Saturday, July 9, 2016
A note to our Tanzanian friends
We will use this blog to publish the dates for 2017. Once the dates are firm and we know the doctors that God will send in 2017,we will post that information here. So keep checking back!
Work is done, we are now tourists
With our work at Mazimbu completed, we are now tourists for
two days. Today we woke before dawn for the 2 hour ride to Mikumi National Park
for our safari. As we approached the
park, the sun was just rising over the splendor that is Africa.
Everyone that tours Mikumi must do so with a guide, who is
an employee of the park and is well trained about the animals, birds and plants
that might be encountered. Ibraham hopped aboard our bus and announced that our
first stop would be outside the park. Lions had brought down a zebra earlier
and were near the road, still feasting on their meal.
We pulled to the side of the road and were amazed to see a
pride with two male lions, two very young cubs and 4 females (or juvenile
males) about 150 feet from our dala dala.
The cameras clicked away as we watched the lions mingle with each other,
readjusting their position for their breakfast. Meanwhile, the cubs did what
any youngster does—with their bellies full their attention strayed and they began
playing and pouncing among the pride.
Ibraham explained that in Africa it is considered good luck
to see one lion, even better luck to see a pair, and the best luck of all to
see a whole pride with cubs. Later, when
we told others what we had seen, they agreed that the sighting really blessed
our final day together. We stayed parked
by the lions for more than a half an hour, fascinated with the sight.
Entering the park, we slowly bumped over the uneven dirt
roads, moving from one area of the park to another. The guides communicate with
each other using their cell phones so if animals are spotted in one area, other
tours will be able to move for a good view of the animals.
After the lions, we saw giraffe, zebras, cape buffaloes,
elands, impalas, wart hogs, hippopotami, crocodiles, baboons, monkeys, mirabou
storks, saddle billed stork and so many others. Although we can say we
saw elephants, in truth it was just one family group, and from such a far
distance we could only see vague humps over the grasses.
Our safari ended
with breakfast at the lodge. We sat at an enormous tree-slab planked table
overlooking the vast grasslands of Mikumi. As with all of our meals out, it was
a very leisurely affair so it was after one pm before our bus began the return back
to LJS. Before too long heavy heads began bobbing to make up for our early
morning wake-up calls.\
We are sitting now at a lovely restaurant, waiting for our
dinner. It is our last time to be together. The Houcks—Pastor Sally, Dr. John
and David—head north tomorrow morning to meet family for a safari in Ngorongoro. The rest of the team is off to Dar es Salaam
to begin our long trip back to our families and friends. These two weeks have
been meaningful beyond words for us as we have worked with, served, and loved
our Tanzanian brothers and sisters. We all want to thank our families, our
friends, our churches and our prayer partners for your support.
Until next year, we bid this enchanting land kwa heri.
Wednesday, July 6, 2016
Final Week at Mazimbu
Our final week at Mazimbu is normally busier than the first
week, a pattern which is repeating this year. The first week is busy with the
initial consult with patients. By the second week, lab and other diagnostic
tests have been completed on those earlier patients and the available slots for
surgery are booked.
Surgeries this year have seemed to swing back and forth
between Dr. John and Dr. Swai. Monday’s surgeries were predominantly gynecological
procedures, so we were not able to register any new gynecological cases. But
Dr. John was in his office all day so many new, non-gynecological patients were
registered. The reverse was true for Tuesday and Wednesday. This makes things a
bit tricky for Courtney and Pati, who have been manning our registration desk.
The team must manage the line of hopeful patients so that we are able to
register patients for the doctor that is holding clinic on that day. The others
are given numbers and asked to return another day. The number will give them
priority to the front of the line.
Tuesday’s schedule was so full, we knew we would be at the
hospital late in the day. Dinner at LJS is served promptly at 6 so we opted to
eat at a restaurant, the Arc Hotel, where we arrived at 7:30. A table for 19
was set up on the patio, where we enjoyed a wonderful view of the sunset over
Mt. Uluguru.
Dinner for a crew of our size takes quite a while so it was
after 10 when we arrived back at LJS—way too late for a team meeting. Today,
Wednesday, we have five surgeries scheduled so, in anticipation of another long
day we are going back to the Arc but this time we have pre-ordered, hoping to
shorten the time needed for our evening meal.
Our lunches at the hospital have improved this week. Dora is
a woman we met on Friday that brings home-made goodies to Mazimbu for the staff
to purchase. She agreed to cook our lunches and bring the food in for our
convenience. And she takes requests! Today we asked for the Tanzanian version
of fast food—sambosas (fried, meat
filled or egg and meat filled pastries), kababu
(minced meat balls rolled in bread crumbs and fried), kaukau (vegetable filled pastries), rice, peas, pumpkin greens and
bananas. This was so well received the team has asked for the same dishes to be
prepared for us for tomorrow’s lunch!
Thursday and Friday are fully booked with four surgeries
each day. Our clinic visits will end at noon on Friday to give the team the
afternoon to wrap up. We must give an accounting to the hospital of the patients
we treated and the medical supplies and medicines we leave as a gift.
We hope to post again after our safari to Mikumi national
park on Saturday.
Sunday, July 3, 2016
Worship in Kambala
Bishop Mameo’s home is in Kambala, a two hour ride from
Morogoro. He has built a lovely house here which will be his home when he
retires.
All fourteen of us were invited to the village to worship.
And Pastor Sally was invited to preach at Sunday service.
We arrived early enough to have a quick tea at Bishops house,
hosted by his wife, Rose. Three of his four children were also there. Sayoni,
an older teenager, helped with some translating. And thirteen-year-old Evelyn
was kept busy chasing after her lively two-year-old brother, Edwardi.
From his home, we were driven to the church where we were
introduced to the women of the village and the pastor. A troop of young girls
carried narrow benches into the pastor’s house in preparation of a second tea,
this time including delicious mandizi (donuts,)
to sustain us for the two-hour service.
After our tea, the girls swarmed back in to retrieve the
benches, which double as church pews.
Shortly after we heard the summons to
service, which was a church elder using a metal rod to strike a metal pot
hanging from a tree branch.
Our bench seats at the front of the church gave us the
perfect view of the church processional—two deacons, followed by the pastor of
the church with Pastor Sally, and finally Bishop Mameo, in all his bishop
finery, brought up the rear.
One of the highlights for us in Masai worship is the choir
and today was no exception. The group of young girls gave us several songs,
accompanied with traditional Masai dance moves, as our toes tapped in time to
the music.
The worship was in Swahili and Bishop Mameo translated the
important parts for us. We had just a couple of Swahili hymnals so were able to
sing along with a few of the hymns. One of the hymnal tunes was familiar—after a
few strains we recognized the familiar tune of Blessed Assurance.
Pastor Sally preached today on the Prodigal Son. Her sermon
was in English, translated to Masai by Bishop Mameo. Sally was able to draw parallels
between America, Russia and Tanzania that made the sermon very personal for the
village, Bishop Mameo said that the villagers would be talking about her sermon
for months to come!
After church was finished, the team was happily surprised by
several village women bringing out hand crafted jewelry. To say their wares
were very well received is an understatement. Today their inventory was
severely depleted!
Finally, our day ended with lunch, once again on the “church”
benches inside the village pastor’s house. Rice topped with stewed beef chunks
and beans and a side of fried beef were the order of the day. Afterwards, realizing
we needed toothpicks (the typical end to a Tanzanian meal,) the pastor rushed
out of the house. After a few minutes he came back in with a twig from a local
bush. This is the same bush that is used to create a pen to keep in their
animals and the long thorns, when plucked off, did a great job as a toothpick!
Saturday, July 2, 2016
Masai Cattle Market
After our first week in Tanzania, we enjoyed our first day
of free time. Many of us slept in, since our driver was not due to arrive until
8:30.
Bishop Mameo journeyed with us to the Masai Cattle Auction
today. On the way we stopped at Sokoine Ranch, a Masai village where the team
has worshiped several times over the past 9 years. The village chairman and his
family welcomed us warmly and chairs were gathered in a circle under the shade
of the local meeting trees. In Masai culture, guests must always be given
something to eat and today was no exception. The team of fourteen, plus our
driver and his helper, the Bishop and several of his family, and our
translator, were given a delicious breakfast of chai, chapatti, Masai donuts (no sugar), beef soup and soda. As
Bishop visited with the men, the team faded away from the circle and mingled
with the village women and girls. The young women were full of curiosity about
us and our families—how many children do we have? What are their names?—and we
were able to communicate because many of them have been educated and learned
English in school. We were shown around the village, to the church, to the pond
where clothes are washed and the animals drink, and lively conversation flowed
both ways.
When the time came to continue on to the cattle auction,
five or six of the women, all about 18-20 years old, loaded into the dala dala with us. That meant that our
party of 14 would have many translators available. And having a Masai
translator is very important because the majority of Masai speak Masai, not
Swahili.
The Cattle Auction is just what it says—a chance for buyers
and sellers of cattle, goats and sheep to come together and barter their
livestock. But it is also a very social gathering for the Masai. People from
many different villages enjoy this chance to socialize and trade other goods. The
warriors dress their hair in elaborate styles with masses of braids cascading
down their back. It is a time for everyone to display their most elaborate
finery. There are also Masai vendors that set up with various wares you can
buy—Masai machetes and clubs, fabric used for Masai mens robes, ropes, gadgets
and so much more. The team had fun drifting from one vendor to another, using
our translators to help us bargain for the best price. It is still unusual to
see white skin at the auction—we were the only Caucasian group—and many
different people came up to greet us and wish us welcome to Tanzania.
Once our shopping was done, we joined Bishop Mameo, who was
sitting under an open air thatched roof canopy with many Masai gathered around
him. Again a circle was made with chairs and we were treated to fresh roasted beef,
sliced in front of us by two very skilled Masai using a machete. We dipped the
chunks of meat in salt and ate them with our fingers.
After the cattle market, a little fabric shopping was on our
agenda and the team had about an hour to spend in downtown Morogoro. We were
all happy with our purchases and arrived back at LJS with about a half an hour
to relax before dinner. Sunday will see the team back in a Masai village for
worship so we hope to post more pictures tomorrow, time and internet willing!
Thursday, June 30, 2016
http://s515.photobucket.com/user/patiannem/slideshow/2016%20Tanzania
Click this link to see a few pictures from Saturday and Sunday.
Food, Fundis and Fellowship
Today was the first day for surgery. Dr. John worked with
Dr. Swai on three OB/Gyn procedures. Normally, Mazimbu will do a couple of
surgeries a week, so when the team is here their schedule changes dramatically,
with three or four surgeries each day. This seems very normal to us but it
impacts everyone’s job at Mazimbu--from Dr. Swai, to the anestheologist, to the
tech that sterilizes instruments, to the
orderly who washes the linens. This marks our seventh year working with the Mazimbu
staff and, despite the change in their work load, they are very happy to have
us here. Several times each day we are approached and thanked for our work and
the help we are giving to the people of Tanzania.
Dr. Kivuma is the doctor who asked our help last year with
Ben and his severe pressure sores. Although Ben had improved enough by
Christmas to be discharged home, his wounds still require treatment and Dr.
Kivuma, acting solely as an unpaid volunteer, has been traveling twice daily to
Ben’s home to redress his wounds. Nancy, who was very closely involved in his
care last year, joined Dr. Kivuma in the morning to visit Ben. He is doing very
well, has gained weight, and his wounds are continuing to heal. Dr. Kivuma has
been working with him on exercises to strengthen his muscles, with the goal to
have him someday able to transfer himself to a wheelchair without help and
propel the chair under his own strength.
Our fundis were working
at the hospital today, repairing doors, a baby scale, emergency lighting, ultrasound
table and a nebulizer. A trip into town was required to gather needed parts and
this was conveniently done to overlap the lunch hour. The four fundis felt it necessary to have their meal
at our favorite spot, Ricky’s restaurant, where they enjoyed fettucini alfredo
and thai food. Meanwhile, the rest of the team walked across the street to a
neighborhood restaurant. These small eateries do not have menus and the daily
options are a bit limited—usually one or two items. They spoke no English and
we spoke no Swahili. One common dish—chipsimayai—was
chosen by half the team. This dish of French fries cooked with scrambled eggs
is a Tanzanian staple and one known to us. The rest of
Meanwhile, Sally’s tour today took her to Sokoine Masai
village where she was treated to a royal Masai welcome. She was welcomed by the
women, dressed in Masai robes and beads from head to toe and then invited to
join in worship with them. She says it is an experience not to be missed.
Tomorrow, Friday, will be another day of surgery and
screening new patients. Afterwards we are looking forward to going to the local
pizza restaurant for dinner. So our next post will be late Saturday, after we
have had our first day playing tourist. Stay tuned!
Wednesday, June 29, 2016
Work Begins
We have had so much happen in the past two days it is hard
to know where to start with this post.
When we stopped at Mazimbu Monday to greet everyone and
unpack our gear, we were surprised to see that there were almost 20 hopeful
patients lined up waiting for us. We asked them to arrive early on Tuesday, our
first day to work, and they would be seen first. Because of that, our first day
was not a slow start! We were busy with patients from the moment we arrived
until the moment we stopped work.
Our team doctor is Dr. John Houck, an ENT specialist, is with
the team. We are fortunate, however, that we have a good working relationship
with a Tanzania OB/Gyn, Dr. Swai, who works as a team doctor while we are here.
So we are seeing gynecological patients for Dr. Swai and Dr. John is working to
help those who have other needs.
The team ended our first full day of work with a meal at one
of our favorite restaurants. Although dining out with a group of 14 can take
several hours, it gives us a chance to laugh and talk together as we share our
life stories.
While we are here, Pastor Sally Houck is being treated to a
personalized view with the Bishop or his assistant of various parishes and
churches. Her day as an ambassador of the ELCA ends around 4 pm and she joins
us at Mazimbu for the last hour or two of our work.
And our 4 Fundis
(Swahili for fixer), Bill, Lance, David and Jesse, have been recruited to hang
doors at a diocese school under construction. It has been a challenge because
all of the door frames are not square. And the doors they are hanging are hard
wood, hand crafted doors that are made to be “cut to fit.” So the fundis must make incredibly accurate
measurements and then transport the doors in to the center of town to have a
carpenter cut them to the specifications.
Even more patients have come today, some from very far away.
We have tried to organize and give our best guess as to how many patients each
doctor can see each day. Using those estimates, we are completely full until
next Tuesday.
Our first surgeries are scheduled for tomorrow, Thursday.
All three are gynecological surgeries. So our doctors will be in surgery for
the majority of the day while working to see some patients between surgery.
Monday, June 27, 2016
Reestablishing Relationships
Our Sunday afternoon arrival at LJS gave us just enough time
to drop bags in our rooms before our 6 pm dinner. The food at LJS is simple and
ample, served family style. Conversation flows as we review our day and visit
with other occupants at LJS. There is one other group here from North Carolina,
led by a former team member, Emily Norris, who are working on repairs and
facelifts here at LJS. There are also a group of students here in their initial
week of their Swahili Language study.
After dinner the team can usually be found in the common
room for our daily meeting, where we organize and plan for the next day. This
year, we are fortunate to have Pastor Sally Houck with us and she ended our
meeting with the Lutheran liturgy, Night Prayer. With our personal organizing
and unpacking not yet done, we knocked off early.
Morning dawned on our first full day in Morogoro. In the US,
our day might be viewed as one where we did not accomplish anything. We might
have a tendency to count the number of days available for the team to work and
wonder how we could be in Morogoro and not have seen any patients yet. But in
Tanzania, the most important consideration is the relationship, and our Monday
was spent re-establishing relationships.
We were formally welcomed by Bishop Mameo at the diocese
office and the team members who are here for the first time were introduced to
the diocese staff. We were given the grand tour of the huge, multi-storied
concrete church that has been under construction for more than five years. The team
has enjoyed seeing the progress from year to year. Mjympia is the largest
congregation in Morogoro and welcomes more than a thousand worshipers each
Sunday.
Bishop Mameo was proud to show us another construction
project, which is sponsored by a congregation in Finland. The women’s center is
a short drive from the diocese office and the first of a planned 8 houses is
near completion. Each house will have 8 rooms and the center is designed as a
shelter for victims of domestic violence.
Our last stop was at Mazimbu hospital, the site of our work
for the rest of our stay. It was so good to see our colleagues with whom we
have worked side by side in past years. A very routine chore was
accomplished—unpacking our gear and organizing your gifts of medical supplies,
including those donated by the women of the Ar-Ok synod. But we want to close
this post with news we received of two of our past patients—
Last year God gave us the opportunity to help a man who was
suffering from extreme pressure sores. The team worked with Ben and the
hospital staff and his caregivers daily on treatment of his wounds and longer
term solutions to help with his comfort. We heard today that Ben is home with
his family and doing well. One of the Mazimbu doctors to this day visits Ben
twice daily to dress his wounds, and has invited one of our team members to
join him on his daily visit.
Another remarkable event last year was our “chance” occurrence
when the staff was struggling to start a life-saving transfusion on a very sick
baby, Raina. Our surgeon, Doug Treptow, and other team members, worked for
hours to insert the IV while the rest of the team prayed. Close to despair, the
final attempt was successful. Dr. Swai, a Mazimbu surgeon that works closely
with the team, has recently seen her and reports that Baby Raina is a lively,
thriving toddler,
Sunday, June 26, 2016
Sunday Morning in Dar es Salaam
All fourteen of the team joined together for the first time
last night when we arrived in Dar es Salaam—the flight from Zurich with 11 of
us arrived at 9 pm and the last three of us—the Houcks—arrived from Amsterdam
an hour later. Tanzania has refined their procedures over the years and the
process to get our visas and clear customs was very straightforward and
efficient.
The first few of us who cleared passport control were scouting
the carousel for any bags marked with hot pink tape. A quick count came up
short. A recount—same result. For the first time in our 9 year history, 2 bags
were missing. Both of Pati’s bags, checked through from her home airport in
Northwest Arkansas, did not make the flight. Airport officials were able to use
the computer to find out both bags were still sitting in Chicago. They will
come over on the same flight, one day later.
Our first view of Dar through jet-lagged eyes showed some welcome
changes in infrastructure. These changes, though, made the topography look a
bit different so some backtracking was in order to find our beds for the night.
Cindy gave the team a quick cultural orientation while Pati checked the team in
to our hostel. We were finally showered and in bed a little after midnight.
Worship this morning was with a local Lutheran congregation.
The 9 am service each Sunday is an English Language service. It is always a
blessing to travel halfway around the world and meet fellow brothers and
sisters in Christ. Today’s worship was particularly poignant. We were able to
share communion. And the lack of our daily routine and constant electronics sharpens
our focus, giving the Word of our Lord fertile ground.
As the team collaborates on this posting, we are finishing
up a luxurious English-style breakfast. The next several hours, during the 3
hour drive to Morogoro, can be the most challenging part of our trip so, until
we arrive safely at Lutheran Junior Seminary (LJS) keep those prayers coming!
Friday, June 24, 2016
Coffee break in Zurich
Thursday, June 23, 2016
Tanzania 2016
Last minute packing is all that remains for the team as we prep for our journey this year--just a little more than 24 hours to go. Stay tuned for pics and updates throughout our trip. Please remember us in your prayers. We pray for safe travel for all of us (and our luggage!) and that Christ will put us where He wants us to do His work.
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