THE ADVENTURE CONTINUES AND ENDS?..for us

On Saturday we arrived in Shirati, Tanzania, and man were we surprised
at how different it was from Kisii, Kenya! In almost every aspect the
two East African countries are completely different; first let?s start
with the pace. Kisii although not at New York speed is a fast paced
city with congested streets, motorcycle taxis that weave in and out of
lanes (sometimes causing accidents), and there is always a constant
clamor of street vendors trying to sell you their merchandise. But
when we approached the small town it was apparent that city life would
be forever left in Kenya by the unpaved, pothole filed dirt road that
led us into the town of Shirati. The drive on the dirt roads seemed
like years due to the constant bumps that our van had to endure, but
also the constant stares that we received from the people.
Finally we made it to the hostel where we would be residing for the
next three days, completely intact but exhausted from spending the
whole day driving in that sweltering van. The hostel was a big change
from Ufanisi Resorts where people wait on you hand and foot. We had
the house all to ourselves which was nice because we wanted peace and
quiet from the loud night life in Kisii, but we soon found out that
would not be the case here either. There was always loud music playing
in the distance, dogs barking, and an annoying clicking sound that was
unrelenting. Sunday I spent it sleeping while the others went to Lake
Victoria and Renee went hiking up the mountain nearby. Finally I got
up and went out to go visit the lake which was absolutely spectacular.
The next day was all work and no play, or should I say a lot of
waiting. The day started out very S L O W?My mother had to give a talk
to the whole hospital staff and for the life of them they could not
get the projector to work. We had to set up the rooms, start
interviewing patients (but really wait for patients to arrive), and
get things in order. By noon only nine patients had been registered, a
huge change in pace from Kisii (it continued at that pace for the rest
of the trip). Cryotherapy was needed to help treat the patents but
there was no gas! So no surgeries could be completed and all we could
do were cervical exams; which is very hard because patients would
probably not receive the care they need if we did not treat them. We
could refer them to a hospital several hours? drive away, but many
patients did or do not have the money to go get the help they need. At
the end of this very short visit, the whole group felt defeated and
even contemplated the fact if we should even come back to the hospital
again. We were all ready to leave and have a change of pace at the
next place and so we did?.
Bukumbi was a suburb of Mwanza (the second largest city in Tanzania
aside from Dar Es Salaam) we were all excited to get to Mwanza and do
some shopping! (It was an all women group besides our amazing drivers
Manuel and Mike) We set out around 11AM for the supposed 4 hour drive,
but of course while in Africa you are supposed to expect the
unexpected! And man were we surprised while driving through the
Serengeti, we came upon a bridge with Baboons!

We kept on driving and there were ZEBRAS and WILDEBEESTS!
see wildebeest in background
AND MORE BABOONS?EATING RAW COTTON!

It was like a free Safari, BUT all the fun came to and end at another
bridge (cue the horror music). There was a huge truck that got a flat
tire in the middle of the narrow bridge, and unfortunately the truck
was way too heavy to push it off to the side of the road so we had to
wait and wait and?.. wait. Cars stopped and waited, people walked
around, and even vendors sold bananas and sugar cane! (I of course did
not get to eat anything because I was fasting) We waited for what
seemed like forever but it was only an hour. Anu and I began to get
antsy and thought that we would not reach Mwanza in time to go
shopping. Anu said to me, ?Soon people are just going to build houses
and create a village on the side of the road!? Finally the truck
received a new tire and we were on our way, but not in time to go
shopping. By the time we got to the city all the shops were closing
and it was even time for me to break my fast. We had dinner at a
surprisingly good Chinese place right on Lake Victoria in Mwanza, and
then we headed for the hospital in Bukumbi at which we were working at
as well as residing.
We got there, settled in, and everyone was very pleased with our
sleeping arrangements (it was quite an improvement from our less than
clean hostel in Shirati). The next day my mother gave another lecture
to the nurses and doctors that we would be training the next two days,
we setup the rooms as usual, and things were underway (way different
from Shirati). We saw close to 25 patients the first day, but again we
could not do any procedures because THERE WAS NO GAS; so all the
patients had to be referred again to the Mwanza hospital nearby.
Aside from the absent gas the nurses and doctors were eager to learn
and apparently liked to read as well because one of the male midwife
nurses (one of many) pleaded with me to let him borrow one of my
summer reading books that I desperately needed to complete. I
eventually gave in and let him borrow the book, and the next morning
he said, ?I love this book; I think you will leave this book with me.?
I had to finish it so I politely and as sorrowfully said no, but by
the end of the day I had finished it and decided to give it to him.
(see book in bottom right corner)
The day was similar to that of which before but sadly my partner in
crime and good friend, Anu and her mother Raji left mid day to go
visit family in Dar Es Salaam. And another person was also gone and
well missed, Monica, who had to leave abruptly for a family emergency,
and we continued to send her our prayers. There was also a huge
atrocity early in the morning?.NO ONE WOKE ME UP?.therefore I slept in
and people forgot that I was still in the house and so they proceeded
to leave and lock me in unknowingly. Finally the group realized that I
was not there and returned for me only to see me trying to break
myself out of the house, with arms dangling outside of the jailhouse
like bars that protected our house from burglars. The day went on and
we found out that at 3 PM it was time to pack up and leave for good
this time; back to America. Later that evening we had our last meal
together and reminisced on what a good and rewarding trip this has been.

(Dr. Kenya, Dr.Mutiso [the wonderful doctor head of Kisii], Me
[Rajaa], Renee, Monica, Carol, Raji, Rashmi, Anu )
YOU ALL WILL BE MISSED!
Posted and written by Rajaa Numan (Sixteen years old)