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June Update from IHPDear friends and supporters of IHP, US-TZ,
We want to remind you again that there is a container being loaded in California by Dexter Quiggle (quiggs@sbcglobal.net).If there is anything you want to send to us, please contact Dexter. And, please help him pay for the shipping by sending about $10.00 per cubic foot for whatever you send to him.
Sometimes this work is hard. Sometimes it is frustrating. Sometimes we ask ourselves, “Why do we do this?” And then, we know. God has chosen us as a vehicle to help make people’s lives better and sometimes we get to see the results. And it’s a very, very good feeling indeed.
John and Cathie Nosek, Ph.Ds from Winona State Univ. bring a group out to Tanzania every other year. Part of that group’s experience is to do service. They did. They worked hard, hard and put in about 1000 plants and trees. This not only beautifies the grounds, it serves several purposes. The plants they put in around the Patricia Ward will keep patients from visiting too closely with their friends/relatives as they may be infectious. With closely planted bougainvillea beneath the window screens, visiting will be possible, but not cross contamination.
The Winona team also took a rather dumpy area, cleaned it up, beautified it with new plantings and rock surrounds, and created a Perfect Picnic Place beside the Patricia Ward. In addition, they planted Neem trees, rows and rows of them around the buildings and along a lane that will be part of the parking area, and throughout the parking area (to be). The Neem trees are said to repel mosquitoes, and as you know, malaria carrying mosquitoes are a deadly enemy here.
Now, this is the way God works…
After the Nosek team left, we hired a fellow to water the plants and build little stick teepees over the newly planted trees to protect them. His salary is 90,000 Tshillings per month, about $72.00 a month plus we pay his NSSF (Social Security) and we give him 2 meals a day. The water for keeping the plants alive should also not be the clinic’s responsibility, but IHP’s. So, we’re figuring the position and water will cost us about $1200.00 a year.
This morning we received an e-mail from Linda Bakken of Rochester, MN. Bethel Lutheran had their annual plant sale and gave us half the proceeds. Yup, a check for $1200.00. God is SO good!
The Winona students brought us 1021 Beanie Babies. These are the best miracle-working tear-stoppers any medical laboratory ever had. Screaming at a needle? Stops at the sight and touch of a Beanie Baby. Attached is a picture of a burned child who would not come back into the clinic, remembering the painful treatment of the day before. One nice fat puppy Beanie Baby, I believe this one got named “Bone”, and the tears stopped and the child sat mildly waiting for the next application of Silvadine. Porridge boiled up into the child’s face. Nyakato needs a burn unit.
We’ve been graced with four delightful medical students and one of the Nosek team that returned after his group returned to the U.S., to help us out for a month. Their stories are below.
But, before we get to that…
Albino people here in this part of Tanzania are in special danger. They’re considered to be somehow sub-human and there are all sorts of stories about them circulated, they’re ghostly, they don’t really die, they’re magic, etc. As a matter of fact, they’re often killed. The witch doctors will sell their body parts, a finger or toe or whatever as a special talisman to ward off evil spirits. (IS this the 21st century?) The Tanzanian government is striving to protect these people. It is a shame that it must be done, but they are doing whatever they can.
One of the problems (of many) of the lack of pigmentation is incredible sensitivity to light, and often other very serious visual problems. There is a special school at Misugwi for the blind and near-blind, and over 100 of the children boarded there are albino. They are protected and cared for as much as possible on the budget allotted for this project. But, that budget does not allow for going out and buying glasses for every child that needs them.
Enter Dr. Kaji, the Regional Eye Coordinator. He and his team tested the children and wrote the visual prescription for glasses for each child. Dr. Kaji asked IHP if it would be possible to help. Help has come and more is on the way! Dr. Lou Scallon acquired glasses for 85 of the children that had been cleaned and repaired by the prisoners in Iowa. We had the joyous job of accompanying Dr. Kaji’s team to give the glasses to the children. There are more donated glasses on the way, with tinting, but these used glasses were a wonderful introduction for the children to realize that they can be helped.
Now, we’ll let the visiting students have their say…
Jambo! My name is Kristin Alves, and I am now a second year medical student from North Carolina. I graduated from Duke last year and am now attending UNC School of Medicine. I have spent my last three weeks in Tanzania, and have been astounded by the impact. Paula asked me to write a letter to myself and I decided to have this serve as a post to the update as well:
It’s interesting to look back now and try to imagine exactly what I was expecting to get from my trip. I think that might be because I was looking more to give than to get something. I knew that this summer I had to do research if I wanted to keep the possibility of doing neurosurgery open, but I also knew that I wanted to make some small impact with what knowledge I had gleaned from my first year in medical school. Day in and day out we learn so much, but I constantly feel that I am only taking in and absorbing with no visible or useful product. For me, my trip to Africa would be my attempt to do just that- to help and be useful in any way that I could be. I definitely didn’t anticipate the full extent of the impact this trip would make on my life. From helping plant trees to giving glasses to albino children to performing my first surgery, everything has been life changing. I’m leaning much more towards a field like general surgery which would allow me to come back here once a year to perform surgeries for a month. It’s funny how things happen in life. You are on a path you seem so sure of then you have the air knocked out of you, and you are left dazed as to how you were so narrow minded before. I think I will always carry a bit of Tanzania with me as it has opened my eyes to so many things in life.
Thank you Paula and Denny for being my adopted Tanzanian parents! I will never forget these weeks for as long as I live. I have taken so much away from this trip- more than I would have ever thought possible. Thank you also to Dr. Bon, Dr. Msengi, Jimmy, Lucy and everyone else that made my experience so rich! I look forward to seeing you all in the future!
Kuaheri!
Kristin Alves
Jambo! My name is Andreas Reisegger and I’m a 4th year medical student from Austria. I decided to spend some time working in Africa only a few weeks before I came here and luckily I actually got the chance to come. I have discovered a lot that I love about this part of the world already. I am so happy about making these new and exciting experiences that could shape my future life so strongly as well as also being able to be of help for people here that may not have had as many options in life as I. I know for myself now, that for me it is of very high importance to serve others who need my help as well as broadening my horizon to be able to conquer future challenges. This in mind my trip to Tanzania for me was the perfect decision and a base on which I’d like to build my future work as a doctor. I was able to experience the joy of life that people here are spreading and living with every day – often not even diminished by some bad diagnosis in the clinic that would upset so many people from Europe.
I cannot wait to be able to come back to Africa one day in the future and then being actually able to make a real change, as soon as I have finished my studies.
Life here is so inspiring and I hope to be able to take some of that inspiration back to Austria – at least until I’m able to come back!
Thanks a lot Paula and Denny for making this possible for me! I’m sure that I will be thinking of this trip for a very long time and hope that I am able to be a real contribution to this program that you have initiated here in the future!!
Hello! My name is Shane Tussey and I am an upcoming second year at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. I decided to come here after hearing about the experience some second year students from my university had last year. I really wanted to do some clinical work abroad and this turned out to be an awesome opportunity. My experience has opened my eyes to many things and broadened the ideas I had about where I might want to practice when I grow up! Seeing how happy Denny and Paula are to be doing the good work they are doing here makes me think I might be happy doing something similar… We’ll see where life takes me…
Kuaheri,
Shane Tussey
Hello,
My name is Jordan Corrigan, and I am a fifth year undergraduate student at Winona State University in Winona, MN (majoring in Cell and Molecular Biology and Psychology). For much of my undergraduate career, I’ve been looking for a volunteer experience that “meant something” as opposed to whatever opportunities I could find – Coming here has opened my eyes to a great many truths in life, one of which is the understanding that every volunteer opportunity means something, no matter how seemingly insignificant.
Much like others who have come before me, I wanted to make a difference – and after spending two weeks here, I understand the impact that a single person can make. From planting trees and landscaping, to running diagnostic tests and assisting the doctors here, though my scope is limited, the impact is great. My time here has been truly inspiring, and has served to strengthen my resolve to become a medical student so that I can broaden the scope of what I can accomplish on future trips to Nyakato.
Jordan
My name is Megan Coleman, and prior to coming to Nyakato I completed my first year of medical school at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. I came to volunteer in the Nyakato Health Center to learn about how medicine is practiced in developing countries, and to apply my classroom education to a clinical setting. Working in the clinic has been incredible. I have had the opportunity to perform minor procedures, pelvic exams, and ultrasounds, in addition to helping the doctors diagnose a wide variety of conditions. It has been so helpful to apply what I have learned in school to the patients I have seen in the clinic, but I think the lessons I will take home with me will be even more invaluable. Medical schools in the United States so often teach us the diagnostic procedures that will be available to us in U.S. hospitals, but we never stop to think about how we would make these diagnoses if we only had the use of a stethoscope, laboratory techniques, and a patient history. As I return to complete my education and residency training, I will remind myself to imagine I was encountering each condition in rural Tanzania, so I might consider how my diagnostic and treatment techniques would differ under these circumstances.
My experience has been made all the more meaningful by the people I have interacted with here in Nyakato and Mwanza. Paula and Denny are inspiring; they work long hours each day but still find the energy to be welcoming and accommodating to students like me, and I am grateful to them for their role in furthering my education. The doctors and nurses at the clinic have been incredibly patient and generous with their time, skills, and knowledge. And last but not least, the patients I have worked with here are ideal. They are receptive to advice, wait patiently no matter how busy the clinic gets, and are always very grateful for the services they receive. I look forward to returning to the Nyakato Health Center when my education is complete, so that I can further serve this wonderful community that has such a great need for healthcare professionals.
Paula writing again:
Tomorrow the team from Christ Church Unity will arrive at 10:30 A.M. My son David will be part of the team as will Dave Bogumil, the man for whom the Bogumil Birthing Center is named. This team will work on the BBC, their (nasty) assignment is to put in the suspended ceilings in this large and complicated building. Christ Church Unity has been raising money for almost a year in order to pay for the finishing of the building and we are so, so grateful. Next month’s Update’s pictures will tell that story.
The financial situation in the U.S. is a burden for so many. Each of you has been touched. Yet, we’re amazed and pleased that you continue to find the means to support the work of International Health Partners, US & TZ. Without that support, these newsletters would end. Thank you. And, to keep us going… please send any donations to:
International Health Partners, US & TZ Joyce Zemel, Treasurer 1811 So. 39th St. #36 Mesa, AZ 85206
We will be returning to the U.S. on Oct. 1st. That first month we’ll be in and around Iowa and Minnesota and are open to speaking opportunities. After that we plan to travel south to North and South Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Florida and then over to Texas. If you’d like us to come show pictures and tell the story of IHP, please let us know so we can put your opportunity on the planner with the most gas-savings route we can accomplish.
Blessings and gratitude,
Paula and Denny
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June 2009
Newsletter
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