More on Tanzania

I know it’s been awhile since I reported, but not a lot happened, then a lot. Last weekend was very quiet as I was here for the first time alone, and then Karen returned Tuesday and the rest of the group is back in the US (I’m a little jealous). I had grown quite frustrated with the way we chose which facilities we were going to visit, basically it wasn’t random, yet there wasn’t a good reason why we chose the ones we did. We just asked everyone their opinion of which facilities they thought we should visit, which is definitely not the most generalizable method of selection. In the process, we were driving 3 hours to the next dispensary and in the mean time passing by 3 others. Then, when Professor G. left she changed her rationale and said “just go to as many as you can.” So, with that in mind we were able to obtain a detailed map the from the regional planning office and I spent Monday marking on the map where each health facility is. Then, two CARE staff, assisted me in choosing ones that were near each other. I couldn’t have done it without their knowledge because sometimes two places looked near each other, but they informed me the road drawn on the map was not passable, so really it would take three hours to get from one to the other, even though on the map they were only 30km apart. Anyways, I’m happy to report that this past week we were able to get to 12 dipensaries! In the whole previous time we were here, working in two separate groups we only made it to 18.
Thursday was quite an eventful day for me. We (Karen, Victor, Driver, Myself) set off early on a two hour drive to Ngudu region where we would be working for the day, and as usual I was looking out the window of the vehicle taking everything in. We weren’t driving too fast as the road is dirt, and I noticed a man curled up on the side of the road covered in flies. It took me a few seconds to take in what I saw, which I quickly concluded was a dead man on the side of the road, but I yelled “stop” and asked the driver to please go back. Of course the driver and Victor (CARE staff) in the front seat had already seen the man and ignored it, but I made them go back because I had to see if the man was dead or not. I jumped out of the car and went over to him and he was covered in cuts, blood, and more flies than you could possibly imagine. I got closer and my heart nearly froze when I noticed he was in fact breathing. He was barely able to talk in a whisper, and I asked what happened (Victor translating) and he said he had been beaten for stealing a jug of water and left of the roadside to die. He had been on his way to the hospital which we were only about 2 km from, but he never made it. So, of course I knew we had to get him to the hospital immediately so we managed to get him into the back of the vehicle. On the way to the hospital I gave him as much water as he could swallow and was able to clean up his worst wounds in hopes to get some of the flies that were now covering our vehicle away ( I always carry my first aid kit and had gloves and supplies). We got him to the hospital, where we got him onto a “stretcher” and then to a bed, I left him with clean water and a towel. Later in the day after we had finished visiting our dispensaries I bought him new pants as his clothes were completely bloody and torn and he had been completely exposed. We went back to check on him, I gave him food, the pants, and a shirt I had of Jeremy’s that he had given before I left that I had been always been carrying with me here to sleep in. He seemed a little better, but it was also clear that the hospital hadn’t done much to help him. He pointed to his back where he had a huge thorn or wire or something protruding from his skin that looked very infected, I still cringe just thinking about it because it was sticking out almost two inches and he has been laying on his back the whole time! He had been in the hospital at least 5 hours and he still had this thing in his back. I slipped him a painkiller that Justin had given me before I left and I talked to him for a little while (with Victor translating) and then left. I think he will be ok, but I couldn’t stop thinking about how no one had helped him before…he had been on the side of the road for hours and there were definitely plenty of people that must have passed him. When I asked Victor and our driver about this they said that people must have left him because he was a thief. To this I said, “so they feel he deserves to die for stealing a jug of water?” To this they replied, “of course.”
To back up to a previous part of the day, we were visiting a dispensary to do our usual data collection. Karen began interview the in charge at the dispensary, while I was being nosy and looking around to examine the facility and take some pictures. There were only three rooms in the place and I turned the corner and right there, on the floor, was a woman giving birth at that moment. I stood there shocked as I was completely not expecting what I was seeing. I yelled for Karen to come see, and we both just looked for a moment in awe. The most amazing thing was how did we not know that there was a woman giving birth in this tiny building with no doors or windows? The answer is simple; she did not make a noise. Truly amazing!
Anyways, I have had a lot of memorable experiences here in Mwanza and am heading back to Dar Es Salaam tomorrow for the rest of my stay until Jeremy arrives. Speaking of Jeremy, I am happy to report that he has sold our house! We close April 3rd and they are letting us rent from then until early June. So we have to find a house pretty immediately when we get back. Jeremy is definitely missing me, when I talked to him the other day he said that he ate a bowl of soup with a ladle and ice cream with a fork because the dishwasher was full and we were out of dishwashing detergent! Needless to say, I am the one that does the grocery shopping. Last I talked to him, Russ was kind enough to bring over some beer and dish washing detergent.