Iringa

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We all got to our destinations safely.  You knew that.  No news is good news! 

We left the Landmark after waiting quite awhile for the manager to arrive to unlock his office where it was being kept.  We got it loaded and left.  It ‘s a long drive to Iringa from Dar.  We made a bio break at Chalinze.  Laura was standing at the table first looking through her wallet for Tsh, then set it down for an instant,  You can guess the rest.  Fortunately, she did not have her passport or other valuables in the wallet.  You won’t guess the rest.

About ten minutes out of Chalinze, Peter, our favorite bus driver, got a call.   The wallet was found!  They turned around while the second bus went on.  Quite a happy ending.  I would love to have you think that it was the milk of human kindness that saved the wallet, but no.  I found out a little later that Peter had talked to Dennis Ngede.  Dennis suggested Peter talk to the manager with a message.  This message was in quite definite tones describing the economic consequences should the wallet not turn up.  I think it may have been along the lines of “no more business…” etc., etc.  All’s well that ends.

Day of Grace folks and I had a nice dinner at the Lutheran Center.  It was pork off the loin, potatoes a salad and dessert: pineapple drenched in warm syrup. (“How was it?”)  Why do you even need to ask?  Petro is a great chef and you know I would not have mentioned it otherwise.

I am gathering my thoughts about our approach to the Nutrition Project, i.e. that is how I refer collectively to all the functions we are doing around the subject of nutrition.  There are so many contacts to make already here and doing similar things.  This does not remotely imply that there is no room for us to work!  It does mean that greater success will involve more than our project.  I am learning. 

I asked our “first-timers” their impressions after we had only been on the road to Iringa for a short time, having stopped for lunch at Tan-Swiss, a restaurant and lodge, operated by a Swiss family.  Good food, a Serengeti and a breeze.  One of the students said she was already in love with Tanzania.  Another agreed with my adjective “surreal.”  I will be curious to hear reports tomorrow after they have been here a couple days.

The road to Iringa, so nice a couple years ago, is now showing its wear.  There are grooves from the huge amount of truck traffic.  Crossing them to pass slower traffic, of which there is plenty, is wobbly in a bus that needs shocks.  Around Morogoro is a mountain range called the Uguru Mountains or Uguru Milima.  They are quite beautiful.  From Morogoro on, the mountainsides are studded with baobabs that currently have leaves, so different from the dry season when they resemble trees that have been upside-down, with their roots showing. 

The more I am here, the more I realize how much there is to see beyond what we have seen so far, things both far and near Iringa and Ilula.  I truly hope there will be an opportunity to see more of Tanzania!

The cathedral, Iringa Lutheran Church

I went to church today with Tom and Beth Hansen, Ken Smith and Lyn and Mollie MacLean.  The service is in Kiswahili (Swahili to us Wazungu), but it was all Greek to me!  I still find it fascinating to sit in a Lutheran service and realize the differences and similarities.  They use the tune at least to “Faith of our Fathers” in the liturgy, but the syllables I utter when singing sound like Greek rather than English or Kiswahili.  But then, I don’t know Greek either.  They also sang “How great Thou Art.”   Same issue, Greek.  But here are some photos, in pretty clear English.

Don't complain about hard church pews.  These have no pads on the kneeler

s and straight backs!

The Choir after church, before the auction.

Schiphol Airport, Amsterdam

We are sitting in Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam.  People are trying to get their devices hooked into the free wifi with varying degrees of success.  I thought I would write a note before I blow my free wifi.

Everything has gone smoothly to here.  I played “sweeper” and arrived last, my lovely wife and granddaughter dropping me off at MSP.  Just to maintain the pattern, the TSA decided to examine the contents of my carry-on: two motherboards, two processors, two hard drives, my pill bottles, tea light candles, M&Ms and Hershey’s Kisses.  Must be some miscellaneous stuff too.  Probably the Hershey’s Kisses that got me flagged.  I promise they won’t be coming home with me.  I am guessing I will have a backpack inside a duffel inside a bigger duffel on the way home.

Dr. Randy passed out an article on travel hazards.  Pastor Tom passed out the final program for Day of Grace.  I am tired, catching no zzzzzs.  Some did, some didn’t.  Everyone is still smiling!  Ally made it up from Rochester on the shuttle.  She asked me about the “Yellow Card.”  I have the feeling we have been drilled about how important it is to have the standard Yellow Card, but her new ones are short and less comprehensive than mine, so there wasn’t anywhere to record a couple she has had.  Then she asked me what vaccinations are required?  I dunno.   We tried to look on the CDC site and the Tanzanian web site, but I could not find the list.  I have never had it checked.

We start the check-in process in another half an hour so I will upload this now.  Most of you should be sleeping at this point.  But if you happen to be driving, WAKE UP!

Contact Numbers in Tanzania

Dear Friends and even Relatives,

Here are some helpful things to know about contacting any of us.

Email is best.  It is available almost all the time at Ilula Lutheran Hospital (ILH).  Avoid images, which are band-width intensive.  Remember the time difference.

I have two cell phones.  I will carry mine.  I will ask one of the students to carry Birdie's, both of which will stay with the group.

Ken Olson's Tanzania Cell Phone #:  0785 211 864  Remember the time difference!

Birdie Olson's Tanzania Cell Phone #: 0785 210 536

Dr. Mufwimi Saga is the contact person at ILH.  The address is Ilula Lutheran Hospital, Ilula, Tanzania.  Any snail mail you send will get here a week or so after we leave Tanzania, if you send it about the same day we depart the US.  Stick to email or phone.

Don and Eunice Fultz will be the Bega Kwa Bega coordinators while we are at Ilula.  They receive email at begakwabega@yahoo.com .

Preparations and Beginnings

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Dear Readers,

It is Christmas Day, one of my faith’s holiest of days, and that of one of the non-governmental organizations (NGO) closest to my heart, Shoulder to Shoulder, the one supporting and sponsoring the medical trip to Tanzania and supporting Ilula Lutheran District Hospital (ILH).  I hope you will look up http://ilulahealth.org to get plenty of detail about the organization and Bega Kwa Bega, the organization that spawned it and several others.

So on this Christmas Day, now that the hustle and bustle leading up to this holiday will be winding down after one more sweet gathering.  But my attention is already drawn to the poorest of the world’s poor.  The average per capita income is about $485/year (2008).  Take a look at this web site for some up t date info: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/tz.html .

ILH is situated in a resource poor rural area about 25 miles from Iringa, a city of probably 200,000.  More on that in the next few weeks.  The US  Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is roughly 630 times that of Tanzania.  I cannot quite get my head around those huge numbers.

Or these:  HIV prevalence is nearly 15% in Iringa.  About 30% of patients admitted to ILH have HIV.  At least 1400 attend the HIV clinic at ILH.  Somewhere around 60% are women.  Most men do not want to hear about HIV.  Nearly 100% of people with TB at ILH have HIV.  Over the next few weeks, I hope you will hear the stories from the friends and acquaintances you have at ILH, the students and faculty visiting ILH and not only me.

Ken

The view from ILH Guest House 2011