Exploring the beautiful Tanzania

You know you are at the equator when the moon is constantly right above your head! The stars are so beautiful here and the weather is getting a bit warmer. I really wanted to share pictures of the places I have visited the past two weeks. BEWARE: this post is picture heavy. During the weekends we are free to take trips around Tanzania and I have taken full advantage of my time!

The first weekend our whole EWH group visited a coffee farm run by the Chaga tribe- a large ethnic group that inhabits the slopes of Mt. Kilimanjaro. We helped make our own coffee from dried beans -YUM. Then we explored the Chaga caves. These are pretty amazing caves made by the Chaga people a long time ago ( took them over 50 years to make) to protect themselves when the Masai tribe attacked. The caves were very strategic with different structures such as holes for warriors to hide in if the Masai came down and hidden chimneys for their fires. (The picture to the right is the lunch they fed us that day- really good!)

Here our guide is showing us the arabica plant- they plant banana trees nearby to shield it from the elements. We took the dried beans and then ground them and mashed them to take off the skins. Then We boiled it for a long time in water and filtered the final product to get a good ole-cupa-joe.

This past weekend we went on a hike to the town of on the side of Mt. Meru. The view was beautiful in the upper farmlands- a whole different perspective on life in Tanzania compared to the city.

The next day we visited Majimoto hot, well warm, springs. You have to trave through these rural villages in the dust and then suddenly- an oasis appears! We got there early and had the whole place to ourselves for a while- taking full advantage of the rope swing. It was very surreal and felt like a trip you see in magazines. Plus there were loads of monkeys in the trees but were super hard to take a picture of!

The weekend trips have been awesome and this weekend I will be going on a Safari!

Kwaheri! Bye!

Making real world tech!

I wanted to share some of the cool projects we have done in the engineering part of our classes here!

The first project was to make an extension cord. I never put two and two together that I could actually make one of these very useful pieces of technology. We made it from a thick wire, outlet box, plug and easily soldered them together!

 Setting up the plug and getting ready to solder.

Another project we did was make a led flashlight. The components were perfboard, white led, AA battery pack, switch and soldered them together. It works and we will be using it in our work next month as electricity is not a constant here.

 It works!!!!

Don't try this at home kids. Trying to use our heat shrink tubing.

Recently we also made a small AC to DC converter (but we do need a transformer to step down the power to 110V or the board will fry. . . I know this from experience). The components were perfboard, 1 kOhm resistor, 1 capacitor 100 uF, 4 diodes, and a transformer jack for plugging into our device.

You can see the black spot where we fried our resistor. . .  Lesson learned

These were great hands on labs that made useful tech! I'll keep you all updated with other cool projects that we do.

First Day at Mt. Meru Regional Hospital

Every friday our class squishes into a bus and goes to a hospital to fix equipment all while getting a hands on learning experience in the feild. Going to Mt. Meru Regional hospital in Arusha was the highlight of my week even though it was COLD and the only day it rained. This was unfortunate as most of the devices we worked on were electrical . . .

Anyway the first device I worked on was a baby scale (purely mechanical). It did not appear to be seriously broken so my parter and I opened it up, cleaned the inside and calibrated it- took ~ 1.5 hours.

  Here is the photo of the final product!

Then we went to work on a suction pump that could not suck very much- this was difficult because of our lack of knowledge and took the rest of the day. Another challenge was that many of the screws were stripped so opening the darn thing was almost impossible. In the end, we learned our lesson that we need to take careful stock of all our screws. . . . On the bright side, we think we can get this running next week after making the main pump better sealed with epoxy! Its a long shot but, these pieces of equipment are crucial in the operating room. 

Below is a picture of the device mostly disassembled.

As a final note, I wanted to speak to the rooms upon rooms of broken/donated equipment. It was recently that I had heard most of the donated equipment to developing countries does not get used for very long or at all. This was sadly very apparent at Mt. Meru Hospital.  The pictures below are just two of the many rooms that were filled with broken equipment and the wort part of it was this building now used for storage of bad equipment,  used to be a children's ward. There are a variety of reasons why this has happened (which I will not drone on about) but, seeing these rooms helped solidify WHY I am here. I know my work will not be truly sustainable but I hope my efforts can help spread the knowledge of this serious problem.

These photos are spooky- almost as spooky as being in them.

Sorry for the depressing post- I am still having a great time in Tanzania and I'll make sure to keep you all updated!

Daily Life in Usa River

I realized that I have not been clear WHAT I am doing in Tanzania. I am a part of Engineering World Health: Summer Institute in Tanzania. The goal of the program is to teach students about engineering for the medical community in low resource areas and give them a hands on experience through helping local hospitals. The first month is engineering and swahili classes while the second month sends pairs of students to hospitals around Tanzania to help fix equipment.

My schedule during the week is:
      6:45 : Wake up under my mosquito net  and get ready for the day. Honestly, I have not seen that many mosquitoes around here because I am not near water but it makes me kind of feel like a princess in a canopy bed!

    7:20: Eat a good breakfast made by our host mom and drink chai (which just means tea here). There are also two other little girls, ages 8 and 10 in our host family who are so cute! They like teaching us Swahili and showing off their english.

    7:40 Head out to out classes at TCDC- either walk (15 minutes) or take a dala dala which is the Tanzanian version of a bus. It is really a mini-bus that is usually VERY crowded but costs ~ 300 tsh = 15 cents.

    8:30 Start Swahili class in TCDC!

   10:30 Chai break- they have tea, coffee, and Masala chai! It is an awesome break where the whole TCDC comes together. Then back to classes after 30 min

    12:30 Eat lunch at TCDC.

    1:30 Start Engineering class- we have lecture for 1- 1.5 hours by an awesome engineering teacher who has a lot of experience working on medical equipment in low resource areas. Then we have a hands-on lab. In the most recent lab we learned how to solder through making our own extension cord! So cool- will have to try at home as well.

    4:00 SECOND chai break !!!!!

    5:00/5:30 End classes and walk/take dala dala to our host-family's home before it gets dark. We also have homework/reading everyday that keeps us busy at night as well as interacting with our host family.

The weekends are ours for adventures! (more stories following)
---Bye!

First Impressions

I promised to write this post so here are some (somewhat incoherent) thoughts I had on my first day.

1) Its COLD. Yes - Tanzania has a winter which I was only somewhat prepared for. It also rains-though not as much as Seattle. It will be a bit colder the next month when I am higher up on Mt. Kilimanjaro-5,000 ft above sea level. I am taking classes now to prepare for my second month stationed in the town of Machame at the Machame Lutheran Hospital. I am currently taking classes in Usa river at TCDC (Training Center for Development Cooperation in Eastern and Southern Africa), which is somewhat near Arusha.

2) I should have brought a skirt. I am staying with a host family that lives in a University- Tumaini University, Makumira which has a dress code. While I am very safe behind university gates, I have to remember to wear a kanga (African wrap) or skirt everyday so I can be let through the gates. Luckily our host mom had bought my roommate and I beautiful kangas so I was set for the first week. I went to the market today and bought two skirts and another kanga (cannot resist because they are so beautiful!)

3) Bananas come with everything.  ok maybe not everything but just about in every meal there is a side of banana or the bananas are mixed into the food. I like bananas so this is great! (My host family also had Nutella and peanut butter so even better!) Also- my host family feeds me a LOT, will not be losing any weight on this trip.

4) Running water exists here. To be clear- it is not everywhere and I do not really know where it comes from yet but toilets and showers are a thing. My host family is somewhat well off- what we would define as their "middle class". We have a toilet and shower that can produce hot water by using electricity to heat the water. ---> I still have to wash my clothes by hand though. I do not know what will happen next month but I am thankful for what I have now.

5) Swahili is difficult. I knew it would be difficult but it is not soaking up in my brain like Korean did. This may be due to my limited exposure to the language? Anyways it is still fun to learn!

Below are some random photos that I want to share. Pretty Flowers from Tanzania!!!! Also their avocados are huge!!

I'll post soon!

Getting to Tanzania is Half the Battle

So I finally arrived in Tanzania after a variety of mishaps.
                  Here is the story(beware its a bit lengthy):
I guess medical emergencies on planes are a thing  and so they had to happen on my flight to Amsterdam from Boston. In fact, 2 happened. The plane had to land in Newfoundland for the first passenger-on the upside, I know know where that is (east part of Canada)! The second person happened close to landing- but still . . . 2?

              I feel really bad for both people but they did indirectly contribute to my freak out in Amsterdam when I found I had missed my flight by 2 hours. Luckily I had made a friend with a Kenyan-American who was my neighbor for the flight. I also made a friend in Amsterdam with a lady who was heading to Tanzania as well for a solo Safari trip. We made an unlikely trio but stuck together the whole day exploring the airport. Now you may say "Lael, that sounds like a fun exploration!".

BUT. . .
1) The internet was iffy and extremely annoying- it was also  my only form of communication to the outside world.
2)This delay prevented me from sleeping for over 24 hours- its hard to sleep on planes and in airports
3) Delta only compensated me 10 euros--> thats like a sandwich.
4)Amsterdam airport was under construction - It is large but currently very stark and unwelcoming

               Nevertheless, problems bring people together and it was nice to have people to hang with. The Kenyan also told me lots of stories of Africa and some Swahili! Looking back now it was not as big a deal as I made it.
         I ended up taking a flight to Nairobi, Kenya and then a short flight to Kilimanjaro airport. Kenyan air was decent- I had a good seat with leg room and they fed me---->what more could a college student want other than internet access?
            When I got to Kenya, the airport was pretty big but they had frequent power outages so there was some confusion to what gate my next flight was at. All in all, it cost me a bit more money (International phone call and money at airport) but I got to my program. I will follow with a post about my new host family and my first impressions of Tanzania later but internet is not a constant here so I better post when I can.
               Here are some photos of my journey:

Picture from Window of Nairobi Airport

Picture from Sky over Tanzania: not sure the mountain(not kilimanjaro)

Picture of grounds of the school where I am learning Swahili and Engineering principals.

Picture of our daily classroom and the other students

Baadaye (see you later)!

Pre-flight Jitters

School is OUT ! 
With the "busy busy" of school, it had not sunk in that I am actually doing this trip. . . I am very excited that sleep (on the plane) is in my near future. As for this blog, I'll try to keep it updated with the good, bad, and ugly pictures. Dear reader-Keep in mind that this will be a very awkward start for both sides- I've never blogged before and you. . .well you are actually reading this--strange.

         While this flight is not to Tanzania (I'll take that flight on Saturday, heading to Boston first!) I'm really feeling the butterflies for this trip. There is always the constant worry of "Did I forget something?"--> probably
         BUT I am more nervous about being able to do a good job. As a "Bioengineer" my skill set has breadth, not depth so I am worried I will not be able to get my electrical work running. To combat this-- I have been reading up on circuits + electrical podcasts. I am also hoping that I can get a Swahili book in Boston because they didn't have any at the bookstore near my home! So much I still have to think about- better get crackin!
Tuonane baadaye- See you later