Malaria

Malaria. It is a frightening word. So when the local doctor told me on Wednesday evening that Joel had tested positive for malaria, I was sent into disarray. Joel is such a tiny little tot and to think that he was suffering with malaria, on top of a nasty chest infection and cough, was a scary concept. He had already been up to the Dodoma clinic that morning  (yet another visit for baby Joel - his 3rd since we got back to Dodoma in June) and was taking some bright pink antibiotic, but now I needed to find out what medicine to give him for malaria.

Andrew was away for 3 days, without contact, in northern Tanzania working with the Masaai. I was alone with the 3 children, my head spinning and not sure what to do next. Of course, one of the first things one does in a crisis is to phone one's Mum (on Skype)!! But being far away England, there was not much she could pratically do to help me find medicine, calm my screaming baby and feed, bath and get the other 2 children to bed. However, she could say a prayer and we are so grateful to all those she also contacted who have sent messages of love and support and who have prayed us through this latest Tanzania family "crisis".

My other immediate course of action was to rush outside and ask our neighbours help. My MAF friend Mirjam "happened" to be outside in the compound on her way home across town, and seeing as her baby David ( Joel's little friend, only 2 days his junior in age) had also tested positive for malaria a few days earlier, she was an excellent source of advice and able to give me some medicine and get Joel started on his course of anti-malarials. My other MAF compound neighbours were also amazingly kind and helpful, visiting the doctor for me to double-check that I had understood all the particulars of the test with my less-than-fluent Swahili, stopping by to check on us over the next couple of days, taking over my school runs for me.

It was also fantastic to have Andrew's sister close by. On receiving my worried phone call, Claire jumped into a taxi and headed across town to spend the night here with us. I don't know how I would have coped otherwise. She was able to help with administering solid anti-malaria pills to a crying 7-month old (who is still without any teeth!!) at 8pm and then 3am, with carrying a very upset Joel around, helping to give him his anti-biotics, freeing me up to get Esther and Ben to bed after their hurried "dinner" of Weetabix and chopped apple!!

Joel is now much better, to our great relief. His chest still sounds sore, he is still coughing but he has no sign of a fever at present and seems much happier in himself.
I sincerely hope I shall never be blogging again about the threat of malaria reaching us- and that the news of Joel's health can be good news, rather than these too-frequent reports of ill health and worry.

Transport in Tanzania

I have found it interesting to observe various forms of transport here in Tanzania: some of them less speedy than others, some of them rather frightening from a safety perspective and some of them a little overloaded. Here are a few examples for you to get a bit of an idea about some of the choices of transport available:

 We overtook the 3 Men on a Motorbike somewhere near Morogoro- a tricky shot, as they (and we!) were driving along quite fast. It is not an uncommon sight, although sometimes it may be a mother and child clinging on at the rear- still with no helmet in sight... scary!
If you need to transport your goods and don't have a car, it looks like very hard work, especially in the heat:

 Or perhaps you need to move your whole shop and visit your customers at various locations? We often see sellers pushing their entire stall along the streets near to MAF- a strange sight until you know what is going on! The shop is set up on a large cart and the seller stands in the middle, pushing the goods along- you may be able to make out his feet underneath:

 Hand-pushed carts are widely available for hire and we see many of them being pushed along Dodoma's streets, often containing amazingly heavy loads. The barrow-handlers are often barefoot and I find it incredible the way they manage the heat of the blistering hot tar on the soles of their feet- as well as marvelling over the speed at which they can move their loads. However, it is a risky business to have a hand-pushed barrow- a government leaflet recently handed to me by Dodoma's traffic police informs me that 60 barrow-pushers were injured and 6 were killed on the roads in Tanzania in the short period between January- April in 2010.

Other sobering statistics listed tell me that, in the same period, 137 motorcyclists and 136 cyclist deaths were recorded, along with 349 vehicle passengers, 57 drivers and 362 pedestrians. The roads of Tanzania can be a dangerous place to venture and we are thankful for those who pray for our safety when we travel here!

For those who wish to avoid the dangers of road travel, there is the option of the train. Andrew's sister Claire and 5 other teachers from Esther and Ben's Primary School used the recent holidays to travel to Kigoma and visit Lake Tanganika (the world's 2nd largest freshwater lake) and the National Park of Gombe with its famous Chimpanzee Reserve.
The train journey was a "mere" (!!) 31 hours- in each direction!! Claire is now safely returned to Dodoma and enjoyed a great experience,
The day that Claire left, we went along at 7:30am to wave her off. It was exciting for us to actually see the train- as it is rarely here in Dodoma - and to be allowed on to the station - normally out of bounds to non-passengers. In Tanzania, it illegal to take photos of train stations, but we were given permission to take photos of the train by a local guard and it was good to be able to see how Claire and her travelling companions would be settled for the following 31 hours!

 The tickets:

 The Farewell Committee at the station- a long way down from the carriage window, since there are no platforms to stand on!

We did not make the welcoming committee on Claire's return to Dodoma though, as her train pulled in 6 hours late, at 2am on Saturday rather than 8pm Friday evening- however, the train made enough noise to wake us all up as it honked its way into Dodoma, a couple of miles across town! We were relieved to know that Claire was safely "home" as we heard her transport's arrival announced in the darkness of the African night!

101 Things to do with a Rice Crispies Box

Esther and Ben returned to school last week after their 2 week break. As ever, it is a bit of a challenge keeping little ones busy in the holidays here in Dodoma, with not many places to go and this time, many of their friends went away for the holiday.
However, we discovered the great and vaired uses of a Rice Crispies box- plenty to keep us amused for a couple of mornings at least!
From weaving...to creating fearsome spiders... to dressing up props:

The Evening Reception (...continued from previous blog below...)

[N.B. see blog entry below for the 1st installment before reading this!!]

The Evening Reception:

I was a little late for the evening celebrations, as Andrew was held up at work last Saturday when he flew back from the village with a young lad (about 8 years old) who had unfortunately been ravaged by a suspected rabid dog. The boy and his uncle flew with Andrew to Dodoma, the boy's face a real mess of blood -yet he was being so brave. Andrew drove them up to the Dodoma clinic and made sure all was settled before arriving home to "babysit" a little later than planned.

I missed some speeches but the evening was only just getting started at 8:15pm. I was there just in time to see Anna and Lukas cutting one of several of their brightly decorated wedding cakes, before presenting a cake in a basket to firstly the groom's family table- and then the bride's family table on opposite sides of the hall.

After cutting the main cake, they then carried out the Tanzanian tradition of feeding each other a piece of cake, to much applause and with loud appreciation from the guests! The best man and his wife, "the best woman", echo this and then the bride feeds the bridesmaids.
I can only describe the next celebration as like a huge, joyful "conga" dance, where the entire wedding party stands up and snakes around the hall, each person carrying a glass or bottle of soda. Starting with the members at the table of the groom's family, each guest knocks glasses/ bottles  with every one else in turn, in a giant "chinchin". I obediently followed suit but was very conscious of my inadequate dancing skills, as Tanzanian guests seemed to walk with an effortless sway in time to the music, leaving those of us from abroad looking far less at ease!

The buffet was delicious- chicken and chips (definitely a favourite dish here in Tanzania), savoury bananas, a piece of roasted meat, watermelon pieces and wedding cake...

 There was lots of amazing dancing to sit back and watch, right from the tiniest little guest doing some fantastic dance moves...

 ...to seeing the family tribe Lukas comes from carry out their traditional dancing in more of a cicle formation:

The bride and groom also carried out formal introductions to the assembled wedding guests of each member of their family sitting at their respective family tables. Since I was sitting on Anna's family table, with some American friends I knew- the only people I knew at the event- I found myself being asked to stand up and being introduced too! I felt like a bit of a fraud, not being family, but Anna was very gracious and introduced me as her neighbour!
It was a happy evening. Although I left early at about 10:15, I hear that the celebrations continued past midnight. There are definitely many more speeches and formalties followed here in Tanzania and more spectating than I have been used to as a guest at an English wedding. It was fascinating to be there and I really enjoyed myself.
Finally, as I reversed my car out of my parking space to head back home to bed, I couldn't resist a smile as I snapped this sign painted on the car park wall in front of me: 

Tanzanian Wedding

Last Saturday I was privileged to be the guest at a wedding here in Dodoma- my first Tanzanian wedding! I had so much fun- and enjoyed seeing how the Tanzanians celebrate a wedding. It was fascinating to see how different it is from a traditional English wedding- and to see some of the similarities borrowed from Western cultures.

The Bride:
Our new neighbour on the MAF compound, Anna, comes from Somerset in England and works out here with SIL translating Bible texts. She has been in Tanzania for some years and speaks fluent Swahili (helpful if you are a translator!! :-)). She met her husband, Lukas, at work and they married in August in England, with her family and friends present for the special day. However, they then had a second wedding here in Tanzania, with the groom's family and friends.

The Groom:
Lukas is Tanzanian and comes from a village near Kondoa, about 3 hours drive from Dodoma. He also works with SIL and also does some work with "Safina" (see blog entry in February- working with street kids in Dodoma).

The Invitation:
In Tanzania. the guests first receive a preliminary invitation, with the names of the groom and the bride and the date of the wedding- but no details about venue/ times. On the card, a price is suggested for each guest to pay: 40,000 shillings for a couple, 25,000 shillings for a single guest. This helps to cover the cost for your drinks and food at the wedding.
If you would like to attend the wedding, you pay your dues and a note is taken of your name. Once the family have received your payment, you receive the official invitation with all details and times of the church and the Reception.
Esther shows Invitation Cards One and Two:

 The Church:
The invitation stated that the wedding would start at 3pm - although it seems that in Tazania, starting times of events can often be "flexible", so we weren't sure if it would really be 3pm or perhaps later! However, we arrived for 3 and the Swahili service did start soon afterwards. There were a few of us from the MAF compound:

 There was an initial introduction from the front by the presiding pastor and some singing and dancing for us all to join in, which was fun for Esther and Ben, before the groom's arrival was anounced. Rather than waiting at the front of the church for his bride to arrive by his side, the groom is escorted into church by a band of young people ( I suppose the equivlanet of our "page boys/ bridesmaids") all in matching outfits and made up of family members. They lead the way down the aisle with energetic singing and dancing, as the groom follows with his best man. Lukas is the one with the happy smile (!!) on the right hand side at the back:

 Once Lukas arrives at the front of the church, there are some more introductions and prayers while we wait for the bride to be escorted into the church. The all-singing/ all-dancing group of children exits the church in order to fetch and then accompany the bride. Anna arrives at the back door looking beautiful in her white dress- which has become a popular choice of wedding dress in Tanzania, borrowed fromWestern culture. However, she waits at the door while the pastor asks who gives her away to be married. There is a formal answer from family stating their agreement that they consent to give away the bride- and then the bride waits while her groom comes up to aisle to fetch her...

...but before he takes his bride and leads her down the aisle, he first lifts her veil at the back door and checks that he has the correct lady! He then states that this in the one he wishes to marry and only then do the bride and groom make their way to the front of the church for the wedding vows and service to continue.

During the service, there is a lot of singing and dancing from various groups or individulas for us to watch and enjoy:

We left after several musical presentations, as we had been in the church for over an hour and my children were getting very restless and a little noisy- all this before the talk or the vows! However, we had enjoyed the service to that point and then we slipped out the back and headed home- with Esther snapping this shot of Joel and of Mum in her new Tanzanian outfit made last week by a seamstress in town:

Later in the evening, I would attend the Evening Reception- but that is a whole new blog...!!

Magumbua

Magumbua is one of the more isolated villages which Andrew flies to on a monthly basis. At Magumbua, Andrew picks up a medical team and then takes them to a further village, Birise, for a day of health care and mother/baby clinics. This is the only local health care that the people in Birise have access to. Imagine having a medical team on hand only once a month- otherwise, you would need to set a day aside to walk in the heat to the nearest clinic, many miles away. Sadly, this is often the case in rural Tanzania.
In Magumbua, however, help is at hand in a local clinic, headed up by an Amercian doctor, Dr Jon Eager, working in Magumbua with AIM (Africa Inland Mission). Jon and his family live in the very small community out in the bush. They regularly come to Dodoma to fetch supplies and then stay over in the MAF Guesthouse. That's how I got to meet the family - wife Melissa and 3 children, Josh, Drew and Rachel. We have really enjoyed their company and since they enjoyed living and studying in Liverpool at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, we have had fun swopping stories about our Liverpool experiences. Melissa has often invited us out into the bush to come and visit them. It is a 3-4 hour drive, depending on the state of the dirt roads out in that direction- or a 35 minute MAF flight- a far easier option for a day's visit!
This month, we finally had the opportunity to take Melissa up on her kind offer of hospitality and go to visit our friends in rural Tanzania. Any trip out of Dodoma is exciting for us- but for extra excitement, we flew to Magumbua in the MAF plane- with Andrew as our pilot!!
We have never flown with Andrew as our pilot before, so it was a very excited Parker family that set off just before 8am on Tuesday to climb aboard the red and white MAF plane!

 Ear-plugs in and ready for take-off!

 Esther was thrilled with her vantage point on the way out, sitting next to Captain Dad and enjoying the views out of the window-

 Joel was less impressed, but found that travelling by air is a great chance for a nap!

 Dodoma fell away very quickly as we headed up into the skies of East Africa...

 ...and in only a couple of minutes, our views of the small city of Dodoma gave way to the vast expanses of arid plains which surround Tanzania's capital city:

Half an hour later and here we are descending towards rural Magumbua-if you can make out the white building, that is the clinic:

 

Coming down onto the dusty airstrip...

 ...and our Magumbua welcoming committee is waiting to meet us!

Once we had alighted from the plane, it was time to say "Goodbye" to Andrew, as his work now continued. He left us in Magumbua, while he got busy loading the medical team and their supplies onto the plane and then setting off for a hot day out in Birise, due to return late afternoon to fetch us.

Reminaing in Magumbua, Esther, Ben, Joel and I had a wonderful day with Melissa and the children - and also their home-school teacher from the USA, Meredith, who is living with them for a year. It was fun to spend the day in their home:

 There was also time to walk up to the clinic and see Jon at work and visit the premises. Here are a few pictures... The medical laboratory:

 The operating/ medical procedures room. Melissa told me that this room is often used for circumcision, which is considered very important in Tanzanian culture. Far better to have it carried out by a qualified doctor in the clinic than out in the village with unclean instruments.

 I was interested by this enormous fridge to store medicines, which is powered by gas- hence the large canisters. A great idea in a country with frequent electricity cuts!

 This is the maternity ward, so Melissa felt it fitting that Joel and I should pose here! It is great to have these facilities available out in the bush, although it is a bit different from Ormskirk hospital where Joel was born.

 Here, a couple of patients wait to see the doctor in the cool shade of the clinic. On the other side of the quadrangle, there were many more patients sitting on benches, but it felt rude to photograph them. These two patients gave their consent to be photographed- it was fascinating to see the young lady's beautiful jewellery:

 There was plenty of time to play in the garden and Joel liked the swing:

We had a delicious lunch at home with all of the family. Joel trialled their family high chair and is now borrowing it until we can find one to buy for him- not so easy to find such goods in Dodoma. However, this chair travelled back with us in the plane and is much appreciated!

 All too soon, it was time to return to the dusty, sandy airstrip and head home. Andrew arrived just in time to have a cup of tea, then we had to say our farewells and climb into our seats.

 Melissa, Rachel and Drew and a few villagers came to wave us off:

 On the way home, Ben was delighted to have his turn in the front co-pilot's seat:

 But half way into the flight it seemed that the excitement was just too much for some!