tetanus shot and first funeral here

I took 6 children to the clinic last Friday…then realized I didn’t have enough cash on me to take a taxi back to Amani. Luckily, I borrowed money from someone at Amani. After we arrived back at Amani I found out one of the boys, who had just been treated for malaria and who was on antibiotics for an infected toe that had caused him to have a fever of 103.9 the day before, was found upstairs crying with his body rigid while he was clutching at his neck. Additionally, the boy who broke both of his arms had been crying in pain the entire time I was gone. Three of his fingers on his right hand were extremely cold and I was worried that the arm was healing wrong or the circulation was cut off. I decided to bring both boys to the clinic.
After arriving at the clinic, for the second time that day, the doctor gave the boy with the broken arms painkillers and vitamins. He said that the boy with the toe infection would be fine he just needs to stay on antibiotics. I was too scared to leave and I kept asking the doctor about tetanus. Finally I realized he didn’t understand what I was saying so the boy finally said it to the doctor and the doctor finally understood (even though the way he said it sounded the same as the way I said it). The doctor decided a tetanus shot would be a good idea and everything was fine until the nurse asked the boy if he had gotten his needle yet. Of course this child is particularly petrified of needles so when he heard he needed a shot he took off running. The doctor had to help me carry him back into the clinic. I left the room and let the doctor hold him down. After about five minutes he came out…still hysterical…and then took off sprinting down the road. I started freaking out because this child is my responsibility…I started chasing after him and when I caught up I sort of tackled him and dragged him back to the clinic. He refused to talk to me for about five hours after because he was so angry about having to get the needle (he even ignored me when I offered him a soda). He is fine now though and I am happy he got the tetanus shot because it is definitely not worth the risk of saying no the shot and then getting tetanus.
Today, Tuesday, I went to my first funeral in Tanzania. Rovina, the nurse that I work with, lost her father last week. I went to the ceremony with some co-workers…they helped to dress me too. Everyone was wearing bright and colorful kangas…I was wearing a black skirt (I ended up covering it with a kanga though). Rovina’s father had 15 children! The family and many people wear white. Everyone was outside and there were so so so many people. We were standing near a pool table and listening over a microphone (that was working off and on) eventually everyone made lines and walked over to view the body. I wouldn’t exactly call these lines a true line though because everyone was shoving each other and right on top of each other; I was dripping in sweat and feeling extremely claustrophobic. After viewing the body and offering donations, the family went somewhere behind the house to bury the body. Everyone else waited around for an hour or so after which we were able to talk to Rovina and offer our condolences. It was pretty interesting to see but also really sad because Rovina was upset. I would have preferred a wedding to a funeral but you don’t really get to choose things like that I guess (and I also heard weddings are even longer…especially the alcohol-free ones).

Twigas, tapika, na kaka yangu

On Friday we had Amani’s annual picnic. This year we went to Arusha National Park for a safari. I think most of the kids really enjoyed with the exception of the few that got really carsick (to the point that they filled up three bags with vomit).
We saw flamingoes, giraffes, zebra, elephant, monkeys, wildebeest, and other animals but I missed some because I ended up falling asleep…whoops!
Also, one of my favorite kids that had run away a few months ago came back on Saturday. It was so good to see him. He ran over to me and gave me a huge hug and he seemed pretty happy to be back. I was defiantly happy to have him back.
These past two weeks we have had about ten or fifteen children (both new and kids that have already been)…which means A LOT of trips to the clinic. Trips to the clinic means a lot of medications for malaria, worms, UTI’s etc.
Therefore, I have been extremely busy at Amani. Greg came the day before Amani’s picnic! It was great to see him. I picked him up from the airport with Theo and it was then that I remembered how tall he was. Crazy! He is going to be volunteering at a site where an orphanage is being built and he will be working on the garden with Chris. He came home after his first day with blisters and a sunburn (reminded me of Grant who was here before him doing the same work).
This morning I got into work and one of the boys had a fever of 102.4 with swollen nodes in his groin and an infection on his toe. He was in a lot of pain and looked miserable. I took him to the clinic where they diagnosed him with malaria…not surprising…and also gave him antibiotics for the infection.
In the afternoon, Greg came to Amani and got to see where I have been for the past six months. He also got to see a fight between some of the kids and was able to play soccer with some of the older boys (they are really really good and he didn’t last too long in the heat).
It is great having him here and I am excited for the rest of my family to come but when they arrive then I know for sure that my time here has almost come to an end. I am still not sure that I am ready for that yet.

You know you are in a Tanz. hospital if...

You know you are in a Tanzanian hospital if…
A 10 year old boy with two broken arms is in a room with six women (one whom is coughing up a lung and another who has an infected wound that is so deep that when the doctor comes in to change the dressing everyone else in the room can see her bone)

The families of the six woman in the room are constantly trying to help the little boy (almost too much)

Patients have to bring their own food (or buy it from a service car that comes through) and everyone shares their food with one another (and eats the food from patients as well)

You read a children’s book and all the grandmothers gather around to listen and look at the pictures

An old woman asks you to teach her English while you are trying to comfort a little boy post-op

When you start teaching her English all the others join in and compete with each other to get the words right

Strangers sit on random patients beds and also help random patients use bed-pans (without gloves).

There is absolutely no privacy (i.e. no currents exist, people walk into other peoples rooms, everyone knows what is going on with everyone else)

More priests come into the room than doctors

The nurse uses sterile gloves for a tourniquet to draw blood instead of using it to protect herself from the blood.

Power goes out multiple times during the night

Family members sleep on the floor of the crowded hospital room

Tribe that gets high, hunts and gathers, and speaks using clicks

The weekend started off a bit rocky only because it was raining and wet and the roads ahead of us were dirt and impassable in the rain and also because we could not find any place that served food in the town we were passing through to get to the lake. Eventually we found a white woman who knew of the place that Sarah had been looking for. We ate a delicious breakfast and I used the western-style bathrooms. Unfortunately, I put tons of soap on my hands before checking to see if there was running water and of course there was no running water. The men had to get me a bucket and fill it with water from somewhere else so I could rinse the soap off…whoops! Luckily, there had been no rain at the start of the bad roads so we had no trouble getting there.
We stayed at a campsite alongside the lake. Lake Eyasi was beautiful but did not feel like a lake. I felt more like I was in a desert surrounded by mountains, I think this was because the color of the lake was darker and it from a distance it did not look like water. Nonetheless, it was gorgeous. We brought our own food and cooked with a mini gas stove and just hung out relaxing. Actually, I was relaxing until dark because as soon as it got dark massive amounts of bats began to come out. These bats came so low and so close to me that I could feel them flying by. Of course, I was the only one that was freaked out by this so I eventually began to get over it. When I was able to stop focusing on the low-flying bats I realized how beautiful the stars were. I saw my first shooting star!!! It was amazing!
We woke up super early the next morning when it was still dark out. I used my flashlight to find a place to go to the bathroom and we could see yellow pairs of eyes in the trees. It was the monkeys-their eyes glow like crazy in the light. We then found a local guide and set off on our way to see the Hadzabe tribe.
This tribe was unbelievable, and seemed unreal to me. This is one of the last true hunter-gatherer tribes left and they incorporate the clicking noises into their speech. Seeing them was fascinating for so many reasons:
Aside from their beads, shorts, and their one or two knives everything else that they own comes directly from nature. They hunt for their meals with hand-made bows and arrows; they took us to watch them go hunting (although at one point we were too slow and they went on without us) they ended up shooting down two birds. After their catch they sat down and quickly made a fire by hand and lit the fire by rubbing a stick against their knife. All of the men passed the cooked bird around and ate their share. Then one of the older men pulled out marijuana and started to roll a joint. They then passed that around the circle as well. After they were somewhat full and completely high they continued to shoot some arrows around (caught another bird) and then headed back to where the women and babies were.
After the men return from hunting the women go off to gather. We, of course, accompanied them. They used sticks and their hands to dig holes and search for a potato like plant. They, also, eat their share while they are still gathering and then bring the rest back for the men. On the way back they gather firewood.
They have little hut-type things made of sticks, grass, and rubbish that they sleep in. They only sleep inside of the huts when it is raining though because they prefer sleeping under the stars.
I have never seen a group of such satisfied people. They are completely self-sufficient and live off of the nature that is around them, even most of their clothes come from the animals that they hunt. If they ever wanted a lot of money (which they don’t really have much of a need for) they could go on the show Survivor and win without a doubt. Everyone seemed happy and completely content with his or her lifestyles (although that might have to do with the amount of marijuana that they smoke-the children also smoke). This was the first time that I have done a cultural tour type thing and did not feel that the people wanted something from me. This group of people just enjoyed showing us their way of life and seemed like they basically could care less if we were there are not which was great. We did not have to sit through welcome dances and boring ‘cultural’ activities. We basically just followed them around for a few hours and they did what they would’ve done without us there.
One of the people I was with, Chris, asked one of the boys that was probably about our age (and was stoned out of his mind) if he had any desire to go to a European country or America. Chris explained to him that he would fly there on an airplane and that on the airplane there are people that serve food for you and they give you a meal on the airplane and you can watch tv during the flight. The man was shocked and didn’t believe him. He asked if he would be aloud to take his bow and arrow with him and Chris said probably not. The man then said that he absolutely does not want to go anywhere, especially if he cannot take his bow and arrow. For him this weapon is his source of food and he doesn’t really know any other way, just like I don’t know how to get by without things like grocery stores and restaurants or at least markets where food can be purchased.
Most of these people did not know who their current president was and had no idea about any other places in their country or in the world. While I may know who my president is and about geography and history I would have no idea how to survive for more than two days in their village. They are so intelligent and the fact that they can get by on hunting and then gathering for seeds and vegetables is absolutely amazing to me. Being able to spend a few hours with these people was truly amazing and I was blown away by their survival skills and contentment.