Walking to work

The drive to Selian hospital on the paved road next to town is about 12 km from my house. To drive a dirt short cut is 6 km, but the road is not always drivable. Especially when it rains there are huge ruts and it is very slick so cars can slide off the road. Most days, I get a ride to work with Dr. Johnson, but there have been a few times I plan to walk the short cut and then someone (Dr. Kipuyu or Dr. Jacobson) drives by and picks me up. Yesterday I was determined to walk the entire way to work. It's a beautiful walk and I need to exercise. It took me 65 min. and here are some pictures along the way.

There were lots of kids walking to school, each with their skirt/pants and sweater uniform

There are lots of little shambas (farms) along the way with mostly corn and bananas

A school at the base of Mt. Meru

Mt. Meru

We have a new addition to our medical student team from an osteopathic school in Philadelphia. Cleopatra is actually Tanzanian, but mostly grew up in India where her dad was a diplomat. She went to Concordia College in Minnesota for her undergraduate degree and the University of Minnesota for her MPH. She's now living in Philadelphia and was able to come to Selian for a rotation. Her parents moved back to Tanzania from India a few years ago and her father was a board chairman of both Selian Hospital and the Ngorongoro game reserve before he passed away. Cleopatra's staying with her mother here in Arusha and getting a chance to visit the rest of her family in Tanzania.

Today I get 2 new roommates. They're both female medical students from the US doing a hospice rotation here in Tanzania. Liz is from the DC area and goes to Washington University in St. Louis and Deborah is from Minnesota and goes to medical school in Kansas. Yesterday, my roommate, Eric, left for a safari and will travel around Tanzania before going back to Australia. I was sad to see him go because I've had a lot of fun hanging out with him, but now I have someone to visit in Australia. We went to dinner on his last night with Paul and Joan (Dr. Johnson and his wife) at Khan's, a popular BBQ in town that is an auto parts shop by day and has great chicken by night. Paul and Joan have been like parents to Eric and I, driving us around and making sure we're properly fed. My mother appreciates that I'm sure.

Khan is in the black and the other guy has the worst unibrow I've ever seen.

I spent my rural week in Ketumbeine and Eric spent his with the flying medical service. They take a very small (6 seater) plane out to the bush and do clinics out of mud huts, under the wings of the plane, or under a tree. There is a clinical officer to see sick patients and the others (pilot and any visitors like Eric) weight babies, give vaccinations, and do prenatal checks. He had a fabulous time and shared his pictures with me so you and I can get an idea of his trip.

There was a film crew tagging along with the flying medical service

The Maasai loved Eric's straight black hair.

They had to hack down the grass to clear a runway.

This last week there were 3 surgeons visiting from the US who gave lectures at our city-wide continuing medical education conference. All 3 are from Virginia and Dr. Jack McAlister is a neurosurgeon who has been coming to Selian for many years and he brought with him Dr. Payton Taylor who is a GYN oncologist and Dr. James Dumont who is a general surgeon. They were great lectures and the conference was held on the top floor of a hotel in town. Here's a picture of the view of Arusha and a few other pictures from around town.

The eternal flame monument

A common way to get goods around and a road hazard

The market again

I nearly forgot it was Valentine's Day because there isn't the same commercialism here. It's nice. I was home fairly early that day so I walked up to Dave and Eunie Simonson's for a visit and ate some yummy brownies Eunnie cooked. They told me some great stories of their life out here and I finally took a picture of their house to share with you. They also have a great view of Mt. Meru from their house, but it was clowdy that day.

A little slug.
We call this "God's viewbox" when our power goes out and we use the sun.