Miss Lindi 2009

The Miss Lindi 2009 Beauty Pageant was held last night at the Oceanic Hotel. Hundreds of people turned out to see 10 girls compete for the right to become 'Miss Lindi 2009'. The pageant consisted of a short dance intro by all of the girls, followed by rounds of swim wear, an evening gown display, talent show, and final round question to be answered by the finalists. After all of the rounds were finished contestant number 4 (above) won. She seemed to be the favorite from the start and had the most number of fans cheering for her in the crowd.

The event was surprisingly well organized and was held at the nicest venue in Lindi, The Hotel Oceanic. Sponsored by Vodacom, one of the largest telecom companies in Tanzania, there were a few short speaches made by managers of the company as well as members of Lindi District preceding the comencement of the event.

Once the opening speaches and introductions were over, the 10 girls came out and danced for a little while and then went back stage to prepare for round number 1 - swimwear (my personal favorite:).

The next round, evening wear was also enjoyable. The third round, talent, was a much shorter round than the rest because only four or five girls decided to put on a show of talent which consisted of either singing or dancing.

The contestants were narrowed down to the top five and each of the finalists was asked the same question by the judges, "What would you do to help development in the district of Lindi if you are selected to become Miss Lindi 2009?" The winner had a well organized answer consisting of addressing different sectors - education, health and as well, hoping for support from the Tanzanian government. Her answer was given in Kiswahili so my translation may be slightly off!

It was a good night. I sat in the front row of the "will call" general seating directly behind the VIP area so I had a clear shot at the stage. Entrance fee was $5 for general admission, $20 for VIP, which included a dinner buffet. On my salary here, $5 is alot! So I opted for general seating!

That's all I have for you for now. Until next time......

Mama Kikwete

The First Lady of Tanzania, Mama Salma Kikwete, wife of President Kikwete, came to Lindi Sokoine Hospital today to visit the new Maternity Ward and to donate new beds and new equipment to be used in the Maternity Ward.
When Mama Kikwete arrived, she headed straight to the maternity ward to see the new equipment and beds which had already arrived a few days prior. Before entering the ward, she passed by all of the doctors working in Maternity, including myself. She offered a greeting to each of the doctors in Kiswahili, however, to me, she said "how are you?". I said "safi" or great! It was the only exchange I had with Mama Kikwete.

After she passed through the ward, she returned to the podium where a few brief speaches were made by the Doctor In Charge and Regional Medical Officer, followed by a speach by Mama Kikwete. After her speach, she left the podium to cut a ribbon around two of the new beds donated to the hospital.

There really was alot of local support, as Mama Kikwete is from Lindi and I'm told she was actually born in Sokoine Hospital!

Fishing

I went fishing on Sunday. Here I am with two local fisherman aboard their handmade wooden boat. We set out about 8 in the morning into Lindi Bay heading due east toward the Indian Ocean. We first headed out a bit north to pick up our bait which consisted of "daga" or little fish. We set out further into the bay, made one stop along a remote beach to pick up some logs in order to build a small roof for the boat to protect us from the blazing heat of the sun. We set out further into the bay and started fishing.

We caught six or seven small fish - bluefish, redsnapper, "changu", two fish called the "double beard" fish or in Kiswahili is called Mchuichui, or something like that. There were 3 local fisherman, myself and one German development worker whom I recently met in the town.

It was just a nice day to be out in the bay! I personally didn't catch any fish but I was there to take pictures and offer my encouragement and moral support. Go to my facebook page to see the rest of the pictures from my fishing excursion.

Swine Flu and other hogwash

Swine Flu is spreading like pork buns in a dim sum restaurant!
As far as I know there have not been any reported cases in Tanzania (yet?). People ARE worried about a possible pandemic. The CEO of VSO sent out a mass email the other day warning people about this possible pandemic. And doctors in the hospital here in Lindi are talking about swine. We are scheduled to listen to a presentation on Swine Flu on Wednesday.

Other hogwash worth mentioning - a bunch of bombs went off in Dar Es Salaam last week, killing about sixty people (I believe that is the number quoted). I don't know how or why the bombs went off but it caused alot of panic among people living in Dar. As far as I know there are no bombs here in Lindi, or so I'm told!

On a very sad note, on Thursday evening, as I was about to go to sleep, I received very disturbing news. One of the VSO volunteers had been involved in a traffic accident and died while riding her bike in Tanzania's capital city of Dodoma. I was shocked and very saddened by the news. I had spent alot of time with this person as we studied Intermediate Kiswahili together last year in Morogoro! Apparently I was told that the tire of a taxi blew out causing one of the buses in the street to swerve and knock her off her bike! I don't have all of the details about this case and I'm told that VSO is still collecting information.

Switching gears, I met my first 'Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome' patient on Thursday. AIS is basically a rare condition affecting about 1/1200 women in which the uterus and cervix does not develop. These people are 'phenotypically' women but have 46 xy chromosomes (genotypically male). The diagnosis has to be confirmed by karyotyping but I'm fairly sure of the diagnosis based on her presentation. She came in complaining of primary amenorrhea (never having a period) at age 21. I had to ask one of the Tanzanian doctors to help me translate counseling this patient as it would be a very time consuming, delicate subject to discuss and necessitate answering many questions! We ended up referring the patient to Dar Es Salaam for karyotyping and genetic counseling. She may need orchiectomy if she is confirmed to have AIS.

Friday was a holiday here in Tanzania. I spent the morning doing a bit of reading on the beach. In the afternoon I went to the 'football' stadium to watch two of the local soccer teams play. It was a blow out, 3-0. The local team lost. There were a few visitors who received nasty looks when they cheared for goals by the visiting team. I captured most of the game on video.

That's all the news I have for you for now. Enjoy the weekend!