May 30, 2013- View of Mt. Kili

This morning, a group of us were walking to class when all of a sudden there was Mt. Kilimanjaro's peak.  It literally appeared to be floating on top of a cloud.  Pictures seriously do not do it justice.  In person, the mountain is such an incredible view.  I have no other way to describe it other than it is massive and beautiful.  This morning, I tried multiple times to capture its beauty with my camera; but I've come to the realization that it is not possible to do so.  We all ran to the fourth floor of KCMC to get a better view, and ten minutes later we could see the majority of the mountain!!  It was no longer a floating mountain top coming out of a cloud, but two of its three peaks were perfectly visible.  We were able to see Kilimanjaro (the main peak) and Mawenzi (one of the smaller peaks).  It was awesome!!

You can see the top of the main peak in the background!!

Kilimanjaro (the bigger peak) and Mawenzi (the smaller peak)

Today was presentation today.  The first group presented on the brain drain and the issue of medical students in Tanzania leaving to find work in the US or other developed countries, leaving Tanzania with a low number of healthcare workers.  My group presented on globalization and its effect on the nutrition transition.  The third group gave a presentation on cervical cancer.  My group presentation went well, and all the other presentations were interesting and I learned a lot.

This baby is so cute!!

When Adrienne and I got home from class, we were both soo tired.  We decided to just stay in the house and hang out with mama and Delke (I’ve decided that is his real name).  Delke kept trying to take over my camera and my computer so I gave him my phone and entertained him with some games of fruit ninja and angry birds instead.  Mama served Kahawa (coffee) and I brought out some Pirouette chocolates (those hazelnut/chocolate/wafer stick things).  I offered one to mama, and she thought I was giving her the whole container… so, there went my pirouettes.  I was planning on giving them to the kids, haha, oh well.

Mesha, this 21-yr-old who has been over to the house a couple times, came over again tonight.  This whole week I haven’t really been sure of who he is, so I bombarded him with a lot of questions tonight.  His English is really good, which is not the case with a lot of people here, so I asked him about that.  He went to an international school in Tanzania and went to college to learn how to be a tour guide.  None of the other kids speak English because it is no longer required in schools.  It is now only an option to take an English class (equivalent to taking Spanish, French, Italian, etc. as an elective in our high schools and universities).  In addition to being a tour guide, Mesha also does trade work in Arusha.  I also asked him about sports and other things (he said Futbol is the most popular sport to watch in Tanzania, woo!) Conversing with Mesha was nice, and I actually learned a lot about daily life and customs here!  We talked for about an hour until mama served dinner, which was Chapati and leftover lentils from last night.  Chapati is a popular food here, and I’d describe it as a cross between a pancake and a thick crepe, but 10x more delicious. 

After dinner, I did insanity and then Adrienne and I just sat in our room and talked because we didn’t have any homework to do! 

I forget her name but she's one of my favorite kids!

Also, I'm going to start including the highlight of each of my days.  Highlight of today: My incredible view of Mt. Kilimanjaro!!

May 29, 2013

When Adrienne and I were walking up the path to our house after class yesterday, Delke and Rookia (our little brother and a little girl who lives next door) came running up to us and gave us big hugs.  They were so happy we were home!  It was adorable.  All the moms were sitting outside talking, and all the kids who lived nearby were playing in front of all the houses.  Mama was also cooking.  Adrienne and I played with all the little kids for about 2 hours.  They were fascinated with my cameras, so I let them take some pictures.  They got a little carried away and I ended up deleting over 150 pictures from my camera last night.  At one point, I deleted 17 pictures of an off-centered green bucket laying in the dirt.  Thank you Delke.  After a long play sesh, mama called us inside for dinner.  At first she said she made bananas and beef stew.  They were definitely plantains.  It was really throwing me off because they had the taste and texture of a potato.  It was really yummy though.  She also cut us up fresh avocado.  Their avocados are so big here!!  The pit of the avocados here are basically the size of the whole avocado back at home.  I did a little bit of work and then went to sleep pretty early.

Our first class session was about nutrition, and our second was about Dr. Sia (one of the lecturers) research at KCMC.  There were some interesting conversations about the ideal female body type and talk of breasts and butts, so that was entertaining.  For lunch, some of my friends and I went to mapipa café (the same place we went two days ago) and we got the French fry omelets to share.  After lunch, we just had free time to work on our group projects which I am still doing now.  We present tomorrow!  Our topic is globalization and the nutrition transition.  Basically, it’s about how globalization has made it possible for middle-income families to become overweight through marketing/advertisements of junk food.

Playing with the kids!

teaching Rookia how to count!

Samaria and Sabrina

I love them all!

When Adrienne and I got home from class, we were greeted by all the same kids!  It's actually so nice to go home to such happy faces.  We put our bags down and then played with the kids for a while.  They were playing jumprope and chasing each other and I was just tickling everyone haha.  They turned the whole tickling thing into a game, and they push each other into Adrienne so that we tickle them.  The kids also have this game they play, where they dance around in a circle (I have no idea what they're saying but I think it's equivalent to our "ring-around-the-rosie").  While they were playing that game, one of the little boys got knocked over and started crying.  There was no blood, but I gave him a band-aid anyway to make him feel better.  Later on, he kept crying about random stuff and I swear he was doing that just so I would pick him up.  So he would cry, then I would pick him up, then he would stop crying and just hug me.  I guess I was reinforcing his bad behavior (whoops!) but it's okay, he's not my child... hah. Rookia and the other girls were playing with our hair again.  Then, one of the little boys started playing with Adrienne's hair.  He finished and she had a legitimate dread in her hair.  I couldn't help but burst out laughing, but I felt bad afterwards when it took her 20 minutes to get the dread out.  That's why you don't let little boys play with your hair.  For dinner, we had rice with lentils (I think?) and spinach (I think?).  We also had this homemade juice our mama makes that is delicious--orange, sweet banana, carrot, and passion fruit.  yum!  Now, Adrienne and I have to do some homework and prepare for our presentations that we are giving tomorrow!!

Tanzania- May 28, 2013

KCMC Campus

Last night after class, Adrienne and I went home and played with our little brother and the other kids who live around our house.  They were so cute!  They played with our hair and were obsessed with my cameras… so they took about 100 pictures in a span of 20 minutes.  We gave them candy bars and that definitely helped them warm up to us haha.  Unfortunately none of them can speak English, so it was difficult to really talk to them.  For dinner, mama made us Irish potatoes and eggs—“chips na mayai” it’s called.  Basically, it was a French-fry omelet.  It was delicious, but I could only eat half of what mama served me.  It definitely wasn’t healthy, but I did insanity afterward!!  The rest of the night consisted of working on homework and journaling (we are required to keep a journal every day here). 

My lil bro--Delke!

Today started off with group presentations, and then it turned into a learning day.  We were all assigned “crests” for our case study groups, and we had to say what the meaning of the crest was and why it was representative of us.  My group was assigned the Uhuru Torch.  Uhuru means “Freedom” in Kiswahili, and the Uhuru torch is one of the national symbols of Tanzania, symbolizing freedom and light.  It was first lit on top of Mt. Kilimanjaro on Dec. 9, 1961 and is was lit to bring hope, love, and respect to neighboring countries.  My group said this what was representative of us because we would treat each other with respect and give each other the freedom to share our own opinions and different perspectives with the rest of the group.  We also said that the light represents the fact that we are all academically bright individuals with something to bring to the table—hah, yeah that was just so we had something to say.  I learned some things from the other groups though!  For example, I learned the meaning of the different colors on the Tanzanian flag—the blue is representative of the waters, the green of the vegetation, the yellow of the minerals, and the black of the people. 

My groups posters--props to Masuma for the sick drawing! 

After our presentations,  we had three different lessons—one on the healthcare system in Tanzania, one on the 6 different perspectives of Global Health, and one on the biomedical/anthropology perspective.  Some of the most interesting things I learned today: 1. There are only 4 consultant hospitals in all of Tanzania, and KCMC is the best in terms of each of its individual departments.  2.  There is less than 1 doctor for every 138,000 inhabitants, 1 nurse for every 5,000 inhabitants, and only 1 dental surgeon per 356,000 inhabitants.  3.  The main healthcare challenges present in Tanzania include poor infrastructure and support systems, poor working conditions, lack of medical supply including drugs, cost of drugs, shortage of healthcare workers, lack of knowledge, lack of motivation to seek healthcare, and the continued use of traditional medicinal practices versus seeking professional care.  4.  Low-income countries have a higher prevalence of infectious diseases while high-income countries have a higher prevalence of ncd’s (non-communicable diseases).  5.  Often times, it seems as though lack of education is one of the underlying problems that leads to health disparities across different areas of the world.  However, it is not only education that is important, but it is also important to encourage people to act upon that education (for example, somebody may know that it is safer to give birth in a hospital versus in their own home, but they still fail to go to the hospital because they’d rather stick to tradition). 

Working on the presentation with Chana Isack

Other than learning, we had a tea break (which we get every day from 10:30-11) and they served us tea and Chapati (which is delicious and I wish I had nutella to put on it!!)   Then, we had lunch from 1-2 and we went to this place called Jacob’s Well Canteen for lunch, and I had spicy rice with beef.  Now we’re back in the classroom and my group and I are working on a presentation we have to give on Thursday.  We have to read a case study that was written in the past, and give a 25 minute presentation on the information, critique the policy recommendations, and write our own.  This is also our free time to have internet!! 

With Adrienne (roommate) at KCMC

Kilimanjaro Christian Medical College

Tanzania- May 26 and May 27, 2013

May 26:

Today has been a very long, but enjoyable day.  We all decided to get breakfast at 8am, and I had eggs, toast, and Kahawa (coffee).  After breakfast, a couple of just sat on the hotel balcony talking.  We had orientation where I saw Francis for the first time since being here (he is our main teacher for the course) and we met Dr. Stacey Langwick, who helped teach the course a couple years ago.  We went over some safety precautions, what to expect, and other normal orientation stuff  We had lunch after orientation and it was actually really good--rice, chicken, beef stew, potatoes, and veggies.  

When we were done eating lunch, Francis handed everybody a "map" and told us to find him at this one restaurant.  We had 45 minutes to do so.  I put "map" in quotation marks because it was really a chicken scratch drawing of the town of Moshi with 1 or 2...or 20 streets missing.  So yeah...we got a little lost and made it to the restaurant in an 1 hr and 20 minutes with the help of our new rafiki (friend), Dismas.  Dismas was really friendly and I talked to him the majority of the walk.  We went back and forth between speaking English and Swahili.  He also taught me how to say some new phrases.  We walked past a bar and he taught me how to say "I'm drunk"--"Ninalewa".  Aside from getting lost and meeting Dismas, our walk was pretty eventful.  I knew this from last time I was in TZ, but EVERYONE says hi to you.  Some men shake and kiss your hand too.  Laura was the first one to be proposed to--"I love you! Marry me!" he said.  "Asante but hapana" (Thanks, but not) she said.  All the little kids we walked by were soo cute! It was a nice walk for sure and cool to see what kinds of places are around.  When we met Francis at the restaurant, we took a break to drink some water and then we took a daladala (van-like form of transportation) to Kilimanjaro Christian Medical College (KCMC), where I'll be taking class for the next 4 weeks.  The campus was really pretty and when the clouds go down, we'll have a great view of the mountain.  

When we were done exploring KCMC, we walked to Bwana Chuwas house (one of the other program leaders) where we were given our Tanzania phones.  Old school Nokia phones featuring the game snake, oh yeah.  Tonight it took me a full 5 minutes (and I promise that is not an exaggeration) to text "I'm with Adrienne 5 minutes from Bwana Chuwa's house."  Lets just say I've lost my t9 skills.  At Bwana Chuwa's, we also got our rooming assignments and met our homestay families!  Adrienne and I are roommates living with a mama and her son, Derek.  Derek is 8 years old.  Mama is soo nice, and Derek is sooo cute but he doesn't speak English.  In the beginning, the language barrier was a little tough with mama too but as the night went on, we started to understand each other a little easier.  Adrienne and I were asking if it was okay to wear shorts and show our shoulders inside the house, which mama didn't understand.  But, I was able to translate in Swahili and she told us yes we can wear whatever we want in the house!  And she did a little dance as she said it.  She's really cool!  

Adrienne and I unpacked a little bit in our room that really doesn't have much other than two twin beds.  We unpacked until it was tea time.  The tea here is sooooo good and flavorful!  Mama also made these things which taste like donuts minus the icing.  Those were also really good.  I hope mama doesn't make them too often or else I'm gonna get fat.  Adrienne and I asked if we could go for a walk, so mama and Derek took us. On the way back, we stopped for a drink at the bar.  We had Mt. Kilimanjaro beer!  The beer bottles here are huge though.  One beer here equals two in the U.S.  Mama finished her hers way before Adrienne and me.  Derek was really interested in my camera, so he was looking through pictures the whole time.  By the time we left the bar, it had gotten really dark outside and Derek held my hand as we walked home.  I looked up at the sky and the stars were amazing.  You can't see the stars in America like you can see them here.  It's awesome.

Kilimanjaro Beer

When we got back to the house, Adrienne and I gave mama and Derek some of the gifts we brought.  We gave mama a Cornell coffee mug, Cornell t-shirts, and a bracelet, and we gave Derek a Cornell soccer t-shirt, frisbee, and some chocolate.  They were both soo happy and gave us kisses when we gave them their presents!  It was funny because Adrienne and I didn't coordinate but we pretty much brought the same presents.  We both brought Cornell t-shirts, Cornell mugs, and a box of 30 candy bars.  But Adrienne also brought jewelry and I brought a Washington, D.C. hat and Virginia peanuts!  We decided we would safe the rest of the gifts for later.  

Mama served us rice with peas and chicken for dinner along with cucumbers and a tomato, carrot, and onion salad.  It was all very good.  Mama also gave us these miniature bananas which were soo sweet and so delicious.  I could have eaten 10 of them!  After dinner, I finished unpacking and then took my first bucket shower.  I've actually never taken a bucket shower like that before.  I literally had had one giant bucket filled with water, and then a smaller bucket.  It took me a very long time to shower just because it was difficult to get all the soap off using the buckets.  Now it's only 10pm but it feels like 2am.  Tomorrow is our first day of class at KCMC!!  We have to get there at 830 and it's about a 15-minute walk!  I'm currently laying comfortably in bed fully surrounded by a mosquito net!

My US comment for the day: Congratulations to Rick (and the rest of my senior friends) for graduating from Cornell today!!! WOO!!! 

May 27:

Today was the first day of classes! Adrienne was already awake by this time, but a little before 7am I was awoken by mama calling my name.  She was leaving for work, and wanted to say goodbye before she left!  She left us tea and some food for breakfast and was on her way.  Adrienne and I got ready for class, and then walked the 15 minutes to campus.  There are 13 Cornell students and 15 KCMC students in my class.  Class is broken up into 3 segments: a 2 hour lecture from 8:30-10:30, then a 30 minute break for tea.  A second class session from 11-1, then an hour break for lunch.  And a third period from 2 until we are done working in our groups (basically, we are given as much time as needed).  

This morning we went outside and played the name game with an orange.  We stood in a circle, and whoever had the orange had to throw it to someone new and say their name.  We did that for a while.  It actually helped!  I know most of the kids in my class already.  Today we were also assigned to our case study groups.  I am with Mike and Ume, two students from Cornell.  And also Isack and Masumu, two students from KCMC.  We worked on a mini project this afternoon, but we don't have to submit our case study topic until Friday.  

After class today, the KCMC students took us on a tour of the campus and the hospital.  It was really cool to see the hospital here, but also interesting to see how different the conditions are here versus what you would see in the US.  There were wet floors everywhere without "CAUTION! Wet Floor!" signs, and there was a cat just roaming around freely in the hospital... All of the hospital rooms were open for people to look in, and there were sometimes up to 10 beds in one room, without dividing curtains.  

The KCMC students also showed us basketball courts, volleyball courts, and soccer fields, and we walked through a sunflower field and had some photo shoots which was fun!!!  Now we're all just hanging out at the school because this is the only place we will have wifi for the next month.  So, if you ever want to talk to me, between 4 and 6pm Tanzanian time is the time.

May 25, 2013- Arrival in Tanzania!

Ever since I left Bangladesh, I had been feeling so nervous.  All these scary thoughts started going through my head... what if I forgot something important?  What if I couldn't remember any Swahili?  What if my host family didn't like me? What if no one was there to pick me up from the airport?  Three flights later, I have finally arrived at Kilimanjaro International Airport.  I presented my vaccination record proving I had my yellow fever immunization, and a printed out visitor's pass allowed me to cut the immigration lines.  I showed my visitors pass, had my passport stamped, and arrived at the baggage claim conveyer belt where my giant duffle bag was already sitting there waiting for me.  Well, that was easy!  One guy asked me if I needed help with my bags... and I absolutely did, but I reluctantly said I was okay on my own, thanks. When I walked out of the airport, there was a dude in khaki safari pants and a short-sleeve safari shirt (much like my dads safari outfit) and a giant green rastafarian-like hat (much like something my dad would never wear).  He was holding two signs, one that said "cornell student" and another that said "Rachel N."  Heyyyy, that's me!!!!!!!  When I approached him, he had a great big welcoming grin across his face.  At last, I was relieved of all stress and nervousness.  He also relieved me of my bags, woo!!  He motioned to his car and said "karibu," meaning "welcome" in Kiswahili so I got into his car and he said we would have a 50 minute drive to the Uhuru Hotel where everyone in my program would be staying for the night.  His name was Sadeek (sp?) and he was a pretty cool and friendly dude.  He rolled the windows down and turned on some Bob Marley allowing me to enjoy the African air and jam out to some jams.  During the drive, I saw many familiar things: signs written in Kiswahili that I could translate to Kiingereza (English), farmers, ladies in beautiful bright clothing balancing baskets on their heads, Maasai boys in their checkered toga-like robes, acacia trees, and mountains in the distance.  We pulled up to the hotel and the guy at the reception desk informed me that I was the first student to arrive.  He showed me to my room, and it was a cute little room consisting of a bathroom, a wardrobe, a desk, two twin beds with mosquito nets hanging above them, a night side table, and a porch that overlooks a field.  Now I'm just sitting on my porch listening to the singing of various birds and enjoying a BEAUTIFUL view of the snow-capped Mt. Kilimanjaro.  I love Africa!! It feels good to be here.  

And there it is....!!!!!

Seriously amazing!! These pictures do not do it justice.  AHH!!