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Welcome to International Health Partners TZ and International Health Partners - US INC.

 

General answers to common questions are available on the FAQ page of this site.

 

 

Dear Ones who care about IHP,

 

Another incredible month to tell you about.  But, first I want to say that Dexter Quiggle is almost ready to start loading a container of dental equipment to come to us here.  If you have things to send to us, please contact Dexter Quiggle quiggs@sbcglobal.net.  He’s going to have to figure out if a 20’ container will do it or if he’ll need a bigger one.  Please send him about $10.00 per cubic foot of your load to help cover the cost of shipping.

 

The month began with Debbie Chong’s OB/Gyn team paying us their simi-annual visit.  They come each May and September and do a huge service for our patients.  Their group is called M.I.A., (Medicine In Action).  This time they did 7 major surgeries, some minor ones, and saw about 97 patients for extensive work-ups.  Unfortunately they also found two cases of advanced cervical cancer that had gone too far for us to handle.  These patients were referred to Ocean Road Cancer Hospital in Dar es Salaam.

 

It is such a gift to the women here to have these doctors come.  Some of our patients are Muslim or Hindu women who must be seen by a female gynecologist.

 

Right now we have Judy Anderson here from Iowa.  She’s doing an eye-glasses clinic and giving out 100-120 prs. of glasses a day that were donated by the Lions Clubs.  Whatever glasses remain after Judy leaves will be donated to the refugee camps near Kigoma.  We work with the Catholics and the Red Cross to coordinate this service.  Some of the refugees have been in the camp for 13 years! Egads!

 

What is a typical day for Paula? I get this question….so, here goes.

 

I get up fairly early in order to make breakfast for the guests/volunteers.  We meet then for breakfast and sort of figure out what everyone is going to do that day and what I need to get in town to make that happen.

 

I go by the clinic to pick up the check books and lists of what’s needed and Magola and I take off for town (Mwanza), about a 20 minute drive from the clinic.  I go to the bank to withdraw any needed cash for the day.  I may have to pay bills (this is a CASH economy) which may entail paying the social security taxes for the employees…today it was 637,000 Tshillings, about $500.00.  We deduct income taxes and social security from our employees just like in the U.S.  Then we have to write reports and pay those to the appropriate government agencies.  I may be negotiating the price of cement, picking up reagents for the laboratory, pricing bolts and nails, or going from pharmacy to pharmacy trying to find a particular medication.  I may be going to a government facility to try to get those medications provided for the government at a deeply discounted rate, i.e. for malaria treatment.  Sometimes I have to go to the diocese to collaborate with them on one project or another.  Some days I must take paperwork for incoming medical personnel to the Regional Medical Officer so the government knows who is coming and what they’re doing and that everyone is properly licensed.  If a team is specialized in any way I have to make sure all needed supplies are on hand, i.e. medications, oxygen, blood, etc.  We’re preparing for a team of college students from Winona State University who are going to do the landscaping around the newly opened Patricia Ward, so we’re buying plants, manure, spades, arrange for a bus, etc.  And, of course, I go to the grocery store, post office, fresh vegetables market, etc.  If we have guests coming or going, we make the necessary trip(s) to the airport, etc.

 

I try to make it home each day in order to have my “Hour of Power.”  This means I take my swim/workout in my little built-up cistern (pool).  It’s small but DEEP. Denny also works out every other day using an aqua-jogger which holds him perpendicular in the water so he can “run” and do the breast stroke to keep his muscles strong, but not stress his joints or his back.  When I’m done with my water work-out, I take my prayer time.  Mostly I thank God for the beautiful life I’ve been given, for our place in it, and for God’s work to do and the health to go on doing it.  (Okay, and I ask God to continue finding people who will help us fund this work!).  And guess what! God always comes through-----you!

 

Then, it’s back in the house for a quick shower, check e-mail, fix dinner, do dishes, check e-mail, and figure out what needs doing the next day.  By that time it’s often midnight and I get up about 6:15 A.M.  Yes, sometimes I squeeze in a nap.  By the way, I LOVE it when people write back.  I LOVE knowing this update doesn't just get deleted without being read.  Even if you just have a few words to say, they mean a lot to us. Also, please note this is a new e-mail address for me, paula@ihptz.org.  The other ones still work, though and I try to check all of them each day, but this is the one I'll be using most frequently now.

 

Now, a note from one of our volunteers:

 

I am Judy Anderson from Newton, Iowa. I am a senior citizen at the age of 74.  I came to Mwanza because the Holy Spirit had told me that I could make a difference in other peoples’ lives and Denny and Paula’s was the place I chose.  I discovered the old fashion method of testing eyes was still available for me to use.  God has sent 500 people to our clinic receiving the glasses and has changed all their lives for the better.  It’s so rewarding when a lady who couldn’t see me across the table and I fit her with a pair of glasses with a powerful prescription and she said “I can see, I can see!” and went flying out the door.  She went around and shook hands with all her friends and looked them in the eye and said, “ I can see you again”.  Then she went flying down the road to tell her family.  This is what makes my work all worthwhile.

 

I booked my flight and came by myself and felt very much at ease all the time.  Some of my friends were concerned but there was nothing at all that frightening.

 

I feel this makes me a better Christian and as long as God continues to open the doors I’ll walk through.  Judy Anderson

 

(See picture of Judy Anderson and a patient available on May Update Page)

 

(See picture of Patient who can see again on May Update Page) The smile says it all!

 

A note from Denny:

 

We are looking forward to three scheduled work teams in May (next week), June, and July.

 

A team from Winona State University will do landscaping around the Patricia Ward and tree planting in the fut5ure hospital parking lot. We’ll ask the students to plant Neem trees. These trees have an anti-mosquito factor, so when the wind blows through the leaves, it reduces the number of mosquitoes downwind. That’s where the wards and clinic are. So, it’s a win, win…shade for the parking lot and fewer malaria carrying mosquitoes in the clinic and wards.

 

In June a team from Christ Church Unity of Kansas City will be here to work on the Bogumil Birthing Center to install the suspended ceilings (no small job) and complete construction on the few remaining incomplete interior walls. Joining the Kansas City folks will be Dave Bogumil, the man for whom the ward is named. He was going to be part of the original St. Matthew’s team but was ill. The team asked that the ward be named in his honor. He’s recovered now and will work on the ward which will carry his name.

 

In July a team from Atonement Lutheran, from Overland Park, KS will arrive to start construction on the eye center (which the companion team from First Lutheran, Newton, Iowa, was not able to do when their container was held up by a dock strike in Mombasa. The Newton team, as reported previously, did a great job on the B.B.C. (birthing center).

 

To have everything ready for these three teams our Tanzanian work crews are “peddling fast” and furiously in addition to doing the cement work construction on the footings and foundation for the laundry. (You can’t have a hospital if you can’t wash the sheets!)

 

We are burning the midnight oil (well, usually candles when we have our frequent power outages) writing the grant application construction details for the administration unit, the central supply/pharmacy building, the maintenance area offices and workshops, and the laundry as well as for the necessary security fence to surround this entire area owned by the East of Lake Victoria Diocese of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Tanzania.

 

Thank you for all your support which makes all these projects possible.

 

Please send donations to:

 

International Health Partners, US & Tz

Joyce Zemel, Treasurer

1811 So. 39^th St. #36

Mesa, AZ  85206

 

If you have not done so, please go to our website, www.ihptz.org and see what a grand job Rex and Sue Thompson have done in updating it.  And, if you’re so moved, you can donate directly by clicking on “Just Give.”

 

Blessings to all of you from all of us,

 

Denny, Paula, Mary Ellen, Joyce, Sele, Magola and our construction crew, and our clinic crew led by Dr. Bon and Miriam

 

 

(Picture of Debbie Chong’s OB/Gyn team paying us their semi-annual visit is available on the May Update page.)

 

(Picture of People lining up to have their eyes checked is available on the May Update page.).