Queen's University International Centre Blog
Blogging about the international at Queen's and abroad
So began the 2-week blitz known as the medical caravan (see village members awaiting triage above). 5 villages and 1 local dispensary were the designated locations for the community members to receive free services from doctors with various support staff, including pharmacists, triage, ophthalmologist, gynecologist, medical students and dermatology. These volunteers consist mostly of Canadians. Anywhere from 150 to 250 people were seen each day. Prevention services such as de-worming were offered and general medicine with the potential for further referrals. Make shift consultation areas were created for doctors to see patients. From walking well check ups, upper respiratory infections to diverse rashes and even rare congenital syndromes, many patients seen are often unable to afford services, which explains why a list of 500 names are presented with the unfortunate task of telling them only 200 may be seen.
Photo by Nicole
One challenge I am gradually embracing (not yet at a point where I can describe myself as accepting) is the “trial and error” aspect of community development. An advertised two-week medical caravan was sure to bring children with disabilities straight to me so I could have a rich array of surveys completed, right? Kids with disabilities are sick more often than their typically developing counterparts and thus would be first in line for such medical services. Wrong. I have realized that given the accessibility issues of beautiful Africa, lack of mobility devices for most children and siblings at home to be taken care of presents one too many barriers.
Photo by Nicole
With that all said, the caravan was by far not a waste of time for my project. I realized the aforementioned barriers immediately (with the help of others) and quickly began advertising for families to bring their children with disabilities the following week for our second follow up day in each village will the promise of assessment by CCBRT. This tactic proved successful as 15 children showed up across 3 different villages. Rickets, developmental delay, club foot, cerebral palsy, speech issues, traumatic leg injury, hydrocephalus and cleft lip were among some of the disabilities seen and given referrals to appropriate locations. Even this small sample size for my needs assessment proved worthy as I was able to immediately identify trends and spark an idea for a group! But I’m getting ahead of myself. You see, basic necessities of life to children in Africa mostly revolve around small-scale requests. One child with rickets wished she could wash the dishes. A child with cerebral palsy wants to ride a bike. Collectively, all of them have described wanting to socialize, have schooling or business training (age dependent) to help work towards an ability to generate an income in the future. At the heart of it, they just want to be like everyone else. What this consists of in Tanzania is helping out with chores, fetching water, socializing and caring for farm animals. This information combined with what I have come to understand about Tanzania over the last two months resulted in what I believe will be a program that will meet these needs! Still needing much refining and defining, I will explain the nature of it in due time!
Now that the dust has settled and the 14 volunteers have returned home, the guesthouse has taken on a new sense of empty that I hadn’t noticed before. The next caravan is set for the second week of January so I better enjoy the calm while I can!
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Approaching my 4th week here in Africa, I am finding myself somewhat surprised I have yet to feel that pit of your stomach pang of homesickness. Of course Murphy’s Law would deliver and I experienced a few less than desirable events. Chalk this bad day up to cultural differences, unaccounted money and a scheduled meeting cancelled without notice. Compounded by the ongoing challenge that I am white or in Swahili, “mzungu”. To give you an idea of what I have experienced as a white person in Moshi-locals remind you several times a day that you are, whether it is in attempts to get your attention or just to state the obvious perhaps. I have been told that the term is not meant to be offensive, but at the end of the day when you are just trying to fit in, hearing “mzungu” shouted from across the street is the last thing you want to hear. A friend who has been in Tanzania for 10 months now told me that you have to appreciate the odd bad day in the same fashion as if it happened at home. You put your favourite movie on and sleep it off. Or whatever it is that gets you through a tough day in any country. Hearing this allowed me to step back and gain some perspective. The following day was the best one yet since being here. Story to follow…
Pictured is the community rehabilitation matrix that is part of CCBRT’s method of service delivery in the community. On this particular day, we were focusing on the livelihood aspect of the matrix, an area I find myself keenly interested in. Currently underway is a program through an NGO called Heifer, as part of CCBRTs community outreach. Heifer provides people living in poverty with a goat and a few supplies to assist them in building a shed for the goat. I couldn’t wait to hear more!
We traveled to the mountain villages to see the progress of this project. By we, I mean myself, Patricia, the OT and two local OT students. Families with children with disabilities living in poverty were chosen for this project. The aim is to have 100 families receive goats, where the original 30 goats given out would give birth and then those offspring would be given to other families. To understand this project, you must understand how to care for goats. 3 weeks worth of training is given to these families prior to receiving a goat. One thing about goats in Tanzania that is imperative to know is that local goats are able to thrive in these desolate conditions. With that said, Heifer supplies families with goats similar to our native ones, which require much more TLC. A challenge in this process lies in the mentality of the families: why should a goat have better living conditions than themselves? Fair enough question. A logical answer follows-without adequate nutrition and water supply, these goats will fail to reproduce offspring and will not produce viable milk to be sold as income. Being in these villages and hearing about the various challenges faced by community workers revealed the similarities of our two countries, but clearly with the added nature of third world status to Tanzania.
Market - Photo by Nicole
On a non-project related note, here in Africa there is a saying, which depicts the modest, anti-time driven nature of the culture. “This is Africa” or shortened: TIA. This seemed appropriate to be the title of my blog, as this saying is the fallback for anything that does not go according to plan, such as tardiness, power outages, slow service or any other inconvenience that may arise. I have been lucky thus far to avoid TIA for the most part, but did encounter an instance when I ventured to the YWCA for a meeting with the OT to find she was out of town.
In the social realm of life in Tanzania, I have learned that often people are here on a short-term basis. I have already seen numerous people leave and continue to meet new faces. You learn quickly about the local “white” watering holes and everyone knows that Friday is the popular night out at a place called Glacier (essentially a lawn with a bar and dance floor). As for recreational pursuits, I have found myself as a regular at an outdoor pick up volleyball game that happens once a week. Last week my focus was less than impressive as I was captivated by the numerous monkey’s just meters away from our game and the picturesque view of Mount Kilimanjaro’s peak on this clear evening. I have also ventured to the clothing market twice, pictured here. Most clothing items are those we would find back home. You can find Value Village tags littered amongst the dirt paths. A somewhat daunting experience at first, but on my second visit, I was right at home rummaging through the piles!
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