Mashindano (Competitions)

I am going to try to make this a quick post, as the internet connection this morning has been on and off, pretty much in synch with the rain.

This week has seen a glorious plethora of sporting competitions in the city of Arusha. I am unsure if this week is different from other weeks, or it is just that this week I am actually aware of all (or some) of the events going on. The week started on Saturday, with the opening of the soccer tournament of tour companies. This is an annual event that roughly 10 companies participate in, with the winning team receiving a jackpot of $5,000. It is hosted now, at the end of May because it is the low season, and so most people in the tourism industry don't have any work. This week has been group play - 4 games a day with each team playing a total of 5 games in the group stage. Of course, most teams make this a full day (week) event, and arrive in style waving flags and crowding into safari cars and busses, then staying and cheering on friends, as just about everyone in the safari industries seems to know one another.

I have been enjoying the festive atmosphere, and have often picked up my friend's neices and nephews to watch with them, eating roasted peanuts and ice cream. (The peanuts are decicious, and sometimes if you are lucky they are still hot, while the ice cream looks like it ought to taste like rainbow sorbet, but is most likely frozen sugar water and a very very stale cone).

Saturday morning, I noticed a number of runner looking people running around the track (I believe the track is made of packed dirt with a very light layer of sand/gravel on top). After watching them run a few slow leisurely laps, I was surprised to see them racing! They started to a whistle, and I didn't realize that the 400 was a race until it was almost through. The next event was the 10,000, which wasn't held until close to an hour after the 400. This time I was ready with my stopwatch, and eyes pealed for the start. I could tell by looking at the runners that they were distance runners, but after timing the first lap in 68, I figured perhaps they were running a 3,000, or at most the 5k. But they just kept running! The lead runner (running the second 5k entirely alone) finished in 29.07, which is a great time. I have no idea what his name is, how old he is, or if running is his professional career. With the vast majority of the spectators being soccer fans (the game was going on in the infield throughout the race), there was little interest in the track race going on, although towards the end there was enough interest for cheering through the last lap or two. I was probaby the only person interested in the times, and was even asked at one point if I was a professional scout, since I was writing down lap times (uniformly 69-70 seconds).

As I have been watching the soccer competition for the was week, I have seen these guys running their workouts every morning. yesterday, I saw a guy run a Quentin Cassidy workout - 60 second 400 intervals with a 100meter jogging rest. I wasn't keeping track, but I would guess he ran 20...or more.

All this watching of running has made me really want to run, so I was pleasantly surprised on Tuesday morning when I went for my first "real" run in quite a while that I could run for 35 minutes fairly easily without even feeling sore afterwards. I guess all the walking around gets you more into shape than you realize. It was also kind of fun to have people yelling for the first couple minutes (since I started in town) all kinds of encouragement in Kiswahili and Kimaasai. However, after a few minutes I was very happy to be in the middle of nowhere and on my own.

Tip of the Hat/Wag of the Finger

This post is in honor of the 2 month anniversary of my arrival in East Africa (that either seems really long or really short - I'm not sure which), and in fond memory of evenings spent watching Stephen Colbert at 81 Kilburn Rd. That being said, here is a top -not sure how many yet- good and bad things about my time here:

Tip of the hat to:

Kids. I love kids here. I love spending time with "my" kids - 5 year old Dadi (he discovered last weekend he was 5, not 6 as previously reported) for the most part, who I am now entirely responsible for during the week, and his older brother Billi, who is away at school with his mom during the week. Erika taught Dadi the card game "memory" two weeks ago, and he is still obsessed, although we are working on turning the evening plan to reading short stories in Swahili instead. Also, the new addition of baby Amani. That is the nickname I gave him, and it stuck. He was born Thursday morning at 9am at a whopping 4kgs. Amani is my friend Amme's nephew - his older brother's third child. He is so little, and a week old, is heading home for the first time today from his grandmother's house.

(left: Dadi, right: Billi)

Wag of the finger to:

Education. Definitely not free here, despite the MDGs (Millenium Development Goals) and Tanzanian goverenment commitment to free universal education. Not only is it difficult to attain a primary (let alone secondary) school education, it is virtually impossible if your parents aren't interested in you going to school, which is particularly the case for girls.


Tip of the Hat:

Environment. The commute I have to Arusha is roughly an hour and a half, but I love it. I spend 15-20 minutes walking to the bus stand in Monduli (downhill in the morning, up in the evening), then I wait for a bus - or alternatively I walk until one passes me - then roughly an our on the bus through the vast plains of Meserani and Kisongo until I reach Arusha - with coffee plantations on the outskirts before the busy city center and surrounding buisness areas. Then I walk another 10 minutes to the hospital. I have been making this trip for over 5 weeks now, and have yet to grow tired of it. Some days if I have free time, I even walk the 16km from Monduli to the main east/west road that runs to Arusha.

(maybe its just because its the rainy season and there are always clouds, but the sunset is beautiful EVERY night)

Wag of the Finger:

Hygine. I work at a hospital. In the labratory, the technicians who take blood samples use latex gloves. They don't wear them though, they use them to tie around the patients upper arm so that they can find the vein easier. The bathrooms are always disgusting, with stagnant water (and who knows what else) on the ground, and no sinks or running water to wash your hands. At home, I got yelled at for throwing away (giving to the dog) a plate of rice and meat that had been sitting out, uncovered, all night. Apparently my host sister was planning to eat it for breakfast.

Tip of the Hat:

Barack Obama. He is loved here (just like at home). When I tell someone that I am American, it is not uncommon for them to respond, "ahhh... mtu ya Obama!" - or "oh, a person of Obama!" I eagerly tell them that I voted for him, which, always gets a emphatically excited response. There is even a Khanga - fabric worn by women- here with a (fairly unflattering) picture of Obama with the words "Hongera Barack Obama" (Congratulations Barack Obama) and "Upendo na Amani Ametujalia Mungu" (Love and Peace, God has looked after us).

St. Elizabeth's

So I write to you today from my desk at St. Elizabeth's Hospital in Arusha. My friend Erika was volunteering here until Monday, and when her time came to leave, everyone asked her who her replacement would be. I eagerly volunteered, as I have been finding little work to do with MOWAT (I actually think there is work to do, just nobody is letting me know what it is). So I am officially here in Arusha working at St. Elizabeth's two days a week (although I think it is likely I will stretch that longer).

Some history (thanks to Erika):
St. Elizabeth Hospital was started as a dispensary in 1975 and due to problems in taking care of mothers and children it was found that there was a need to upgrade this dispensary to a hospital in 1984. This is the second largest hospital in Arusha Municipal, the largest being Mount Meru Government Hospital. It is one amongst the Archdiocesan hospitals, others being Endolen Hospital in Ngorogoro and Waso Hospital in Loliondo District. It acts as a referral hospital to another 14 dispensaries and 3 health centers under the Archdiocese of Arusha. It has 120 staff, a capacity of 100 beds, and treats both inpatients and outpatients. It is the only hospital in Arusha with an ophthalmologist, taking care of eye surgeries and diseases.

So what will I be doing here? My official role is working with the IT team to help get doctors and hospital staff to use the computer network. There are two programs, the first being network system that all hospital staff should be using as an eventual replacement for the paper file system. The second is a very interesting program which allows doctors to post interesting cases to a online site that allows doctors from around the world to comment, or assist in diagnosis. Currently, doctors here are using this fairly infrequently if at all, but it can be a very helpful tool, especially as doctor training here in Tanzania tends to be much less in depth than medical training in countries such as the US.

When not teaching or helping with computer use, I get to help out around the hospital - fitting in whereever needed. During her time here, Erika watched surgeries, helped to give injections and dress wounds, package drugs in the pharmacy, and look at results in the labratory.