So today is my first full day back in Canada, and I thought I'd share some final thoughts about this whole experience, although I'm sure it will take more time before I've processed it all.
This has been THE most incredible experience of my whole life. I would not trade it in for anything. I've been fortunate enough to travel quite a bit in the past, but no place has gotten under my skin quite like Tanzania. It has such a rich and beautiful culture, gorgeous landscapes, and the people are incredible. There were definitely things that took some getting used to, we all experienced quite a bit of culture shock and had many frustrations along the way, but in the end, after all the hard work we've put in all year, and all the setbacks we've had to overcome, what I've gotten out of this experience is so much more than I ever could have put in.
The best part of the experience for me was hanging out with the CCF boys in Arusha. These boys have grown up largely without guidance from parents or other authority figures, and have relied on each other to survive. Currently, they live in a building with no running electricity, their doors are pieces of fabric hung over door frames, their windows are holes punched out of the concrete walls, and they sleep on pieces of foam on the ground. Their kitchen is a sink in an open courtyard shared between the neighbours. They each own just a few pieces of clothing, but their clothes are always clean and their shoes much cleaner than ours, as they take good care of the few things they have (I should have gotten a few pointers before I left, as my previously white shoes are currently a very dirty shade of brown!). Despite this, they are among the happiest, most good natured people I have met. Most are in high school, and some are even in, or have finished, forms 5 and 6, which are two years you can do after graduating from high school, and are required for entry into University... and some are planning on going to University. And they have many other talents as well. When I think of all the support from my family that has gotten me to where I am today, and I think of these boys that are on their own, I am in absolute awe that they have made it this far despite all their obstacles, and I am sure they will go far in life. One song that we heard played everywhere this summer reminds me of them every time I hear it now: "When I get older, I will be stronger, they'll call me freedom, just like a waving flag..." They're so supportive of each other, and are a family in every sense of the word. And they took us in as part of this family. Spending time with them would always brighten my day, and I was always in a great mood after seeing them.
Dr. Mhando and his family were so welcoming to us, and were wonderful to spend time with! MedOutreach is a family event for them, as they have been doing it for 16 years now. Dr. Mhando is an excellent clinician and we were fortunate that he was able to take some time to teach us about medicine in Tanzania. Dr. Julius in Nkoaranga was an excellent teacher, and we learned a lot from him. Medically speaking, we saw things we would have never had the opportunity to see in Canada, and saw how medicine is practiced in a low resource setting, and how healthcare workers make do with what they have and treat patients given resource limitations. It also made me really, really appreciate the healthcare system in Canada!! Actually it made me appreciate everything I have here in Canada, and made me realize that even if I don't have all these luxuries that I am used to (sitting toilets, toilet paper, warm water), it's okay, I can handle it. I can be dirty and share my room with rats and my sleeping bag with crickets, and my campsite with warthogs, and share a minibus (daladala) with 40 people with body odor in hot weather... and it's okay. I can wait three hours for something that should take 20 minutes, I can wait in line for an hour to use an ATM that doesn't work, and I can still get on with my life. And in fact, I'm lucky that I have a room, that I can take a daladala rather than walk, that I can afford to go camping in the Serengeti with warthogs, and that I have an ATM card, and above all, I'm incredibly lucky that I was able to have this experience in Tanzania.
Thank you so much to all of you who followed our blog, and who supported us in any way, in Canada or in Tanzania. Asanteni na kwa herini!
xoxo Kasia
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
A Dental Perspective - Feliz Navidad
A Dental Perspective – Feliz Navidad
So yes, this blog update is long overdue, Chalice and I felt it was finally time to update everyone on what we have been doing these past 5 weeks in Tanzania.
Our first working experience was at Nkoaranga hospital working with Dr. Frank Nnko. We spent our first week at the hospital treating his patients under his supervision. Dr. Frank is a master at extracting teeth and was very patient with us the first few days as we struggled to get some of those stubborn teeth out. Dr. Frank’s classic line “Hakunashida” (meaning no worries), his loud deep laugh, and constant Christmas carols made us feel quite at home in his clinic. There is nothing quite like working for 9-10 hours a day listening to Feliz Navidad on repeat in the middle of July on a mountain, in Africa.
Week two was easily Chalice and my favourite week of the trip thus far. We ran a community dental clinic which was advertised in local churches and schools. Everyday for 3 days we arrived at the clinic to find up to 10 people sitting outside waiting for us to open shop. In 3 days we saw 165 patients. We had one dental chair and one make shift chair set up and worked until all the patients who turned up that day were treated. We encountered many challenges as we worked such as occasional power outages, limited numbers of our favourite instruments, and huge language barriers. The Medical and Nursing students came to our rescue in many occasions on their breaks helping us by holding flashlights, translating, and sterilizing extra instruments. Chalice and I also learned to be very resourceful and realized how spoiled we are at home with a wide selection of tools and instruments to choose from. We also tried our best to learn some dental terms is Swahili while we were there such as “Where does is hurt”, “Sit”, and “spit”. Asking people to spit was one of the most interesting parts of the treatment. Since we were working with one real dental chair and one fake chair there was only one bowl for spitting in the clinic. Every time we asked the patient in the fake chair to spit we would point to the bowl on the opposite side of the room and say “tema hapa” meaning “spit here”. Nobody ever spat there. People spat on the floor, they spat in napkins, they would spit in the wrong part of the bowl and once a young boy simply marched over to the window and horked through the grate. Needless to say it was always exciting to see how “tema hapa” would be translated.
Once we completed our community clinic, we descended from the mountain back to Arusha to work at the Seventh Day Adventist Clinic (SDA) with Dr. King and Dr. Zuma. This has been a totally opposite experience from Nkoaranga. The clinic is much more well equipped and the treatment options available to patients is far more abundant and expensive. The patients on the mountain could choose from either an extraction or a filling while the SDA clinic offers pretty much everything dentists in Canada provide. At SDA we are treating a wide range of patients with a variety of problems. This is teaching us a lot as well as helping us learn to keep up with the pace of a regular dental office (no more of those 3 hour appointments).
We continue to work at SDA on select days but have also completed dental screenings in the evenings for the boys belonging to Children for Childrens Futures (CCF). Up to this point we have completed all of the screenings and are working on arranging appointments for them to come in for treatment before we leave Tanzania.
This week we have started our screening for 8-9 year old children who attend Themi Primary School. Today was the opening day of our screenings and created quite a buzz. A newspaper reporter and a news program turned up to cover the event. We are told we will be on the Arusha news tonight, and the weekly paper this weekend. So if anyone out there is a subscriber to the Arusha Times, keep your eyes open for us….
- Abby Donovan
So yes, this blog update is long overdue, Chalice and I felt it was finally time to update everyone on what we have been doing these past 5 weeks in Tanzania.
Our first working experience was at Nkoaranga hospital working with Dr. Frank Nnko. We spent our first week at the hospital treating his patients under his supervision. Dr. Frank is a master at extracting teeth and was very patient with us the first few days as we struggled to get some of those stubborn teeth out. Dr. Frank’s classic line “Hakunashida” (meaning no worries), his loud deep laugh, and constant Christmas carols made us feel quite at home in his clinic. There is nothing quite like working for 9-10 hours a day listening to Feliz Navidad on repeat in the middle of July on a mountain, in Africa.
Week two was easily Chalice and my favourite week of the trip thus far. We ran a community dental clinic which was advertised in local churches and schools. Everyday for 3 days we arrived at the clinic to find up to 10 people sitting outside waiting for us to open shop. In 3 days we saw 165 patients. We had one dental chair and one make shift chair set up and worked until all the patients who turned up that day were treated. We encountered many challenges as we worked such as occasional power outages, limited numbers of our favourite instruments, and huge language barriers. The Medical and Nursing students came to our rescue in many occasions on their breaks helping us by holding flashlights, translating, and sterilizing extra instruments. Chalice and I also learned to be very resourceful and realized how spoiled we are at home with a wide selection of tools and instruments to choose from. We also tried our best to learn some dental terms is Swahili while we were there such as “Where does is hurt”, “Sit”, and “spit”. Asking people to spit was one of the most interesting parts of the treatment. Since we were working with one real dental chair and one fake chair there was only one bowl for spitting in the clinic. Every time we asked the patient in the fake chair to spit we would point to the bowl on the opposite side of the room and say “tema hapa” meaning “spit here”. Nobody ever spat there. People spat on the floor, they spat in napkins, they would spit in the wrong part of the bowl and once a young boy simply marched over to the window and horked through the grate. Needless to say it was always exciting to see how “tema hapa” would be translated.
Once we completed our community clinic, we descended from the mountain back to Arusha to work at the Seventh Day Adventist Clinic (SDA) with Dr. King and Dr. Zuma. This has been a totally opposite experience from Nkoaranga. The clinic is much more well equipped and the treatment options available to patients is far more abundant and expensive. The patients on the mountain could choose from either an extraction or a filling while the SDA clinic offers pretty much everything dentists in Canada provide. At SDA we are treating a wide range of patients with a variety of problems. This is teaching us a lot as well as helping us learn to keep up with the pace of a regular dental office (no more of those 3 hour appointments).
We continue to work at SDA on select days but have also completed dental screenings in the evenings for the boys belonging to Children for Childrens Futures (CCF). Up to this point we have completed all of the screenings and are working on arranging appointments for them to come in for treatment before we leave Tanzania.
This week we have started our screening for 8-9 year old children who attend Themi Primary School. Today was the opening day of our screenings and created quite a buzz. A newspaper reporter and a news program turned up to cover the event. We are told we will be on the Arusha news tonight, and the weekly paper this weekend. So if anyone out there is a subscriber to the Arusha Times, keep your eyes open for us….
- Abby Donovan
PICHA!!!!!
1) Abby and her assistant, Kasia, at the Nkoaranga Community Dental Clinic.
2) Chalice also hard at work at the community dental clinic, assisted by Paulo.
3) Learning how to read a malaria slide? Good job, Aaroni.
4) The kids at the Nkoaranga Orphanage looove stickers, and friends like Cotton!
5) Traditional Zanzibar dhows on the beautiful dusk backdrop
6) Sun rising on the Serengeti
7) Hanging out with the CCF Arusha boys!!
6) Sun rising on the Serengeti
7) Hanging out with the CCF Arusha boys!!
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