The Arrow

I was shot at today. Luckily it was with a bow and arrow and the arrow fell about 10 feet short. Also luckily, it was shot from about 20 feet away by a 4-5 year old Tanzanian boy.

I am feeling better today after my fight with malaria and thought I would test that theory out and walk to the post office. Liz needed some letters mailed and the post office boxes needed checked for mail.

The post office is about 3/4 mile away and the last block is up a small hill past some brick homes. I can only best describe them as maybe four-plexes facing each other with a central type courtyard or common area in the middle. There is a small building on both ends of the common area, one being a choo (bathroom). The families here are very poor, but always friendly when I pass. One day a father walking into his area, welcomed me to his home. There are always a ton of kids outside, and they always call out ‘muzungu’ when I go by and have even followed me a while down the road on my way home.

Today when I passed by, they came to the side of the road yelling to me, all very friendly and wanting to say hello. One of the children had a bow and arrow made with two sticks and a piece of old-yellowed twine. He kind of pointed it at me and pulled back, but didn’t let fly. I greeted all the kids and went into the Post Office.

On my way home, the kids again were yelling and greeting me, but as I passed the one boy, he let fly with his arrow. I know he was just playing and had a big ole grin on his face when I looked at him. I just smiled and waved and went on. TIA Mark

Hi all,

I’m back among the living Sunday afternoon finally. It has been a long week. Eric wrote something like this in his blog ,

“Five little monkeys jumping on the bed one fell off and went to Nairobi

Four little monkeys jumping on the bed one fell off and went to hospital with malaria.

Three little monkeys jumping on the bed one fell off and had to stay at the hospital with a student who had tonsillitis while she also had malaria but was being treated out patient with shots.

Two little monkeys jumping on the bed one fell off and ended up in the hospital with malaria.

One little monkey jumping on the bed and he sure is tired! (having to do all the jumping by himself!)

Let me tell you about my experience. Tuesday was my birthday and the 5 of us went out to lunch, Mark only had a Sprit and that was it, clue #1. He was complaining of feeling dizzy every time he bend over, clue #2. Tuesday night after to talking on the phone with my daughter I started to feel sick and had a fever, clue #3. Wednesday, Liz took our student with persistent tonsillitis back to the doctor and they admitted him to give him some IV antibiotics. I asked Liz to pick up the medicine the doctor order for another student who had malaria because by this time I was thinking that was what we had. She called and said the doctor wanted to see us and do a blood test before he would give us medicine. (what does he think this is America?) So we took motorcycles to the doctors. On the way some jerk who was driving about 60 MPH passes me and came so close he hit our review mirror.

Liz, Mark, the kid with the tonsils and I got blood drawn and Mark’s results were a 3 and Liz and I were 2 on a scale of scant to 4. Mark was admitted because of dehydration. I was given 3 shots, 3 days in a row. The government tells the doctors what to give as “first line defense against malaria.” So that’s what I had. Even at a 2 I was feeling sick enough I had to go home so Liz stayed with Mark and the tonsil kid. Now it turns out that the first line defense didn’t work for me (both hips hurting by this time from the shots by the way). So I was admitted Friday.

Let me tell you about the “hospital”. After they take your blood and give the little cotton ball to hold on your elbow, then they just throw the cotton ball out the window onto the ground blood on it and everything. While you wait 2 hours for for the typhoid test (he tested me for typhoid too because of my temp) to be done you watch others throw cotton balls outside. If the doctor orders a urine sample you go out of the hospital to the outhouse with a bottle that is about an inch tall and 1/2 in wide to catch the urine. I don’t know how they do it, but they come back with a sample. I was nauseated and really noticed how bad some people smell! Finally you get your lab work back and to go back to the doctor and he admits you. You spend the night in your clothes, there are no hospital gowns. The sheets are hand washed and hung on the line out back to dry so they at least smell good if you could smell them over the smell of antiseptic they used to clean the bed. The sheets are patterned, stripes, and flowers but no Princess Sheets. (Actually I was hoping for Square Pants Sponge Bob sheets.) Quite different than in the States with only white sheets. There is no cafeteria, but I couldn’t eat anyway. When they start your IV they discard all the stuff on the floor. You can’t find a trash can anywhere. There is electricity, but they try not to use it much. There is a bare bulb hanging from the ceiling. Oh and don’t forget your own pillow because I think there is only one in the whole hospital. And every one that passes your door stops to stare because they have never seen a white person in a hospital before. And if you close the door they just open it and look at you and reclose the door. The beds are not electric because the electricity is not reliable and the only call light you have is your husband who walks down the hall and gets the nurse when your IV needs changed. There was a nice Australian nurse working there and she gave us the key to the only “flush” American toilet in the building. You have to use a bucket of water to flush the toilet. And speaking of no electricity, when I needed a new IV bottle one time, there was no electricity and so they brought in a kerosene lantern for light. The smell of that helped my nausea (NOT) There were no admission papers and no one ever took my blood pressure or temperature. No one asked if I had any allergies and the doctor almost ordered Penicillin for me which I’m very allergic to. Just to make the whole experience a little more interesting the president of Tanzania arrived at a soccer field with 3 helicopters and we could hear every word of his speech. Of course we could not understand it, but they had 6- foot speakers so I could hear him. I think every one in any part of town could hear him.

One think I can say for sure is that the people here know how to treat malaria! Cause I’m almost better. AND it only cost me $43.00 American dollars, less than a co-pay

That’s all from this little monkey who hopes she never gets malaria again. Pam

This has not been a good week. Mark is in the hospital with malaria, Liz and I also have it. Blood work is done to see how bad you are on a scale of scant t0 4, Liz and I were only at a 2, Mark was at at 3 and he was dehydrated so he got admitted for fluids. Liz and I are just getting shots everyday for 3 days. More later I'm going to find my bed. Pam

We have a dog at the Orphanage his name is Clifford. He is still mostly puppy and likes to bite the kid’s ankles and clothes for which they scream and run and he runs after them. Clifford thinks this is a game. Dogs here are not usually pets and people throw rocks at them or hit them with sticks. Holly is trying to show the kids how to properly treat animals. Unfortunately he spends most of his time locked in his dog house, so he doesn’t bother the kids. They tell me they let him out at night. Now that most of the kids are in school I hope to start working with him a little so he behaves better and is nicer to be around. The last 2 days I have seen dead dogs along the street on my way to or from Angel Housel. It’s kinda sad to think that no one will miss their dog because no one owned him.

We also had a sad situation with one of the workers. A couple of weeks ago we had a worker ask for a loan because his son was sick and needed to go to the hospital, we did lend him the money. The child seemed to get better so they took him home, during the night he started to have diarrhea and by morning he was dead. My guess is he died from dehydration and malnutrition. He has 10 brothers and sisters and one on the way. I don’t know how old he was but he was just a toddler, maybe two or three. Here when there is a death in the family, if it is a boy they morn for 5 days a girl they morn for 3 days. The family does nothing during the morning period. The neighbors and family take care of the cooking, cleaning and laundry.

I tried last week to help with the sewing as the kids started school last Monday and uniforms had to be made. I cannot sew African style. I have not sewn on a trundle machine sense my grandmothers machine. I forgot you have to get the wheel going the right way or you sew backwards. This machine is from China and it has no peg to put the thread on so they wrap it around the body of the machine and put the thread in a cup on the floor. I guess that keeps the thread from rolling away! They don’t use pins! I had to put 4 pleats in the sleeve. Then, they don’t use a seam ripper either they use a razorblade to cut threads when you make mistakes. That was scary. Today they asked me to sew all the pants for the boys. I told them I would give it a try but I needed to have a pattern and I didn’t know how to do boy zippers and pockets. We’ll see how they turn out if they even trust me to make the pants.

This is the season to put in gardens here. The Angel House garden is HUGE, about one acre, it should be called a farm in fact that’s what they do call it in Swahili, shamba or farm. There is no refrigeration so they plant things like potatoes, carrots, onion, sweet potato, and squash that will last a long time.without being cold. To break the soil they use an old fashioned plow and the brama bulls. I guess it was quite something to see the plows being pulled by the cows. They hope to have enough harvest to feed the people of the village and themselves.

To keep hands clean during the cholera outbreak Mark made something called a tippy tap and we drilled a hole in a piece of soap so kids could wash hands before eating. (think soap on a rope)The next day the soap was gone, so I got soap and put it in a sock and tied it to the tippy tap. The next day the soap was gone. Now we putting powdered soap into the tippy taps and they wash hands then rinse with another bucket. A least they are washing with soap.

Every morning we wake up with the sound of cows mooing on the way to pasture land and roosters crowing. There is a rooster across the street and one up the street it sounds like they are calling “Marco Polo” in chicken language. People just let the chickens run around. We also have a neighbor that has rabbits. Why they don’t run away I don’t know, or why the dogs don’t eat them I don’t know. Mark says the rabbits look like the best meat around. Goats are also just left to run free and eat whatever they can find. We think most the meat animals are from the Heffer Project that are in this area.

We have been having some health issues with some of the kids. We took 5 to the government hospital on Friday. The government hospital is several buildings big. None have electricity or running water. They still use an out house. First you go pay for your bill then wait in line to see the doctor. We got lucky and got a doctor that spoke English, kind of. After the doctor saw all 5 we had to go for lab work and x-rays in another building. Then back to the doctor for the results of the lab work and x rays. One of the boys was wetting the bed every night and we found out that he had a urinary tract infection. One has asthma and they don’t have inhalers here to help that. The doctor thought the other boys mother had syphilis when he was born causing him to have swollen glands in his neck and a continuous tonsillitis. He needs to have his tonsils taken out but they don’t do that here so we have to take him to another hospital in another town. It will only cost about $200 to have this done but there is not money in the budget, so for now I give him hefty dose of a penicillin by shot every month. Lastly, a young teen girl, Leah, who came to us about 9 months ago with a boil on the inside of her right leg near the ankle. The doctor took x rays and told us the infection has moved into the bones and she is the most serious of all the cases and needs to be seen by an orthopedic doctor when they come to a nearby town in December. Meanwhile her leg could break because of the holes the infection had left in the bone. Lastly we went to the pharmacy building and what a surprise, he didn’t charge us anything because they were orphans.

I have tried to talk to the staff about feeding the children a variety of foods and the little ones need snacks in between meals but I’m not sure they trust me yet. Every Friday after staff meeting I meet with Jen one of the staff mothers who wants to know about nursing. I teach her about first aid. When I told her if a child has a fever you take blankets OFF she couldn’t believe it. I told her that the blanket keeps the heat in and doesn’t let the body cool down and if left covered the child could have seizures, dehydration or become sterile.

Speaking of being sterile, FYI I found out today that if a wife is not pregnant within 6 months of her wedding she is run off by her husband’s family.

There’s a few things we need at Angle House if anyone wanted to do a fund raiser that would be great! The new high school will be done and open in January but we have no desks. Desks are 50 dollars each and they are made locally so it helps the economy:-) Also the kid who needs his tonsils out we need $200 for his surgery.

Signing off for now. I’m sure Mark will post about the Wedding we went to on Wednesday. Pam

General Shots around Angel House

I thought I would give you some general shots around Angel House. If I've sent some before, please forgive me.

Here's Holly hugging one of the orphans. Holly just loves these kids and the work she is doing.

It's bath time, and the little ones get their baths outdoors.

Here's the new chicken house we're building. And yes, I'm helping and even made some suggestions that have been incorporated in the KooKoo house.

These are water and dirt bearers. They carry water for cement and other mud type mixes. They carry dirt to fill in the cracks of the foundation around the stones. It's a special kind of dirt used in most construction and is luckily found on Angel House grounds.

This is a photo of the 3-burner stove.

Here is the fire wood pile. It's new wood that I helped gather with some of the younger kids, and is a little green at this time, but will dry out for later use.

Here's how the fundis (workers) get to the school building site. This is the "big" truck and was down for a time. The little truck was used, a small Toyota size, and was it overloaded.

Here's the kids in the truck when we went to gather wood. They love riding in it.

And here we are out in the field loading the firewood.

This is the school site, it's pretty much done and this is only one of three classroom sites. It now needs all the furnishings, desk, supplies, etc. It's hoped to be in operation for secondary (high school) students in January. The younger kids school rooms will be built as soon as we can. You can see the foundation for the administrative building in the foreground. It is now getting the roof done and finishing touches, ie, doors, etc. It needs to be in place in order to open the high school.

Here's Pam when we first arrived, I may have already posted this, but I just love this photo. The little girl was sick and had fever and a rash, which Pam finally got rid of.

This is an outdoor classroom for the younger kids at Angel House.

The 3 burner stove again and cook preparing supper.

I took this photo for Larry J. This is the beef over here.

Can't get enough of these kids, what a smile.

That's it for now, thanks for tuning in.

Mark

So, you're going to have to guess what this is below. I made it from taking apart some discarded fencing, un-weaving it to get wire. The bottom part is made from wiring used to hold the fence in place on a square cement post.

And I think I'm imaginative. Below one of the kids has made a toy car by taking used oil containers, setting a bench upside down on it and attaching a round piece of plastic from I don't know where.

The wire contraption I made is a toilet paper holder for use in the outside choo, that you might call an outhouse.

Here in Tarime, you waste nothing, discard hardly anything, there's usually a use for it. There are few modern conveniences or easily obtained things, such as a roll of wire. I purchased some sand paper today, it's about 4 inches wide and I bought if by the meter as it comes in a roll.

TIA Mark

Mark went to the traffic office about 9:00 to get his license and they told him to come back at 11:00. Will this ever end? Geezsh!


Does anyone out there know if the triplets were born? and the names? I need details folks details. Pictures would be good too!

Sorry about the miss spellings last post, the electricity went off and I couldn't spell check :-(
PT

Hi everyone,

Last night we were talking about the Africian names. I found out that the first boy is named either Mwita or Chacha. Then his last name is his fathers first name. So my Sean would be Sean Mark No! wait a minute his name is Michael Sean so it would be Michael Mark (no Travis , or family name would be used) Girls have something similar because there are a LOT of girls with the first name of Bokhi (B long 'o' key) Then some of them have Christian names like Joseph, Michael, Mary or Grace. Often times they go by the Christian name because it is a name they choose themselves and things are less confusing when everyone does not have the same name. So long story short: We have sisters, Bokhi about 7 and Nosi about 5 (who reminds us of our grand child Lydia). Yesterday I found out that the girls were abandoned on the street and the police brought them to Angel House. They had no last name. The person running Angel House at time was Fred. So the girls took on his first name as their last name. They were not old enough to help find the parents. I'm guessing one and two years went they were abandon or possibly 2 and 3 years old. Now their name is Bokhi Frede and Nosi Frede. I think they added the "e" to make it sound more Africian. (?)

I had a really nice suprise today. I went to the post office and descovered 3 birthday cards for me. Thanks sooooo much Kathye, Jane and Beth! You made my day! It made it here in about 3 weeks amazing! I was told not to expect it to be that fast all the time. You ladies are great! Ok here's the next prayer request that Mark finally gets his dri ver license Tuesday. It's been a long hall getting there. The orphanage needs help with getting the construction workers out there and back every day. They work 11 hour days. Most people work about a 66 hour week. We, of course don't, work THAT hard.

One other thing about Tanzania is that to save money on gas the motorcycles turn off the motor when going down a hill, there is no sidewalk, you walk on the edge of the road. The motorcycles come very close without us hearing them. Sometimes my heart is in my throat! You just have to be aware ALL the time. The road is very narrow in places too.

Hope eveyone had a nice 3 day week end. (Whatever that is)

Till next time, This Is Africia, Pam

I'm not getting a drivers license here, it's too much work. Pam

GETTING A PIKIPIKI LICENSE

So of course I canʼt just get a driverʼs license because the mission owns a motorcycle. Iʼve been driving motorcycles since I was 14, and just sold my own motorcycle to help pay our way here. I want to be able to drive the missionʼs motorcycle while Iʼm here. TIA (This Is Africa) applies in a big way to getting licensed.

Day 1: We (me and Zach, our interpreter) go to the police compound area and to the traffic building. At this point, all weʼre doing is seeking information on the process to get the license and are seeking audience with the traffic Director. We wait on a bench for about 1/2 an hour for our turn. While waiting we explain to a couple traffic officers why weʼre here and I show them my Iowa driverʼs license and that Iʼm motorcycle licensed.

Finally, itʼs our turn. We go into the traffic Directors office, and explain what I want to do. The Director is very nice to me, but very intimidating at the same time. He ask me if I know Obama. I say not personally, but heʼs a very good president. He explains he likes Obama very much and will help me get licensed. I need to do 4 things: 1. Get 4 passport size photos 2. Get an eye exam and return with the results 3. Go to the taxing authority and pay fees for processing and licensing fee. 4. Return to the traffic Directorʼs office with all the paperwork and receipts and photos. By the reaction of another traffic officer that was in the room, I take it the Director is doing me a favor and Iʼm skipping a few usual steps.

We go to the TRA, the taxing authority and pay our fees and get receipts.

Day two: The internet cafe also takes passport size photos, so we go to the cafe, get my photo taken and while waiting for them to process the photos, get on the internet. We finish with the internet and then find out the printer does not work, no photos. We go across the street to a photo place and get my photos there.

Day three: Last thing on the list is the eye exam. We head to the hospital. After waiting of course, I pay for the exam and read an eye chart. The chart is at least 20 feet away and beside an open brightly sun-lighted doorway. The examiner writes down the results and we wait for the eye director or whatever he is to come and review the results and sign off. I did not read the chart with both eyes, and the director tells me my right eye is not as good as my left and shakes his head. I tell him I drive with both eyes wide open and proceed to read the bottom line of the chart that I couldnʼt read with either eye.He was not amused, but signed off on my exam. He also was very nice to deal with.

We then had to go and find the resident doctor of the hospital to have him sign off on the exam. Come to find out the eye examiner was a student, and he kindly offered to direct us to the doctor. We weave through the people waiting outside the hospital, and past a waiting room with at least 100 people in it and find the doctor. The doctor was very nice, we chatted a bit and he signed off on the exam. Zach tells me he had expected us to have to wait for about 3 hours to see the doctor.

Day 4: We go back to the police compound and wait for the Director. Once in, I hand my paperwork and photos to him. This time he is not as outgoing and is more business like. He looks through the papers and then tells me he needs fare. I was puzzled, but then Zach explained he was asking me for fare to pay for his way to go to Musoma, the district headquarters to file my paperwork. I ask him how much he needed, he said it would cost 10,000, or 20,000, maybe 16,000. I look at Zach, and realize Iʼm on my own and not to involve Zach. I donʼt want to haggle at this point, and just ask him if 20,000 is ok. Heʼs fine with that, I give him the money and he tells us to come back in 3 days.

I felt Zach didnʼt want to get involved with the money haggling and I was right. He said that if he got involved, that maybe next time he was in the traffic office, the Director would not be as nice to him.

Day 5: This is the big day, I get my license, I hope. Zach and I head to the Police compound and to the traffic Directors building. No one there, at all. We sit and wait. After maybe half an hour, the Director shows up. A lady had already gone into his office, but he invites Zach and myself in anyway. The Directors says he has been to Musoma and all is ok. I must now get a small booklet that says driverʼs license on it and go to the TRA for more fees, then return to him. He hands my paperwork to me and off Zach and I go.

I wait at the TRA while Zach rides a pikipiki to town to buy my booklet. He returns and we go into the TRA. I sit while he goes to a TRA clerkʼs desk and I watch as the booklet is put together with the license information and my photo is glued inside and officially stamped. I pay my third fee at the TRA. Seems like I paid one fee that covered the TRA bookwork on me, a learnerʼs permit fee, and now my license fee.

We return to the traffic Directors building, and wait our turn. We eventually go in and the Director takes my booklet, examines the contents, finds a blank page and stamps it and signs the stamp.

He then chats with me a bit, and wants me to learn Swahili. As a matter of fact, he says I am to learn it within 3 months and at that time I am to speak no English. He said if he sees me at the end of the 3 months and I havenʼt learned Swahili, heʼll throw me in jail. I was really glad he was smiling and laughing when he said that. I told him I would try very hard. At least I can drive a pikipiki for 3 months before jail time. TIA Mark

PS:

An update is due on this blog. I was driving to the orphanage with the truck when we were signaled over by traffic police. This is a usual traffic check, about 1/4 mile from the orphanage road. Iʼm informed that I am not licensed to drive a motor vehicle, only a pikipiki and that our insurance sticker is not up to date. The traffic policewoman wants 40,000 tsh. Luckily Michael, a teacher at the orphanage was with me. I think he argued at least 15 minutes with the woman before we finally settled on 20,000 tsh. Now, back to the traffic director and start the process of getting a motor vehicle license. TIA Mark

Hey if anyone out there wants to send us things here is a small list, stickers to give kids for a job well done. Hard candies individually wrapped, oatmeal in boxes or sacks, hand gel/sanitizer for when we don't have water, head lights battery run on headband so we can see where we are going hands free when there is no electricity, office supplies like rubberbands, paperclips, stapler and staples, hole punch ect. 100 percent DEET and your thoughts and prayers. Pam

Funny of the day.
So today during our Swalhili lesson the word drink came up and it is almost the same as the word poop. Holly,, the director of Angle House from Kanas went into a hotel and asked for a poop instead of a drink. Not only that but she proceded to the bathroom to wash her hands. Mark and I can't say too much cause we'll probably make that mistake next! Pam