Pole Sana!

Sorry for the delayed post everyone! Some of the things we've been up to include:
- hosting a dinner for the KCMC OT department
- receiving a lesson in how to make chapati, ugali and fried bananas from Momma Karol
- visiting the Snake Park, Maasasi Museum and Cultural Heritage Centre in Arusha
- spending two hours laying outside under the starts during a blackout (this included nice music, candles and shooting stars... one of Tanzacrew's more romantic moments!)

 OT department at KCMC

Momma Karol helping us buy bananas to fry! 

Me rolling out the chapati dough

Bananas frying 

Meal we prepared for the OTs (curry, guacamole, rice, ugali, chapati, fried bananas, iced tea and cookies!) 

KCMC OT's and other international OT students 

Scary crocodiles at the Snake Park in Arusha  

 African Python, I beliiieve

Snake (I don't know what kind this guy is) 

Tortoises!

 Fun times on a camel



What it's like inside a manyatta (Maasai hut) 

 Joycie with a snake!

Elvina with a snake!



Anyone need a massive pair of undies?

So there you have it, some of the fun we have been up to! Happy last day of November :)

-Martha xo

Healthy skin is life...be good to it

Since our last two blog posts have been cultural and historical, I thought I would switch things up and write about an educational project that the Tanza Crew is working on. 

Let me take you back to our pre-Tanzania days...In September, we were approached by an occupational therapist affiliated with IF-SBH (International Federation for Spina Bifida and Hydrocephalus) about a project related to skin care for kids with spina bifida in Tanzania. Spina bifida is a condition whereby the neural tube does not fully close and some vertebrae overlying the spinal cord are not fully formed and remain open. The opening causes damage to the spinal nerves. Pressure sores are prevalent in this population.

A pressure sore is an area of skin that breaks down when constant pressure is placed against the skin. Pressure against the skin reduces blood supply to that area, and the affected tissue dies. This may happen when you stay in one position for too long without weight shifting. Due to the nerve damage, individuals with spina bifida often have loss of sensations, which means that little or no discomfort is felt and therefore there is no trigger telling them to move and reduce the pressure on a particular part of the body.

Our project is to develop an educational tool for children with spina bifida and their parents on pressure sore prevention. Our plan is to develop a poster that can be placed in hospitals and clinics, and accompanying leaflet or brochure that children and their parents can take home. The content of the poster and leaflet will be similar. They will discuss the what, where, why, and how of pressure sores: what they are, where they develop in the body, why they develop, and how they can be prevented. We want to keep words to a minimum, and use photos and drawings. Although there has been much work done on management and treatment of pressures sores, little attention has been paid to prevention. Left untreated, pressures sores can be deadly; thus, it is important to prevent them from developing.

We have had the opportunity to meet with the OT affiliated with IF twice while she was in Moshi and we were able to arrange a skype meeting to discuss the project. We received input and suggestions from various nurses, and parents who attended the IF-SBH parents' meeting. More recently, this week, we had the opportunity to present a rough protoype of our poster to participants of the IF-SBH youth convention at CCBRT. The youths had some great input and we hope to continue discussing the poster tomorrow with the two facilitators of the convention, who are PWLE (People with Lived Experience). Both of them have spinal cord injuries and have had pressure sores in the past. It was great to see that instead of having therapists as facilitators, the convention used peer workers. As an aside, I just wanna say that I have really enjoyed sitting in with the youths from the convention during various sessions. Even with the language barrier, the smiles on their faces exude so much optimism and hope. Their willingness to tell their stories and support one another demonstrate courage and kindness.

Without further ado, I now present you with our prototype...

Our next steps are to incorporate all the input and suggestions we have gathered, translate the phrases and words from English to Swahili, and meet with a local artist who will do the drawings (please excuse our drawing abilities in our protoype). I am really excited to collaborate with the local artist. He has done an amazing job with all his paintings for CCBRT, like the ones on the walls of the seating clinic. I love coming in to the clinic every morning where I spend most of my time when I am at the centre.

 

Wish us luck on the project! And be good to your skin...

-E

Mwalimu: The Great Teacher

Mambo everyone!

This post is going to be a little Tanzanian history factoid dedicated to the “Baba wa taifa”, Father of the Nation, Julius Nyerere, also known as the great teacher “Mwalimu”.

At 39, this young teacher led the first autonomous government, gaining Tanzania independence from British rule. He introduced Swahili as the national language, instilled ideals of ujamaa (family hood) into the people and strove to provide free education for every child. As an example to the educated elite, he cut his own salary and those of all senior government officials by 20%. Tanzania has enjoyed internal peace and stability through the years with very little civil strife because of this man!   

And....Tanzania’s Independence Day is December 9, 1961!

For those of you who don’t know me, my birthday is December 9! I’ll be spending my birthday in Tanzania on its 50^th  Independence Day! What are the chances? Looking forward to celebrating and going out for some nyama choma (bbq goat) and ugali (maize flour ball), a KCMC tradition! J

Joto (hot) Jamz

Whattttttup world? DJ J-Meez in the hisouse. Wanna give a big shout-out to my man Imran Juma all the way back in Toronto. This man put me onto a couple of DJs from Hungary that go by the name of Myon and Shane 54 (MS54). Their podcasts are hot fire, and they often include "the track of the moment" (which is a song that is really popular at the present time) and "the blast from the past" (which is an old school track, that still bangs!). I thought it would be great to recreate this on our blog, but with some Tanzanian flavaa.

The "track of the moment" is "Oyoyo" by Mr. Chocolate aka Sharbaro! This is probably one of the hottest tracks in the streets of Moshi, as we hear it everywhere we go.

And the blast from the past is "Maria Salome" by Saida Kalori. I heard this track when travelling to the field one day on placement and was told she sings in a Northern Tanzanian language. Enjoy!

In the words of my man Bob: Give Thanks and Praises

One of my absolute best friends sent me an email today telling me that in the spirit of the upcoming American thanksgiving she wanted me to know that even with thousands of miles between us, and 10 years of friendship behind us, she is thankful that we are still such a significant part of each other’s lives. I could not agree more!! and this isn’t the first time in the past few weeks that someone has encouraged me to think of what I’m thankful and happy for. So, here it is. A list of those very things …

• My family (including mummy, dad, Michael and Penny… and of course all of my extended family!!)
• All of my friends back home that I love and miss so much
• The great friends I have met here, and the one’s I met before coming here
• Skype!
• The incredible people (and animal) that we come home to every day: Olive, Taysha, Frenk and Blackie
• The beautiful music we hear from our porch (possibly a choir that practices across the street)
• Momma Karol, the OT assistant that SKIPS HER CHAI BREAK (you have no idea how delicious the chai is…) to help translate our sessions with clients
• …chai!

• Playing with kids allll day everyyy day
• The delicous food we eat here... like nyama choma!

• The delicious food that my housemates make… ok let’s be honest, Jeff and Elvina are the cooking dream team. Joyce and I…welll…. we could use some practice..

• Spending time with these great housemates: aka Tanzacrew
• Going for runs and looking down at the beautiful bright purple jacaranda peddles that have fallen to the ground

• Travelling somewhere new and amazing every weekend

 

• The million different pleasant greetings people use (mambo, jambo, habari, shikamoo, etc…)
• The one really bright east-facing star that we see every night
• Our good health
• Having the opportunity to travel and learn at the same time
• The amount we laugh…. It’s absurd.
• The opportunity to make devices (and toys!) that will help our clients

• And finally (there are a thousand more things I could write, but this post has to end somewhere…), I asked Tanzacrew what they’re thankful for and every one of us said something about the welcoming, hospitable and warm people here. The concept that giving is better than receiving, no matter how little you might have, is something that is definitely ingrained in this culture. A word we hear multipe times every day is ‘karibu’, which means ‘welcome’. It is so fitting that this is everyone’s favourite word because it describes exactly how we feel here!

-Martha xo

Nostalgia

Nostalgia:

n.

1. A bittersweet longing for things, persons, or situations of the past.

2. The condition of being homesick; homesickness.

ORIGIN late 18th cent. (in the sense [acute homesickness] ): modern Latin (translating German Heimweh ‘homesickness’ ), from Greek nostos ‘return home’ + algos ‘pain.’

What an amazing weekend we had! I have been touched by the warm hospitality of the individuals we met in Moshi especially my CCBRT colleagues. They have opened their workplaces and homes to us by ensuring that our placement is worthwhile and inviting us for lunch and dinner with their families. Next up is Mama Alex's house...be careful, Jeff. You might not be allowed to go home after dinner.

As many of my CCBRT colleagues have said to me, "karibu, feel at home." Meeting their families really made me miss my family and friends. When the Tanza Crew went to my preceptor's house, her son asked us what "bittersweet" means. We explained that "bittersweet" is the experience of being happy and sad at the same time. I gave the example of going back to school...while someone may be happy to see his/her friends again after the summer, he/she is also sad that summer is over. The word "bittersweet" captures the essence of the feeling that I have now...while I feel blessed to have the opportunity to do my fieldwork in Moshi and to see Mt. Kili everyday, I also feel longing for the simple things from home that give me a sense of security and comfort.

• I miss my comfy queen-sized bed and my purple comforter.
• I miss waking up to the sun rising (sadly, sometimes when I wake up here, it's still dark out but I've been sleeping in until 6 am lately...no more waking up at 5:30 am).
• I miss hot showers!
• I miss Timmy's and Starbucks (yes, I said it, but the coffee here has been really good and Moshi is actually the coffee producing centre of Tanzania. We also have "chai"/tea break every day at work).
• I miss my walks to school. It's my "me" time to clear my mind. Some of the roads that we travel through aren't paved and are quite bumpy.  Let's just say that the ride to CCBRT every morning is never dull. 
• I miss seeing squirrels. Salamanders have been a welcome substitute especially the multicoloured ones. 
• I miss my printer. I'm those old-fashioned people who enjoy reading papers and articles on hard copies than on the computer.
• I miss watching TV shows as they air. I've been lucky that the wi-fi has allowed me to stream shows while I'm here. I'm a TV junky!
• I miss the multicultural aspect of living in Toronto. Today, we had dinner at Taj Mahal, except it wasn't Indian food as we had expected. Nonetheless, it was definitely yummy...pineapple soda and beef skewers! We're branching out from our usual spots: Best Bite (Joyce is a loyal customer) and Pub Alberto (You can only eat "chipsi"/french fries for so long). 
• MOSTLY, I miss physically seeing my family and friends and talking to them. Please know that all your emails and fb msgs have been great to read (sorry for the slow replies). As much as I am having a wonderful time here, I miss you all!

-E

Habari za weekendi

Whaaat a weekend. I like Jaffarey’s style- words are overrated.

In short, we:

-  had beers under the stars during a blackout at a pub down the street

-  played with the kids of Jeff and Elvina’s preceptor for nearly 10 hours (soo.much.fun.!!)

-  killed a chicken, and then prepared and ate said chicken

-  travelled to Marangu and visited a ‘traditional’ home of the Chagga tribesmen, as well as a gorgeous waterfall

Elvina preparing the chicken

Joyce with the naked chicken

Inside the cave community that the Chagga people built 300 years ago to protect themselves from the lowland tribesmen that would invade their territory during periods of draught (Marangu, where the Chagga people live, is about 1000m above sea level)

Ndoro Waterfalls

Our trek back from the waterfall

Tanzacrew!

Beauuuutiful

So yes, it was another nzuri sana sana sana (etc.) weekend.

In other news, Joyce and I have become part-time carpenters. I don’t know if we ever mentioned that we officially switched to paediatrics at the end of our first week here, but it was such a great decision. We spend our days playing with a purpose, and we have ridiculooous amounts of fun. Yesterday we started making a mobile for a child out of pieces of wood, string and pop bottle caps. So we were sawing and sanding and painting and the likes. It was tons-o-fun. It’s great because they have a workshop where they create seats, toys, or any assistive devices that a client might need. We also started making a communication board today for a child that is non-verbal. Pictures to come in the near future!

Finally, OTs listen up: Last week an unfortunate incident occurred where as I was sitting at the desk in my room, minding my own business, a cockroach crawled over my foot!! But a breakthrough was born from this terrible experience- we discovered the BEST use for the Occupational Therapy for Children textbook…

I have to extend a big ASANTE SANA to Joyce and Elvina for killing the cockroach and cleaning it up. I may or may not have stood on the couch screaming while all this went down...

Kwaheri rafikis!
- Martha

Sights from a typical day

Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Kansas Toronto anymore!

A little late with this blog post, my apologies rafikis (friends). Elvina and I had an amazing and eye-opening day last week when we travelled to Marangu to check up on several children with disabilities in the community. Marangu is a village/ small community approximately 35 minutes away from Moshi.  Don't want to to too much writing, so I thought I'd post pictures and take you through our day from start to finish.

We started our day with some ndizi (banana) soup. Our preceptor Albert laughed when we dipped our chipathi (flat bread) in the soup and said he figured we'd do that, based on the fact that previous UofT OT students (Julia and Matt) did the exact same thing.

We also had a chance to visit a local elementary school where we received an amazing welcome. A class of nearly 60 children stood up and sang us a song.

Please take note of the soccer goal posts made of bamboo.

So these apparently grow on banana trees here. We found them at a house we were visiting.

It's quite typical for families to have goats in their backyards. Something not so common back in Toronto.

We made it back to CCBRT headquarters where we had lunch and watched the donkeys do their thing. The donkeys are there because  CCBRT hopes to start up a donkey therapy program for clients. This would be something similar to pet therapy.

And finally, here's a shot of some chicken curry we had for dinner that night. Elvina and I collaborated on this one too. Perfect way to end the day.

Hope for more great days ahead.

Jeff

Funny Moments (“A kuchekesha sekunde”) - Joyce Post

So far, we’ve just gone on and on about how wonderful/amazing/beautiful/perfect/NZURI SANA SANA everything has been here in Moshi. Not that everything hasn’t been (:p) but we’ve definitely had some glitches along the way! So this entry is dedicated to all our “a kuchekesha sekunde(s)”.

1)      The first was actually when we got on the first plane to Dulles, Washington. First of all, we were confused because we thought the pilot said “Dallas”. Jeff quickly figured it out. And then Martha thought she lost her passport and we all nearly freaked out before she found it in her purse.

2)      Our ride was an hour and half late when we arrived in Moshi, and we waited like lost children at the airport until Imran Motors came to pick us up! J

3)      The first time we took a taxi from town back home, we called a reliable driver recommended to us by the name of “Paul”. Halfway through the ride, Jeff gets a call on his cell phone... from Paul. He turns to our driver and is like...”You’re not Paul!” Turns out our driver was not Paul, he was a random taxi driver who said he was Paul. Samuel turned out to be very nice but it was a slightly hilarious scare.

4)      Our realization that petting our beloved guard dog Blacky not only turns our hands black...but also gives us little red itchy bumps on our hands. We now have Blacky petting gloves.

5)      I dropped and destroyed my second dose of Dukoral on the kitchen floor (oral vaccine against cholera and traveller’s diarrhoea). Well...I forgot to store the whole thing in the fridge anyway... So I’m maybe a quarter protected??

6)      Martha and I had a brief freak out where we both realized we might not have enough anti-malarial pills to last the trip because we both saw the same travel clinic doctor who couldn’t do math.

Joyce: “Martha, I might not have enough!!! How many do you have???” After counting... Martha: “Oh my Gosh. I might not have enough!!   

7)      Oxtongue mishaps. Nuff said.

8)      Martha and I repeatedly whacking a kid in the face with a wooden pole, BY ACCIDENT. (little guy didn’t cry either....! until later....)

9)      Martha and I realizing our scrubs don’t fit us at all. Hers are way too tight, and mine are way too big.

10)   Mosquito bites in AWKWARD places.

11)   Making the boys patiently wait for us while us girls went crazy over bags and shoes in town (we may or may not have bought 20 between the three of us in one go...)

12)  Every. Single. Dalla Dalla ride. Today was particularly hilarious though as: Martha nearly lost her bum cheek when the door slammed. I was FULLY leaning on this one man’s arm, if he had let go, I would have fallen on my face. Elvina was nearly hanging out the door (“Joyce....I’m hanging onto your purse for dear life.”), and Jeff WAS hanging out the door.

To sum it all up, this bumpa sticka says it all: 

A journey is best measured in friends rather than distance

It’s been over a week since we landed in Tanzania. Although I am over 12,000 km away from home, the company that I have makes the way seem shorter. In the evenings when we eat dinner together, we would share stories about the clients that we saw, the activities that we did, and the unfamiliar assistive aids/devices we encountered.

Besides placement-related discussions, I have been privy to more personal details about my travel companions. Through observations and conversations, I have learned some interesting facts about Joyce, Martha, and Jeff. I want to dedicate this blog post to them. Since some of our readers may not be other students in our program, this post will give you the opportunity to learn more about the Tanza Crew. For the students in our program, you might just learn some new insights about the Tanza Crew.

      First up is Joyce “creeper” Lee:

1)    The origin of this nickname comes from Joyce’s eagerness to take a lot of pictures of young children during the time she and Martha came along on a CCBRT community visit with Jeff and me. After we finished the visit, a group of children from the community congregated by the CCBRT jeep…cue Joyce and her camera. In all seriousness though, Joyce easily builds rapport with children. The paeds department at KCMC are lucky to have her!

2)    Joyce anapenda (LOVES) the trees and flowers here. She can’t get enough of all the greenery and taking pictures of them. Thank you for being our camera person!

3)    Joyce has difficulties with counting money…guess that stereotype about Asians and Math is not applicable.

      Second is Martha or as Jeff calls her M-Dizzle:

1)    I’m not sure about the origin of this nickname other than the fact that Jeff created this nickname for Martha when they were in the same study group.

2)    Martha’s dad and brother are huge Manchester United fan. They’ll be proud to know that we went to a local pub last Saturday to watch the game.

3)    Martha played basketball in highschool. She was in French immersion and took French in her first year of undergrad. She also did the Jonquière Explore language program.

Third is Jeff aka Baba Alex:  

1)    This nickname has its origins from my first post last week about Jeff’s admirer at CCBRT. She has progressed from “he is handsome” to “I wanna marry him!” She even calls me her sister-in-law. In Tanzanian custom, a woman is recognized by her eldest or youngest child’s name and called for example, “Mama Alex” after her child of the same name. The joke at our placement is that Jeff is “Baba Alex.”

2)    Jeff used to work as an educational assistant and considered pursuing teaching. When asked what subjects he would teach had he gone to teacher’s college, Jeff said he would probably teach geography due to his passion for travelling.  

3)    Jeff loves watching the Food Network channel and is an awesome cook. He prepared dinner for us the past Sunday in the midst of several mini power outages. Dinner consisted of spaghetti with home-made meat and tomato sauce (way better than canned pasta sauce). 

Thank you to the three of you for going on this journey with me. Lala salama.

 -E

 Our explorations have so far led to delicious food discoveries!

 “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” -Mark Twain