Monday, June 30, 2014

Habari za Safari?

Habari za safari? (How was the safari?)

Since my last post, I have been very busy continuing Swahili lessons and our engineering labs. We also had the 2nd hospital workday on Friday at Mt. Meru hospital in Arusha.  I worked on the suction machine from last week - we had gotten the suction working but there were no collection jars for the machine. This meant a trip into the city of Arusha to search for jars that could be vacuum sealed as well as other supplies for people working on other fixes. The major takeaways from the search for supplies:

1) It is very difficult to find supplies that you have in mind and especially difficult to find them in the same place.

2) Tanzanians are very helpful when searching for supplies and will direct you to other stores that may be more helpful.

3) Making bottles air tight can be very difficult. Jennie and I were able to vacuum seal tubing to the top of the bottles by retrofitting tire valves from an auto shop but the lid of the bottle was not air tight, which made the lid valves pretty useless. Next week, we will use peanut butter jars since they are sealed.

Air tight seal with tire valve and plastic cap



I also worked on a broken microscope with Ari.  There was a loose connection from to the light-bulb of the microscope that we stabilized with some extra wires and drops of solder on the light-bulb leads. The microscope works now, so should hopefully get some good use.

This weekend, the entire group of 28 of us took a 2-day safari to Ngorongoro Crater as well as Tarangire national park, both in Tanzania. The natural beauty here is astounding. We saw all sorts of animals and took many pictures - check Facebook later for all of them.   The drives and camping out at night also gave time to help build friendships within the group and I know people in the program more deeply now.  The weekend trip reminded me yet again how lucky I am to be able to spend a summer in Tanzania learning and applying engineering while exploring a beautiful place.  It's hard to fully express my gratitude to all of the people, programs, and planning that made this summer possible, but know that I am thinking of you.







Life at the homestay has been a lot of fun this past week and Lulu is getting more comfortable playing with Mikkel and I after dinner.  Right when we get home most days she runs up to us and hands us peanuts or a piece of banana before running back to Neema and her sisters in the kitchen. My host dad Lughano is in the capital city Dar es Salaam this week to help with wedding arrangements for his brother, but we hope to watch more world cup with him when he gets back.  June is almost over and there are only 3 more weeks until I move into my host hospital! Goodbye for now!

Wednesday, June 25, 2014

All of the Lights

Classes are coming along nicely! I am in my 2nd week of Swahili classes and today our class travelled to the soko (market) at Tengeri in Usa River to buy fruits and vegetables for the cafeteria at the training center.  We were given 2000 shillings each, which equates to about $1.25.  To give a feel for the prices in Tanzania, I bought 3 giant avocados at the market for 500 shillings, which equates to about 10 cents per avocado. Needless to say, I returned from the market with a large amount of fresh fruit but more importantly, an improved Swahili vocabulary and a small taste of the price bargaining that goes on in the market every day.

A couple of more interesting notes from the trip:

1)      Venders have massive piles of used shoes and clothes for sale, presumably from donations by foreign nations.  
2)      The market and the trash pile are contiguous – waste from the market is thrown in to a trash pile that is right next to some of the venders.
3)      Avocados here are phenomenal.  Nothing says friendship like peeling an avocado and sharing with 10 other people.

Driving from Usa River to Tengeri Market

Engineering labs and lessons are also going well.  Right now, I am learning general overviews for a lot of the equipment common in hospitals here: vacuum pumps, oximeters, ECGs, oxygen concentrators, etc.  In lab, we are working on building power supplies to convert the 230 Volt AC wall outlets in Tanzania into a smaller usable DC voltage that can be used to power medical devices.  Wall outlets in the US are generally 110/120 Volts AC, and the voltage difference between donated equipment in the US and the wall outlets in Tanzania could cause power supply issues that I will be capable of troubleshooting and repairing within the next few weeks.

Circuit board for the variable power supply Mikkel and I built in lab

Holding the variable power supple in the lab classroom


On a similar note, power in Tanzania is highly variable – there are often multiple power outages each day, generally lasting only a few minutes but sometimes much longer.  At first, these always surprised me at my homestay when all of the lights suddenly went out, but I am getting much more used to them.  They are simply a part of life here.  Last night, the power went out at around 7pm and didn’t return until early this morning, which meant two things:

1)      Mikkel and I went to bed very early since it is very difficult to delay sleeping without artificial light (a healthy dose of basketball and volleyball yesterday also contributed to the early bedtime).
2)      The stars were phenomenal.


Here’s to hoping for power when I need it during engineering lab the next few weeks and hoping for more starry nights when I don’t.  All of the lights are out again now, so I’d better go.  Kwaheri! 

Monday, June 23, 2014

Hospital Day and Weekend Picture Updates

Mambo! Another few days has gone by since the last blog post. Friday, we finally got a chance to take apart and troubleshoot some equipment at Mt. Meru hospital in Arusha. Mikkel and I were paired with Brendan and Zohaib to troubleshoot a vacuum pump that was no longer operational.  A valve was broken inside the device that was keeping the motor from creating a pressure difference so the pump could suck fluids. We managed to make a new valve from electrical tape and zip ties and restore some of the functionality to the device. Other groups worked on oximeters, oxygen concentrators, stethoscopes, scales, and blood pressure cuffs. Pictures from the hospital workday as well as our weekend trip to Chaga village and the snake park are below! Kwaheri!
Vacuum Pump we worked on at Mt. Meru hospital in Arusha

Medical equipment the group worked on Friday

Our Instructor Larry takes apart the motor of an oxygen concentrator
Holding a turtle at Chaga village

Louise looks at the chameleon in Chaga village

Holding a chameleon!


Entrance to Chaga caves that protect the Chaga people from attacks by the Masai people

Riding a camel with my host dad Lughanu at the snake park in Moshi

Mikkel testing the flashlight we built in lab

African Slender-Snouted Crocodile at the snake park


Thursday, June 19, 2014

Soldering and Cute Monkeys

I have just finished the first few days of classes at the training center and starting to develop a routine for the day, which makes the transition a bit easier.

I wake up at 6:30 to shower. The first few days Neema, my host mom, prepared a bucket with hot water for me to shower with since the faucets only run cold water. Today, I decided to just take a cold shower. It was alarming, refreshing, but most of all very quick.  After showering, Mikkel and I prepare our tea as Neema and her sisters make breakfast food for the family.  I eat breakfast, prepare a lunch, and then Lughanu drives us along with some other Engineering World Health (EWH) students to the training center.  We take Swahili until lunchtime with a tea break at 10.  During lunchtime we have been playing beach volleyball on the campus with the group, and also soccer and basketball at the end of the day after classes.  The afternoon consists of medical devices lectures from our professor Larry and labs led by our group coordinator Alex.  In lab, we built an extension cord and worked on soldering and electrical connections.  



Soldering practice, extension cord, and Jennie and Lea soldering

The classes are extremely fast-paced and I will need to learn a lot to be prepared for working in Nkoaranga hospital in four weeks.  After class, I walk or get a ride back to the homestay where Mikkel and I hang out and talk with Lughanu about soccer and Swahili or play with Lulu before dinner.  Neema is a chef extraordinaire – today was fish, avocado, rice, noodles, beans, bananas, delicious sauces, cucumber, and passion/mango juice Neema prepares herself daily. In Tanzania, one eats with their hands, so I have started to do that today. Lughanu tells me you “feel more” when you eat with your hands, a more wholesome and complete experience. I agree and it is quite enjoyable, albeit very messy.


My host father Lughanu spends lots of time with Mikkel and I. He told us today to think of him not as “baba” (father) but “kaka” (brother).  We laugh a lot with Lughanu and he is an expressive and exciting person. Lughanu is an accountant, but still holds a job as a prison guard. This post was rather long and mostly not exciting I’m sure so I will end with cute pictures of baby monkeys.  Monkeys live around the campus at the training center and will climb on trees and rooftops throughout the day – makes it plenty hard to pay attention during class! 



Monday, June 16, 2014

Immabe

I have made it to Tanzania! The flight from Toronto to Ethiopia was quite long but I mostly watched movies so it passed quickly.  The final flight landed me in Kilimanjaro airport, with views of the beautiful mountains Kilimanjaro and Meru on the descent.  After arriving and meeting up with some fellow program participants (there are 25 of us in total), we took the dola-dola (bus) to the training center where we will take Swahili and medical device repair courses.  The road from the airport to the training center is filled with life – many people walking along the road or waiting with motorbikes to pick people up and drive them along for a small charge.  The market in Usa River is very busy and there are a surprisingly large amount of Coca Cola ads everywhere.

View along the drive from Kilimanjaro airport to training center in Usa River

View of Mt. Meru from the training center

At the training center, we also met our homestay families. I am paired with Mikkel for the program, meaning we will live together for the summer and also work together during the 2nd month of the program when we transition from the training center to host hospitals all over the region.  Mikkel is a Biomedical Engineer Master’s student at Denmark technical institute in Copenhagen and he is very friendly and has a great sense of humor. 

Mikkel lounging at the homestay!

My host mama, Neema (pronounced like Brazilian forward Neymar without the r) is beautifully funny and has a huge smile.  She teaches at a local university and is also helping teach the Swahili courses at the training center for our program and has been helping Mikkel and I with Swahili while at home.  We will need to learn quickly to be prepared for hospital work next month. Neema’s husband, Lughanu, was travelling back from a wedding tonight so we will meet him tomorrow.  The first thing that Neema showed Mikkel and I when we came to the home was a photo from her wedding day with Lughanu.  Neema’s sisters Hope and Pendo also live with us along with Neema and Lughanu’s daughter Lulu who is 18 months old.

From left to right: Hope, Lulu, Neema, and Pendo
For dinner, Neema and her sisters made a feast of potatoes, green peas with sauce, fish, avocado, banana, cucumber, rice, beans, and mango-passion fruit juice she made herself that is the best juice I’ve ever had. It’s pulpy, very sweet, and just overall fantastic.  I will definitely be well fed and am looking forward to trying all the new Tanzanian food!

Perhaps the biggest surprise thus far has been the music Neema was listening to in the car when we drove back from the training center to her home.  The first song playing was “Immabe” by the Black Eyed Peas so I will end this post as follows:

Immabe meeting Lugano tomorrow.
Immabe starting classes at the training center tomorrow in Swahili and medical devices. 
Immabe updating later this week on classes and settling in.
Immabe tucking under my mosquito net and heading to bed now – lots of airplanes and time changes today!

Saturday, June 14, 2014

Starting Bells

Day 0 is finally here. I’m certainly feeling the mixture of nervousness, excitement, and sleepiness that comes with a 6am flight and this summer’s adventures. Right now, I am in the Toronto airport, waiting to board the flight to Ethiopia and then finally on to Tanzania.
Tim Horton outfitted the Toronto airport with iPads and free Wifi. Way to go Canada.

I thought I would share a little bit about why I am joining EWH/DukeEngage this summer in Tanzania.  The EWH Summer Institute offers a mix of technical challenges, learning a new culture, service to others, and self-exploration.  As someone interested in academic medicine, engineering, and learning about people, this summer should provide opportunities to grow in each of these ways. Through experiences with troubleshooting and medical equipment repairs, I hope this summer will advance my engineering education in a practical skills sense. Engineers (myself included) often bring up the applicability of their chosen field and the practical and critical thinking skills to be gained from a study of engineering.  I hope this summer will be able to strengthen that conviction.  Another motivation for being part of this program was that I have never lived more than a 25 minute drive from home in Raleigh and hope the experience of living in an entirely different culture will challenge me.


While packing this week, I was looking through a lot of toys and clothes from my childhood. There is an orphanage very close to Nkoaranga hospital where I will be during my second month in Tanzania, and I was hoping to find donation items to bring along.  I came across a “build-it-yourself” electronic bell, in which wires and bell components are all assembled to teach the user about electricity concepts.  Despite the bell being an “8-and-up” toy, I was quite entertained by it and made sure the entire kit was there so I could bring it on the trip.  I hope that I am able to donate the bell to someone and perhaps help them learn about the concepts at play.  I also hope that this trip brings along a lot more of the sense of childlike wonder I felt when I first saw the unassembled bell – I think it will.

Electric Bell. Maybe I will grow a mustache like this kid in Tanzania...

My next update will come after I am in Usa River, Tanzania. Until then, Kwa Heri!