoke to her as she rang up their items. Yesterday we baked her a cake, and when we returned to her store to give her one last gift she presented us with elephant key chains, and beautiful sea green bracelets.

Lastly, pictured above are our 6-week long neighbors who ever so kindly opened their home to us on our last night to have  dinner (among so many other sweet gestures). They have been kind, and welcoming since the very first day we arrived. Their children, Amna and Fatima, never ceased to warm my heart, even when they were running around the apartment complex screaming at the top of their lungs. I joined the little ones for soccer some afternoons, and after playing a game one night they pointed at my henna and said, "look, you are like us!" They are right, we are alike. 

Each individual has much more in common with another individual than not.

Angel and I still talk every day over What’sApp. I even have her gifted pink elephant key chain on my key ring. I showed Angel a photo of my keys with her gift and she wrote, “Am really happy. Because I know am always with you wherever you go.” She is right, she is always with me, and so are all the others mentioned above. I am lucky to have gotten the opportunity to meet such wonderful people from such a new, diverse location. I was lucky to have had the chance to live a life similar to a life of a local. Thomas and I shared the same sidewalk each day, Angel and I shared the same banana chips, Joseph and I shared knowledge, and the lab ladies and I always shared laughs.

I assume many think one would come back form an eye-opening trip as this and decide to change their life in the form of using less resources, or decreased technology use… But, I feel what has changed in me is very different than that.

I feel as though I have learned a valuable lesson of appreciating the gifts of life by living more slowly. Before I took this trip, I was always so busy… running around making sure I got everything on my checklist crossed off for the day, and God forbid I didn’t finish my list. Life to me was dictated by tasks I had to complete. Although, at times I would stop and glance at the world around me and breathe deeper… I didn’t do it nearly enough. Africa helped me to remember to never take any moment for granted. I understand America is fast paced and in order to remain in the race for success you can’t alter your speed entirely  However, It has been my goal since I arrived back to make every effort to appreciate this world, and this life as much as possible. This could mean the obvious, like enjoying a beach walk a little more slowly, or the subtle effort to strike up a conversation with a random person in the grocery store checkout line. Life is beautiful, and we have too much to be thankful for.

Hashtag no filter ;)

Thanks to everyone out there for reading my blog. It means so much to me! If you have any questions about Elective Africa or my journey in general don’t hesitate to ask. 

DONATIONS

Mombo from TZ!

Today was my last full day here in Arusha. As a fantastic closing to this wonderful adventure, Heather, Ben and I completed our final round of donations.
1st: four mattresses to the Fruitful Orphanage
2nd: our first round of medicine, and medical instruments to Mt. Meru Regional Hospital. (total of 757,000 TZS spent)
3rd: our second round of even MORE medicine, and medical instruments for our beloved Mt. Meru Regional Hospital.  (Quotation pictured with a tally of 2,465,000, I later added 465,000 TZS to this total-by adding more pain meds and sutures)
*save the picture and zoom in to see what fantastic things we got!*
The donation process this morning didn’t go as smoothly as planned. The Tanzanian “pole, pole” attitude proved to be prevalent even in a business setting. HOWEVER, after some time, we left with enough supplies to fill the storage room in causality (ER); so much so that it was difficult to walk around after the boxes were in the room!
Did you know that you helped to provide 16,000 doses of Diclokant, and 3,000 doses of Tramadol? You will help keep 19,000 people in the ER pain free. Those people thank you, and so do I. We were able to get much more than pain meds, so please take the time to see what else we were able to provide the hospital. Thank you to all of you who made this donation possible. You all me so much to me, and the town of Arusha thanks you.
Asante Suna. Lala Salama!

1st Donation Total: 650,000 TZS was missing the day we picked up the order. We transferred what we couldn't get to the next order. This next order if shown below!

TZS … Lots of shillings y'all

The men behind the meds after we made the final transaction

BEN and pain meds! 

More meds guys!

This is the head nurse, Ben and I as we make the final donation

TOTAL DONATION! We added 429,000 TZS in supplies (sutures and pain meds).

HUGE thank you to all of you who supported this cause. XO
See you soon America.

Always Growing

Hi!

And happy Saturday! I am enjoying afternoon tea. Thanks to all the international volunteers who come from counties colonized by Britain and have influenced my afternoons this way. It’s 4:45p, which is just about the time that we enjoy a couple hours of down time. Usually I take this time to workout/circ-out, but today my tum is bothering me, so I’ll just write to all of you!

Yesterday was my last day actively volunteering in the hospital. It was definitely bitter-sweet. We observed a little boy have his elbow joint reconstructed due to a deformity in the humorus resulting from osteomyelitis.

*Quick sidenote: there is a wedding van passing our apartments in the streets. How do I know, you ask? Here in Tanzania the car carrying the newlyweds, decorated with pink bows and ribbons, leads a line of cars going away from the church to the reception. The car also includes a band of trumpets, making the new marriage known to all those in the town. I remember when I first arrived in Tanzania I saw this event for the first time on the way home from the airport and shouted, “oh look, someone got a new car!” This is when everyone in the car laughed and explained the above tradition.*

Okay, where was I? Oh yeah. So this little boy had a portion of his humorus cut and removed and two pins screwed in with a drill you’d see in your father's garage at home. They slapped on a cast and he was good to go.

OH MY GOSH. How could I forget? I saw a leg amputation on Thursday y’all. Mind you Wednesday night was karaoke night at Empire Sports Bar. This is a sports bar that hands you an entire 1/5 of Konyagi when you ask for a Konyagi and Sprite.

This fact alone should give you an idea of how our stomachs were feeling the morning after. HOWEVER, nothing has ever stopped us from going into the hospital. We arrived promptly at 9 a.m. excited to see what was on the roster for surgery (below).

 P.s. Look @ the second procedure on the list… 

We began the morning with a seven year old girl diagnosed with recurrent patellar dislocations. The surgeon used a portion of a hamstring tendon to keep the patella from dislocating laterally (he thread the tendon through a hole he had drilled through in the patella). He then slapped on some plaster and we walked in O.R. 2.

We weren’t entirely sure what this case was, so we checked the list. I ran my finger down the roster… and there it was, “above the knee amputation.” I am not sure I will ever again see someone lose a leg, but, WOW, was it interesting to see the surgeon cut STRAIGHT through arteries, veins, nerves, tendons and muscles in about 120 seconds.

Next?

Saw the bone. Six minutes later… It was gone. The whole leg was carried away, and put into a red bag for disposal. The time consuming part was the following steps of suturing each vessel… femoral artery and vein, great and small saphenous vein, deep femoral artery among a few others. I sat front row for this. I was nearly 4 feet from the mans bloody nub. I couldn’t believe it! Not once did I feel overwhelmed or lightheaded. Even the fact that the patient was awake didn’t terrorize me. 

Leaving surgery that Thursday I felt on top of the world. I realized I had overcome ANY fear I once had with blood.

As I sit here and think about it I realize I have become so strong on this venture. I have seen things I never thought I could handle. Emotional battles of babies who have lost their mothers, young children suffering heart failure, and the most recent event of a middle aged diabetic who lost his leg to a gangrene infection.

It may be true that body stops growing, physically, by the end of puberty, but emotionally, we never stop growing.

The best and the best best

The days are getting longer on this side of the world!

I just got back from a short “circ-out” on the roof (see earlier post to understand what in the world it means to circ-out). After tiring myself out, I lay on the roof and peered at the clear blue sky above me.

Not one cloud.

I realized, right then, that the sky exactly explained my mind. At that moment my mind was completely unclouded. I had no worries. I only thought about how there were no clouds. I couldn’t think about anything. I was completely at peace; flat on my back, on the dirty roof, in my workout clothes that hadn’t been washed in a week. And when I finally snapped back to reality… I realized the sun had set and the roof light was dimly lit.

A trip like this will make you feel a lot of things. So many emotions run through my mind each day. If I tried to explain I’m sure my post would end as one gooey mess.

Today was a fantastic day… filled with the BEST snack, followed by the BEST, BEST snack. I promise to get back to these items later. Apart from the food today, the hospital also shared some cool moments with us. Those of you who follow me on Snapchat know that I have been volunteering in surgical ward or “theater” as Mt. Meru Regional Hospital calls it.

Monday: fracture clinic

           This is where patients come when they have suffered broken bones (DUH). But, at Mt. Meru this doesn’t normally consist of hairline fractures. For example, the first patient we saw suffered a spiral fracture of the fibula, and displaced tibial fracture with butterfly segment (floating bone). 

He couldn’t afford to pay for the surgery to undergo open reduction internal fixation (ORIF). But, the motto at Mt. Meru is: do what you can with what you have. The boy had to make due with a simple plaster cast.

Tuesday: theater

            We came to the hospital dressed in normal clothes, and changed into our sterile scrubs upon arrival. We were required to wear a face mask, and hair protector. This time we weren’t given a ripped piece of cloth, although we were told to re-use the sterile hair cap. We then stood in on two surgeries.

O.R. one 10:00a: Appendectomy, peritoneal lavage (Latin for wash-out)

O.R. two 10:45a: relocation of dislocated hip including a drilled in metal rod through the femoral head into the acetabulum.

Do you see the broken bone in the pelvis? 

Wednesday: theater

            We started the morning the same, but today the surgeries came from the OBS and GYN ward.

O.R. one 10:30a: Hysterectomy (removal of the uterus)

O.R. two 11:30a: Hysterectomy “     “

After the uterus was removed from the second woman Heather and I were allowed to hold the scared uterus. We even noticed scar tissue from where the woman had a cesarean section!

It is also interesting to note that prior these procedures we were able to witness the different anesthetics these patients underwent. We looked on as few went completely under via propofol or ketamine, and others underwent spinal injections. It was extremely interesting to watch as the anesthesiologist monitored the vitals, making sure the values stayed within acceptable range.

After the hospital today, we went to the pharmacy to place another donation order. I will have more information about this later. I CAN’T WAIT TO TELL YOU GUYS ALL ABOUT WHAT WE ORDERED… for now, I will keep you guys on your toes.  XO

After the pharmacy I attempted to take Heather and Ben to a fabulous, local store where Masai blankets are bought dirt cheap. Along the way we stumbled into a shop know as, “Arusha Fancy Store.” Here (hapa) we found Masai blankets for cheap, at an even better quality. They also lead me to a place where I could purchase Kangas, which I have been looking for. We found the shop and I purchased a couple. After being overwhelmed by the mass amount of people swarming the market where I found the Kangas, we left and headed for Muzugu territory: Afrcicafe. We sipped on our routine coffees before heading home.

OH MY GOD. I forgot to mention the snacks…

BEST snack: Half cake

            This is a snack made from rice flour. It is a bit oily but just the right amount of sweet. The best way I can describe it is as a flaky pastry on the outside and a thick, full, yummy bun on the inside. I love bread, and I love plain… so basically this treat came right from heaven and into my hands for the small fee of 10 American cents.

BEST BEST snack: Fruit Salad

            This isn’t your normal fruit salad. This is a salad made by a local juice shop. The contents include bits of pineapple, watermelon, and banana. Heather and I scooped up this winning treat on the way to the pharmacy today. We fell so deep in love, that we nearly missed our destination. I did snap a photo… although this was near the end of the cup… Can you blame us? It was nearly impossible not to keep dipping into the cup for more. 

To say today was a good day would be more than an understatement. Miss you all, XO!

Sweet Dreams

I ought to start my blog today with a photo:

Today we delivered our first donation of four 3 by 6m mattresses to Fruitful Orphanage. The process of obtaining them was a bit lengthy. It took some time to cram them on top of and in the van. And figuring out exactly how to get them to the orphanage safely and securely took a few more neurons than expected. HOWEVER, we did end up getting all four mattresses to our destination safely. Big thanks to Ben for keeping a hand and eye on the mattresses on the roof.

 Once we arrived we were greeted by the beautiful kiddos.  As predicted, the energy put out by the kids when we arrived was overwhelming. The second we pulled the van next to their small three room cement home the kids ran to follow. They screamed and hollered with excitement, waiting for us to emerge.

The complete chaos that surrounded us during the thirty minutes we spent dropping the mattresses off and hugging the kids, clouded reality. We had just provided the kids with a soft, foam bed to sleep on. Something that is taken for granted in the United States and most other western countries of the world.

As I drift to dream world tonight, I will be a bit more at ease knowing that 34 kids down the road are sleeping on top of a soft mattresses.

XO miss you and big thanks to all of your for making the smiles above possible!

Crocs, camels, and snakes… OH MY

 The sun is setting here in Arusha, and I’m relaxing on the roof, excited to share today’s story.

Ben, Heather, Jonathan and I went to the Snake Park. We weren’t completely keen on traveling 40 km out of Arusha to see a bunch of caged snakes, but since our time is winding down, we figured we ought to spend our Sunday out of the house.

At 12p I ran out of the apartment with my habitual toast with PB, to meet our taxi driver and the others (I am always the last one to leave).

We traveled out of town, and once we were arrived we found that the price to enter was much more expensive than we anticipated it to be. I have been budgeting to a T, so this unexpected price ticked me off (we were told volunteers get a hefty discount).

I paid the fee anyway.

Upon walking in we were matched to a guide who would be the one to tell us about the scale-ly lil creatures surrounding us in glass cages. He knew so much about snakes and had been a guide for nine years. I was impressed.

We saw a variety of cobras, pythons (2), and a few garden snakes. We even got to hold a brown, tamed garden snake!

We then proceeded to view other reptiles that were maintained in the park. 

We held a Nile crocodile, too!

As we were walking back to where we had started our guide explained he had to be on his way… It was feeding time for the snakes. They are only fed ONCE A WEEK. We all got very excited, in a twisted way. “What do you feed them?!” “The python, which eats once a month, will get a few rabbits or a chicken… depending on the menu.” Yes, He honestly told me that they hold true to a menu when feeding these animals.

We later found that rabbit was on the menu. If you are reading this Marie, I am so sorry! 

Oh, I ought to tell y’all the snakes are fed live animals because they have very poor vision and use sonar via their tongues to locate food.

What we didn’t realize is that this process is lengthy… We waited an hour for the rabbit to become dinner, without any luck. I don’t know if I’d call it luck… but you know what I mean. We got to see some other events of the “circle of life.” We witnessed many small snakes poison baby chicks with their venom. Wow, this sounds so sick.

On a happy note; Heather and I rode a camel! We had too much fun, especially on the way down. As the camel kneeled on all fours we nearly slid right off  his hump! This calls for a little Black Eyed Peas: My Humps.

Have a good night y’all!

XO

A hyena killed your Betsy...

Happy Happy Happy Saturday! (Just realized it is Sunday!)

As I have stated before the weather is consistently cloudy, and rainy in the morning and progressively gets sunny, and hot as the day ticks by. This morning proves to be no different. As I sit in our living room, on our animal print couch (Possibly donated by Snooki herself), I look out the windows at the grey sky thinking about how fast time had flown by.

In nine days I will begin my forty-five-hour journey home. It is hard to believe.

On one hand, I feel like I have been here only a short time. On the other hand, judging by what I’ve learned, and my experiences I feel like I have been here for months and months. Time is very different here. Some hours drag on, and some days fly by. I feel like I’m stuck in an obscure African time machine. I kinda like it.

Our time in P-block (pediatrics) ended yesterday morning. The pediatrician from Oregon completed rounds for the last time of his duration here yesterday, and he invited us to join. Because we are here to learn we gave up our Saturday morning sleep to come in to Mt. Meru.

My favorite moment yesterday was a conversation between the Dr. Jaclyn and a seven-year-old diabetic patient who had sliced his thumb open with a machete. He was stuck in the ward because his thumb had become infected, and diabetes + infection = out-of-whack blood sugar levels. This statement held true for him as his RBG levels in four days ranged 2.6 mmol/L – 30 mmol/L. We undressed his bandages yesterday to see how the wound was doing. You could sense the little boys frustration, native Swahili speaker or not. The frustration was that the little boy was ready to go home. He already had to come to Mt. Meru each Friday in order to manage is diabetes. He was part of the Masai tribe. These tribes are located far from the hospital near game parks. This little boy owns chickens (kuku) and cattle of his own. During his conversation with Dr. Jacyln explaining his desire to go home, he mentioned that the stressful hospital environment causes his spikes in blood sugar. He goes further to tell the Tanzanian pediatrician, “At home few things cause my blood sugar to rise.” Dr. Jaclyn translated for us. At home he only gets these spikes when his family kills his chickens, or when wild animals like hyenas kill his cows. “Traditional Maasai lifestyle centers around their cattle which constitute their primary source of food. The measure of a man's wealth is in terms of cattle and children. A herd of 50 cattle is respectable, and the more children the better.”

I COULD NOT, believe I heard this. Back in America blood sugar would rise if a diabetic kid’s Xbox 360 broke, or if Netflix crashed. So by now you can imagine this little boy’s home life: carrying around a machete, feeding his chickens and herding his cows. The cultural differences are very evident, and can be seen so clearly in the hospital setting.

                                                   Masai member (in red) and his cattle. 

                                       This photo was taken on our safari journey 4 weeks ago!

If a patient is Masai we expect worms, brucellosis, and salmonella due to their eating habits of rare meat and unpasteurized milk. Neural tube defects in kids are common due to African mother’s lack of vegetable ingestion (main source of Folic acid). It is amazing what you can learn about a culture through the diseases they contract.

Read more about Masai culture here