A little bit of everything

Water!
Water has been scarce in Arusha/IlBuro/Ngaramtoni area. The short rain season provided less than expected, and now the long rain season is late in appearing. We have just now entered the rains, and it is quite nice. The dust has settled down, making walks and mountain biking much easier on the eyes and lungs. There are powerful rains for a few hours/minutes and then cooler temps and beautiful sunshine.


On Tuesday Dave & Russ left for home, and simultaneously our water tank was fixed. It has been about 3 weeks with only a slow flow from the kitchen sink. Our routines are fairly standard with water here. First you get a bucket and drain some water from the faucet for a shower. Next you grab some water and heat it on the stove so you don't jump from the cold, and when it boils you add it to your bucket. At the same time you can put your cup under the water filter and in about 10 minutes have enough water to drink. A second bucket is taken back with you to the toilet so you can flush.

This doesn't include the water taken to hand wash all our clothes (thankfully Christina does this for us!), or taken for food. It is pretty amazing how reliant we are on easy water, and how much it is taken for granted until it is almost gone. We are fortunate here, our neighbors do not have easy access to water like we do, so even in our “difficult” situation with water we still do not have to walk down the road a quarter mile and back with a bucket on our head. And we can easily heat our water, compared to gathering firewood. So, overall, we are still blessed at Exempla.

Il'Kidinga
Last night Bryant & I grabbed our bikes and headed back up the mountain. We made our way to Il'Kidinga again and stopped at a shop just outside Kionga for some tepid Cokes. I am standing on one side of a valley, Bryant on the other. In the middle was/is a small stream where mzee (old wisened...) women were washing clothes. A Masai warrior was sitting just below Bryant in this pic grazing his cattle. It was, again, an amazing time to see the countryside and meet locals. The ride is beautiful with Meru always in view and great little streams to ride through. We crossed one in particular several times. The photo of the kids (Watoto) is just as we entered the stream.


Maasae Girls Lutheran Secondary School
Last Sunday I joined Ashley & Sarah in a trip to MGLSS. Ashley founded AfricaAid, which I have included in the blog links and Sarah has joined her here these past few months to help. Their organization funds scholarships to Masai girls secondary education. I was introduced to Jean and Marvin Whalstrom, two missionary teachers from Seatle area who have taught at the school for about 8 years. They are terrific people with large hearts for service.

The school is fashioned similar to the boma structures traditional to Masai. There are several dormitories, classrooms, laboratories and administrative offices. Centrally located is the open air chapel, very beautiful and comfortable. Ashley pointed out the beams holding up the roof, they were apparently from I-94 in Minneapolis! The founders of the school (and Selian!), David/Eunice Simonson, collected them when construction was occurring several years ago. Small world!

From numerous perspectives, educating the women of society is possibly the biggest return on investment that people/institutions/churches/organizations can make. Besides the simple point of sexual equality, it has been proven to improve mortality/morbidity surrounding childbirth, control population expansion (more education = fewer children being born), improve sanitation, improve the education level of the whole family, and a lot more that I won't go into. It makes a lot of sense.


UN Rwanda
The kiwis set up a trip to watch UN International Criminal Tribunal for the Rwanda genocides on Thursday. After quickly rounding at Seliani, Jose and I sped home, changed and made the afternoon session with kiwis and Bryant. The genocide in Rwanda is currently being dealt with by the UN here in Arusha. The numerous trials have occurred for past 8 years, and were supposed to be completed this year.

They have 4 courtrooms which run at various times. If the court is open we can watch, with headphones translating the French court. If the trial goes closed we get up and leave. The public gallery is separated physically by a glass wall. The witness was protected, so there was a curtain hiding his identity. There was a 20 minute closed portion of the trial, which we left, and when we returned we only heard mention of the killings/etc he had witnessed/participated in. Such an interesting process here. The focus on the witness was his participation in guarding a camps entrance, whether a particular civilian who was murdered was in a truck, and what was actually witnessed vs hearsay/conjecture. The details were tedious, the lawyer for the defense horrible, the process slow. But still, amazing to see unfold. In reality, justice is not flashy.


Seliani
I spent about 10 minutes with the OB/GYN team before realizing that there wasn't going to be much work for me. I have jumped back in with the medicine team. There are many frustrations that have been difficult to stand by and watch. Last week there was frustration not due to LACK of adequate meds, but proper administration! We would give detailed instructions on patient care, and find the next day that very little has been followed.


Donations
I am beginning to reach out to the community about the donations we would be distributing. Hoping to balance out between public health & medicine/PT. Right now I am coordinating with a few different organizations, and I hope everyone will be happy with the results!


Tomorrow, Easter, we will be going up to the Simonson's home for sunrise service. It will be nice to visit with many of the "movers and shakers" in the area. Peace to all!

Eric