June 23

The past few days have been amazing! (I feel like I will end up saying that a lot) Friday was our first day to leave TCDC (aka The Danish). All 26 of us piled into a van and made our way to Tengeru Hospital for our first taste of “field experience”. It was less of a western hospital and more of a one road complex with multiple small buildings that housed various wards. There were very few covered windows and doors and paved floors were not necessarily guaranteed. It definitely made us stop and think about how lucky we all are to live in a world where sanitation, privacy, and treatment are required and expected, respectively. We managed to fix a few small pieces of equipment during our 3 hour visit – a few power strips with burned fuses, the control panel for a NICU incubator, and an ultrasound monitor. Not bad for a first day’s work. It’s surprising how true it is that most “problems” with equipment are really just a result of user error. The incubator panel simply had to be unlocked by holding down a button for 5 seconds; something totally intuitive to us as engineers from the developed world, but completely foreign to the hospital staff. User manuals in the local language would make all the difference here. Michael also managed to shock himself a few times on 250 V. Womp womp. We should all probably accept the fact that it’s going to happen. Darn invisible electricity.

Juwan, one of my hospital partners for the second month, soldering the battery holder of a hearing aid. 

On Saturday we left as a group to visit the Warusha tribe about 30 minutes up the road toward Arusha and near the base of Mt. Meru. The Warusha people are a sort of subset of the Masai – the most famous tribe local to this region. The only difference is in their lifestyles. The Masai are nomadic whereas the Warusha are small farmers that settle permanently. We were shown around by two Warusha gentlemen in street clothes (today, traditional duds are only used during ceremonies and celebrations), both of which are attending college. We toured a traditional clay, plaster, bamboo and tin-roofed hut that is still their main type of housing.  The indoor stove plus the fact that they keep their livestock inside at night made the air quality less than ideal. We were shown a slew of local plants by a medical healer who may or may not have cured Greg’s knee of pain by rubbing a charred leaf on it. Placebo effect?

 Flocks of little children (some less than 3 feet tall, yet nonchalantly wielding machetes) followed us around asking for candy, also known as “pipi”, and to take their picture. The cuteness factor disappeared when Danwei gave one child a mechanical pencil and an office-supply-wanting swarm emerged from the bushes (again, some with machetes) and chased her back to our lunch spot. Lunch was topped off with us shelling, roasting, grinding and brewing our own coffee beans. 

Jakob "deshelling" coffee beans.

Did anyone else know that coffee grows on trees?!?! I had no idea… I guess I’m a bad coffee lover. A quick hike up a hill with a great view of Arusha and the afternoon ended perfectly.

Today, Melina and I went to church with Mama Glory. Everyone here is extremely devout and basically either Christian or Muslim. Some of the kids on our program wake up at 4:30 every morning to the sound of prayers coming from the local mosque. Our neighborhood alarms are dog fights, blaring radios, and roaming roosters. We introduced ourselves to the whole congregation in Kiswahili this morning. Slightly nerve-wracking. Men sit on the right side of the church and women on the left. The music is upbeat, the choir dances, and I couldn’t understand a darn thing that was going on. Well, except for the donation portion – that’s universal. And bored children playing with their gum. Individuals who don’t have money to donate to the church bring goods which are then auctioned off after the service. Mama Glory bought 4 parichichi (avocadoes). Melina and I are thinking that the children’s Sunday school class that Mama teaches might be more our speed. At least they find my inability to communicate with them more funny than annoying. A good fish face will never do you wrong.

Stella, our sister, took us to the market in Usa River afterward. There is absolutely no way not to attract attention when you go into busy public places. “Mzungu! Mzungu!” Yes I am white. Yes I am a visitor. Thank you for the reminder, because for a minute I began to feel too comfortable... But in actuality, they say it in good humor and I even laugh most of the time. Canvas tarps covering the market floor displayed everything from produce to Spanx to piles of lonely shoes with no matching partner. Beautiful patterned fabrics hung down from overhead. Melina and I couldn’t resist purchasing a few yards, of course.

Tomorrow should be a typical school day. Kiswahili lessons, lunch, volleyball, and we are building an LED flashlight in lab. ‘Til then!