Wa fahamu ki Swahili? (Do you understand Swahili?)

Ha pana, ni fahumu ki Swahili (No, I do not understand Swahili)

This is about all the Swahili I’ve learned so far. I thought more people would speak English in Dar es Salaam, but for the most part they know only a little bit, but not enough to communicate with me beyond the very basics. I also learned how to say to our taxi driver, Abel, “That price is not fair.” Abel has been driving us everywhere; he’s very friendly and basically just laughs a lot, but of course still always tries to overcharge us. He was very excited when I offered him a chocolate chip granola bar today that I had brought from home, he kept laughing when he was eating it so I think he liked it!
Today I saw a crippled person begging on the side of the road, and I could clearly tell he was had polio. It was interesting because we have studied polio in class and seen movies on it, but I think it’s the first time I have seen someone and recognized that they had polio. My teacher was very impressed as I recollected that for each person who becomes paralyzed by polio, there are two hundred more people that have the disease, but are asymptomatic. She was of course impressed because I learned it in her class last semester, but the truth is it stuck with me because it’s such a scary fact.
This morning we attended the CARE meeting and actually were recognized in a speech by the president of CARE USA. We met all the CARE board members from the USA which are basically very wealthy people who are the main funders for CARE USA. After that we rushed off to an afternoon at the beach, as the others in the group won’t have any other chance to go to the beach as it is there last time in Dar (I and one other will stay on for a month in Dar after our three week research with our professor). We took a boat to a small island with an extremely beautiful and pristine beach. It was my first time at the Indian Ocean and I was so excited that when the boat got near the Island it stopped, as we had to take a smaller boat the rest of the way, but instead of getting on the smaller boat, I jumped off the big boat and swam the rest of the way to the island. It was further than it originally looked, but the water felt great and I had a mask on and was able to see through the clear blue waters. A man on the island asked if we wanted fish to eat and we all said yes, and two hours later he returned with fish. You know the joke that one may say in the states after food taking two hours: “what is he doing, going and catching the fish himself?” Well, that joke doesn’t work here, because yes, he did go catch the fish himself and then cooked it for us. He brought us each a huge chunk of barracuda and it was delicious…I think it was my first time eating barracuda….although my piece looked like it came from a very large barracuda which made me a little nervous about how far I had just swam in the water!
Jeremy has thankfully figured out how to call my hotel room, and yesterday we had just gotten back from an outing and were still sitting in the taxi outside the hotel trying to sort out the price with the driver when one of the hotel staff came and specifically got me out of the car and said I had a phone call. “Are you sure it’s for me?” I asked. “Yes yes.” I went inside and sure enough Jeremy was on the phone. I was completely baffled because all Jeremy had ever done was call the hotel and ask to be connected to room 318. So, how did they know out of all five of us in the group and anyone else in the hotel that it was me? Karen, our professor, confirmed, “Oh yeah, they know everything about us!” They have memorized which of us are in which room and can recognize us. I was really surprised and thought it was funny.
Anyways, tomorrow we leave on a small plane to Mwanza, where we begin our research. Apparently the flights are often delayed several hours or cancelled altogether, so I’m bringing my patience with me to the airport. Africa requires a lot of patience for us Americans, which is challenging at times, but I know it’s good for me to slow down and just relax. I still only have great things to say about the people here, everyone is so nice and very friendly. We even went to an outdoor craft market and I was taken aback that no one was pushy or trying to pressure us to buy things, they were very laid back and polite…I was shocked because in Jamaica I absolutely hated to go to the craft markets because the people were so aggressive and overbearing. Anyone who has gotten off a cruise ship in Jamaica or the Bahamas know what I mean! Anyways, I am doing relatively well despite being across the world from Jeremy and Punkie. It definitely helps knowing that almost as soon as I get back I will be marrying Jeremy, but of course I really miss him and in many ways hope that these next 7 weeks pass very quickly!

***Also, check out the front page of the Georgia State Institute of Public Health’s website: http://publichealth.gsu.edu/ . The link of the article will lead you to everyone else’s blog which may be interesting. Actually, I just read Karen's blog and found it funny that she is terrified of the driving here, I think it's heaven compared to Jamaica....I haven't been scared at all! I completely understand where she's coming from though!

Wa fahamu ki Swahili? (Do you understand Swahili?)

I'm here......and it's hot!!!

Well, after about 30 hours of traveling I just spent my first day in Tanzania! The traveling went very well, everything was on time and my luggage made it. What else can you ask for with having four different connecting flights? On my 8-hour flight from Amsterdam to Kenya I actually had an empty seat next to me and was able to lay on the two seats and sleep for the majority of the flight!
When we finally got to Tanzania it was the middle of the night. When we were flying into the city it was so dark; I know it was midnight, but I still think most cities in America would be all lit up….the darkness really was captivating. When we got off the plane I was immediately accosted by the heat and humidity…the heat was so stifling it took me a second to be able to breathe normally. I’m not sure if it’s hotter than Jamaica, or a Florida summer for that matter...maybe I’m just not used to it after coming from Atlanta winter, but it was so hot! By the time I got to my hotel room I was drenched in sweat. When we landed it Tanzania I was very excited, but sad at the same time. I was finally in Africa, a place I had always dreamed about going, but I also felt very very far away and in such an unknown place. I of course was overwhelmed by how geographically distant I felt from Jeremy and my family and friends. When we left the airport I felt a little scared, I wasn’t sure if people would speak English or how friendly they would be. When we got to the hotel the first thing I did was try to get on the Internet to make a phone call using Skype, but the connection was so bad that nothing was working. (Now I am at the hotel's “business center” typing this). Luckily, Jeremy being the smart man that he is, figured out how to call me in my hotel room! The connection was great and I felt so much calmer after talking to him…I guess I didn’t feel so far away anymore. I was still extremely hot though.
Unfortunately I don’t have too much to say about Tanzania yet. Today we went out for a little to a touristy area by the ocean and then we had our first work meeting at the CARE health director’s home. So far, the Tanzanians I’ve encountered are extremely nice…and they haven’t hit on me or been obscene in any way like many Jamaicans were (not all!). I can tell I’m going to like them. The buildings, environment, and food remind me a lot of Jamaica. There are more dirt roads, which you wouldn’t find in many capital cities, and many women are dressed in what I would describe as traditional African dress. I have also seen several Muslims, which no offense to any Muslims, but I would never be one here, seeing what they have to wear in this heat! Actually, my taxi driver today asked me my religion, but I didn’t want to say because my dad specifically told me not to tell anyone I’m Jewish. I’m almost sure he wouldn’t have known what it was, not to mention he hardly spoke English, but I just changed the subject. There are signs here in English and in Swahili. In Dar a lot of people speak English, but once we leave here I am told it won’t be the case.
I keep saving my writing after every few minutes, because the power has gone out a lot already. In fact, it went out in the middle of the night, and I woke up instantaneously when I somehow heard the loud humming of the AC stop! There is AC in the rooms, but it took until this morning for the room to cool down a little. I can’t complain though...it’s AC! Anyway, I learned a lot more about our project today during our meeting, and it sounds like it is going to be a lot of work, but very interesting and rewarding. Every three years CARE USA plans a meeting in one of the countries that they work in, and this year they chose Tanzania. Tomorrow is the meeting and we are invited. There will be about 50 execs there from CARE USA. Then on Tuesday we leave on a small plane to Mwanza, the region where we will be doing our study. I found out that the baggage limit is 40 lbs on the flight, which is going to be quite problematic for me. Which reminds me, after I packed to come here, Jeremy went through my suitcase and took about a third of the stuff out. When we got the airport he helped me check-in and my bag weighed exactly 50 lbs. The airline attended told us, “excellent job!” and went on to tell us the bag limit is 50lbs! We were so amazed…..and very lucky. I have another bag too, mostly stuff to give away, but I have no idea how I am going to get it there…I’m sure I can do it, it will just take money! That’s enough for now, as time passes I’m sure I will have a lot more insight to share about Tanzania and the people. I miss everyone and will post pictures soon!

Why the heck am I going to Tanzania?

I am going to start out with a little background of the project, to help answer everyone's question "why are you going to Tanzania?" I was selected to be on the research team among other Georgia State Master of Public Health students, the project is a collaboration between Georgia State, CDC, and CARE. I was ecstatic to be one of four students selected, as it has always been a dream of mine to travel to Africa. I also felt that this trip would be an incredible learning experience in the field of public health and that it will certainly shape and inspire my future career in public health and medicine. In Tanzania, a community-based approach to improve maternal and newborn health and reduce preventable maternal and perinatal deaths was implemented by CARE and the CDC from 1997-2002. There were many components of this project implemented in the rural regions of Northwest Tanzania, but since the end of the project, the long-term sustainability of community-level efforts have not been assessed. This is where I come into play. We will be conducting an assessment of sustainability. Little data exist on issues of long-term viability of community efforts and this project has the potential to inform future programs surrounding sustainability of health focused programs in resource poor settings.
I am very excited to explore Tanzania, one of the poorest countries in the world. The life expectancy is about 40 years old. I was thinking about that the other day and realized my parents would be considered ancient there! My dad would probably be the chief of a tribe and be considered "the ancient wise one." On a more serious note, it's hard to imagine the adverse conditions that the people there face.
Well, I better go pack, I leave in 38 hours!