Jambo Mambo Poa (Hello Hi Cool!) from our ARUSHA paradise??

Hello from the Arusha pair and scroll down to see the posts from the lot in Zanzibar! The slow internet prevents picture posts but I think we can add a few tomorrow when we are back at the clinic. We have had a full couple of days. 10 hours straight yesterday with some clinic work and then onto orphanages for fun and physicals. Joanne assesses the sick kids and I play with them. Resources are slim to not at all so the flashlight on a cell phone works good for looking into sore ears and inflamed throats. Our day flew past and after 10 hrs we welcomed a cold kilamonjaro beer and a huge bottle of water! You have to specify 'bareedee' (cold) for all drinks or they bring them warm. We had had a banana and one glass of water with one pee break in the whole day.

We eat at the hotel and treated so well by everyone because.....we are the only ones staying here. Nestory picks us up each day and off we go. We have handed out bags of toffee candies, suckers and many soccer balls. It's like Christmas morning over and over. The children are soooo happy and very thankful.

Yesterday we visited two orphanages and thoroughly enjoyed both. We really quickly developed a special place in our hearts for the "Mama's" and the children at Kibowa House. A very profoundly poor home with 48 kids no toilets or kitchen and only a few beds to share. The kids ranged in age from 3 to 18 and were primarily the orphans of HIV/AIDS affected parents and families. A special part of Kibowa is that they strive to keep girls 8yrs old and up, off the streets and out of the sex trade. A huge challenge as we see all around.

Our lowest point in the day was stopping to buy our 4th batch of 40 bananas and one of the many many street kids came by and when Nestory attempted to give him a few shillings or bananas, he panicked and left. It was obvious he was very afraid, alone and ..... albino with significant visual impairment. We went on to learn that in many parts of Tanzania, albinos are killed on a regular daily basis because their body parts are believed to bring good fortune to people and are used for traditional medicine. The boy was 12 at the most. Eventually he came close enough to accept some money.

Today started with an eye opening visit to the regional hospital, visiting a ward with primarily AIDS and Malaria patients. 25 all in the same small very destitute room. Nestory then suggested we do something a little less intense to "refresh our minds" and off we went to ...... the snake park.

We revisited Kibowa House today and certainly have memories we will never lose sight of. We paid their next months rent of $200US in a country with and average annual income of $1000.00. And got another chance to totally appreciate the smiles of 48 kids as they tried to assist with my swahili lessons!

Right now we are heading out late this evening with Nestory's guidance to visit the many many homeless girls that work the streets to survive. We have loaded up with sanitary napkins to deliver and will stop on route to buy....more bananas.

Hopefully some photos tomorrow! Thanks for following the blog. We are hoping our pregnant patient delivers very soon so we can assist!