Day 154 – Wednesday 30th June 2010

Happy birthday little sister! Hope you have a great day!

I can not believe it is the end of June already.

Armorel was heading out to one of the villages for a mobile clinic, so was out early. They had a good time, though it was quieter than usual. It is harvest time at the moment, so crops come before personal health care.

She also started doing some teaching on safe and clean drinking water, as a number of children were very sick because of untreated water. I think she is going to run some workshops for the parents, which is really exciting.

My day was meant to be a quiet one but I ended up getting home later than Armorel. I spent all day doing the health insurance claim forms for the month.

My head hurts. It was not much fun!

I had a long sofa nap after work, so am not too tired, but should really try and sleep.

Day 153 – Tuesday 29th June 2010

Armorel headed into work this morning alone as I had to visit immigration. No one had told us but we needed to register with the local office and tell them we are in Tabora. I hope they don’t mind that we are 6 months late.

It only took an hour and 15 minutes to get the stamps in our passports. I am not really sure what they did, but they talked none stop to me. I think I made some new friends.

It was dicey at one moment when they didn’t believe Armorel was who she said she was.

Why?

Her passport doesn’t have all her middle names listed but her VISA does. They felt therefore they couldn’t be for the same person.

Back at the clinic all was busy.

Armorel is trying to control a very high blood pressure of a recent stroke victim and I am busy doing bits and pieces. I feel like an admin assistant. This is not a new job path.

We were out for dinner tonight as a goodbye to Jim and Margaret who are heading back to the UK after their four weeks. It was a lovely evening but I was too tired to really get into the swing of things.

Day 152 – Monday 28th June 2010

We both slept really well last night, and the morning wake up alarm was difficult to grasp.

It is another week at the clinic for me, so we will see what jobs and fun come along. Today I seem to be the auditor’s assistant, writing up his reports and helping him do his job. Worryingly, I seem to be understanding and doing more than him.

Armorel was busy with 6 patients on the ward and a couple of really sick ones. It doesn’t help that the clinic seems to be very low on nurses at the moment, so she is very busy.

We managed to grab 2 minutes during the day together.

This evening we popped over to see our vicar and his wife. They are a young newly married couple like us, and we get on really well. It is so nice to have some real friends that you can really relax with. It is however a real challenge to hear about their hopes and dreams, and their day to day lives.

Someone stole their chickens’ eggs this morning, which supplement their income, which is sporadic to say the least. Some months the church just can’t afford to pay them. We are thinking and praying on how we can support them, and ask you to join us.

We haven’t watched ER for ages so a marathon of episodes is due!

Day 151 – Sunday 27th June 2010

It was again a lovely Sunday morning, and we really enjoy our cycle to church. We are starting to love our little, entertaining church, and making many good friends.

After church we headed into the market for some fruit and vegetable shopping. It must be watermelon (tikitikmaji) season as the market was full of them. We also bought a wooden carving of a flamingo / pelican, why not when it was only £2.

This afternoon we headed over to try out the 2^nd and only other swimming pool in Tabora. It also belongs to another tobacco worker, who certainly seem to live a very different life to the rest of us.

We then headed out to watch the England match, surrounded by locals cheering on Germany. We weren’t expecting that.

I don’t think we need to say anything else about it.

Day 150 – Saturday 26th June 2010

Today is another brick making day, and Armorel is joining me and the team.

We found out they are being paid a rate of 30 shillings per brick.

That is 1.5p.

And if you think that I need a rest after every 15, you will appreciate the hard work these men put in.

We had a fun day and didn’t work too hard, mainly because we had a big team and could share the work out. Though also just watching was an impressive site, though you did feel a little guilty.

It was home for quick shower and a well earned cup of tea before heading out for dinner. We were meeting up with some Americans to watch the soccer.

We had a fun night, though got home well past our bed time.

I wonder how sore Armorel will be tomorrow.

Day 149 – Friday 25th June 2010

The wind has really picked up, and the mornings and evenings are starting to get chilly.

“I came to Africa to be hot, not cold!” says Armorel.

We headed into the clinic for another day, well half day for me. The Friday football is happening at 1pm today so I need to leave work early.

I spent the morning helping to count money for the end of the month pay packets. You forget that hardly anyone has a bank account, so it is all cash in hand.

It was soon late morning and I was heading home on my bike. Armorel was out and about visiting all the familia moja patients, and had a few ‘wazungus’ from the church with her.

She felt like an uncomfortable tour guide, with the whites taking photos of the poor black people.

We are being challenged daily.

No kids for football!

There was some problem at the shelter, so after a short wait, I headed home. However, I managed to get my exercise on the way back.

As I was cycling along I saw a train of 7 men on their bikes. Young, manual labourers heading home for the day, who seemed to be racing /showing macho strength in their cycling power.

They were flying along and I thought it would be good to join in.

I soon caught the last mans wheel, but then the road started up a hill. I changed gear. Fatal mistake, I started going backwards. The only gear to keep up with them was my lowest (of my total 4 gears) and my legs were burning.

The hill is over 1km, and though not hugely steep, it feels it with the sun beating down on you.

I was still in touch at the top of the hill and managed to pass 2 on the top. It might be because one slowed to answer his mobile and the other waited for him, but I was not last.

However, the rest of the group pulled a 30m gap and held it. These were strong men. Why there are no Tanzanian cyclists in the Tour de France, I just don’t know.

Hotel Rwanda, chapatti and beans served as our evening entertainment.

Day 148 – Thursday 24th June 2010

The hamstrings are a little tender this morning.

It was a run of the mill day at the clinic with not much going on. I continued to help out in the office and Armorel played doctor.

There is one very poorly man on the ward who has just had a stroke and has lost all left sided movement. It is very sad.

We were meant to be going out for dinner tonight but that has now been cancelled. We are quite relieved as we are both tired and don’t fancy it.

Instead a night of rice and beans followed by a game of backgammon.

Rock and Roll.

Day 147 – Wednesday 23rd June 2010

We woke to one dead ant lying on our floor, and then proceeded to work. Today I was out at the Shamba making bricks, whilst Armorel was again in the clinic.

Back braking, hard work.

The bricks being made are mud bricks for houses at the Shamba. You have a wooden block mould, your hands and a pile of wet mud.

You fling the mud into the mould, push it in and then take it to drying area, where you turn out your brick, to varying levels of success and usually laughter from the workers at the farm.

What a great way to spend the day, though I am totally shattered. We made about 300.

I was joined today by Bryan, an American priest, who arrived in Tabora yesterday. We had a great time together and he has some great photos of the day which we will put up soon. It was such a privilege to work alongside these guys, and share in their labour.

Very powerful stuff.

Armorel’s day was busy but when asked what excitement she had had, there didn’t seem to be much.

We finished work and headed out to watch the football before heading back home and to bed.

My back is already aching.

Day 146 – Tuesday 22nd June 2010

We headed out to the clinic again for another day at work.

I spent the day in the office writing some policy documents and calculating acreage of farmland that the clinic is looking to buy. This is where the maths teaching paid off; I just hope I got it all right.

Armorel was busy in the ward and with patients. In mid July, Dr Ruth is heading back to the UK for two months, and so during this time Armorel will be well and truly upgraded to doctor status. In particular she is being asked to run the health centre’s cardiac clinic, so in preparation she was studying and sitting in on the clinic. A scary task, but an awesome one too.

The evening came and went with a lovely Skype chat to Pete and Libby, and we headed to bed.

However, on the way found the largest ant you have ever seen walking across the floor. He was quickly dispatched only to be replaced by another, and another and another. We had heard stories of these ants, which are biting ants, swarming and people waking up covered in ants.

So alarmed by these possible fictitious tales we went searching for the trail and or nest. After a good 30mins and a dozen or so deaths, but no nest, we went to bed praying for protection from the ants.

Day 145 – Monday 21st June 2010

We headed to the clinic this morning with bleary eyes, a tough Monday to be motivated for.

I helped in the office and then spent the afternoon with a local builder talking about partition walling and windows for the TB clinic.

Armorel had fun with a 10 year old boy who had managed to hit his thumb with a rock. The bone was sticking out the side of the thumb and they had to push it back in.

Gruesome!

Before heading home we had to pop into town to register our phones. Everyone in Tanzania has been given until the end of June to register their mobile phones otherwise they will be cut off. The reason for this logistical nightmare, in a country of 37 million people and 76 million mobile phones, is quite unusual.

Not too long ago the president of Tanzania received an abusive text message, but because there is no way of tracing who sent it as numbers aren’t registered to people, nothing could happen. In case it happens again they will now be able to catch the culprit.

The men registering ours found our driving licence very hard to decipher, and even if I do send an abusive text they will have no idea who I am or where I live. Supposedly we Almolel is from Ingerlendi.

We have had a quiet evening at home, with a nice phone call from my mum letting us know they are home safe and sound, and I think we will watch an ER before bed.

Another holiday snap for you…

Day 144 – Sunday 20th June 2010

For some reason we both woke early today and were up and about before 8am.

We cycled to church under a glorious blue sky, where I was speaking on ‘Depending on God.’ It seemed to go well, and I thought it was challenging. Who knows?

We then headed home for a special Skype date.

Those who know us well will understand when I say it was the Family party weekend. For those that don’t let me explain.

Each year my whole extended family, mums side, gets together for a large party. There are usually 50 or 60 of us, cousins, aunts, uncles, second cousins and other relations who you have no idea how they fit into it all. We meet in the morning; have a family church service, followed by lunch, then an afternoon of fun and catching up and then tea and cake before heading home. This is the first one we have missed.

So it was decided that we would Skype during the service and talk about what we are doing and then have some prayers.

It was wonderful.

Thank you cousin Pete for sorting it.

We then went out for a late lunch and sat and relaxed with various people for the afternoon, though I mainly watched the football.

Suddenly realising it was nearly 7pm and we had done nothing but sit we came home for the final Planet Earth, Sunday’s will need a new name now, and are now heading to bed.

Day 143 – Saturday 19th June 2010

We had a lovely relaxing morning, pottering around the house and doing odd jobs. We followed that with a quick visit to the market to stock the fridge after our holiday, and popped in for a cup of tea with some other expats on the way home.

The rest of the day was even less productive as we read and relaxed and drank tea.

It was heavenly.

We are just about to watch ‘Boy in Striped Pyjamas’ and then head to bed. I am speaking in church tomorrow.

Day 142- Friday 18th June 2010

Armorel was back at work in the clinic today, and back to work with a bang.

A very poorly child of 9 months came into the clinic this morning.

Armorel spent the day working with the girl, and with her parents. They had travelled over 400km to the clinic to try and receive help.

Sadly the child died this evening.

She died from iron poisoning after an incorrect dose was given a few weeks ago in a hospital in their home region.

It is a real jolt, and reminder of the fragility of life, and the poor health infrastructure in this country.

We ask for your prayers for the family and guidance on how we and others can help more.

Day 141 – Thursday 17th June 2010

The family’s plane left Mwanza at just before 9am. They have the day in Dar before heading back to England.

Armorel and I enjoyed the 7 hour journey home, have unpacked and are now enjoying a typical power cut!

Day 140 – Wednesday 16th June 2010

We had a morning canoe trip with singing local fisherman and a tour of their village.

Then it was on to Mwanza for our last night.

The boys swam and watched the football. The girls went for massages and pedicures.

We then spent the evening on the banks of Lake Victoria enjoying a wonderful last night meal together.

Day 139 – Tuesday 15th June 2010

Happy Birthday John!

It was on towards Mwanza and an afternoon at leisure in the same lodge as our first night.

What a way to spend a birthday, and what a cake too!

Day 138 – Monday 14th June 2010

Our final day of safari, and we were treated to a huge herd of elephants as we were leaving.

A majestic group of 30 plus elephants silently walking across the plains.

Breathtaking!

We had an evening BBQ with glowsticks, and hyenas calling in the background.

Day 137 – Sunday 13th June 2010

The wildebeest migration witnessed firsthand.

Truly jaw dropping.We have now witnessed a number of animals in the prime of mating.

Today was the lions, who we sat with for lunch.

Impressive stamina.

Supposedly every 5 minutes for 7 days non-stop.

Day 136 – Saturday 12th June 2010

We got stuck in the mud, and needed a full scale, all hands to the pump rescue to get us out of trouble.

The animals continue to be spectacular.

Day 135 – Friday 11th June 2010

6am start for a whole day safari.

All big cats seen in one day, though we only glimpsed a leopard as he shot down a tree, and we have seen pretty much all other animals living in the Serengeti.

We have been spoilt.

Highlight – John being hit in the face by a Red-billed Hornbill that was too slow to move out the way.

Day 134 – Thursday 10th June 2010

It was an early start for a morning game drive in the Serengeti before lunch at our tented camp and base for the safari.

First to be seen…

Black-faced vervet monkeys...

Closely followed by gazelle’s, so Dad claimed the victory.

A wonderful morning followed by an afternoon at the pool.

Day 133 – Wednesday 9th June 2010

We left for our safari at 6am with the sun rising.

8 hours later, with our bones shaken, we arrived at our stop-over lodge, and as you can see from the view, it was well worth the journey.

Arguments have ensued about the first animal to be seen, as birds a plenty were seen on route. It was decided that birds didn’t count.

No winner yet.

Day 132 – Tuesday 8th June 2010

This morning the alarm went off early and Armorel and Anna headed into work. They seemed to have a great day, and saw some interesting cases. I think Arms would like Anna to stay. It is nice having a nurse she can rely on and who understands her.

The rest of us had a very lazy day, drinking tea and reading our books.

We did venture out after lunch to post some postcards and to buy some bits and pieces for the journey.

Tomorrow we head off on safari to the Serengeti!

It’s an early start and I am afraid the end of the blog for a week. However, I intend to post daily accounts on our return, and pictures.

We did play a quick game to guess the first animal of the safari. The guesses went as follows;

Mum – Zebra

Dad – Antelope

Armorel – Warthog

Anna – Wanted to say Dog and felt it unfair we wouldn’t let her, so in annoyance picked a local fish, Talapia.

David – Topi

John – Mongoose

We shall see who wins!

See you in a week!

Day 131 – Monday 7th June 2010

Unfortunately Armorel had to go to work this morning, so it was just the original Salberg’s left.

After a lazy start, we headed in to town to do some shopping. We only have two shops in town that sell anything you could consider worthy of gifts, so took the family along to get some goodies.

You can’t spend too long in two small shops, so we wasted away the rest of the morning with a cool soda.

After a quick lunch we headed to the clinic for a tour and then onto the farm to show the family where we work and what we do.

It was a hot afternoon.

A cup of tea was needed when we returned home but had to drink it quickly as we had a football date. Tonight Brazil is playing Tanzania.

Everyone is expecting them to lose but we are heading to watch and cheer them on.

They lost 5-1, but a fun time.

Tomorrow my sister Anna is heading into the clinic to play nurse which will be great fun for her and then it will be packing for our holiday.

Most of the family are already asleep, so I think we will sleep to.

Day 130 – Sunday 6th June 2010

We treated the family to the joys of church this morning and we weren’t let down.

Very amusing!

We had planned to then venture on a Sunday picnic to the dam, but a number of things caused plans to change and we ended up heading to Mark’s house, the one with the pool. We had a lovely time, some wonderful food and a relaxing time.

The evening came and went, with an episode of Planet Earth and then it was time for bed.

My family sleep all the time!

Day 129 – Saturday 5th June 2010

Today was a sightseeing day, all 4 of Tabora’s hot spots.

We started with a morning tour of the market. It was quite a spectacle to see 6 wazungus walking around the market, and we got a lot more attention than normal, but all very nice.

We then headed off and bought some honey. This is only an experience because it looks anything but a place to get honey and you buy it in these large plastic bottles.

Then it was off to Tipha for Samosa’s. We decided that we would do take out and have them with our lunch.

3 down, 1 to go.

We then ventured off to find Livingstone’s museum. We hadn’t managed to go there yet so didn’t really know where we were going.

Luckily, just as we were starting to think we were lost we got flagged down by an old man who asked in English, “Livingstone museum?”

He jumped in the back with a key and on we drove.

The museum was fascinating, sorry we forgot our camera, full of stories and bits and pieces from the story of Dr Livingstone that we all vaguely knew. I guess Tabora is a little bit more famous than we give it credit for.

After a tour, us all refusing to enter some rooms due to the numbers of bats hanging down from the ceiling and flying around, and a chat with a group of 15 local children who had followed our car as we drove here, we headed home for lunch.

A lazy afternoon, where I think we all slept was had and then a dusk stroll around the block, seeing a number of amazing birds on route.

This evening we introduced my family to the wait for food at the Tabora Hotel. Only just shy of 2 hours, but the food was very good and we had a fun evening. It is so good to catch up with them all, and properly catch up and not a quick Skype chat catch up.

Tired, it is bedtime.

Day 128 – Friday 4th of June 2010

The ‘TIA’ (This is Africa’) experience begins.

In the early hours I get a phone call from my Sister. They have landed in Dar but the hotel pick up hasn’t turned up, which we sort, and then they arrive at the hotel who have lost their booking. This after all sorts of journey complications which saw them being upgraded!

It ends up with Mum and Dad in one hotel and Dave and Anna down the road in another. They report they had nice rooms and slept well.

We wake with excitement, watching the clock, waiting for their arrival.

We receive a text to say they are just about to board.

We then receive a text saying they are on the plane but there is a delay.

We then get a text saying they are off the plane.

We then get a plane saying they are back on the plane.

They depart.

We spent the morning trying to keep busy and headed for the airport just after 1.

It is so fantastic to have them all, so amazing to be able to share this life experience with them, though also very bizarre. We were drinking tea and it felt like they had just popped round.

I dragged Dave along to Friday football which was very hot but great fun. The rest came to watch and seemed to enjoy themselves. We spent the evening relaxing and catching up, and getting some goodies.

Thank you everyone who sent some along. We are so blessed.

It blows your mind the generosity and love. Thank you!

Day 127 – Thursday 3rd June 2010

The dogs were at it again last night. They are really starting to drive us mad.

This morning we headed off to the diocese offices, as we were picking up a car. We are borrowing one for my parents are here. They arrive tomorrow.

It’s great to have a large vehicle, but it’s an interesting drive. The selling points we were given when we picked it up were;

“The driver’s door doesn’t really open.”

“The brakes need pumping because they don’t actually work.”

“Sometimes you can’t get into gear, so you need to switch the engine off, wait and then try again.”

I think we are going to have some fun, but I have my proper Africa man’s truck!

I continued to work in the office and the supply of chapatti’s and tea continued as well. Armorel ran the ward this morning, as the nurse on duty was MIA. She has also started to train up the nurses on how to admit and discharge patients, so that she isn’t always responsible. We will see how that works.

Tonight we are entertaining, and have a bunch over for dinner. We enlisted Baraka and Zawadi to help us prepare, though they spent most of this time attacking John and eating the food. However, we have had a lovely evening.

My phone has just beeped. The text reads’

“We are just getting on the plane to Dar. See you in the morning.”

So tomorrow at around 1:30pm, my Mum, Dad, Brother and Sister arrive. We can’t wait! Sorry if the blog gets a bit quieter, especially when we go away, I am sure you will survive.

If you can’t cope let me know and I will put on some speculative posts for you.

Good Night!

Day 126 – Wednesday 2nd June 2010

The next two days I am helping the ladies out in the office at the clinic. First job of the day is to update and debug the computers.

It took a while. 74 Trojans found!

I then helped the ladies with some billing and finance stuff. All quite interesting, and they appreciated the help.

I appreciated the change of scenery and the tea and chapatti’s that they fed me with to keep me busy.

Armorel was off to Mwakashindye for the outreach clinic. It was another busy day where they saw over 350 patients and 180 babies. She really enjoys these clinics. They are so valuable to all. This is what we are here to do.

We had a nice quite evening, catching up about the incidents of the day and headed to bed.

Day 125 – Tuesday 1st June 2010

The dogs were at it again last night, so we welcome in the month of June with slight fatigue. I am heading off to the shamba today so get to dress like a builder, and Armorel is again saving lives at the clinic.

She spent most of the day helping out Dr Jim and saw and did a number of interesting things. She saw a boy who had stopped speaking, but had not lost the ability to scream and cry when she approached with a needle. She saw a lady with a large hernia resembling an anteater’s snout, which completely disappeared when the patient lay down. She put a plaster cast on a boy’s broken elbow, and diagnosed a lady with TB from a large, swollen foot infection. Oh, and treated the regular malaria cases.

My day was less heroic but just as fun. The plan for today was to finish the dam with small stones and cement. It was an early start, which found us buying cement at 8am, and me being introduced as a builder. Do they know I have no idea what I am doing?

We had a great day, though exhausting and hot, and full of new experiences. After dropping off the cement at the dam site, which is 4 km along an interesting track which the 4x4 finds tough we had to get the sand. So we drove to the dried up river bed and began to dig. After two full loads, the whole of the back of the car full, we needed to get water. The nearest source is about 3km away so back we went, along even more challenging terrain to fill the buckets and cans that we had available.                   Jacob in the pond filling up the water. 

Then we started to mix and start work, though you run out of water quite quickly so we got very familiar with the route to the pond.

The dam is not finished, we got about halfway, as we ran out of small stones, we will return soon.  

Tonight, I can barely stay awake. I am exhausted. We treated ourselves to a square of chocolate and I think are ready for bed.