End of first month: Fixin' more stuff

Hello! Sorry for the late update, I have now moved to Machame Lutheran Hospital on the side of Kilimanjaro and internet has been sketchy here. Before I get into my new adventures, I wanted to share some of my thoughts from my first month in Tanzania.

 "Sometimes you have it, sometimes you don't" I've found that this is a phrase which embodies many things in Tanzania: medicine, electricity and medical devices to name a few. During my 1 month at the EWH: Summer Institute I have have leaned a great many engineering skills, more importantly I better comprehend that a good infrastructure is what makes or breaks your system. Looking at the lowest level, when we were at Mt. Meru hospital for our weekly engineering escapades, I always noticed the gravel roads and spread-out layout of the buildings. I also noted a large number of things with wheels (carts, stretchers, wheelchairs etc) that were piled up in what I called the "medical devices graveyard" AKA the storage room. After the third and final trip I realized there was a correlation between these two things. Due to the unstable ground, the devices needed to move things or people around were breaking. This in turn led to more hassle because these devices were sorely needed for such a spread out hospital. Literally unstable framework of the system was hurting itself. 

As an engineer there is not much immediate action I can take to fix this but I have to be able to recognize the holes in the infrastructure and be able to work around it. Don't have electricity in this room? Get your self a power cord, maybe even a couple. Don't have a manual? Check the Internet and if no luck be extra careful opening the machine with step by step pictures of the process ( and keep track of your screws!). It's been a busy first month but I'm excited to continue with my new knowledge of how medical devices and medical system work in a developing country. Below are some past pictures of my work at Mt. Meru hospital.

This is the room that I posted in an earlier post, it has now been organized! While I suspect it will be filled with more junk, it was a very satisfying project.

                                    

Here is a picture of a suction pump we revived! Luckily the motor was still good and it just needed new tubing.

Be on the lookout for more posts about my time in Machame!

Masai Village Time!!

At the end of our safari we visited a Masai village. They did a greeting dance, showed us their tiny huts and sold us some of their wares. My engineering partner Camilla was able to get some great photos that we want to share!

 Showing us how they make fire - with just a stick, wood and dried grass.

 They can start herding cattle at 5 years old!

 They really liked camilla's camera and kept trying to grab it.

I know parts of it was highly altered for tourists (especially things they were selling) but it boggles my mind how they live. The father of the village can have many wives- all depending on how many cows he has. Each women has to make their own hut, by hand, out of wood and mud which all her children stay in and sometimes the man of the settlement joins. The one we visited had seven huts for seven wives and all the children were running around outside herding cattle (gaahh- so cute wish I could share all the photos of them!). They said their diet consists of cow meat, blood, marrow and sometimes ugali (a grain porridge). It was like dropping into another world which was an amazing experience (but I am not sure I would want to continue living there).

Safari Time!!

Last weekend I went on a two-day safari, the first day to Lake Manyara and on the second day we went to Ngorongoro. The conservation area of Ngorongoro is amazing because it is a huge ancient hollowed-out volcano which is home to thousands of animals. This post will mostly be pictures with credit going to my engineering partner Camilla who had a far superior camera. We drove around with land rovers, poking our heads out to get a glimpse of the vast beauty before us. I was able to see lions and a rhino from far away but do not have great photos of them. As for the rest of the animals. . . here are some photos!

Lake Manyara 

Many, many baboons. This area mostly had impalas, giraffes (too far to get a picture) and zebras.

View of the mountainside from our hotel.        

Ngorongoro

We got really close to elephants- tembo in swahili. They were very big and had four babies following them around!

Lots of wildebeests (yes that is how it is spelled). . . and then some

Hippos! We stopped to eat by a pool and these guys were constantly popping up for air.

Spotted Hyena. Was just sleeping in the middle of the road. This was the closest we got to hyenas all day.

Lots of ostriches. This is a female ostrich, so much bigger than the males

Lions from afar. Sad we were not able to see them closer but I guess it was safer?

We ended the second day visiting a Masai village but I am saving all my photos for another post because there are so many!