February 2010

February Update from Nyakato

Dear Friends,

Building is going very rapidly because we have an internationally known concrete specialist on site volunteering his time. Never has progress been so fast. He and his wife are leaving in a month having done marvelous things. The birthing center is nearing completion. The eye center is done to an extent that our local people can finish it. Bathrooms are installed, electricity is available to all buildings. It is amazing...and is also very expensive. Usually Dr. Lofstrom and Paula return from fundraising with enough money to last until September. However, this year we have spent almost all the money in building the hospital....which is what you have donated the money for. So now I am asking one more favor. Can each of you find one other donor to give us money so we can continue the work this summer? Twenty five dollars or more from each new donor will help the work continue this summer. We hate to stop construction for a couple of months for want of money, so whoever you can find, it will keep this construction going.

Please know that without all of you this would not happen: poor people getting medical care, Tanzanians getting quality care and a new hospital emerging in a district that has no hospital.

Thank you for your past support and your future actions. God bless you.

Mary Ellen

Paula and Denny writing:

It’s raining. A lovely tropical rain….not a downpour, just a nice watering for the flowers and crops. WHAT A CHANGE!!!! In the U.S. we scooped snow and more snow and then it snowed!!! And people ask, “Why do you do this?” Well, there are other reasons, of course, why we’ve chosen to live in Tanzania and build a hospital, but snipping fresh flowers for my table, in February, is a special treat.

The progress while we were in the U.S. has just blown us away. Pictures attached of the birthing center central area, Len Duda, Sele Shabani, and the weekly safety meeting. How can we express our gratitude to Len and Gloria Duda for taking everything to a higher level while we were gone? It’s impossible. They’ve given so much to help this health center become the hospital the people here need. Thank you. Thank you. Sadly, they will be leaving in three weeks and will be sorely missed. But their gifts to IHP and to Nyakato will bless us and those we serve for a long, long time.

Another container is to be loaded! Hooray! So, please, all of those who wanted to send things to Dexter Quiggle for the California container, please be aware that the next container will come from Craig Bjorgum and will be loaded and sent from Mississippi. Please contact Craig at craig@belindastewartarchitects.com and let him know what you want to ship to us. He will be staging the container and will need to know how much space will be needed. Please also figure on sending Craig about $10.00 per cubic foot for shipping.

Sara Jager:

I am a fourth year medical student from Uniformed Services University in The United States and plan to pursue a residency in primary care, particularly, pediatrics. I have always been interested in global health and serving underserved communities. I wanted exposure to rural medicine in a developing country and was attracted to the Eastern African culture, language, and land. IHP invited me to come to Tanzania to learn from their doctors in the outpatient clinic. I have been here in Mwanza for just over one week and am impressed at the quality of care delivered with comparatively meager resources. Fifty percent of the clinic’s daily patients are new patients. It seems that word has gotten out that quality medicine is being delivered at Nyakato Health Center and patients are very pleased with the care they are receiving. In the United States I had never had the opportunity to treat malaria or typhoid but at Nyakato, my skills in these areas have developed rapidly and I am so thankful for the amazing learning experience that is sure to shape how I deliver care to the underserved populations in my own country. Sadly, there are many patients that we are unable to help simply because we lack the resources. While the clinic boasts an excellent supply of pharmacy drugs, the radiology department is non-existent. Having an x-ray to examine the chests of TB and HIV patients would be indispensible. An expanded lab facility would allow us to perform pap smears, CD4 counts, thyroid tests and more. Of course, all of these initiatives are planned when the financial resources become available, but currently, it is a small outpatient clinic with a 70% focus on treatment of infectious disease, waiting for the opportunity to expand in to a more comprehensive patient care facility. As the patient base continues to grow, more and more diverse complaints will present at the clinic and the clinic will need to grow in order to keep pace. In the meantime, the hardworking staff at Nyakato will continue to deliver excellent care to Mwanza and the surrounding community. I am so grateful to be a part of this team.

Luca Gefaeller:

As an occasional student from Germany at the University of Dar es Salaam I have spent my first five months in Tanzania studying the Social Sciences. Arriving at Nyakato after a semester as a non-medical volunteer I am eager to help out at the construction site in any way I can, giving the paid workers a hand and doing my best to translate instructions from English to Swahili.

During my first full day at Nyakato I have seen how the construction workers are being ably led by Len and Sele and encouraged to an enhanced effort by the employee of the week competition. Also, all of them having been selected by their ability to work hard, I was pleased to see that half of them are women, including one of Tanzania’s only forewomen. The working atmosphere is pleasant and I can see how something beautiful is in the making here. A fun moment was yesterday’s safety meeting where everyone was instructed about the proper use of a water-flushed toilet.

Altogether I have been welcomed warmly at Nyakato and am looking forward to contribute a month’s work to something really meaningful.

Bronja Hillebrecht:

I am a 3rd year medical student from Germany, doing an internship at Nyakato Health Center.

Since I started medical school, I have always been planning to visit an African country. Another German medical student recommended to me the IHP-website and I was impressed immediately. These expectations have been fulfilled completely by the good working conditions and competent guidance of the medical staff. This was complimented by Paula’s friendly care and the familiar atmosphere which make living and working at Nyakato an extraordinary experience

Nia Jones and Michael Morton:

We are two General Practioners from the UK and we have been travelling around Africa for the last 5 months. We were both fortunate to have been to Tanzania in 2002 as part of our elective in medical school and we had always planned to return. That opportunity has now arisen and we have been fortunate to have been welcomed to the Nyakato Health centre. The primary care that we have seen delivered has been above our expectations and with the lack of resources here that can only be commended. I believe the care is good due to the hard working and friendly attitude of all the staff. No matter how many patients are waiting they are all welcomed and treated with the same courtesy, respect and autonomy. In addition the warmth and hospitality afforded by our hosts Paula and Dr Dennis has made the experience both rewarding and thoroughly enjoyable and one to be recommended to all.

Dianne M. Kierpiec:

I am a retired teacher from the USA, visiting Mwanza to accompany my daughter while she volunteers at the Nyakato Health Center. I have offered to assist in any capacity, but have mostly been useful with painting, cleaning, sorting and kitchen work. It has been a rewarding experience being a small part of a large community of dedicated people who are helping ensure that the center has all the necessary support to keep going. There is so much to be done! It is a peaceful and beautiful community. From painting shelves to organizing the supply room, the possibilities are endless for our services. It is a joy to work here and be instrumental in any small way. The Lord’s presence is felt everywhere. He has truly blessed this facility and the work being attempted. I am impressed by the vision for its future and the plans that are in the making. It seems they are always looking to the future to help the Tanzanians with better health care. I would love to return in ten years to observe the ideas that have come to fruition. They are in need of more funding to pursue these goals. Any amount is significant! When I return home I want to spread the message of their organization and seek funding for Nyakato Health Center.

Gloria Duda writing:

THEY ARE BACK!!! What a feeling of relief and happiness to see Paula and Denny come home. Seems like they have been gone forever. They are happy with the progress we made while they are gone, so that makes us feel good. We will spend our last three weeks here working as assistants to anyone needing help with anything. Sele runs the project, and Len now works for him. He will manage fine when we are gone and if he has any questions he knows Len is only an email away. I am sure they will keep in close touch anyway. We have a large, well trained construction crew. They do great work, and take pride in the skills they have learned. We helped train them, now we are relying on all of you to help pay them. Payroll has increased considerably but so has construction progress – you just can not have one without the other. We can proudly say our site is gender neutral – there are no “boy” jobs or “girl” jobs. Everyone does everything. We are likely the only construction company in all of Tanzania to have a female foreman (woman??). I will always remember Monica showing up for the early morning construction meeting in her long skirt, match top, pink heels, pink earrings etc. and an hour later seeing her on site – work clothes covered in concrete – running a crew of 15. Just one of my favorite TIT (This is Tanzania) moments. Management take turns doing safety meetings each week. Topics are not usually discussed ahead of time. Sele’s assistant Jimmy was in charge this week. The crew were all on the big rock under a tree – Jimmy arrives with a western toilet – and proceeds to explain to one and all how to use it, and how to keep it clean. You have not lived until you have attended a safety meeting about toilets. I will leave some “as we leave thoughts” for the next update with Paula, so this is not goodbye. The cost of one Starbucks coffee pays a day’s wages for one of our construction crew. If you could each give up one small luxury, and donate the money to IHP TZ, I can guarantee you a much greater “bang for your buck”. Please help. Gloria Duda

From Len Duda:

I no longer do the construction updates – that is now another of Sele’s jobs. He will fill you in on our construction progress for the month. I just want to take this opportunity to thank Sele for everything during my time here. My job was to teach Sele construction management, which I hope I have done. In return, Sele has taught me so much about Africa, and Tanzania. He is one of the finest people I have ever met, and am proud to be able to call him and his family friends of ours. We have agreed, disagreed, laughed and cried. I will truly miss him, but I know we will never lose touch. Over to you Sele – the project and the update are now “Not my dog”. For those of you who do not understand that – come to Tanzania and he will explain it to you. Len Duda

Selemani Shabani writing:

I am Selemani Shabani, Project Manager for IHP.

Dear Friends, I want to thank you all for your support. We know that without you there will be nothing done at Nyakato. I’m saying thank you, again. Without you, many people would not be served through IHP, because IHP is you and IHP would not stand without you.

We are back to work again after holidays. We built a kitchen for our cook, now we have our own kitchen and Lucy is very happy about having this kitchen. The construction is going well, and all of the workers are working hard and this is because Len Duda introduced the “Employee of the Week Program,” and the winner gets 10,000 Tsh (about $8.00) and this makes everyone work very hard so she or he can be a winner and get 10,000 T shillings which is about 3 days pay.

Len taught us so many things about the construction, plus we have safety meetings every Friday right after lunch and many people did not know a lot of the tools and their uses. Now they know and they are learning through these safety meetings. Thanks to Len and Gloria for teaching us so many things.

Paula and Denny are back from the U.S. We are saying, ”Welcome home!” to them. Thank you, God and thank all of you for your prayers. Thank you all for your support you have given to IHP and may God bless you.

Paula writing again:

God has brought us Len and Gloria for these amazing six months of progress. God is bringing us medical personnel, students, and volunteers from all over the world. Your support is making this possible. Please, consider what Mary Ellen stated above. Please tell someone else about IHP and why you support it, and ask them to do it, too. Think of the lives that will impact. Every hour a woman dies in Tanzania from the complications of pregnancy. Every day 140 newborns die of mostly preventable causes. Each of you can make a difference.

There are two ways to donate: through our website, www.ihptz.org, or you can send a check to:

International Health Partners, US & TZ

Joyce Zemel, Treasurer

1811 So. 39^th St. #36

Mesa, AZ 85206

Pray, believing

Act on your faith and go forward.

God is always with you.

Love is always the answer.

Lets take a look at some pictures!

Weekly Safety Meeting