First Week @ KCMC and Life by Candlelight

My arrival coincided with a course that the Duke Women's Health collaboration teaches to regional OB providers of various backgrounds - midwives, AMOs (somewhat like a PA in the US, I think) - with the intent of imparting practical obstetric intrapartum skills to deal with vacuum deliveries, neonatal rescucitation, breech deliveries, shoulder dystocia, and postpartum hemorrhage. Everyone seemed apologetic that I didn't arrive on a 'normal' week, but I was psyched -- the course is great and refreshed my memory, and I even got to teach during some of the practical workstation exercises! I'm sure some of the students were mystified by this random American who missed half the course but then was instructing at the end -- but they were definitely entertained when I had to call each of their names for the final exam. My limited Swahili and incorrect intonation resulted in peals of laughter multiple times. But it's true, Tanzanians are very kind and friendly people, and both the students as well as the KCMC physicians and midwives instructing the course were immediately welcoming.

Getting to KCMC is a breeze -- a 10 minute walk from home on a dirt road and through a field! (And yes, I can see Kili as long as there's no cloud cover.) It's funny -- I interchangeably feel so thrilled and lucky to be here, doing meaningful work for a year that will hopefully help the patients here -- but every so often, I definitely think, "What am I doing here?" It's hard to explain -- it's not that I feel out of my element, although obviously I am, but just that Moshi is so far away and so different. But I know it's a really good experience for me -- to slow down my harried US lifestyle, spend time serving a community in need, and really live life. I'll keep you posted on how that goes :)

Anyway, KCMC -- I didn't have any preconceived notion of what to expect, nor do I have a reference for other hospitals in Africa, but it seems like a typical hospital in a developing nation -- ward style with very ill-appearing patients, long lines in the waiting rooms, facilities with which one makes do. Bariki, my Fogarty 'twin' research counterpart and is a 'registrar' in OB (still trying to understand the medical training system here), gave me a brief tour of the hospital and, most importantly, our office! It's not unlike my tiny freshman dorm room :) except with wifi, albeit slow, a large window, and bare walls save a Duke poster -- but I have plans to make the office homier. But more on the hospital as I get to know it better.

Aaaand, the power cuts -- I'm sure it gets old pretty quickly, but it was rather quaint the first night. Our plans for omelettes were thwarted halfway through preparations, so Ruchi and I moved on to plan B - avocado salad by candlelight, some good music, getting to know each other -- and scrambled eggs for breakfast! The theory that Moshi's three 'nightclubs' pull so much power that our electricity is sacrificed -- it's such a waste but the clubs actually have a spotlight that can be seen from the Arusha-Dar road, almost 20 km away from Moshi town!! After the second night of power cuts, you learn to adjust quickly! Headlamp handy at all times, showers during daytime, learning to use the gas stove -- and hoping the power goes out when you're at El Rancho, the yummy Indian place (yup, the Mexican cook they wanted couldn't get his immigration papers, so they settled for an Indian) with generators :) But overall it's not been too bad, and at least I've been getting a lot of reading done -- thank goodness for the iPhone Kindle app :)