End of March-Mid April

NIMR /BUGANDO MICROBIOLOGY LAB
First to get some lab updates out of the way...
In order to test the “contamination” in the yoghurt that showed up on some gram stains in the lab, we made blood agar plates which can be used to grow E. coli. We used human blood from a local hospital’s blood bank!!! To ensure the gram stain worked as it should, I plated a Gram negative species (E. coli) and a Gram positive species (Staphylococcus aureus). I Traveled to Bugando Hospital Microbiology Lab (Bugando University College of Health Sciences) and plated E. coli, Streptococcus, and Staphylococcus on Fusidic Acid and Blood Agar plates (6 plates in total) and transported them back to NIMR to be incubated. It turns out that there was no proof of contamination in the probiotic yoghurt, but perhaps some in the non-probiotic yoghurt from using the MARA milk, so we purchased a better-quality yoghurt from U-turn to inoculate the remaining quantities of non-probiotic yoghurt needed for Joke’s trial. Problem solved and the trial continues.

FOREVER ANGELS ORPHANAGE
I finally got the chance to go visit the children at Forever Angel’s Orphanage. I’ve been reading Amy’s Blog for quite some time now, since around the time I discovered the Western Heads East program. Amy and Ben, a couple from the UK, have set up a very unique and extraordinary Baby Home here in Mwanza, Tanzania. They have taken in young children who have been abandoned, abused, or lost their parents for AIDS-related illnesses. Many of the children have had very rough family histories and they have in some cases been very severely abused, malnourished, and/or are very ill. Some need hospital attention upon entrance to the Orphanage!

The unique aspect of Forever Angels is that it is a baby home and they are constantly having new children coming and going. The Orphanage tries to find homes for the children, whether it be with a more responsible family member or adoptee parents. In some cases, the parent finds a job and can again support their child with food and shelter. Of course, the children are monitored and checked up on when they leave the orphanage!

I visited with Corinna (who had volunteered for the past three months there, but now works at Tunza) and Nadja (who was also there for the first time) to spend an afternoon with the kids. When we first arrived, we went to a room with toddlers playing with blocks, next to a room with many cribs/mosquito net coverings. The first baby I got attached to was named Angel and she would grasp onto my clothes so I wouldn’t let her go!! Then, I got a chance to spend time with the “tiny babies”, cradeling them and holding them and tickling them J. Sooo cute! Then I went back to see the “big babies” (toddler age) and played blocks again with Angel! Then, lastly we went to see some of the older children when the toddlers were taken inside for snack time! The older kids were speaking in English and Swahili and the girls were playing with my hair, while the little boys were asking me to lift them up and spin them around again and AGAIN, to the point where I was getting dizzy!

STAREHE CHILDREN”S HOME
I also had the opportunity to visit Salome and the children she works with at Starehe Children’s Home! I took the daladala and was dropped off right at the gates of the Orphanage. The director, or Salome’s boss, offered to show my around the property and explain how things operate on a day-to-day basis there. There are approximately 125 children, ranging from new-born age up to 18 or 19. Many of the children are school-aged, while others attend the nursery on sire. The plot of land the orphanage is situated on was much larger than I had imagined, with multiple residences for the children, based on sex and age.
I stayed after the tour to play with the kids and help out with feeding, bathing, dressing them, and putting them to sleep. After a messy dinner of rice and beans, the kids were playing on the jungle gym play set. The kids were getting put to sleep around 6:30 pm, but they were all really rambunctious and wanting to take pictures with my camera. It was so hard to leave them, but I know they need their rest! I went down to the basketball courts to play some games with the older boys until Salome’s shift was over at 7 pm!

RUBONDO ISLAND NATIONAL PARK
For the Easter long weekend (Friday until Sunday), I got the chance to go to Rubondo Island, my first trip to one of Tanzania’s National Parks. From what I had heard, there was going to be some great wildlife, including crocodiles, hippopotamus, elephants, and sitatungas (type of antelope).

On Friday morning, there was a little confusion regarding where I was to meet the group leaving Mwanza and a little disappointment with the drizzly weather, BUT I caught the ferry just in time. Luckily, I hopped on just as it was about to leave the port!!! I met Khaled, Major, Henku, Jaques and Corinna! Major’s car was on-board with a speed-boat on a trailer, and Khaled’s car was packed with camping supplies, like sleeping-bags, tents and food and drinks. We had to wait over in the ferry terminal at the other side for a while because Jan (Henku’s dad), Jan’s broher (all South African) and two Spanish men who work at Major and Khaled’s shipyard were coming on the next ferry to meet us. We had chips mayai and mishkaki! After that stop-over, we were on our way to drive through the country-side. Major’s trailer was coming undone from the trailer, so they stopped early and drove the boat all the way to Rubondo. We drove further, speeding down dirt-roads and beeping all the while to keep people on bikes out of harm’s way. We passed through a few villages, and when we stopped briefly for food, it seemed as though the whole village came out to watch us! When we got to the boat, there were engine problems and the engine was moving us very slowly and continually stalling. There was a beautiful sunset over Lake Victoria and then the stars started twinkling, but overall it was an extended journey. When we arrived at the campsite and had unpacked our things into the “banda” and the shared kitchen, we sat by the bonfire and grilled some goat meat for dinner!

On Saturday, I rose early to catch the sunrise and join in on the fishing trip! We managed to catch a couple really big ones! Unfortunately, the fish weren’t biting as much as they used to because of some illegal fishing in the area!!! The area of the lake is supposed to be a conservation area, and it usually costs money to get a permit to fish. We discovered a floating water-bottle that when we lifted it up revealed a never-ending line of hooks with tiny fish attached for bait. There were only a few catches, so it must have been placed there the night before, and we cut these off. We did manage to see some other wildlife, like crocodiles sticking their heads out of the water, some hippos near-by shore, and birds like Fish Eagles and White Eagris! After fishing, I went on a tour with Corinna, Henku, and an Austrian couple living in Mwanza. I had bare-feet because I literally came right off the fishing-boat and hopped onto the 4WD headed on the tour. As it turned out, the journey by car was short and we walked through a couple of trails leading to look-out points. Besides a couple problems with thorns and ant-highways, I got away without any harm done to my feet because the ground in the forest carpet was damp and muddy from recent rainfall. I got to see crocodiles through binoculars, confirming they weren’t rocks! When we finished the guided tour, we went exploring on our own to the “landing strip” and the “airport lounge” where small planes can enter the island. When we returned back to camp, we grabbed some late lunch and waited for the fish for dinner to come from the second fishing outing of the day! When the guys returned, they revealed a bundle of fishing nets!! We removed the fish caught up in them and set fire to them. After grilling more fish than we could ever possibly eat, we sat around the fire as the sun went down.

On Sunday, we went for another tour with the Austrian couple. We drove quite a distance around the Island to the Northern area and saw a few Bushbucks (small antelopes) along the way. We also stopped a number of times to let groups of butterflies huddled on the road to flutter away!! We were literally bush-whacked by palms and vines overhanging onto the dirt paths we were driving on, and had to continually keep our guard up and duck down!!We saw monkeys in the trees and some crossing the road, including Vervet monkeys, recognizable because of their blue scrotum haha…When we retuned from the tour, we were packing up and already getting ready to take the boat back to Mwanza! After a MUCH quicker boat ride back than the previous one on Friday night, we drove through the beautiful (this time sunny!!) country-side. Once we got to the ferry it was clear that it wasn’t up and running because of the Easter holiday…there were no cars or trucks waiting at the terminal!!! Luckily it was easy enough to organize a smaller boat to take us back to Mwanza! Everyone headed to Tunza Lodge and I got to indulge in my FIRST hot shower since arriving in Mwanza!!!!

ARJA AND YOLANDA IN MWANZA!
Arja and Yolanda, the two Medical students from Rotterdam, in the Netherlands, arrived to Mwanza at the end of March and are now living with us in our apartment. We are collaborating our efforts for the “Moringa Project” where we will be mixing Moringa plant powder with the probiotic yoghurt produced by the Mamas, and also with a “probiotic porridge” made from fermented grains.

Steph and I picked them up from the Mwanza Airport on March 31st and (after filling out some paper work because their luggage was left behind in Nairobi :S) we showed them around a bit of Mwanza. We met Joke and some of our other girlfriends at Talapia for dinner to familiarize everybody! I think they’re at a great advantage (and grateful for it) that Steph and I have been here for a few months and can show them the ropes and workings of Mwanza.

Joke is now back in the Netherlands until mid-May doing a course required for her Medical School at Rotterdam. She took the blood cards and the vaginal swabs from the initial tests with her to be analyzed in the lab. The collection from the final tests are being stored in our apartment at present and will be sent to the lab later.


SEKOU-TOURE CLINICAL TRIAL COMPLETE!!!
On Tuesday April 6th, we went to the hospital to carry on with Joke’s trial (the final stretch, as the patients will all finish on Saturday April 10th). We rose early so we could be at the hospital for 8 am. We filled in the forms when the patients came to collect yoghurt for the day of and for Wednesday (another national holiday!!). We marked down patients needing to come back to the hospital on Saturday for their Dry Blood Spot tests (we ran out of papers), and also CD4 tests for those who haven’t had one recently, within the last two months (the lab was unavailable).

On Saturday April 10th, we all went into Sekou-Toure and the final blood tests and vaginal examinations were completed. I filled in forms and checked that patients had updated their CD4 counts within the last two months.

The trial closed officially on April 14th with just a few more dry blood cards to be collected in bags and the fridge to be returned to NIMR on April 19th. I have just finished typing up a summary of the lab work from the trial.

MLANGO MOJAA
Second-hand Clothing Market
The market across the street from our apartment is filled with clothes, shoes, backpacks, purses, etc. Truck loads of bushels of clothing/shoes come into town everyday!

Neighbors
Some local people in our neighborhood have invited us into their homes to talk, to meet their families, to offer us food etc. I feel safe in the area we live in. Some people we have meet will come visit us at our house now too.
Joseph is a 19 year old in Form 5 and wants to eventually be trained as a doctor and move to Europe or North America! Him and his younger brother Davies (10 years old) live around the corner from our apartment and are always asking us to come to their home to greet their family. Joseph even asked us to help him with some biology questions, which at first we thought were from his own curiosity, but turned out to be from his homework haha.

CHEMCHEMI COMPANY (PORRIDGE PROJECT)
The Chemichemi group works under Kivulini Women’s Rights Organization in Mwanza and aims at working with individuals, community groups, companies and governmental organizations in encouraging the use of traditional plants, like Moringa. The leaves of moringa are harvested and dried, and when ingested it is proven to enhance the immune system (white blood cell counts) and it is used as an anti-malarial drug (traditional medicine).

Yolanda, Arja, and I traveled to Buswelu to visit the Community Health Centre where they produce a porridge using a mixture of millet, rice, peanut, maize, and soy flours. After boiling and cooling the porridge, 1 tsp of Moringa powder is added to each cup. There are demonstrations for the community at the Health Centre each week on how to cook the porridge, and then weekly supplies of flour are allotted to each family so they are able to make the porridge for their children at home. The project specifically targets children who are malnourished (they track the childrens’ growth and weight on charts). This method of feeding malnourished children with a balanced diet is a great initiative and many people travel 5 to 10 km just to pick up the flour each week. The government supplements the costs for these families, so there is no fee!

The Chemchemi company is very informative for local women, advising them as to their rights, and educating pregnant women on maintaining diets for a healthy pregnancy. We got to oversee a nurse giving a pregnant woman a check-up. She was 24 years old and it was already her fourth pregnancy. The health worker couldn’t find the heart beat of the fetus with the fetalscope, so she was referenced to Seckou-Toure hospital for tests! Her baby’s head had already aligned into the pelvic region, so she is expecting very soon!!


BUSWELU PRIMARY SCHOOL

Steph, Esther, and I met with the Headmaster, teachers, and students at the Primary School (Form 1-7) in Buswelu. There are 1, 450 students enrolled currently and only twelve classrooms! The classrooms were very overcrowded with around 100 students inside and many of the children sitting on the dirt floor at the front of the chalkboard instead of sitting at desks.

Tecumseh Elementary School in London, Ontario works on a school twinning project with Buswelu Primary School, and they have raised around 2, 000 dollars of support!! Currently, we feel the best way to spend this money would be on new desks for the children (each costing around 50 dollars each). Other immediate needs include the restoration of the water pipeline that provides the students with fresh water. The teachers also mentioned that there is always a need for new textbooks and notebooks, but that they have been wanting to purchase a computer for the staff room. This is an investment we’re looking into, but it would involve tighter security and extensive training in computer literacy.

We are having the children produce some artwork/drawings of their homes, family, and hobbies (life in Tanzania) to take back to the school in Canada. The children at Tecumseh are also drawing pictures to send to the children in Buswelu to educate them about life in Canada. We’re returning this upcoming week to take in colored pencils, paper, and other supplies for the kids to use!

Overall we were very impressed with the school and the children were all very friendly and welcoming! All the kids were very polite and even rose and called out “Good Morning Madam!” in unison when we entered the classroom, and after we greeted them, in return they exclaimed, “Thank you Madam!” haha

THE MORINGA PROJECT/ PROBIOTIC PORRIDGE
Yolanda, Arja, and I have been working at NIMR and experimenting with mixing different quantities of the moringa powder with the yoghurt. We need to be sure that the moringa does not affect the probiotics and render them ineffective. Once we have finished the work with counting colonies that grow in the probiotic yoghurt with moringa versus the probiotic yoghurt without moringa, then we can let the yoghurt sit with the moringa in it for about a week and test again.

We have also purchased a container of the porridge flour used by the Chemchemi company so that we can prepare it ourselves and try to add the probiotic strain to it. In the upcoming week, we will be making broth cultures with the different probiotic strains that I brought from the Lawson Research Institute Lab in London to see which one survives in the porridge.


AFRICAN COOKIN’
We’ve been cooking a lot more Tanzanian-style dishes at home these days! Lots of Ugali, sauce with okra, tomato, and onion, fried/baked Talapia fish (fresh from the local market), and spinach with peanut sauce!

We’ve also been invited over to several peoples’ homes for lunch or dinner, and eaten rice and beans, or ugali and sauce, and always accompanied by a soda haha

We’ve been writing down all the recipes, so expect some African dinners in Canada! Margaret and Esther have even been asking for us for some “Canadian dish” recipes, like our banana muffins and pasta sauce. They find it interesting that we infuse our food with so many spices because they’re used to only using salt…and lots of it!!

MALARIA
For the past few weeks (since before Easter weekend), I’ve been feeling a little ill, but I doubted malaria because I have been careful to take my malarone each day! On April 12th I felt head-achey and feverish so, to be safe, I got tested at the Hindu Hosptial for malaria. The lab results of my finger-prick blood test indicated positive for three-ring malaria! I purchased the prescribed medication at the local Global Pharmacy and had to take pills for three days, but my flu-like symptoms like coughing and runny nose haven’t gone away. There’s not really any way to know whether the lab results are accurate here or not, and it often takes a few tests to be absolutely sure of one’s malaria status. I’m feeling fine at the moment, so hopefully my sickness doesn’t return and I remain in good health for the remainder of the trip!

PENTECOSTAL CHURCH AND TRADITIONAL HEALERS
We have been to Salome's Church a few times, and we've gotten used to the elaborate presentations of gospel music and dancing and adapted to the Swahili-spoken sermons. However, the last time that we visited, in the middle of the service, we watched as Salome went to help a girl who was seizing on the ground off the side of the room. We heard muffled cries and noticed that she was being pinned to the ground by several people, and Steph, Arja, Yolanda and I were shocked that no medical attention was being called upon! Eventually the girl was able to stand off and was escorted out of the room. At the end of the service, we inquired about how she was doing, and it was explained that the girl had "evil spirits" placed inside of her by a local witch doctor. Apparently there are some so-called "evil" witch doctors who prescribe traditional medicines (traditional healers). It's strange to me that these superstitions in traditional herbal medication are still being used all over Africa, and are often more "reliable" (ie. accessible) than doctors in the hospitals.