St. Thomas Kilakala

The view of the front of St. Thomas Kilakala monastery, our hotel for the past 3 weeks.
Today is our last day in Morogoro. The past three weeks have flown by. This morning we had class for two hours, practicing speaking Kiswahili with each other, and then the group met to give the teachers a final evaluation of the course. After lunch a few people went to the pool at the Hotel Morogoro. I am going to get a drink and relax until dinner.
We are leaving early tomorrow morning to go back to Dar Es Salaam.

Malaria

I've got Malaria. There is a mini- epidemic of Malaria going around our compound. As of today 3 teachers and now 6 volunteers have Malaria. I feel fine. I went to get tested because I was feeling very tired the last couple of days and a few other people found out that they have Malaria as well.
My test came back positive 2/7, which is relatively low, but still positive. So, I started taking the malaria treatment regimen.
Its ironic because I went to the dispensary earlier today to speak to the doctor to interview him about medicine and hospitals in Tanzania as an assignment, and I asked him how many cases of malaria he sees a day. Malaria is very common I was told and usually there are about 20 new cases of Malaria diagnosed at the St. Thomas dispensary every day.
Despite taking my Malaria prophylactic meds, sleeping under a mosquito netting, using DEET anti mosquito creams and sprays on clothes I managed to get Malaria. I guess I don't feel so bad because so many people here now have the disease. I'll have to take the treatment and get my test of cure in a couple of weeks.
I'm just wondering if I could make some money developing a t-shirt that reads "I came to Tanzania and all I got was a case of Malaria"

Itinerary

A little bit of good news today-
I was told by my PSO (program support officer) that my accomodations and itinerary in Ndanda has been confirmed.
So this Sunday I'm going to return to Dar Es Salaam for 4 more days of "in-country" briefings and then I'm scheduled to fly to Mtwara on the 31st. In Mtwara I'll meet one of the volunteer leaders who will go with me to Ndanda to get settled in my house.
I know the house is located on the hospital compound and has electricity, and internet connectivity, so I should have my laptop and skype hooked up by then. If you don't have skype, then sign up because calls are free.
Tonight is a dinner out with all of the volunteers and the VSO staff who drove from Dar today. We're going to "Dragonaire's" - a bar/restaurant that serves the best food I've had in this town so far. After Dragonaire's we're going to Kuhumu's Night Park (also known as "The Cheesy Club") because of its "cheesy" night club ambiance. The "Cheesy Club" is a bar with a few pool tables and a large dance floor that often is filled with Tanzanian's who love to dance until early morning!
I go purely to "study" the night life and culture in Tanzania....

Lupanga

Don't let the expression on my face fool you, this picture was taken at the very beginning of my hike up Mount Lupanga. It would be quite an understatement to say I was not a very happy camper by the time we returned home.

Yesterday I hiked up to the top of Mount Lupanga. Lupanga is the tallest of the three mountains that make up the Uluguru mountains of Morogoro, and at its peak it is 2150 meters above sea level.

Our hike took twelve and half hours from start to finish. Seven hours to reach the peak and 5 1/2 hours to climb down the mountain. We made two stops on our way up. By the second stop, two people decided they would not make it to the top but I joined one other person and our tour guide and we did make it to the peak.

Had I known how difficult it would have been to reach the peak and back I would have never decided to do the hike. Approximately the last half of Lupanga involves a hike through the forest, up a very narrow dirt path that twists and turns through trees at a very steep incline. The last hour up the mountain was by far the most difficult as the incline was the steepest, almost 90 degrees, requiring using roots and trees to pull ourselves up. Our tour guide would say "pole pole" (very slowly) and "keep left"; when I saw the cliff falling off next to me, I knew why.
When we reached the peak I was completely exhausted, yet exhilerated and also a little disappointed because we were surrounded by trees with no view. At the peak is a tall ladder like structure which you can climb to get a view, but I didn't have enough energy to do so.
Getting back down the mountain was by far more challenging than reaching the top. A muddy trail, covered with wet leaves, roots and large rocks, falling straight down, made it incredibly challenging. So difficult that I did not hike down the mountain, rather I slid down most of the way.
In retrospect, I don't regret the hike, and I'm happy I made it to the top, but now I'm confident that I will not be climbing any more mountains in the near future, or quite possibly not again in this lifetime. And, if by chance you ever come to visit me in Tanzania, I would not recommend climbing Lupanga unless you are asking for a little bit of pain and a lot of agony!!

Mrembo

Piga picha

Karibu, Habari yako? Ninatasema kidogo kuhusu siku zangu katika Tanzania. Mara kwa mara niliamka kati ya saa kumi na mbili na saa kumi na moja. Ninapoamka asubuhi, pengine ninasoma lakini, kwa kawaida ninaoga na kula chakula cha asubuhi. Baada ya chakula cha asubuhi, nina kwenda dasarani saa mbili kamili mpaka saa tisa na nusu. Wanafunzi wanajifunza Kiswahili saa mbilli mpaka saa nne halafu wana pumzika na kunywa chai kwa dakika thelathini. Tunajifunza mpaka saa sita na nusu halafu tunakula chakula cha mchana kwa saa moja. Tunarudi dasarani saa saba na nusu na tunajifunza mpaka saa tisa na nusu. Baada ya tunajifunza, kwa kawaida tunakwenda mjini kutumia internet au nunua chakula sokoni. Chakula cha usiku saa moja halafu tunapumzika au tunakwenda "Dragonaire" Baa karibu hotel wetu kunywa bia baridi!

Translated:

Welcome! How are you? I am going to tell you a little about my days in Tanzania. Everyday I wake up between 6 and 7 o'clock in the morning. When I wake up in the morning, sometimes I read but usually I shower and go to breakfast. After breakfast I go to class from 8 o'clock until 3:30 in the afternoon. The students study from 8 until 10 and then we rest and drink tea for thirty minutes. We study until half past 12 and then we eat lunch for one hour. We return to class at 1:30 and we study until 3:30. After we study we usually go into town to use the internet or to buy food in the market. We eat dinner at 7 and then we rest or we go to the "Dragonaire" bar near our hotel to drink cold beers!

Its becoming a little bit easier to write and to speak Kiswahili. Writing and speaking in class is one thing but when I'm in town speaking with the locals, it is still hard to communicate and especially understand what people say. It is easy to greet people, which is a very important skill to have here in terms of making a good first impression and developing a rapor with people.

We had a short lecture on "At the hospital", so I have a rough working knowledge of some basic medical terminology. When it comes to learning medical terminology in Kiswahili I have been prioritizing the words I learn, so I have started with words like push and breathe:)

I was happy to learn the words for many organ systems as well as practical words/phrases that are needed in the hospital every day. I don't know if I'll be lucky enough to have a translater at the hospital and if there is one, he/she won't be available at all times, so obviously learning as much of the language is essential.

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