Dit-chy go to Africa? She did.

Nyumbani (home)

2011-03-05T08:28:00.000-08:00

I have safely arrived back home. I will be travelling to Aberdeen tomorrow to begin my next placement in the paediatric hospital there on Monday morning. It is nice to be back, have a kettle and see my family...but also I will miss the warmth of the Kenyans, the warmth of the Tanzanians and the warmth of the Sun!

I understand that people have been asking after me, thinking about me and praying for me while I have been away. Just be reassured that I appreciate it very much and that above all, God has been my carer and provider throughout. Thank you for your part and God bless.

A tale of 2 Nairobis

2011-03-02T06:47:00.000-08:00

So, just to update you, since Moshi I have been in Arusha, Tz then Kajiado Childcare Centre, Kenya and now I'm in Nairobi.

I was assured by a couple of people how developed Nairobi is now compared to when I first came 6 years ago. And right enough, the roads are smooth, there is plentiful running water, big supermarkets, everyone is walking around carrying nice-looking mobile phones and the diseases of prosperity are increasing rapidly - type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, heart attacks.

But then I took a while to look a bit harder.

And I noticed that the roads are left incomplete with no markings, the plentiful supply of water is at the expense of the slum areas as it is redirected away from them to the wealthier areas, behind the big supermarkets are the old markets where the poorer people shop and the man carrying the nice looking phone is on his way back to his one-roomed shanty house.

A tale of 2 Nairobis.

Some pictures

2011-03-01T02:54:00.000-08:00

My foot, first week in Muheza. ITCHY!

Me and a nurse with xray, Teule Hosp

Female medical ward, Teule Hosp

Me attempting to pound some tea leaves at the chai factory, Lutindi Mental Hospital.

Just get a taxi

2011-02-23T05:09:00.000-08:00

So for the last few days I have been at Lutindi Mental Hospital in the Usambara Mountains.

Highlights - the auction at church - people who have no money for the collection bring fruit instead and it is sold in an 'auction' at the end of the service and the money raised goes to the church! Was pretty impressive to see.

The chai (tea) project - I LOVE TEA, so this was a dream come true! The hospital runs lots of projects for the patients to get involved in as a means of therapy. One is the chai project where tea leaves are picked from the surrounding area, ground, roasted and finally packaged.

The dala dala (public bus, more like a van) from Moshi to Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Centre - quite an achievement with all my luggage and it was only through sheer stubborness as I was fed up with people saying to me, 'Hey, just get a taxi like the other white people!'

Lowlights - Seeing with my own eyes the substance misuse problem in Tanzania and realising that it will potentially lead to severe consequences re Tanzania's development.

The journey from Moshi to KCMC - In hindsight, I probably should have just got a taxi!

Learning from experience

2011-02-17T23:04:00.000-08:00

No guidebook can inform you how to practically live your life day by day in a foreign country - especially one so far removed from Scotland as Tanzania is. How can I fit in when people don't understand my background and I can rarely speak to locals enough to tell them since they don't speak the same language, I go to the market and only recognise half the foods, I like milk in my tea and no sugar, I don't like reggae, come from a culture where achieving tasks is how we value success rather than how many babies I have, I need to apply suncream every few hours and drink 10 x more water than anyone else?!

I have learnt that it is all about learning and mentality. If you come here thinking I'm an apple and you are an orange, you wont get very far. You need to come here with the mentality that we are all fruit. (sorry for the bad comparison but I couldn't think of anything better off the top of my head!)

Every day you need to see as an opportunity to learn. For instance, I learnt yesterday that I should always check fruit here before eating it after discovering I had just eaten a maggot-filled mango... Also learning from others...while in Zanzibar there were 2 instances where people I met had lost their luggage...I still decided to check in my bag at the wee Stone Town Airport any way since the plane is tiny and I wanted as much leg room as I could get. I went to Tanga, my bag went to Dar Es Salaam. Learning from other people's experiences is important too! (I got it back the next day.)

More serious, hospitally instances, a lot of the staff here have very little training. The hospital relies a lot on them 'learning on the job', which some do better than others. This has its positives and negatives but a definite positive for us daktari mwanafunzi (medical students) is that they believe a lot more here in letting us do things as a way of teaching us. So last week the surgeon let me do half his operation! Cutting, draining, stitching back up...an amazing opportunity for me.

I am due to leave here tomorrow and go on to pastures new. I will leave with mixed feelings. Sad to leave my fruity chums but looking foward to having more learning opportunities as I go on to Lutindi Mental Hospital.

You know you're at Teule when...

2011-02-10T06:28:00.000-08:00

Problems with water and power are discussed for longer in meetings than patients are.
Water is much more difficult to find than Coke.
Dairy products are not part of your diet.
A woman with a fan strapped to her head is viewed as socially acceptable.
You get told off for being too quick.
You get laughed at for wearing flip-flops. (used only for showers)
Most minor surgery is done without any anaesthesia.
Men need to wear trousers 5x too big to carry their hydroceles/inguinal hernias.
White people are stared at more than those with massively swollen lower limbs. (parasites)
Fractures are commonly due to falling out of coconut trees.
100 patients at one outpatient clinic, 100 blood slides for malaria every day, 100 ways to say hello! (almost)
You can play with random children without being asked if you have a Disclosure Scotland.
Relatives wait constantly outside, sometimes sucking mango stones.
You pray for rain.
I am the 6th most qualified person.

Hakuna Maji

2011-01-27T10:28:00.001-08:00

“Hakuna maji” – a familiar phrase for me now since it’s been uttered every day for the past 2 weeks in the morning meetings and ward rounds. It means, no water! More recently, for the past 36 hours we have also had no electricity. I am very pleased I brought my headtorch and that we have kerosene. I wouldn’t like to imagine going through a whole day without my chai (tea J ).

In other news, I have still not got sick, it is still very hot and still everyone is being diagnosed with malaria. It appears that some people have forgotten that there are other causes for fever in the tropics. I have been working in paediatrics the past whiley and have been enjoying noting all the different reactions the children have to seeing me. I have been surprised that most haven’t started crying until I have tried to put a stethoscope on them, and they do that even with the Tanzanian docs! The art is to listen to their breathing through the screams and/ or through them gurgling breastmilk.

I feel pretty settled in here now – I am trying to not get frustrated with the pole pole (slow) pace of life but instead embrace it and enjoy it. I am getting to know some student nurses and enjoyed going away for the weekend with my hostel-mates George, Ruth and Nicky. I have started my project on childhood immunisations and have already achieved...managing to annoy the immunisation nurses by continuously asking them why there are pages of reports missing and nothing documented for entire months... I have also got pretty good at making dishes from tomatoes, onions and rice/pasta, which nearly sums up everything that can be bought in Muheza! Night routine= bucket shower, put fan on, apply insect repellent, tuck in mozzy net, set alarm for 6.30am, sleep. J

Hope you are really cold at home...heehee. Love Emma

Teule Hospital

2011-01-17T07:40:00.000-08:00

So I have been here at the hospital for just over a week now and since moving into the best room in the hostel (the one with 2 windows instead of 1 - it's VERY hot here!) and having bought some teabags I feel like I am now settling in well.

The hospital supplies medical services to a population of 280 000 people. There are 5 doctors, 6 assistant medical officers and 12 clinical officers (who have only 2 yrs training which has its pros and cons as you can imagine.) There is an HIV/palliative care centre and a small lab.

As a start to the day, there are either swahili prayers at 7.30am or 'the morning meeting' at 7.45am. I have only managed along once to the evening prayers so far but I really should make an effort to go in the morning even if I can't understand...it is surely a more uplifting experience than the morning meeting - a run through of the deaths and serious injuries over the previous 24 hours!

After this we hit the wards. I have already got to see and examine a lot of patients and often the signs are so much more obvious than in the UK since they typically present much later, which I suppose makes it easier for me to guess the diagnosis but also sad to see. I have felt some massive fibroids, spleens and livers, heard weird and wonderful chest and heart sounds and seen some equally weird and wonderful management plans...

Translation can be amusing. Today for instance, a UK doctor was telling the nurse who then told the relative who then told the patient what the doctor wanted to know and so the patient answered by telling the relative who told the nurse...who swallowed a fly I don't know why she swallowed a fly... I have gotten pretty good at my numbers in swahili from going to the market every day but know very little else, so I try always to think of a way of communicating my message across using numbers! I think it worked once.

Paul is safely back in Nairobi and flies home to Scotland tomorrow. I am now in the medical student hostel with 4 others - Dr Panina, Ruth and Nicky from London and George who also goes to Aberdeen Uni.

That's it for now. Love Emma

Javan Mutua

2011-01-16T05:04:00.000-08:00

Last week on the way to the Tanzanian border we spent just over a day in Lunga Lunga catching up with my friend, Javan. I have known Javan for nearing 6 years now, having first met at a missions centre near Garissa, Kenya. About a year ago he moved to just outside Lunga Lunga (ie very rural, quite a shock for him coming from Nairobi!) with the aim of helping and supporting people there, especially the youth. When we visited I got the chance to see how remarkably well he has done already - he (with some friends) has built from scratch a main building where he stays, plus an outdoor shelter and another building for holding youth gatherings. His vision is to empower young people principally through a discipleship and retreat centre. One of the next projects he is hoping to undertake is building a community library. So if you pray, please also say a prayer for Javan and his ministry in Lunga Lunga.

It was lovely to see Javan again, meet his church friends/family and his motorbike buddies who were great at giving us lifts between houses!

We've arrived in Muheza, Tanzania!

2011-01-10T07:41:00.000-08:00

Hello readers,

from Paul

Herman Abwao and family

2011-01-04T09:03:00.000-08:00

For the last 2 days we have been staying with Herman Abwao and his family in Ongata Rongai, just outside of Nairobi. Herman is a pastor and church planter with a heart for people living in the slums and unreached people groups.

Today he took us to a 'semi-slum' in Nairobi called Kangemi. It is this area that he is currently focussing his efforts on. He took us to the school there which has 300 children and only started 2 years ago. Here we spoke to the watoto (children) and told the story of the Good Samaritan while a few of the kids acted it out. The children also had a time of singing. Since the majority was in Kiswahili, me and Paul decided it was best just to dance along. This never fails to be a source of amusement to Kenyans - for some reason they always find it extremely funny watching white people attempting to dance like them...

[If you pray - Prayer points from Herman - for his family - his wife Mable, daughter Sharon (11) and 2 sons Davis (12) and Derick (5). Also for his branch of 5 churches which have been registered last year under the name of 'Hope Pentecostal Church'. Finally, for a vehicle since these 5 churches are far apart and the family is relying on public transport (matatus) to reach them, which, from my personal experience is fairly unpleasant and time consuming. Thanks!]

Elaine Getty

2011-01-02T06:40:00.000-08:00

We went to Kijabe for New Year and celebrated it with Elaine Getty.

I know Elaine from Bible College. She is now working as a teacher at Rift Valley Academy (for missionary kids) in Kijabe. It was nice to get out of the polluted hustle and bustle of Nairobi for a few days and relax in beautiful surroundings. It was community day in RVA so me and Paul enjoyed getting involved playing all sorts of games with the local kids and learning some Kikuyu (the local language) from a couple of the older ones.

At church today it was Paul's responsibilty to introduce the two of us as the man... It was ok until he didn't remember where we were staying so said 'ABC' to which I shouted 'no, ARV!' (Medics will know that means anti-retro virals for HIV...) which was greeted by some chuckles by the medical staff over working at Kijabe Mission Hospital...finally we came to the agreement that in fact we were staying at RVA.

[If you pray -Prayer requests for Elaine:
She is pretty overworked at the mo so pray that somehow she will find a way to decrease her workload but not jeopardise the students learning experience. Also pray for all the students and staff as the students return tomorrow and the term starts on Tuesday.]

Tom Okore

2011-01-02T06:27:00.000-08:00

On Thursday we met up with Tom Okore.

How we first met: 6 years ago while on a Tearfund trip.
Job: Working for Buckner Orphans Care (US supported organisation) and in charge of the mission teams.
Family: 2 years ago he married Perpetua, a Tanzanian lady, and they have a 1 year old son, Chris.

[If you pray: Prayer requests from Tom: It is difficult for the family just now as Perpetua couldn't find a job in Nairobi so had to move back to Dar (Tanzania) with Chris. They only see each other for a few days every month which particularly Perpetua is finding hard. So prayers for the family and Buckner Orphans Care would be greatly appreciated.]

Here!

2010-12-29T04:18:00.000-08:00

Me plus Paul are here & well. We are staying at Sheepfol ministries ain Nairobi just now. Sammy who is incharge I remember from 5 1/2 years ago when i last staye with them an prouce a picture of him an a few other workers from that visit which he like a lot! Toay we went to the animal orphanage an aroun Nairobi an into the biggest market wither of us ha ever seen! Paul got some goo kenyan reggae beats on C. Internet cafe is pretty slow, taken me 40 mins to get on here! Paul is pretty bore now so I better go! P.s any guesses as to which letter on the keyboar oesn't work?!! Emma x

Some people and places I will be visiting again in Kenya :D

2010-12-11T14:11:00.000-08:00

Herman and his family
Ongata Rongai, just outside Nairobi

Tom Okore

Spring Valley school, Nairobi

Javan (left)

Youth discipleship program,

near Mombasa

Kijabe: the hospital plus everyone's favourite teacher, Elaine :)

Kajiado Childcare Centre

I'm going back

2010-12-03T07:07:00.000-08:00

On 28th Dec me and Paul are heading out to meet sunshine and 30 degree heat in Nairobi, Kenya!!! Karibu sana me. I will then be staying on to do my medical elective in a district hospital in NE Tanzania called Teule. Please keep us in your prayers. I'm pretty stressed at the mo trying to organise travel insurance, anti-malarials, places to stay while we travel around Kenya, etc etc but I figure it's like giving birth - you forget the pain once everything works out :)