Today was our first day at the clinic and minus that fact that my Swahili is limited to "Jambo" and "Asante" it was a pretty great day. The walk is about 25 minutes from our hostel and passes by an entire art village where the local artists paint and sell their work. I can't tell you how hard it was for me to walk past this! We walk to the town of Majengo, which is notably poorer and a bit more run down than Moshi, turn left at the bright green building and then the clinic is on the right! Everyone was extremely welcoming and seemed to be very glad we were there, and the ones who spoke some English did not hesitate to do so, so I tried to learn as many Swahili words as I could and used them regularly. Surprisingly difficult is remembering names, because very few are ones that I have heard before.
The best things about the clinic were getting to use the microscope ti dianose blood smears of malaria (thanks for that lab Dr. Makenzie!) and telling the Drs (Anastasi and Dr. Mariki) that we can solve their problem of having only one blood pressure cuff. Thanks to our fundraising we can afford the 15 more they so badly need for their more than 100 patients a day. We would really like to be able to send some more desperately needed items like stethoscopes, but can't do it without your help! Donate here.
Okay everyone's favorite, picture time!
Here's me and Roxy by the sign to the clinic, the crazy green building and the art town on the way to volunteer.
And these are some much needed pictures of our hostel! Out front.
The backyard and "kitchen."
The dining room outside where we eat/ sit and read/ do mostly everything.
These dogs names are no lie Peanut and Butter!! Makes me miss my Butters.
Later. M.
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