RUSTY NAILS AND RAZOR BLADES

One evening last week we had been invited to meet the Zawose family at their compound.  They are at least 3 generations of musicians and live stock tenders.  They all live in the same area and suspect their family totals well over 100.  They showed us some of the basic dancing and music from Tanzania then invited us to a show they were doing at a restaurant near our home base.  At some point during these interactions, we arranged for Stu Bella and Kerry to make their own drums.  (Liz prefered a day curled up with a book) They did get previously made drums with broken tops and started with a dried goat skin...enter the razor blades to remove the hair. No, they were NOT safety razors. Three hours of soaking in water, softened the skins up and part 2 gave them rusty nails to attach the new skin.  NOw we just need the lessons.

Many of the college girls from the last session left today.  They will be missed, have been enjoying their views, advice and conversation.

Now that I have the time to write, the internet cafe has been closed all weekend.  I believe it is a religious holiday that is keeping it closed, rather then the typical reason of loosing electricity.  My guess is bases on the "call to prayer" that has been audible much of the day, spouting from some nasty speaker from a place of worship at least a block away.  Reminds me of the base speakers that travel in the trunks of cars in our home.

A post

Well,we have been here just over one week.  Lots happening.  Our flights were long but uneventful. Getting in a day early was a good idea.  We got to Dar Es Salaam (using the full name seems to mark you as a tourist, so it will forever more be refered to as Dar).  Our hotel was pretty nice in the business part of town, but after our fight the buisness of the day was sleep, wake kids up go eat and sleep again.  I will say I had an amazing dinner of king fish  for just over $10.00 that would rival any Chicago restaurant. Favorite part of the night was when Stuart asked what kind of drinks they had the first response was Killi, the local Kilimanjaro beer.  When Lizzy ordered a rum and coke, the waiters response was "double or single"????

We were picked up at our hotel as expected and on the way to Bagamoyo, we needed to stop at a bank for one of the families to change money.  Bagamoyo has one ATM which is frequently out of money or not working. When I walked out of the bank, I was surprised to see a bank guard and policeman sporting an assault rifle crowded around the van my kids were in.  Fotunately our silver tongued driver defended  Stuart, who had pulled out his computer and assumed to be hacking into the bank security system to steal all their shillings.  Stuart felt our driver Didase was actually chastising the policeman for not being nicer to us when he can up to the car.  I was starting to feel like we were in really good hands.


The first three days seemed a whirlwind of activities.  Getting settled in our rooms, dormatory style.  Quick hello & good by to the West Point guys who were leaving the same day we got here. and getting to know those who still had a week left.  Learning the rules and meeting the staff,  lots of group discussions. tour of the town by car.  Sure can tell Daniel Burnham was never here.

Interestingly, the group that will be here the whole time we are are 3 familes, with Stuart being the only male.  The kids have made a good friend of Bella, who lives in San Diego with her mom Deann.  We have a good group!

Moday was a scavenger hunt about town, which gave us a much better feel for it. Had to go buy oranges and answer a bunch of questions.  It was a good way to get us out of the home base.  

We had lunch with the directors of our placements at home base. I met Julius, who runs the Anglican church school which we would be teaching at.  He showed us a schedule which was basically two subjects a day Math or science/ English or Swalhili.

   Stuart met with Charles who runs UKUN and true to the warnings we had gotten from other volunteers is seems like he has his hands in everything.  I did get a glimpse of a diagram he drew for Stuart describing his organization, but it looked strangley similar to the Krebs cycle to me.

The first day of going to our school, we understood we were to observe and get a feel for the classroom.  I was a bit surprised when after introducing us to the class, Julius handed me the pointer and sat down in one of the 2 chairs in our classroom.  These chairs being the only furniture as well.  Pictures of the classroom will come later.  Camera's tend to be a huge distraction in the classroom so we will try to bring them only at the end of our trips.  Classes run from 8:00am to 11:00am.  10:30 if the cook is not there and thei r is no porridge.  Faux pas the first day was including the word breakfast in morning English instruction when in some cases the porridge is the only meal the kids may get.

 Many of the children in our classroom are orphans and street kids, generally taken care of by relatives or friends.  There is no orphanage as we think of them.  The expression of "it takes a village to raise a child"  Is evident all over here.  The kids are watched and disciplined by any and every adult.  This is also a "private school" which charges tuition and there for considered a reeally good school.  The government schools may have 100 kids in a classroom.  We have just around 30. There are lots of interesting things to know about the school system, will share more details if interested, but suffice to say the government schools don't start teaching english until 5th grade, the private start right away.  The testing for students to advance in the layers of school is all done in English.

CCS gives us classes and discussions in Education, health care, Swahiali lessons on most afternoons.

Friday class is sports and games.  Our school is very close to the Indian Ocean and Friday is beach day.  We had walked on Thursday evening to the fishing port in Bagamoyo. Not the place you would want to be after sundown, but ok for during the day.  Saw they had dumped off some boat about a hundred yellow plactic bottles of cooking oil, which then floated to shore and were being stacked up for delivery.  Sorry pictures are often not encouraged -you have to ask- and you may be asked to pay for the privilage. Not an easy task if there are 20 people in the scene.

The same boats we had seen last evening, which were bobbing away in the water were now totally up on sand, the tide having gone miles out, barely visiable from last evenings beach.  I should be able to get pictures of that next Friday.  July 29th.

Tanzania Update

Hey guys! This is stuart! We were having trouble with the blog but that is over now. we are enjoying our placements a lot. I am working with AIDS patients and a bunch of other stuff, while Mom and Liz are working at a school with a ton of little kids. Our fellow volunteers are all very nice! The surroundings seem like a movie set, every cliche thing you hear about africa is a reality. homes made of sheet metal, police with enormous automatic weapons, children running around everywhere, women carrying heavy loads on their heads. it sometimes feels like its all fake, like everyone is putting on a show to trick us. Many things are very cheap, a dollars worth of tanzanian shillings buys 3 sodas. glass bottle, real sugar. its very nice! there is a lot more to write about, but we don't have a lot of time to do so! ill try to write more soon! bye!

-Stuart Naue

Definition of stress

-Paper work to go to Tanzania  Do they really need kids report card?????
-separating "good money" from bad Tanzania only takes money printed after 2006
-they don't take credit cards only occasionally traveler checks
-getting kids to join in on this organization
-the entire idea of taking kids halfway across the world
-have not yet gotten our malaria meds from our stinking mail order pharmacy
-making sure our suitcases don't weigh over 50 pounds (cost for overage on Africa trips is ONLY $200.00)
-leaving my Mom with my very much ailing dog who suffers from sever depression when I am home from work later then 5:30 (that would be the dog, Mom may be welcoming the relief from my craziness)
-leaving my patients and Doc at work when I know things should be in better shape
-planning on taking only a couple packs of cigarettes, using this trip to give them up (again)

Remedy:
-have gotten very good at compartmentalization. Plan to forget about all of this (except the cigarettes) when we get on the first plane of our 26 hours in the air!

OOPS Got the placements wrong

Actually, Stuart will be working on the Aids project.  Lizzy and I will be at the preschool.

House keeping notes

Learned another fun thing today...Will have to teach the kids how to iron clothes.

When mango worms get under your skin

Created: Friday, March 31, 2006Print

 

Hanging your clothes outside to dry in areas of high tropical rainfall can be risky if they are not ironed properly. Mango flies or myiatic flies are common in these areas, especially during the hot and humid summers.

If clothes are hung outside, it is possible for a female fly to lay eggs on them, especially when the clothes were contaminated with urine or faeces. The clothes are then worn and the eggs penetrate the skin. People will usually complain that their body is itching and within three days, painful, boil-like lesions occur. Over the next three days, pus emerges from each sore as it gets ripe. Once the sore is expressed a worm comes out of it.

The fly is found widely in large parts of northern South Africa, as well as large parts of Africa. Dogs and rodents are usually the hosts, but humans often become accidental hosts.

A strange skin condition
The condition is known as cutaneous myiasis, a skin condition caused byCordylobia Anthropophaga (tumbu fly, mango fly, putsi fly). According to the Natural History Museum in London, myiasis can be a debilitating and sometimes even fatal condition. It is caused by the feeding and development of fly larvae on the host's dead or living tissues, usually at the skin surface or in body orifices.

Treatment usually consists applying the lesion with petroleum jelly or liquid paraffin to suffocate the larva. Treatment should be left on for 30 minutes to an hour and then the larva should be pushed out via finger pressure. A course of antibiotics is then followed.

Do your ironing 
It is very important to iron all clothes with a hot iron as it will kill any eggs laid on them. The other possibility is not to wear them for 48 hours after they have dried, as this is longer than the lifespan of the eggs. As another preventative measure, clothes should not be left on the ground to dry. This applies to all garments including sheets, towels and bedding.

If you suspect you may have been infected by the larvae of a mango fly, it is important that you see a doctor immediately. Attempting to remove the larva yourself could cause severe pain, rupturing and inflammation.

e hanging to dry, the mango flies will lay eggs on wet clothes.  You have to iron them to kill the eggs.

Volunteer Placements