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!