Bright spirits amid many needs ...

Today is Sunday in Arusha and a chance to rest and catch up with our first weeks experience. Deb and I did an overnight to Moshi to see Mt.Kilamanjaro (~90 minutes by bus at $1.30 each). We were able to spend a lovely evening on a rooftop cafe taking in the view of the mountain and appreciating our time here in Africa. We are fortunate to be doing a homestay with 4 young people from England, 2 from Japan, 1 from Norway, and 1 from Kentucky. The food is basic - potatoes, rice, some type of beef (???), a few vegetables, and occ mango. The spices of India are a fond memory. The house is relatively new, clean, and for the most part the showers are hot. Each day we hike into town (20 minutes) and catch the local transportation - as Deb mentioned last time ...the daladala ( picture to be posted sometime while we are here).

Arusha sits at the base of Mount Meru ( second tallest peak in Africa) with lots of lush green around and colorful bushes and trees ( yellows, reds, oranges, white, purple, etc). The highway into town is under major construction and so lots of dust - we have all gone to showering in the evening!! Arusha sits in the upper portion of Tanzania just below Kenya.

Our volunteer experience began on Tuesday and we are trying to visit as many of the orphanages connected with TVE that we can. Our focus has been assessing needs, health ed ( hand washing/HIV prevention), acute and chronic care, and routine checkups for kids. We are managing to see about 30 kids per day in the make-shift exam room (pic). I have learned quickly that a kid with fever and flu symptoms here is more likely to have malaria, TB,or HIV infection than the usual colds we see back in the states. We have also made up first aid kits for each site and hopefully they will be useful. We were quite ignorant of the health system here in Tanzania but have come to learn that if you are sick that you go to the hospital. There does not appear to be routine clinics with outpt visits and social workers and public health nurses are a foreign concept.

On our first day we met Said Peter ( aka Junior) at Naomi's Lasting Bless school and orphanage. This little 4 y/o has HIV and has not previously treated for this. He has been getting more ill lately and on the day we visited he was having a nose bleed. We discussed prevention measures with the staff and agreed to make a hospital visit with Junior and his Mom the following day. On the day of the visit he was sicker with a draining ear and recurrent skin sores and fever. We visited a small hospital near our Homestay that primarily serves the Masai community. The staff were helpful, caring, and registered Junior as a patient ( he now has a medical home). Blood was drawn to confirm his HIV positive status ( pic) and he was given medications to treat his acute infection and a followup to further treat his HIV infection. We were proud and pleased to know that the medications to treat HIV are available for free in Tanzania for those who cannot afford ( almost everyone), and that they are provided from funding from USAID. Our government dollars well spent after you spend a day with this 4 year old. The challenge will still be to make sure he gets his meds, makes his follow up appts, and gets the nutrition to stay healthy.

Both Deb and I have realized in this one week how much we live in comfort back in the US. Here in Africa, life to us and many of you would seem uncomfortable - but for the people we have met and seen, it is obvious they are the most tolerant people - they don't complain about standing 90 minutes on a bus ride, cramming too many people into any kind of transportation, the dust, and the electricity going off at night on a regular basis. they still smile and greet each other and us with Hajambo (hello) with the usual reply of Poa (cool!!)

On the whole, people here love the US, especially Obama!! I am sure our President appreciates the love and support and we both wonder if he is getting any royalties from the Obama underwear sold daily along the street markets.

Sending along our warm greetings ( the weather has been lovely...sorry MN,Wisc and Mich).

Pat and Deb