Tues 3rd Jan 2012 - Sun 8th Jan 2012
Despite being incredibly unfit and underprepared, we return having successfully managed to conquer Kilimanjaro, the tallest (freestanding) mountain in the world! This past week was an amazing yet challenging experience and we have made many firm friends on this climb - it really has been the best of times and the blurst of times.
We discovered before we started that the world record for climbing Kilimanjaro is 6 hours. We did it in 6 days. But it is at least comforting to know that climbing Kili is the most difficult trek in the world that you're allowed to do as an amateur hiker (ie fat, unfit people like us who haven't trained).
On Day 1, we woke up early in Moshvegas, bright-eyed and invigorated for the week ahead. Things started with an amazing breakfast where we got to meet the rest of our tour group. We don't want to exaggerate, but 'Team Milo' is made up of eleven of the most incredible and inspiration people you will ever meet - two Irish girls, four Brits, two Canadians, a Kiwi and us Aussies, thrust together on a common mission to get to the roof of Africa. And to help us get there, we had our affable local guide Mndeme, who was far easier to get along with than he was to pronounce.
As always, we were super prepared... Justin had to hire an entirely new wardrobe, as he had left his waterproof jacket, pants, hiking poles, gloves and boots in Adelaide. Michael needed sunglasses to prevent being blinded at the snowy peak and ended up having to awkwardly buy a pair straight from the face of a passing local because there were no nearby shops selling them. However, once fully kitted out, we jumped in a minibus, drove up to Machame, waved to the hospital as we went past, and signed the entry book at the Machame Gate of the Kilimanjaro National Park. The trek had officially begun!
The first signs of shortness of breath, wheezing and cramp came on within approximately seventeen and a half steps and, although we strongly considered turning back, there was unfortunately a large group of annoying Americans blocking the path behind us so we had no choice but to struggle onwards and upwards.
Physical pain aside, we were pleasantly delighted with the weather, as we were treated to a beautifully clear day. One of the most amazing things about the hike was the variety of climates and scenery that we passed - each new day was like entering a completely different world! The first day was in a hot and humid rainforest, where we covered 18kms of gentle slope to finish the day at 2980 metres above sea level. Here, we were treated to the first of many candlelit dinners in the group tent. Spirits still high, we spent the evening playing games and introducing all the non-Antipodeans to milo. Although initially suspicious, it is safe to say they all absolutely loved it (unsurprisingly) and thus Team Milo was born.
Next day we hiked though moorland, which was very swampy and we had to contend with patches of rain. We spent the night at the Shira campsite, which was 3840 metres asl and had beautiful views of the rainforests of Machame. So far, the walking had not been too strenuous and we spent most of the time trudging slowly along as a group, chatting away and just enjoying the company and scenery.
Day three was through a rocky and barren semi-desert, with a much steeper ascent. One of the girls likened it to "walking along the bottom of a fishtank" which is pretty much the best way to describe it. We hiked up to 4630 meters asl today, but came down to 3950 metres to camp. This was to help us acclimatise (climb high, sleep low). Medical advice is to only increase sleeping altitude by 300 metres per day, but we have slept about a kilometre higher each day so far. Luckily, no one has any symptoms yet (although it has been really hard to distinguish between altitude sickness and general unfittness).
Day 4 was a hike through complete desert, then climbing the Barranco wall. This was a sheer rockface where we were climbing over ridges, cliffs and waterfalls. We slept at 4550 metres asl in preparation for our ascent to the top!
By far the most gruelling day of my life was summit day. Basically, if you wanted to design the most fiendish way to torture someone, it would be to get them to start hiking at 12am in pitch black darkness, with only three hours sleep, in sub-zero temperatures, hiking up the steepest slope ever, that is inconveniently covered in loose gravel and scree, at 5000 plus metres so we could barely breathe. It was tough and slow, but we eventually got there despite not having a torch or any light so we were walking blind. Even another good old sing-song didn't help our breathlessness, although it did raise our battered spirits.
We got to the first of Kilimanjaro's twin peaks, Stella Point (5685m asl), just after dawn and were able to appreciate the stunning sunrise in between gasps for air and pain. We then struggled on for another hour to reach the highest point in Africa, Uhuru Peak (a staggering 5895 metres above sea level - even higher than Everest base camp!)
The views from the peak were stunning - there's far too much to take in here; more to find than can ever be found. But the sun rolling high through the sapphire sky keeps great and small on the endless round. The newly risen sun lit up the glaciers and snowcapped peaks, with acres of snowy mountain as far as the eye could see. We were above even the clouds, which swept away like a blanket below us. It was just beautiful.
Happily (and despite Justin's protestations that "I'm not really the outdoorsy type"), we all made it up to the top, although one girl in our group had a stroke and some had to contend with altitude sickness as well. To celebrate Team Milo's achievement, we did star jumps in front of the sign, so we probably got to about 5896 metres in the end. Then, to top it all off, we randomly bumped into Alex, our travel agent who planned the whole trip for us, here at the peak. Clearly STA Travel goes above and beyond what's required to check that we were satisfied with our trip. It was the weirdest feeling to have an intense Adelaide moment at the top of Kilimanjaro!
All this had been achieved by about 8:30 in the morning - but the day was far from done. We had to cover about 22 kilometres in total today in order to get down to 3000 metres before nightfall for health reasons. This was tough as there was no path, only scree, and it was really steep. So we had to slide down the mountain in zig zags. It was basically like skiing as it was impossible to walk normally as the ground was loose and gave way underneath. It was horrible. It was also a desert, so the scenery was really ugly.
Luckily the lower altitude made us all feel a lot better, and made our friend's face stop drooping. Sleep deprived, sore, sunburnt but very happy, we fell asleep. On day 6, we woke up full of oxygen and completed our descent and return to the hotel victorious to celebrate our achievements.
The feeling of having conquered Kili is just brilliant, although the achievement is tempered somewhat by the fact that I struggled up the mountain carrying my 5 kilo daypack, while I had a porter who had to carry all his own stuff, my tent and food and then balance my 15 kilo pack on his head all the way up. Plus, he was incredibly quick and always got to the campsite way before we did to set up our tents and cook our food. I feel so inadequate.
Luckily though, the hike was about so much more than just walking. Clearly, climbing mountains creates strong bonds between people as there was much camaraderie and helping out from each member of the group. The people we went with made a huge difference and it's a week we will always look back on fondly.
Cheers,
Justin and Michael
Inspiration from Lance Armstrong via Simon: 'Pain is temporary, quitting is permanent.'
- Apologies for the lull in the blog -
Contrary to what was intimated at the end of the last blog, we have in fact not died on the mountain and have just been rather busy having the time of our lives. Writing our adventures down has unfortunately been somewhat neglected, but luckily this is about to be rectified!
Stand by for the next instalment...
Stand by for the next instalment...
Day 22 - Kwa heri Machame, Hujambo Kilimanjaro
Mon 2nd Jan 2012
We woke up in Machame for the last time ever and headed off to chapel. We had come prepared with a Swahili farewell speech we wrote yesterday and were able to give it at the end of the service. We got laughed at slightly less than on our first day, so hopefully our pronunciation has improved. The head doctor then gave a massive speech about us, despite barely meeting us. He seemed very pleased to have such an excellent opportunity to make another lengthy speech, so I feel like we've done our good deed for the day.
The rest of the morning was spent on long goodbyes and taking about a million photos of the hospital and our new rafikis we have made here (plus several of the hospital dog). It will be sad to leave this place! Will definitely not miss the roosters though.
Mr Mushi was also sad to see us go and was kind enough to drive us the full hour to Moshi himself. What a gentleman!
For the interest of everyone who has been kind enough to donate and help us with our fundraising efforts, we have spoken to Mr Mushi about what we all think is the best way to spend the $4000 we raised. We're going to finalise this all when we get back to Australia, so we will keep you posted. We can say firsthand that the money will make a big difference here, so thank you all very much!
Tomorrow we leave for our six-day trek to (hopefully) the top of Kili. Many people have enquired about our dedicated training regimen for this undertaking and the response has always been that we intend to use the first three days of the hike as intensive training for the last three. There's nothing quite like learning on the job!
Arriving in Moshi, we went to the hotel to meet our tour group. It was quite a culture shock getting here, as we are not used to being around foreigners! I'm already sick of looking at white people, speaking in English and paying for things in American dollars. It's so touristy or, as Emmy would say, it's just not the real Africa.
Anyway, we went for our our pre-trek briefing today, where we discovered that the Machame route up Kilimanjaro is actually a really difficult one and recommended for experienced hikers. Whoops. This really doesn't bode well.
We then spent the evening relaxing by the pool, having what would be our last showers for quite some time and enjoying the feel of a soft mattress and unmangled feet.
Goodbye,
Possibly forever,
Michael
The farewell speech to Machame Hospital:
Habari za asubuhi. Heri ya mwaka mpya. Leo tunahondoka Machame. Tumefurahi kuwa nanyi kwa pamoja. Asanteni kwa ushirikiano weru kwetu. Tumefurahi kabisa. Karibuni Australia. Mungu awabariki.
Good morning and happy new year. Today we will leave Machame. We are very pleased to be here with you all. Thank you for all that you have done for us. We have greatly enjoyed being here. We have learnt a lot. You are all welcome to come to Australia. God bless you all.
We woke up in Machame for the last time ever and headed off to chapel. We had come prepared with a Swahili farewell speech we wrote yesterday and were able to give it at the end of the service. We got laughed at slightly less than on our first day, so hopefully our pronunciation has improved. The head doctor then gave a massive speech about us, despite barely meeting us. He seemed very pleased to have such an excellent opportunity to make another lengthy speech, so I feel like we've done our good deed for the day.
The rest of the morning was spent on long goodbyes and taking about a million photos of the hospital and our new rafikis we have made here (plus several of the hospital dog). It will be sad to leave this place! Will definitely not miss the roosters though.
Mr Mushi was also sad to see us go and was kind enough to drive us the full hour to Moshi himself. What a gentleman!
For the interest of everyone who has been kind enough to donate and help us with our fundraising efforts, we have spoken to Mr Mushi about what we all think is the best way to spend the $4000 we raised. We're going to finalise this all when we get back to Australia, so we will keep you posted. We can say firsthand that the money will make a big difference here, so thank you all very much!
Tomorrow we leave for our six-day trek to (hopefully) the top of Kili. Many people have enquired about our dedicated training regimen for this undertaking and the response has always been that we intend to use the first three days of the hike as intensive training for the last three. There's nothing quite like learning on the job!
Arriving in Moshi, we went to the hotel to meet our tour group. It was quite a culture shock getting here, as we are not used to being around foreigners! I'm already sick of looking at white people, speaking in English and paying for things in American dollars. It's so touristy or, as Emmy would say, it's just not the real Africa.
Anyway, we went for our our pre-trek briefing today, where we discovered that the Machame route up Kilimanjaro is actually a really difficult one and recommended for experienced hikers. Whoops. This really doesn't bode well.
We then spent the evening relaxing by the pool, having what would be our last showers for quite some time and enjoying the feel of a soft mattress and unmangled feet.
Goodbye,
Possibly forever,
Michael
The farewell speech to Machame Hospital:
Habari za asubuhi. Heri ya mwaka mpya. Leo tunahondoka Machame. Tumefurahi kuwa nanyi kwa pamoja. Asanteni kwa ushirikiano weru kwetu. Tumefurahi kabisa. Karibuni Australia. Mungu awabariki.
Good morning and happy new year. Today we will leave Machame. We are very pleased to be here with you all. Thank you for all that you have done for us. We have greatly enjoyed being here. We have learnt a lot. You are all welcome to come to Australia. God bless you all.
Day 21 - Heri ya mwaka mpya!
Sun 1st Jan 2012
After the excitement of counting in the new year and then going to sleep at 12:01, today was a massive non-event. We woke up late, discovered the whole town was hungover, so went back home to do basically anything that didn't involve yahtzee.
We have put a great deal of thought into our New Year's resolutions - Justin's is not to die while climbing Kilimanjaro and mine is to just not die in general on this trip. Hopefully we go a bit better with these than normal new year resolutions.
Unfortunately, the other students had a horrible New Year's in Moshi, getting robbed four times, locked out of their hotel and then losing their key to their dorm, so they couldn't get in when they got back to Machame. We had heard a lot about how dangerous the big towns can be on nights like that, so it feels like an excellent decision to stay in little old Machame. Hope you are proud of our safe and responsible decision making, Mum!
We hen spent most of today washing, packing and cleaning which was highly boring so there's not much to write about unfortunately.
The evening was spent evening drinking lots of water so that our tear ducts would be nice and full for all the goodbyes we would have to say tomorrow - our last day at the hospital!
Michael
After the excitement of counting in the new year and then going to sleep at 12:01, today was a massive non-event. We woke up late, discovered the whole town was hungover, so went back home to do basically anything that didn't involve yahtzee.
We have put a great deal of thought into our New Year's resolutions - Justin's is not to die while climbing Kilimanjaro and mine is to just not die in general on this trip. Hopefully we go a bit better with these than normal new year resolutions.
Unfortunately, the other students had a horrible New Year's in Moshi, getting robbed four times, locked out of their hotel and then losing their key to their dorm, so they couldn't get in when they got back to Machame. We had heard a lot about how dangerous the big towns can be on nights like that, so it feels like an excellent decision to stay in little old Machame. Hope you are proud of our safe and responsible decision making, Mum!
We hen spent most of today washing, packing and cleaning which was highly boring so there's not much to write about unfortunately.
The evening was spent evening drinking lots of water so that our tear ducts would be nice and full for all the goodbyes we would have to say tomorrow - our last day at the hospital!
Michael
Day 20 - Happy New Year
Sat 31st Dec 2011
Today is New Year's Eve! And we finally got an invite to an exclusive Swedish party in Moshi. As hard as it was, we stood them up. This is mostly because we had a better offer - a New Year's party with a doctor from the hospital, his friends and family. I later realised that it was actually a baptism. Altough I probably should've guessed this since he told us to meet him at a church at 10am...
We actually didn't know the name of the docor who invited us to his place to celebrate the christening of his granddaughter. All we know is that he travelled to Australia a few years ago and was very impressed with the generosity and hospitality of Australians. So he wanted to return the favour!
This morning was going pretty well as our rooster alarm clock woke us up. I swear he must be blind though, because he crows all bloody day! We woke up early to get ready. But Ally soon called Michael. We were now running late. Talking to Michael while he was on the phone was like talking to a patient having a 30 minute absence seizure. Nothing goes in.
Again I had no breakfast as the Swedish girls had taken my bananas. They had also taken the rest of my water and toilet paper. I thought we would get robbed by some locals in Arusha, not two retarded Swedish girls.
So after skipping breakfast we walked down the hill to the markets. On our way we saw someone wearing a helmet when riding his motor bike. First helmet sighting in 3 weeks. We missed the entire church service apart from the last 5 mins...thanks Ally. The doctor then took us to his house right in the middle of the village. He showed us around his extensive garden - he has heaps of banana trees, coffee trees and paw paws. And after Michael spilt 2 drinks and called his grand-daughter a boy...we were off to a good start.
The party was supposed to start at 11am, but because this is Tanzania...it started at 4pm. Over 150 guests came over for the party, most of them were hours late.
The food was amazing. We had goat, banana stew, heaps of rice and meat (for a change)...and this deceiving sauce which turned out to be the most spicy thing I've ever had. It destroyed my tongue and bowels.
We met heaps of locals our age. One girl was quite a character. She invited us to a New Year's party in Moshi..but after realising Michael has a girlfriend and I was catholic, she ditched us. Snob.
The day was pretty relaxed though. We just sat in a rainforest drinking Amurula listening to African music. It was also great to hear from all my friends and Michael's family that New Years was as enjoyable back home as it was here.
By the end of the night we still had no clue what the doctors name was. But after overhearing someone call him 'Dr Masawe'...we just assumed this was his name...we hope. Before he took us home, he took a leak in his garden...like all good consultants would.
We then went back to our dorm, crahed a local student party, left when we found out they were a cult and went home to count down to midnight. A great way to welcome the New Year.
Justin
Today is New Year's Eve! And we finally got an invite to an exclusive Swedish party in Moshi. As hard as it was, we stood them up. This is mostly because we had a better offer - a New Year's party with a doctor from the hospital, his friends and family. I later realised that it was actually a baptism. Altough I probably should've guessed this since he told us to meet him at a church at 10am...
We actually didn't know the name of the docor who invited us to his place to celebrate the christening of his granddaughter. All we know is that he travelled to Australia a few years ago and was very impressed with the generosity and hospitality of Australians. So he wanted to return the favour!
This morning was going pretty well as our rooster alarm clock woke us up. I swear he must be blind though, because he crows all bloody day! We woke up early to get ready. But Ally soon called Michael. We were now running late. Talking to Michael while he was on the phone was like talking to a patient having a 30 minute absence seizure. Nothing goes in.
Again I had no breakfast as the Swedish girls had taken my bananas. They had also taken the rest of my water and toilet paper. I thought we would get robbed by some locals in Arusha, not two retarded Swedish girls.
So after skipping breakfast we walked down the hill to the markets. On our way we saw someone wearing a helmet when riding his motor bike. First helmet sighting in 3 weeks. We missed the entire church service apart from the last 5 mins...thanks Ally. The doctor then took us to his house right in the middle of the village. He showed us around his extensive garden - he has heaps of banana trees, coffee trees and paw paws. And after Michael spilt 2 drinks and called his grand-daughter a boy...we were off to a good start.
The party was supposed to start at 11am, but because this is Tanzania...it started at 4pm. Over 150 guests came over for the party, most of them were hours late.
The food was amazing. We had goat, banana stew, heaps of rice and meat (for a change)...and this deceiving sauce which turned out to be the most spicy thing I've ever had. It destroyed my tongue and bowels.
We met heaps of locals our age. One girl was quite a character. She invited us to a New Year's party in Moshi..but after realising Michael has a girlfriend and I was catholic, she ditched us. Snob.
The day was pretty relaxed though. We just sat in a rainforest drinking Amurula listening to African music. It was also great to hear from all my friends and Michael's family that New Years was as enjoyable back home as it was here.
By the end of the night we still had no clue what the doctors name was. But after overhearing someone call him 'Dr Masawe'...we just assumed this was his name...we hope. Before he took us home, he took a leak in his garden...like all good consultants would.
We then went back to our dorm, crahed a local student party, left when we found out they were a cult and went home to count down to midnight. A great way to welcome the New Year.
Justin
Day 19 - He needs multivitamins stat
Fri 30th Dec 2011
Another day waking up in Machame, except this morning it was raining. I was way too tired to go to chapel this morning, so after the best sleep in, I decided to get ready for the hospital. Unfortunately there is no washing machine, and I have to wash my clothes by hand. The most recent load went mouldy, and as we have 1 bucket to share between 4 people... I can't wash my clothes again until Sunday! FML
So after wearing the same, stinking clothes for the past 3 weeks, I went to the outpatient clinic. When we got their this morning the nurses told us that the 'floor was too wet for clinic'....so we had to wait for the floor to dry.
After waiting back at our house with fantastic Swedish company (they can be so delightful sometimes)...I met up with the doctor in clinic. Her name was Dr Minja, and no I'm not joking. As funny as her name is, we did see some amazing cases.
The morning list started with a pregnant female who complained of 'body malaise'...Dr Minge diagnosed this as malaria. She was right. For the pregnant women, they don't say how far along they are. They write down... 'Patient complains of 5 months of amenorrhoea'.
The doctors have to be really knowledgable. They don't have access to specialists and can't make any referrals. They pretty much do everything- obstetrics, general medicine, paediatrics, heaps of general surgery and orthopaedics. They also don't have any access to cultures here. So they can only do a urinalysis dipstick and stool microscopy. They diagnose UTIs and gastro based on the micro result. The blood tests do come back pretty quickly... like within 1 hour for routine tests. Even the obstetric ultrasound comes back quickly.
They love the multivitamins here. A 95 year old male came in with 'unable to stand for a year'. So they prescribed multivitamin, 2 tablets for 5 days. How about checking his legs?!
So a few things went wrong today. After cannulating a female with an acute abdomen, the nurse dropped the needle on the floor and left. I noticed it some time later and told Dr Minja. She is the type of person who hates to get her hands dirty ... So as I expected she freaked out! She doesn't even own a stethoscope. She says she lost it...but I think she threw it away after it got contaminated. Maybe a patient touched it?
Michael also had an interesting morning. He managed to stumble across an emergency resuscitation of an unconscious patient. And discovered first hand how inefficient and ineffective a Tanzanian emergency department is...especially as it consists of just a corridor inside the outpatient department. After 15 attempts at cannulating him..a doctor finally came and put one in. Unlike 3 mins for a MET team to arrive back home...it took 1 hour for the first doctor to arrive. It took 2 hours for him to get to ICU.... where he was finally given oxygen. He must have been the first patient for a while to be given oxygen...as they had to use a spanner to turn on the oxygen cylinder. Ah Tanzanian time.
After such an entertaining and educational morning Michael and I went for a long walk to the local orphanage. The Neema Orphanage is located north of Machame. It houses around 50 children without mothers (orphans are allowed to have fathers here), aged between 4 months to 5 years old. We came and brightened their day with lollies (pi pi in Kiswahili)...but the carers wouldn't let us give the children lollies until they finished their fruit. As soon as they finished they raced to get some 'pi pi'...and even tried to eat the wrapper. They must've been pretty hungry. It was a great experience visiting an African orphanage, playing with the very cute kids and we are looking at helping the orphanage with our fundraising efforts.
Living here, we now know what it's like being an international student like Yang. It's weird when people call us international students... Mostly because I'm not Asian and don't spend my weekends in the Barr Smith library studying. We have though been eating heaps of rice though...
Justin
Another day waking up in Machame, except this morning it was raining. I was way too tired to go to chapel this morning, so after the best sleep in, I decided to get ready for the hospital. Unfortunately there is no washing machine, and I have to wash my clothes by hand. The most recent load went mouldy, and as we have 1 bucket to share between 4 people... I can't wash my clothes again until Sunday! FML
So after wearing the same, stinking clothes for the past 3 weeks, I went to the outpatient clinic. When we got their this morning the nurses told us that the 'floor was too wet for clinic'....so we had to wait for the floor to dry.
After waiting back at our house with fantastic Swedish company (they can be so delightful sometimes)...I met up with the doctor in clinic. Her name was Dr Minja, and no I'm not joking. As funny as her name is, we did see some amazing cases.
The morning list started with a pregnant female who complained of 'body malaise'...Dr Minge diagnosed this as malaria. She was right. For the pregnant women, they don't say how far along they are. They write down... 'Patient complains of 5 months of amenorrhoea'.
The doctors have to be really knowledgable. They don't have access to specialists and can't make any referrals. They pretty much do everything- obstetrics, general medicine, paediatrics, heaps of general surgery and orthopaedics. They also don't have any access to cultures here. So they can only do a urinalysis dipstick and stool microscopy. They diagnose UTIs and gastro based on the micro result. The blood tests do come back pretty quickly... like within 1 hour for routine tests. Even the obstetric ultrasound comes back quickly.
They love the multivitamins here. A 95 year old male came in with 'unable to stand for a year'. So they prescribed multivitamin, 2 tablets for 5 days. How about checking his legs?!
So a few things went wrong today. After cannulating a female with an acute abdomen, the nurse dropped the needle on the floor and left. I noticed it some time later and told Dr Minja. She is the type of person who hates to get her hands dirty ... So as I expected she freaked out! She doesn't even own a stethoscope. She says she lost it...but I think she threw it away after it got contaminated. Maybe a patient touched it?
Michael also had an interesting morning. He managed to stumble across an emergency resuscitation of an unconscious patient. And discovered first hand how inefficient and ineffective a Tanzanian emergency department is...especially as it consists of just a corridor inside the outpatient department. After 15 attempts at cannulating him..a doctor finally came and put one in. Unlike 3 mins for a MET team to arrive back home...it took 1 hour for the first doctor to arrive. It took 2 hours for him to get to ICU.... where he was finally given oxygen. He must have been the first patient for a while to be given oxygen...as they had to use a spanner to turn on the oxygen cylinder. Ah Tanzanian time.
After such an entertaining and educational morning Michael and I went for a long walk to the local orphanage. The Neema Orphanage is located north of Machame. It houses around 50 children without mothers (orphans are allowed to have fathers here), aged between 4 months to 5 years old. We came and brightened their day with lollies (pi pi in Kiswahili)...but the carers wouldn't let us give the children lollies until they finished their fruit. As soon as they finished they raced to get some 'pi pi'...and even tried to eat the wrapper. They must've been pretty hungry. It was a great experience visiting an African orphanage, playing with the very cute kids and we are looking at helping the orphanage with our fundraising efforts.
Living here, we now know what it's like being an international student like Yang. It's weird when people call us international students... Mostly because I'm not Asian and don't spend my weekends in the Barr Smith library studying. We have though been eating heaps of rice though...
Justin
Day 18 - Hakuna shida
Thurs 29th Dec 2011
After a very amusing evening of listening to Justin sleeptalk, we spent today on outreach. This essentially involved jumping in a minibus and driving to a decommissioned church in southern Machame to set up a clinic for the day. It had three parts - there was a primary care clinic, a dispensary and an HIV testing station.
They don't have GPs here in Tanzania, so the hospital runs primary care clinics like this to help give medical care to people who aren't sick enough to need hospitalisation. And it's all free, which is very good news for the locals.
We got to take histories from quite a lot of patients and, because pretty much no one spoke English, we had to do it all in Kiswahili! Although this was tricky, we were able to get by with a little help. Every history would start with the same three questions:
1. 'Jina laku nani?' - 'What is your name?'
2. 'Una miaka mingapi?' - 'How old are you?'
3. 'Una shida gani?' - 'What seems to be the problem today?'
Then we just had to listen to some key words to work out if the problem was with the belly (turbo), chest (kifua) or head (kichwa). So if the problem was something else, the patient was in trouble!
Although we managed to do most of it ourselves, luckily we had someone on hand to take over if things got too difficult to understand. There are only about ten doctors in Machame Hospital, so much of the initial care of patients is done by a 'clinical officer' instead. These people study a condensed medical course for three years and then work kind of like GPs. Except they're not so good.
They don't take a very thorough history and rarely examine the patient. A diagnosis is usually made after one question, and it's often quite wrong. So chest pain = pneumonia, tummy pain = worms, malaise = malaria and joint pain = rheumatoid arthritis. And most things are treated with multivitamins.
We were able to do our own prescribing today for the first time ever and even correct the clinical officer's prescribing, who tried to give diclofenac for a renal failure patient.
The other part of the clinic today was the HIV testing, which was done through a fingerprick blood test. The weird thing was that it was all very secretive, as everyone is really scared about having HIV and they don't want to be seen anywhere near an HIV testing area because their friends might see them and assume they have Aids. So the testing area was tucked away at the back and was never mentioned by name. So you don't tell the patients what's happening, as they (hopefully) already know.
It is by far the best feeling to be able to tell someone they don't have HIV ("hakuna shida"). People are so happy - like the lady who hugged Justin after he told her she was clear! In a beautiful moment of symmetry to the last HIV clinic I went to, I saw another grandma who brought in her grandchild who had lost its mother from Aids. But this time the baby was negative and she started crying with joy when I told her the news. We were really lucky today there were no new cases of HIV made.
The only not so good thing is that because of all the stigma and reluctance to talk about HIV, there is no counselling of the patients about how to avoid getting infected or primary prevention of any kind. We feel that the education about Aids is quite lacking here, which surely doesn't help the problem at all.
The last part of the outreach clinic was the dispensary, which was kind of a makeshift pharmacy where they give out all the medictions. They can only take a very limited range of drugs with them, so it made it hard to always prescribe what we wanted when we were seeing the patients.
They buy the tablets in bulk and then count out the number of tablets each patient needs from a big bottle and then put them in a plastic bag for the patient to take home. So there are no labels and the patients have no idea what they are taking. They are not told about side effects and only instructed about how many they should take each day. The interesting about healthcare here is that patients always expect to be given a drug when they come to see a doctor, partly why so many multivitamins were given out.
We went home and cooked banana (ndizi) pizzas, which is the Tanzanian specialty.
Today was actually a really good day as we got to do some real medicine! Not convinced that each patient got the best possible care, but at least it was better then nothing (except for the renal failure guy who got NSAIDS).
Asanteni sana,
Michael
After a very amusing evening of listening to Justin sleeptalk, we spent today on outreach. This essentially involved jumping in a minibus and driving to a decommissioned church in southern Machame to set up a clinic for the day. It had three parts - there was a primary care clinic, a dispensary and an HIV testing station.
They don't have GPs here in Tanzania, so the hospital runs primary care clinics like this to help give medical care to people who aren't sick enough to need hospitalisation. And it's all free, which is very good news for the locals.
We got to take histories from quite a lot of patients and, because pretty much no one spoke English, we had to do it all in Kiswahili! Although this was tricky, we were able to get by with a little help. Every history would start with the same three questions:
1. 'Jina laku nani?' - 'What is your name?'
2. 'Una miaka mingapi?' - 'How old are you?'
3. 'Una shida gani?' - 'What seems to be the problem today?'
Then we just had to listen to some key words to work out if the problem was with the belly (turbo), chest (kifua) or head (kichwa). So if the problem was something else, the patient was in trouble!
Although we managed to do most of it ourselves, luckily we had someone on hand to take over if things got too difficult to understand. There are only about ten doctors in Machame Hospital, so much of the initial care of patients is done by a 'clinical officer' instead. These people study a condensed medical course for three years and then work kind of like GPs. Except they're not so good.
They don't take a very thorough history and rarely examine the patient. A diagnosis is usually made after one question, and it's often quite wrong. So chest pain = pneumonia, tummy pain = worms, malaise = malaria and joint pain = rheumatoid arthritis. And most things are treated with multivitamins.
We were able to do our own prescribing today for the first time ever and even correct the clinical officer's prescribing, who tried to give diclofenac for a renal failure patient.
The other part of the clinic today was the HIV testing, which was done through a fingerprick blood test. The weird thing was that it was all very secretive, as everyone is really scared about having HIV and they don't want to be seen anywhere near an HIV testing area because their friends might see them and assume they have Aids. So the testing area was tucked away at the back and was never mentioned by name. So you don't tell the patients what's happening, as they (hopefully) already know.
It is by far the best feeling to be able to tell someone they don't have HIV ("hakuna shida"). People are so happy - like the lady who hugged Justin after he told her she was clear! In a beautiful moment of symmetry to the last HIV clinic I went to, I saw another grandma who brought in her grandchild who had lost its mother from Aids. But this time the baby was negative and she started crying with joy when I told her the news. We were really lucky today there were no new cases of HIV made.
The only not so good thing is that because of all the stigma and reluctance to talk about HIV, there is no counselling of the patients about how to avoid getting infected or primary prevention of any kind. We feel that the education about Aids is quite lacking here, which surely doesn't help the problem at all.
The last part of the outreach clinic was the dispensary, which was kind of a makeshift pharmacy where they give out all the medictions. They can only take a very limited range of drugs with them, so it made it hard to always prescribe what we wanted when we were seeing the patients.
They buy the tablets in bulk and then count out the number of tablets each patient needs from a big bottle and then put them in a plastic bag for the patient to take home. So there are no labels and the patients have no idea what they are taking. They are not told about side effects and only instructed about how many they should take each day. The interesting about healthcare here is that patients always expect to be given a drug when they come to see a doctor, partly why so many multivitamins were given out.
We went home and cooked banana (ndizi) pizzas, which is the Tanzanian specialty.
Today was actually a really good day as we got to do some real medicine! Not convinced that each patient got the best possible care, but at least it was better then nothing (except for the renal failure guy who got NSAIDS).
Asanteni sana,
Michael
Day 17 - These ward rounds never end...
Wed 28th Dec 2011
We got a lot done today - ward rounds with ICU, paediatrics, orthopaedics and then surgery.
We started the day with an ICU ward round. As Michael has already described, the ICU is basically just like a normal ward but only has 4 beds. There is no oxygen, no ventilators, and no barrier nursing. Most of the cases we saw today were severe pneumonia and asthma. For pneumonia, treatment is just penicillin. They don't have the facilities to do blood cultures, throat swabs and cultures. Only a chest xray. And monitoring these patients is quite different to back home. For the pneumonia case, they don't even listen to the chest.
After such a busy ICU morning we went on ward rounds with the paediatrician who has been on a non-authorised holiday for the whole time we've been here. We saw a few interesting cases, including malaria in a 12 month old girl and idiopathic lymphadenopathy.
When the consultant goes on ward rounds, he has no patient list. He goes to every ward in the hospital and asks the nurses if there are any patients for him to see. Luckily there are only 10 wards.
Surgical ward rounds were next. There was a diabetic patient with a 2 year old non-healing ulcer on his ankle. After removing the dirty socks he used to cover the wound, I saw the biggest tropic ulcer eroding bone. This was quite shocking!
The wards are very basic. Around 15 beds, crammed into a small room. The windows, if not smashed, are always open. The room is filled with heaps of flies and mozzies. The floor is always wet and sometimes there are needles lying around. Some beds are broken and held up with chairs.
We saw another case of a oldish female with a pelvic mass and ascites. A diagnosis of ovarian cancer was given, but because they have no way to confirm the diagnosis with biopsies... they just treat it as cancer. Palliative care here is also under resourced and patients really only get pain relief. Chemotherapy isn't available in northern Tanzania... so all patients have to travel to Dar es Salaam which is 9 hours by bus to get treatment.
The last case we saw really annoyed me. A female of 37 years presented with severe abdominal pain. She was short of breath at rest, and looked very ill. Her last LMP was over 6 weeks ago and I asked if she could be pregnant. The doctor told me that because her last period was 6 weeks ago, she couldn't be pregnant. So a -2 on SCT? Devitt would cry if he saw the management of this case.
We had a really long and tedious day.
Justin
We got a lot done today - ward rounds with ICU, paediatrics, orthopaedics and then surgery.
We started the day with an ICU ward round. As Michael has already described, the ICU is basically just like a normal ward but only has 4 beds. There is no oxygen, no ventilators, and no barrier nursing. Most of the cases we saw today were severe pneumonia and asthma. For pneumonia, treatment is just penicillin. They don't have the facilities to do blood cultures, throat swabs and cultures. Only a chest xray. And monitoring these patients is quite different to back home. For the pneumonia case, they don't even listen to the chest.
After such a busy ICU morning we went on ward rounds with the paediatrician who has been on a non-authorised holiday for the whole time we've been here. We saw a few interesting cases, including malaria in a 12 month old girl and idiopathic lymphadenopathy.
When the consultant goes on ward rounds, he has no patient list. He goes to every ward in the hospital and asks the nurses if there are any patients for him to see. Luckily there are only 10 wards.
Surgical ward rounds were next. There was a diabetic patient with a 2 year old non-healing ulcer on his ankle. After removing the dirty socks he used to cover the wound, I saw the biggest tropic ulcer eroding bone. This was quite shocking!
The wards are very basic. Around 15 beds, crammed into a small room. The windows, if not smashed, are always open. The room is filled with heaps of flies and mozzies. The floor is always wet and sometimes there are needles lying around. Some beds are broken and held up with chairs.
We saw another case of a oldish female with a pelvic mass and ascites. A diagnosis of ovarian cancer was given, but because they have no way to confirm the diagnosis with biopsies... they just treat it as cancer. Palliative care here is also under resourced and patients really only get pain relief. Chemotherapy isn't available in northern Tanzania... so all patients have to travel to Dar es Salaam which is 9 hours by bus to get treatment.
The last case we saw really annoyed me. A female of 37 years presented with severe abdominal pain. She was short of breath at rest, and looked very ill. Her last LMP was over 6 weeks ago and I asked if she could be pregnant. The doctor told me that because her last period was 6 weeks ago, she couldn't be pregnant. So a -2 on SCT? Devitt would cry if he saw the management of this case.
We had a really long and tedious day.
Justin
Day 16 - Fireflies stuck in that big blueish-black thing
Tues 27th Dec 2011
We're getting rather a lot of practice at the extremely fun game of 'spot the doctor' each morning, which is like a real life version of Where's Wally except you look for a white coat instead of red and white stripes. The doctors here have an uncanny knack of all vanishing after the morning meeting finishes and when the actual doctor work would be expected to begin. Nothing (ward rounds, clinics, theatre) is scheduled for any particular time, so it's really pot luck to be in the right place at the right time when something's going on.
So today we failed to spot any white coats at all and eventually decided to hang out with the midwives instead. This was something we had yet to experience in Africa, so things worked out pretty well. There were two preggos in labour today and we were able to follow them all the way to the births.
The first thing that struck us about the labour ward was just how many moths were in there. As any mother will tell you, labour takes aaaaages so there was quite a lot of time for us to dedicate to concerted counting of these creatures. We got to about 213 before it all became too hard/boring and gave up. So rather a lot of moths then.
Apart from the wildlife, the other big difference to Australia is that there is no pain relief offered for labour. It's not that they can't (epidurals are done for c-sections on pretty much a daily basis), it's just that it is not considered okay. Also, the women aren't allowed to have anyone present from their families, so husbands and other family members have to hang out around the hospital's gardens. Expectant mothers have to be tough cookies here in Africa!
Unfortunately, both mothers went into obstructed labour and had to be taken for caesarean sections. At least this time they were given an epidural! There were flies inside of the operating thaetre, which was at least a bit of variation to the moths.
The second case was quite confronting, as the patient was only 14 years old. Something that would surely necessitate a police investigation in Australia! Even worse, she almost lost her baby before she could even hold it. The baby came out with an Apgar score of about 3 and needed resuscitation. This was challenging because there was no oxygen and the nurse clearly hadn't had much training in CPR. We were really scared the baby was going to die and weren't able to intervene. Thankfully, both mother and baby are doing well now.
Next we went for lunch, which has become a bit like deja va as there is only one thing on the hospitals's menu. Cleary there are a lot of glitches in the Matrix in this part of the world. The dish is called pilau, which is basically rice and chunks of sinew with a little bit of meat that gets stuck in your teeth. So living here is sort of like being an enforced vegetarian, which hurts considerably.
After pilau, I spent the evening by absolutely destroying Justin in both yahtzee and several games of chess, so basically this was the best day ever.
Kwa heri,
Michael
We're getting rather a lot of practice at the extremely fun game of 'spot the doctor' each morning, which is like a real life version of Where's Wally except you look for a white coat instead of red and white stripes. The doctors here have an uncanny knack of all vanishing after the morning meeting finishes and when the actual doctor work would be expected to begin. Nothing (ward rounds, clinics, theatre) is scheduled for any particular time, so it's really pot luck to be in the right place at the right time when something's going on.
So today we failed to spot any white coats at all and eventually decided to hang out with the midwives instead. This was something we had yet to experience in Africa, so things worked out pretty well. There were two preggos in labour today and we were able to follow them all the way to the births.
The first thing that struck us about the labour ward was just how many moths were in there. As any mother will tell you, labour takes aaaaages so there was quite a lot of time for us to dedicate to concerted counting of these creatures. We got to about 213 before it all became too hard/boring and gave up. So rather a lot of moths then.
Apart from the wildlife, the other big difference to Australia is that there is no pain relief offered for labour. It's not that they can't (epidurals are done for c-sections on pretty much a daily basis), it's just that it is not considered okay. Also, the women aren't allowed to have anyone present from their families, so husbands and other family members have to hang out around the hospital's gardens. Expectant mothers have to be tough cookies here in Africa!
Unfortunately, both mothers went into obstructed labour and had to be taken for caesarean sections. At least this time they were given an epidural! There were flies inside of the operating thaetre, which was at least a bit of variation to the moths.
The second case was quite confronting, as the patient was only 14 years old. Something that would surely necessitate a police investigation in Australia! Even worse, she almost lost her baby before she could even hold it. The baby came out with an Apgar score of about 3 and needed resuscitation. This was challenging because there was no oxygen and the nurse clearly hadn't had much training in CPR. We were really scared the baby was going to die and weren't able to intervene. Thankfully, both mother and baby are doing well now.
Next we went for lunch, which has become a bit like deja va as there is only one thing on the hospitals's menu. Cleary there are a lot of glitches in the Matrix in this part of the world. The dish is called pilau, which is basically rice and chunks of sinew with a little bit of meat that gets stuck in your teeth. So living here is sort of like being an enforced vegetarian, which hurts considerably.
After pilau, I spent the evening by absolutely destroying Justin in both yahtzee and several games of chess, so basically this was the best day ever.
Kwa heri,
Michael
Day 15 - What happens in Moshvegas
Mon 26th Dec 2011
Today was Boxing Day here in Machame! As our alarms failed us again this morning, we rushed to the hospital being 30 mins late. Unfortunately, we discovered there was no chapel or any doctors at the hospital. So I guess another day off!
We decided to go to Moshi to buy food, as we had none left. We also needed currency and beer. Again we took the dalla dalla, which is a local minibus. They crammed about 32 people on..but there are rumours around this place that up to 43 passengers have fit into this tiny van. Everyone stares at us because we look different.
Once we got to Moshi we set out to complete our list of things to do. We did not get much done. Moshi smells really bad, and it was so hot! We got some supplies, checked our emails and got some shillings.
After another pilau lunch we settled back in our dorm. Once the other students returned from the local swimming pool....they were expecting dinner. So we reluctantly made some rice. We had to pick out all the bark and wood, which took hours. The rice did taste amazing though, so I thought we did a good job.
Today was another short day. But a good chance to catch up on stuff I haven't done for ages, like taking a shower or washing my clothes. I really do miss having a washing machine my dad uses to clean my clothes. So today I washed my clothes in a small tub of dirty water, under the harsh African sun.
Apart from a little banter, today was mediocre.
Justin
Today was Boxing Day here in Machame! As our alarms failed us again this morning, we rushed to the hospital being 30 mins late. Unfortunately, we discovered there was no chapel or any doctors at the hospital. So I guess another day off!
We decided to go to Moshi to buy food, as we had none left. We also needed currency and beer. Again we took the dalla dalla, which is a local minibus. They crammed about 32 people on..but there are rumours around this place that up to 43 passengers have fit into this tiny van. Everyone stares at us because we look different.
Once we got to Moshi we set out to complete our list of things to do. We did not get much done. Moshi smells really bad, and it was so hot! We got some supplies, checked our emails and got some shillings.
After another pilau lunch we settled back in our dorm. Once the other students returned from the local swimming pool....they were expecting dinner. So we reluctantly made some rice. We had to pick out all the bark and wood, which took hours. The rice did taste amazing though, so I thought we did a good job.
Today was another short day. But a good chance to catch up on stuff I haven't done for ages, like taking a shower or washing my clothes. I really do miss having a washing machine my dad uses to clean my clothes. So today I washed my clothes in a small tub of dirty water, under the harsh African sun.
Apart from a little banter, today was mediocre.
Justin
Day 14- Heri Ya Krismas
Sun 25th Dec 2011
Today is Christmas! Another year away from the gorgeous family...away from the routine of getting up, opening pressies and then going to Nonna's and Babcia's house for the best meals ever! As much as I miss it...experiencing a traditional Christmas in Africa is a once in a lifetime opportunity. Don't worry gorgeous family, I'll be home next Christmas.
After waking up without that damn rooster crowing...I can only assume it had been killed and cooked. What a great morning! But unfortunately for us...we had no food in the house. Only milk and the Swedish girls cornflakes.
The Sweeds and Dutchies went off to a local Xmas party (yes, we were specifically rejected from their exclusive invite list)...we decided to have a traditional African Xmas, starting with a church service. 500 Tanzanians and 2 Australians filled the pews of the massive church. The 3 hour long service, completely in Kiswahili was entertaining. Lots of singing and over 3 collections for donations. There were no Xmas hymns and no communion...I was dying for some breakie but I guess not this morning.
So after church we had a great Xmas lunch at the hospital with the locals...yes for only $1. I'm starting to love this pilau...which is just rice, meat and spinach. After the hearty meal we set out on the dalla dalla for this resort close to Machame- the Protea Hotel. It was recommended by Mr Mushi...and this place was amazing. A massive swimming pool, live band, and a bar made of straw! We laid by the pool for several hours before retreating into the African style hut to have Xmas dinner...surf and turf with salad (which I was not going to eat). Although I do feel bad about wasting food in Africa.
Today was such a great day to spend Xmas...nice and relaxing. Even though we are without family...we are in great company. Oh and our families did call today which is nice. I guess you don't have to be on an exclusive Swedish guest list to have a great African Xmas.
As we have already mentions, we are picking up heaps of Kiswahili. Really all we know is how to great someone. When we say 'hujumbo', 'habari', or 'mumbo' (all of these mean 'how's it going')...everyone thinks we speak really good Kiswahili. The only problem is when they start asking us questions...we just say asante (thankyou) and walk away. A polite way of saying 'hello' to an older person is 'shikamoo'. This actually means 'I'm at your feet' ...or 'I'm below you'. The reply is 'marahaba', which means 'you may come up'. When we say this to people their eyes light up...because they don't expect a foreigner to know the phrase. I guess we have the Sweeds to thank for that!
After an amazing dinner, we waited about 30 mins for the dalla dalla...but because they were all full, no one would pick us up. We did have a few conversations in Kiswahili with the locals.
We spent the rest of the night avoiding Yatzee...by far the worst thing ever invented. After an hour of sitting, staring blankly at the wall, we succumbed to the temptation and played one game. As always, I lost!
What an amazing Xmas!
Heri ya Krismas (Merry Christmas)
Justin
PS- Michael particularly enjoyed the amazing Lionel Ritchie covers played by the band. I hated it.
We're Going on Safari
I had the privilege of spending a few days on safari in some of the world's best national parks- Lake Manyara, Ngorongoro Crater, Mto wa Mbu and of course the Serengeti.
Planning on meeting my tour a day late, I travelled to the Arusha Snake Park. I got there at 1pm as my tour was arriving around 3pm. I got an awesome burger for only $1.7. As my tour arrived around 7pm...I had a long wait. Luckily the bar had everything I needed, lots of beer and tourists.
I met some amazing people while waiting at the bar...and they bought me heaps of Safari lager. The beer here is great and dirt cheap...as in $2 a pint! Even Guinness is $2!
After way too much to drink, I went to meet my tour and put up my tent. The gang was made up of 7 other Australians and an Egyptian. They were all so much older than me, had jobs and families. I felt really out of place- but over the week we had all become besties (sorry Dana).
I woke up at 6:30am after a terrible night sleep in a tent, on top of a rock. We packed up and headed to Mto wa Mbu (means river of mosquitoes in Kiswahili)....and yes I got heaps of mozzie bites. On the way to the mosquito infested valley, we stopped off at St Judes School. St Judes is a school for poor and extremely clever children. Set up by an Australian, Gemma started with only 3 students in 1997 and now the school educates over 1500 students. Every year, 4000 students apply, sit an exam, and depending on the result of their exam will be invited for an interview. Because one of the criteria for entry is extreme poverty, the school goes out to the homes and determines if the child really is poor, or if the parents are faking. They even go around the village and ask the locals if the parents have jobs (as the parents have to be unemployed) and if the house they live in is really theirs. As only 250 students are accepted every year- it is tough competition. The reason the school is so strict about the child's socioeconomic status is because St Judes is one of the best schools in Tanzania, it's completely free, and lots of well-to-do families lie about their income.
We then travelled west to Mto wa Mbu, which is close to Lake Manyara. I went on a walking tour of the village- and just as I expected lots of mud huts, people carrying stuff on their head and banana trees. I also tried the local speciality banana beer. It tasted amazing but unfortunately I can't take any home with me. I also stumbled across a shop which sold Tanzanites...sorry Mum they were too expensive!
The next day we packed up our tents, bags and cameras and headed off to the Serengeti. As we were driving, Africa by Toto came on the radio. The entire tour group were ecstatic, making heaps of ironic references of listening to Africa while in the Serengeti- yes I got it the first time.
We stopped for a short lunch break just outside the national park. Our tour guide warned us that baboons run amuck around this area so we all closed our windows. A troop of baboons entertained us during our short stay, by climbing inside an American's car and stealing their food. Unfortunately the dad and children were still in the car, so the mother thought a good way to get the baboon out of the car would be to close the door and bang over the windows and roof. Ah that rabid baboon went nuts! Luckily a person who was not mental-not-normal opened the door and let the baboon out. I guess that's Tanzanian baboon 1: US tourists 0
Driving into the Serengeti was breathtaking- I watched the sun set over the savannahs, filled with animals amongst a bonfire with so many rafikis (friends). We did also go on a game drive...and I saw the big 5 (leopard, lion, elephant, rhino and buffalo...I think). Over the 3 days in the Serengeti I saw 4 leopards, about 20 lions and cubs, a cheetah, heaps of zebras, giraffes, camels, wildebeests, elephants, pumbaas, flamingos, rhinos, buffalo, hyenas, and so many impalas. We also got to see the Tanzanian president! Pumbaa means foolish in Kiswahili- in fact the wild pumbaa is pretty stupid. When it gets chased by a lion...It will run 50 meters, forget why it's running and eat some grass. The lion will then have his lunch!
The Serengeti is filled with animals, and we spent hours on game drives. Surprisingly I managed to get mobile coverage out in the Serengeti on my new phone with Airtel. I couldn't even get coverage in the most built up national park, the Flinders Rangers with Optus. Damn Optus!
On my first night in the Serengeti, I was awoken by a herd of giraffes. One of the tour members got his camera out and chased after them. Little did he know that the kick of this giant feline could kill a lion. All the animals seem to come out at night- I woke up so many times by the sound of an elephant, roar of a lion, or loud American tourists.
We then again packed up our stuff and headed to Ngorongoro crater. On our way we stopped off at a Maasai village. After a good old dance with the locals, we were shown around their village. A fun fact for the day- their diet consists of cows meat, cows milk, and cows blood. No fruit or veges. I guess this is pretty much what my brother eats...so he would fit right in.
When we got to the crater we set up camp again. There was a man with a massive semi- automatic walking around the camp site. Our tour guide told us he was there to protect us against animals. Apparently 2 nights ago, a pride of 10 lions were hunting wildebeests at the campsite. After an amazing pasta dinner that my Nonna would be proud of, I went back to my tent freaked out! Fortunately lions didn't kill anyone tonight, but I did wake up to several elephants outside my tent. Our tour guide told everyone to stay in their tents. I laid awake for hours, hoping the elephants did not step on my head and kill me....but I could hear them walking within centimetres from my head. I guess next time I go on a camping safari I probably shouldn't keep food in my tent.
So if you meet a lion in the wild what would you do? Well apparently 2 important things. Firstly always make eye contact. Secondly you need to stay still and not run. The lion should back off. But if this doesn't work and the lion attacks you...play dead and protect your neck and maybe you will survive. Otherwise you can pull some jpat taekwondo moves out!
The next day we travelled the long journey back to Arusha- and so my safari adventure came to an end. The 9 of us spent the night at the Maasai camp in Arusha, had a few celebratory drinks and played some pool. It was a great way to end such an amazing safari. I was not expecting anything like this at all. I thought it would be like Ace Ventura...as in a rhino gives birth to a human like Jim Carey.
When I got back the Swedish girls commented on my tan I somehow managed to get while on safari. But after a long awaited shower, the brown pigmentation covering my skin turned out to be dirt. I was pleased however to get back into a bed...even if it was built for a short Chinese female.
Justin
PS- I know this is a long blog...but I spent less time writing it than Michael did reading an email from Ally.
Day 12 - Nakwenda kula mbuzi
Fri 23rd Dec 2011
Okay, so today ended up being absolutely incredible!
It all started inauspiciously with chapel as usual, but this time they had a full Eucharist for the first time we've been here. The most unique thing about this service was that after blessing the wine, they poured it into what could only be described as stainless steel shot glasses and then handed them around after the wafer. It was most unusual to see everyone gathered around the altar downing shots. It felt a little inappropriate for a church, but I guess that's communion Tanzanian style!
It seems like today was brought to you by the word 'church', because the next stop for the morning was down to the big parish Church for another service. All the young Lutherans from Machame who are going for confirmation get confirmed on one day each year at a big service and today was the day! Mr Mushi had invited us to come as his guests to the church, because his two nephews (George and Calvin) were getting confirmed. This was quite an honour, so of course I said yes.
Unfortunately, what I didn't realise was that there were 163 other children who also had to get confirmed today as well. They had to use four priests and an assistant bishop just to get through all the laying on of hands. It was the longest church service I've ever been two, lasting at just over three hours. Worse, it was all in Kiswahili and I only understood about 10 words, most of which were 'amen' and 'hallelujah'. The hour-long sermon was probably the low point. Plus, I got lots of weird looks as I was the only mzungu (white person) in the whole church.
Thankfully, going to the service was quite an awesome musical experience. If we thought the chapel singing was impressive, this was something else! There was an organ, keyboard, guitars, brass band and many choirs, all used at different points in the service. There was also much clapping and cheering and general joviality. Tanzanian women have this unique way of cheering, as they make this 'ololololololo' noise, which reminds me a lot of the sound that American Indians make when about to launch war on the cowboys. It's hard to describe, but certainly sounds impressive when about 500 women are doing this at once!
The service finished about midday, but what I didn't realise was that things had barely begun! Over here, confirmations are treated with the same importance as weddings, so we now had to head to the reception! We did this by driving through the streets of Machame in a massive convoy, with horns blaring and loud music playing. People were dancing on the back of moving utes, which looked fun (although probably showed exactly why so many orthopaedic surgeons are employed up here). Being the guest of Mr Mushi had its extra benefits, as he is a highly respected elder here at the village and church. I rode in the front seat of his car at the head of the convoy and he really got into the spirit of horn honking. It was quite amazing to hear the type of tunes he could coax from a solitary, highly irritating note. It seems there are no bounds to this great man's talents.
So we drove like this all the way to Mr Mushi's brother's house, where a huge party and banquet had been set up for the two boys. The front yard was full of tables and chairs, all facing a kind of stage where George and Calvin sat as the guests of honour. I was lucky enough to sit on Mr Mushi's table and got to meet his wife and one of his daughters. I really feel like an honourary Mushi now, which was potentially the greatest and proudest moment of my life. Right up there with the time I beat Benjamin's high score at doodle jump.
The party was a lot of fun, with the highlight definitely seeing Mr Mushi in a conga line. I joined in too and thoroughly enjoyed my first taste of being part of a real African conga!
The next stage was this kind of ceremony, where they wheeled in a freshly barbecued entire goat (mbuzi) complete with vine leaves stuffed in its mouth and slices of cucumber for the eyes. The goat was then theatrically carved in font of everyone, before George and Calvin had to embrace each important family member and put a piece of goat in their mouth. First came his parents, then godparents, then aunts and uncles including Mr Mushi. But then to my complete surprise, I heard my own name called out and so I had to come up onto the stage in front of everyone while I awkwardly mimicked the kind of shoulder pat/hug thing everyone had done and had some goat fed to me by these young boys. It was so cool, and a massive honour to be one of only a small group of people who got to do this.
Next, the banquet started. There was so much food including potato, which was so good as I haven't got to eat one since leaving Australia! Yum. It was an amazing meal, except for the course of boiled cow intestine. This was slimy and disgusting and make me want to throw up. Mr Mushi saw that I was struggling with this, so he kindly gave me a massive glass of Tanzanian cognac to wash it down. This made for a rather unfortunate combination and I thought I was about to die. Luckily I survived without making a mess and moved on to eating the rest of the goat instead.
I have discovered that Tanzanians absolutely love making speeches. They normally seize any little moment they can get, but clearly a big celebration such as this was interpreted as a licence to go for gold. There were so many looooong speeches and much shaking of hands and women making that ololololololo noise. Much hijinks was had by all.
The night progressed with much fun and dancing, until it was time to go home. This was an amazing day and I still can't believe it all happened. Best. Day. Ever.
Kwa heri,
Michael Mushi
Things that went wrong: Day 10 edition
- Basically, that it all had to end!
Day 11 - Galloping consumption
Thurs 22nd Dec 2011
Next stop in the list of horrible foreign diseases you don't want to get is tuberculosis, which just so happened to be the clinic I went to see today at the hospital.
In typical Tanzanian style, I discovered today that patients aren't given an appointment time for any of the hospital clinics, but an appointment 'day' instead. The way it works is that the patients turn up whenever they feel like it on they day they're supposed to come and the doctors wait until the room looks pretty full before they start seeing the patients. So basically this is the worst possible system imaginable for organising a clinic. Today, it wasn't until about 12pm when the doctor decided the critical mass of waiting people had assembled and he could then bring in the first patient. I'm never complaining about waiting for a doctor in Australia again.
Once the clinic had actually started, it was nice to see that TB is diagnosed and treated pretty similarly to back home. The main difference over here is that all the newborns get the BCG vaccine though, which means I now have a matching shoulder scar with most of the locals :) The other big deifference is with the directly observed therapy. Here, directly observed doesn't mean having a doctor make sure you take your medications. It means, nominating a friend to help remind you that you should take it. Probably not the most effective of systems.
One unexpected bonus of living in Machame is that there is no need to conserve water up here, because being on the slopes of Kilimanjaro means that the water is plentiful and fresh from the mountain, so hopefully not too contaminated. We still rely on bottled water (which is ironically also taken from Kilimanjaro) and have avoided getting sick yet, which is a plus!
What isn't so clean though is people's hands. Apparently, a lot of the locals use their left hand as toilet paper, so we've been warned never to touch anyone's left hand. Although I heard this second-hand from a Dutch person, so clearly it must be true.
Speaking of hands, one cultural thing here that has been a little bit unusual is the way the locals hold hands. I've noticed that if people are walking somewhere together, they will often do so hand in hand. So it's not uncommon to see two men walking around holding hands. I think it must be considered something like an extension of a handshake. Either that or there a lot of gay people in this village! I've even noticed that if I ask for directions to another part of the hospital, people will often take my hand and lead me there (I'm pretty sure they've all used their right one's thankfully!). Weird at first, it actually is kind of a nice gesture.
Until tomorrow (the day of goat-eating!),
Michael
PS I discovered today that Machame's clinical school passed it's accreditation this week, so it's nice to finally be able to say that I've studied at a fully-accredited medical school!
Day 10 - Pass the scalpel!
Wed 21st Dec 2011
I spent today in the actual operating theatre observing surgery and it was quite an experience! Although this does mean that today's blog is mostly boring surgical observations unfortunately. You have been warned...
Every case starts with the entire surgical team gathering around and praying for the patient on the table. Although a nice touch, the unfortunate thing is that these prayers often seem highly necessary.
By far the biggest difference was with the anaesthetics side of things. There are apparently only about 15 anaesthetists in the whole of Tanzanian and Machame is certainly not home to any of them. Instead, the role is performed here by a single nurse, who performs exactly the same duties as a consultant anaesthetist would in Australia, by cannulating, intubating, anaesthetising and monitoring the patient. Except with far less equipment and access to far fewer drugs than at home.
I discovered the challenges of dealing with these sparse resources within about ten minutes of being there when the mechanical ventilation equipment broke before the operation had even started. Luckily the patient hadn't been put to sleep yet! It eventually got repaired with a piece of tape and the show went on. Who says gaffer tape can't solve anything?
As mentioned above, all ventilation is done by hand by the nurse, who has to do this throughout the whole operation at the same time as doing all the other important things to stop the patient from dying. Not ideal. She probably works the hardest out of anyone at the whole hospital (Mr Mushi aside). Also, there is only the base basics of monitoring equipment, with the only information available being O2 sats, blood pressure and heart rate. Very different to the space-age gadgets available in Australia!
For a general anaesthetic, pentathol is used as the inducing agent and halothane gas is used as the maintenance drug. There is no separate analgesic given, so the doses of halothane have to be really high to get a semi-decent pain relief effect.
The other big omission is that there is no oxygen cylinder to give the patient. Instead, there is a great big machine that is designed to concentrate the oxygen in room air, but even this can only give a maximum of 50% O2.
Luckily at the moment, there is an anaesthetist from Canada visiting the hospital and he has been very friendly. He looks exactly like Lloyd Christmas from Dumb and Dumber, complete with the hairstyle. We've met his wife too, who is clearly a massive Jim Carey fan. Luckily, he's quite a bit cleverer than Lloyd and his expertise is highly valued, so much so that at one point in the operation he had to rush off to see another patient and I was left to monitor and manually ventilate the patient with about only 5 seconds explanation about how the machines actually worked. I was very glad those prayers had been said!
From the surgical side of things, it was all fairly similar. The main difference was that they had to be really frugal with everything and there is far less waste than back at home. For example, all the sterile equipment needed for the week's operations (such as drapes, gowns, packs and so on) are not individually wrapped but placed in supposedly sterile big stainless steel containers in the corner of the operating theatre. Then, before the start of the procedure, what is needed is taken out using a pair of 'sterile' tongs and put on the tray. It would seem that the risk of cross-contamination of the remaining sterile stuff is very high.
I had a chance to look through the sterilising room before we began and was able to take my scrubs fresh out of the autoclave. Unfortunately, there are only about fifty pairs of scrubs for the whole hospital, so sizes are extremely limited. I wore XXXL pants and an XXS shirt and looked like my top half was being squeezed out of my legs.
At the end of the operation, there is no count of the instruments used, which is brilliant because here the scrub nurse doesn't spend half the procedure counting things, like at home. Instead, all the packs have long a long blue cord on them, so that it is (hopefully) clear when one is left deep inside the body.
Similarly, there are no dressings. The wounds are just covered with iodine antiseptic, covered with a couple of pieces of gauze and taped down. There were also no drains inserted and the sharps are disposed of in a yellow cardboard box.
It was quite an eye-opening experience today to just see exactly how so much is done differently here when compared to back home.
Things that went wrong: Day 10 edition
- I initially tried to do the paediatric ward round again, but found out that the doctor had briefly come in really early in the morning to see a couple of patients by himself and had now gone into town for the day. Worst. Doctor. Ever.
- In fact, a lot of things don't really happen here. Going to theatre was about Plan E for today, but it seemed like nothing else at the hospital was actually happening. There were no patients in the ICU, so I couldn't go there and the pathology lab, which I thought I might check out, was not open. I then went to see if there was a ward round in any of the other wards (general men's, general women's, surgical men's, general women's and obstetric) to no avail. I was beginning to wonder if there were in fact any doctors working today when I stumbled upon someone in a white coat. He was going to operate, so I came along too!
Day 9 - Nataka kisongo!
Tues 20th Dec 2011
Today I thought it might be time to experience the surgical side of things here at Machame. So, with anti-retrovirals in pocket, I wandered over to the operating theatres for today's list. It was the Minor Procedure Room in use today, which was a nice gentle introduction to surgery, African style.
I guess it might be wise to start with what is similar to Australia. For instance, surgeons have exactly the same personality here as back home (unfortunately) and wear the most fashionable clothes of all the doctors.
Other things are quite different though. Like instead of putting gloves on your hands when putting in a drip (as I thought was a pretty standard manoeuvre), they tie the glove around the patient's arm for a tourniquet and cannulate with bare hands. Apparently both gloves and tourniquets are in short supply, so this has been deemed the most economical use of resources (even if it does look slightly ridiculous).
There were only three cases today – surgical toileting of osteomyelitis in a young boy, toileting of septic arthritis in an old lady and uterine evacuation after an incomplete miscarriage. As we are becoming used to, there is no pain relief used for any of these, although they were given some ketamine for mild sedation. People are just told to suck up the pain, which impressively enough seemed to work.
The first patient today was a Maasai boy, one of many Maasai patients that we have seen. The Maasai are the most famous tribe up here in the Northern Tanzania region. They are a traditional warrior people and instantly recognisable due to their characteristic dress and, in the women, jewellery (especially the earrings). Unlike most of the Tanzanians we've met, the Maasai have resisted westernisation and still live a semi-nomadic life, moving about to the best grazing fields for their cows. They are a subculture here and highly respected, kind of like the Maori in New Zealand, except about a third of the size and probably not quite as adept at rugby.
Also, Swahili is not everyone's first language. Chugga is the local language here, as well as the name of the local tribe. Swahili is used by many Tanzanians in the same way that English is used by Europeans – a common second language that can be used to communicate with people from other areas. So we've met quite a few people who can't speak Swahili at all, which was highly confusing at first as we just thought our accents were too atrocious to be understood. I may try to learn a few Chugga phrases, but I think I'm going to start forgetting English at the rate of trying to learn all these new languages!
One of the endearing things about English here is that the locals are unused to words that end in consonants. To overcome this, they tend to add the letter 'i' to the end of these words, often with amusing results. Like hearing people instruct ”take the bloodi pressure” or when they report the gender of a patient – ”the patient is Maria Africana, sexi female.” It's highly entertaining.
Kwa heri,
Michael
Things that went wrong: Day 9 edition
- I'm starting to get really sick of playing so much yahtzee. It's the most repetitive game ever! I don't get why the Swedes like it so much.
Today I thought it might be time to experience the surgical side of things here at Machame. So, with anti-retrovirals in pocket, I wandered over to the operating theatres for today's list. It was the Minor Procedure Room in use today, which was a nice gentle introduction to surgery, African style.
I guess it might be wise to start with what is similar to Australia. For instance, surgeons have exactly the same personality here as back home (unfortunately) and wear the most fashionable clothes of all the doctors.
Other things are quite different though. Like instead of putting gloves on your hands when putting in a drip (as I thought was a pretty standard manoeuvre), they tie the glove around the patient's arm for a tourniquet and cannulate with bare hands. Apparently both gloves and tourniquets are in short supply, so this has been deemed the most economical use of resources (even if it does look slightly ridiculous).
There were only three cases today – surgical toileting of osteomyelitis in a young boy, toileting of septic arthritis in an old lady and uterine evacuation after an incomplete miscarriage. As we are becoming used to, there is no pain relief used for any of these, although they were given some ketamine for mild sedation. People are just told to suck up the pain, which impressively enough seemed to work.
The first patient today was a Maasai boy, one of many Maasai patients that we have seen. The Maasai are the most famous tribe up here in the Northern Tanzania region. They are a traditional warrior people and instantly recognisable due to their characteristic dress and, in the women, jewellery (especially the earrings). Unlike most of the Tanzanians we've met, the Maasai have resisted westernisation and still live a semi-nomadic life, moving about to the best grazing fields for their cows. They are a subculture here and highly respected, kind of like the Maori in New Zealand, except about a third of the size and probably not quite as adept at rugby.
Also, Swahili is not everyone's first language. Chugga is the local language here, as well as the name of the local tribe. Swahili is used by many Tanzanians in the same way that English is used by Europeans – a common second language that can be used to communicate with people from other areas. So we've met quite a few people who can't speak Swahili at all, which was highly confusing at first as we just thought our accents were too atrocious to be understood. I may try to learn a few Chugga phrases, but I think I'm going to start forgetting English at the rate of trying to learn all these new languages!
One of the endearing things about English here is that the locals are unused to words that end in consonants. To overcome this, they tend to add the letter 'i' to the end of these words, often with amusing results. Like hearing people instruct ”take the bloodi pressure” or when they report the gender of a patient – ”the patient is Maria Africana, sexi female.” It's highly entertaining.
Kwa heri,
Michael
Things that went wrong: Day 9 edition
- I'm starting to get really sick of playing so much yahtzee. It's the most repetitive game ever! I don't get why the Swedes like it so much.
Day 8 - Attack of the hernia
Mon 19th Dec 2011
Back waking up in Machame again! Often, the mornings here are quite cloudy because we're at such altitude and the top of Kilimanjaro is shrouded in white. But it was perfectly clear today and the twin peaks rose beautifully above the hospital as I walked to chapel. I don't think it's possible to get tired of that view.
Luckily for us, most of the medical discussions in Tanzania are done in English (except for actually talking to patients unfortunately!). Although this usually makes things a lot easier, sometimes the strong African accent can cause problems. Like with the case presentation today. At first, I thought the patient had a simple hernia. But when she started talking about how the hernia had attacked and bitten the guy, it slowly dawned on me that maybe all was not as it seemed.
To my horror, I suddenly realised that she was actually talking about a hyena! This turned out to be quite a horrific case. The patient was a ten year old boy who got mauled by a rabid hyena while trying to protect his family's goat. So as well as having his head and hand bitten to shreds, he now most likely has rabies.
I went to visit the boy in ICU after the meeting. He was all bandaged up and thankfully doing okay. Unfortunately there is no pain relief given here, but the people are admirably stoic. Even when being examined and having his dressings changed, this boy barely let out a sound!
I'm still not entirely sure what the difference between the ICU and a normal ward is here – they look the same except for an oxygen cylinder in ICU that looks like it has never been used! The ICU has no monitoring equipment at all; the patients are not intubated or sedated and there's no pain relief. I think a lot of the post-major op patients come here for a bit, so they can have closer observation by the nursing staff. And by closer observation, I mean one nurse to four patients as opposed to one nurse to twenty patients in the other wards.
Although often tragic, we are certainly getting to see a lot of things here in Africa that just wouldn't occur in Australia. I had never seen a case of rabies before and it is interesting to learn more about it and how to treat it. This is why we're here after all!
I later found out that the boy's father had managed to kill the hyena while rescuing his son, which everyone was rather pleased about because an autopsy can now be performed to determine conclusively if the animal was definitely rabid or not.
After the visit to the ICU, I went on a ward round through some of the general beds. The first two patients I saw were motor bike accidents, which is hardly surprising considering how the locals drive here. Also, I am yet to see anyone wear a helmet. The orthopaedics department is thriving!
Interestingly, many of the patients we see have similar conditions to what we get back at home, except they are sometimes treated differently. This can either be due to a lack of resources (for example, treating everything infectious with amoxycilin because there are no antibiotics available) or just plain wrong (treating suicidal depression with omeprazole to prevent 'stress ulcers' of the stomach).
But just when you think that things are so limited, I often get surprised by what can actually be done here too. I spent some time in surgical outpatients today and saw a man with dysphasia. He is to be investigated with a barium swallow and endoscopy, which was pleasantly surprising to discover that both could be done at the hospital.
Conditions here for the patients are tough though. The beds are essentially rudimentary steel frames with only a thin layer of foam instead of a mattress. There are no pillows for any of the patients either, so sucks to be you if you have heart failure. Plus, there is no ambulance, so people have to make their own way to the hospital even if they've been involved in a nasty road accident.
I then spent the afternoon exploring the village of Machame. It's really spread out, with a few clusters of houses and shops here and there with long stretches of rainforest or farmland in between. There are some really big, nice houses with manicured gardens, but lots more small huts that are considerably more humble.
There are heaps of animals in Machame, although disappointingly they're all farm animals like what I could see back in Australia. Lots of cows, hens, roosters and donkeys (no sheep though!). There are even dogs and cats, but no cool African animals in this part of the country. Apparently there are some monkeys who live in the forest around our house, but I'm yet to see one unfortunately. You have to go to one of the national parks to get proper African animals. Justin's probably seen heaps by now!
Baadaye,
Michael
Things that went wrong: Day 8 edition
- My initial plan for the day at the hospital was to spend today in the paediatric ward. But when I got there I was told that the doctor who normally sees the patients was a bit tired after a late night and decided not to come in today. As outrageous as I thought that was, it does kind of fit with the typical Tanzanian outlook on life that nothing is too urgent that can't just be done tomorrow. Hope none of the kids were too sick!
Day 7 - Wimbo time!
Sun 18th Dec 2011
Today marked the end of our short stay in Arusha. Most definitely, the hardest thing about leaving this hotel will be the breakfasts – for two days I have been gloriously reunited with my beloved milo and weetbix. It's been incredible! I have missed them both very much (despite only being here for under a week).
Today marked the end of our short stay in Arusha. Most definitely, the hardest thing about leaving this hotel will be the breakfasts – for two days I have been gloriously reunited with my beloved milo and weetbix. It's been incredible! I have missed them both very much (despite only being here for under a week).
Unfortunately, today also marked the start of a couple of days apart for Justin and me. Justin is seizing the opportunity to fulfil his lifelong dream of going on safari, while I'm heading back to the hospital for another week. So we checked out of our hotel, jumped into a taxi, dropped Justin off with his tour group and I headed back to Machame. We even managed to avoid all types of major collision this time, so things were looking up!
Back at the hospital, I finally met the two Dutch fifth-year medical students, Analie and Daniel ("Daan"), who are living in the unit next to ours. They had been at one of the hospital's remote outreach clinics all last week and came back only yesterday.
So the five of us in Machame (Anna, Emmy, Analie, Daan and me) cooked up a feast to share together as a group for dinner. We even managed to source a beer each, having discovered the hard way how unexpectedly complex it is to buy one here in Tanzania. You can't just walk into a shop and buy a beer – there's a whole process behind it. You must already have an empty glass bottle, which is a bit like the chicken and the egg because unless you've already bought a beer, you don't have any empty bottles. It's taken the two Dutch students six weeks to find only five! Once you have these bottles though, you can take them to the shop and exchange them for full ones. I imagine it would make being an alcoholic highly inconvenient.
After a delicious dinner, we went along to a party at the hospital hosted by the local students for all the young people (plus this really old dude with a walking stick. He actually busted out some pretty impressive dance moves though! Respect.) Everyone lined up in the pews of the chapel and there was lots of choreographed dancing and singing of Swahili gospel hymns (wimbo). It was a lot of fun!
After a long day, I went to bed in anticipation of another interesting and exciting week ahead!
Michael
Things that went wrong: Day 7 edition
- Nothing much actually! We're clearly getting better at this whole living in Africa thing.
- It was a bit of a shame to part ways, but this way we might not get sick of each other for a little bit longer yet!
- Interlude in the blog -
Today we leave Arusha behind (and therefore also the Internet).
We're not going to be able to upload any more of our adventures until sometime next weekend, when we have for Christmas with Mr Mushi. He's invited us to help eat his goat, which of course we were honoured to accept.
Until then,
Asante sana!
Michael
We're not going to be able to upload any more of our adventures until sometime next weekend, when we have for Christmas with Mr Mushi. He's invited us to help eat his goat, which of course we were honoured to accept.
Until then,
Asante sana!
Michael
Day 6 - Mental not normal
Sat 17th Dec 2011
So today we awoke in Arusha! After a sleep in and complimentary breakfast we decided to check out this gateway to the Serengeti! Arusha is one of Tanzania's most developed and fastest growing towns... known as the safari capital. It is filled with tourists and hecklers - it's so hard to walk down the street without someone coming up to you asking us if we want to buy something or need help. Its so annoying... but as Michael won't let me swear on this blog, I won't say any more!
We went in search for US dollars and a mobile phone....although it was a long and painful struggle....we did end up getting both! After going to 5 different banks we gave up trying to get US dollars and got Tanzanian shillings instead. So much for Tanzania's most developed city! Along the way we met a lovely South African couple who also needed US dollars! We shared their taxi around Arusha and many memories!
After a hectic day of running around this town, we settled for lunch at a small restaurant in the back streets of Arusha! A fun fact for the day - all the soft drinks here are around 1000 shillings, which is about 65 cents! But the downside is all the bottles are recycled, refilled and sold again to another lucky person! Recycling to the max!
So you must all be wondering what 'Mental not normal' means. Basically it's a medical term used here to describe every psychiatric and neurodegenerative disorder. It's become my new favourite phrase.
I guess today was quite short.... As we wasted so much bloody time! We have checked back into the hotel, and although the electricity is a bit mental-not normal, we are now enjoying some local brew Safari lager in the dark. We have been sober for almost 6 days... I think this has so far the most impressive achievement since we landed!
From your favourite mental not normal,
Justin
Things that went wrong: Day 6 edition
- Michael broke his watch.
- Spent about 4 hours looking for somewhere to take out money.
- Michael couldn't find a weekend safari to go on :(
- Hotel room number three didn't work either with frequent blackouts, a TV that wouldn't turn off, broken shower, holes in the mosquito net and mental not normal air conditioner.
So today we awoke in Arusha! After a sleep in and complimentary breakfast we decided to check out this gateway to the Serengeti! Arusha is one of Tanzania's most developed and fastest growing towns... known as the safari capital. It is filled with tourists and hecklers - it's so hard to walk down the street without someone coming up to you asking us if we want to buy something or need help. Its so annoying... but as Michael won't let me swear on this blog, I won't say any more!
We went in search for US dollars and a mobile phone....although it was a long and painful struggle....we did end up getting both! After going to 5 different banks we gave up trying to get US dollars and got Tanzanian shillings instead. So much for Tanzania's most developed city! Along the way we met a lovely South African couple who also needed US dollars! We shared their taxi around Arusha and many memories!
After a hectic day of running around this town, we settled for lunch at a small restaurant in the back streets of Arusha! A fun fact for the day - all the soft drinks here are around 1000 shillings, which is about 65 cents! But the downside is all the bottles are recycled, refilled and sold again to another lucky person! Recycling to the max!
So you must all be wondering what 'Mental not normal' means. Basically it's a medical term used here to describe every psychiatric and neurodegenerative disorder. It's become my new favourite phrase.
I guess today was quite short.... As we wasted so much bloody time! We have checked back into the hotel, and although the electricity is a bit mental-not normal, we are now enjoying some local brew Safari lager in the dark. We have been sober for almost 6 days... I think this has so far the most impressive achievement since we landed!
From your favourite mental not normal,
Justin
Things that went wrong: Day 6 edition
- Michael broke his watch.
- Spent about 4 hours looking for somewhere to take out money.
- Michael couldn't find a weekend safari to go on :(
- Hotel room number three didn't work either with frequent blackouts, a TV that wouldn't turn off, broken shower, holes in the mosquito net and mental not normal air conditioner.
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