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Final Post

It has been a privilege to learn from and share this experience with all the women on this trip, with Lisa, Jeremy, Cat and Siobhan. South Africa and Tanzania provided a classroom like no other. I find it difficult to accurately describe the past month, instead closing my eyes to flip back into each day as if to fully transport. At the first day of class, Jeremy asked us to pick a word, representing our hope or attitude for the trip; mine was open. Open to listen and learn from others, open to change, open to look within myself, to challenge myself, to connect outwardly and invest in others. That list can go on for a while. The words chosen by my peers humbled and excited me, helped to shape the experience as a whole. I think back to Talita’s lecture on the first day of class, inspiring us and delicately outlining our purpose as nurses as citizens of the world to provide care with respect, love, integrity. It was a philosophy of nursing practice similar to Delaware’s definition or what was emphasized in class and clinical. None of us really knew what to expect in clinical, or what to expect on the entire trip. We most certainly did not know what would be imprinted upon all of us, the lessons we would learn. Lisa often said she had a hard time describing the trip, as each year developed into something unique and beautiful. Cape Town was stunning with Table Mountain watching over the city, Lions Head similarly drawn up from the earth providing a delicate landscape contrasted with the vast ocean. I have never seen anything like it. I did not realize at the time of hiking table mountain when summiting early in the morning maybe 15 minutes after 7, the gift and rare experience afforded to me. The sunrise in the east illuminating distant hills and projections of the earth, the wind dancing across the rock. I was in awe of the beauty, the softness of the rocks and their rich colors, the sand in certain areas of the cliff side. There were maybe five other people at the top at this point, and I knew others had made it even before this as many people passed me going down the mountain as I was still trying to summit to top, to the reward after conquering the steep ascent. At this point we had seen the clinics, hiked lions head, and toured around Cape Town for a bit making the perspective we had now, the view from the top of Table Mountain one of the most beautiful sights I have ever seen.

The rides out to the clinics really hit for me. Parts of it showing the innate beauty and vastness of Cape Town, the trees reaching up to the sun. Other parts showcased the drastic dichotomy between the classes; apartment buildings and city life compared to the shanty villages and gang areas, the communal cement bathrooms, electrical wires lined numerously and dangerously. The land bears witness to the political present and past of South Africa. I will never forget Christo Brands words of Robben Island that surely God must have intended nothing else of the island than of a prison due to the roughness of the seas and sheer difficulty of living there. The dinner with Christo was truly special; I feel that we were all honored to hear from him directly and experience firsthand his passion, his fire and perspective of the world. I could go on forever about Cape Town and it seemed we all took something different away from the clinical experiences. For me it was humbling, to examine myself and my attitude to see that my own culture shock made for a difficult transition of my own skills ultimately having to overcome those to apply myself and my knowledge with love, respect, and integrity in such a different setting. I could not have asked for a better transition for Tanzania as I personally felt this country was like a second home. Something about the wild aspect, the rural qualities contrasted with the inherent vastness of developing Arusha. The two countries felt like entirely different trips. Tanzania showed me things within myself I never knew were there, something I am forever grateful for but now leaves a small hole within my heart I can only fill by returning. I have experienced that kind of heartache before in my summers at Camp forming bonds with women and with nature. What we did and experienced in Tanzania extends deeper with our clinical presence and innate desire to care, to help. I feel that the only women who will understand what occurred and what we take forth are the ones I had the fortune of traveling with, and Jeremy. I could not have asked for a better group of women to travel with, to share the experience with, and to get to know. It brings tears to my eyes writing this blog because they have changed me forever, Africa has changed me forever, I know many of them if not all share that sentiment. Siobhan said it really well for me one day, “the people really make Tanzania” and I finally know what she meant. The passion, love, kindness, and spiritual fire expressed and embedded in Tanzanians is beautiful as is the land itself. I flash back to the Isoitok camp, witnessing the giant open landscape, the giant open wild that comprises Africa as a continent.  Rift Valley home to volcanoes and the land surrounding them serving as maps of prehistoric events and eruptions with volcanic rocks at the feet of the vegetation, the thorny trees and bushes. Seeing scorpions in the sand at dinner and other large beetles, moths. Then to see the Ngorongoro Crater, truly something one has to witness on their own to understand the incredible expanse and originality of this oasis. Nothing that could ever be created by man, but a true expression of the power of the earth, that force could make such an enormous pocket in the earth. At the floor of the crater the perspective attained at the top minutes prior feeling alien and suggesting the miniature features we hold in comparison to the wild. The crater was completely different from the landscape and ecosystem we would see at Kruger, perspective I am again grateful for. This trip expanded my worldview to a place I could not have predicted. I remember before leaving convincing myself of what the trip would look and feel like to gain some comfort among the unknown we were all facing holding that very first ticket in New York on January 1st. Now what I feel and what we know to be true are gifts that will impact the rest of my life, invaluable lessons that I am forever grateful to have learned. I extend my deepest gratitude to all who helped organize this trip, to the women for sharing all of themselves, to Africa for sharing all of itself, To Talita, To Siobhan, Cat, Jeremy, Lisa. Thank you to my parents for sending me here, for providing a loving childhood full of laughter. Thank you for the opportunity to serve and learn from all the Sisters in the clinics along the journey. The list of gratitude is truly infinite as is this experience in our lives. I am excited to see how each of our paths circuitously dances and intertwines throughout life. 

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Mid morning snack!

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Elephants!!!

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Jamie’s un-hard boiled egg incident

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January 30

4:53 we hear a knock on the door – it’s our wake up call for the 5:30 game drive. We all head to the dinning room for some quick tea, coffee, and biscuits and it’s back in our safari jeeps for the morning. We saw 2 rhinos within the first 20 minutes. Our guide said their horns grow 5cm per year but these guys just had little nubs. The reserve files them down to keep the rhinos protected from the poachers - which in this area signs read “poachers will be poached” allowing officials to shoot to kill poachers. (Also in Kruger National Park rhinos are assigned 5 rangers each to keep them protected which has really helped the population). We saw beautiful eagles, zebra, buffalo, wildebeest and warthog (not so beautiful), nyala, water buck, impala, and a family of giraffes. Oh and so many birds. Our jeeps stopped by a family of zebras to have our mid safari snack. Of course we all wanted to see how close we could get to the zebras so we lined one by one (same as when we walked to the cheetahs) and headed towards them. It didn’t take long for them to notice us coming and then move away slowly. Rachel decided to RUN at them which sent them fleeing for the hills. Back to our snack we went where we ate carrot muffins and had coffee/tea/drinking chocolate. Time for the second half of our safari- No elephants or leopards yet though, hopefully later on tonight or tomorrow. We headed back to camp for breakfast where we were served pastries, eggs, bacon, pancakes, fruits, yogurt, cereal, mushrooms, and tomatoes. Jamie and I thought they were serving hard boiled eggs as well. Jamie found out the hard way that they were definitely NOT hard boiled when she cracked the egg open onto her plate. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Jeremy laugh so hard! After breakfast we grouped up to discuss our book, Pushed, and talked about problems in maternal health care and the many interesting stories within the book. The sun came out and some of us went in the pool while others napped. We had some drinks by the pool and cooled down from this African heat before our afternoon game drive. We were on the look out for leopards and elephants (to finally check off all of the Big 5). After driving for a little while, we got the radio call for the elephants, but we could not have imagined what awaited us. We pull up to an entire heard of elephants, at least 20 or more, eating leaves and hanging around. We drove a little further and that’s when the magic happened. They marched single file 15 feet in front of us - one by one they passed our jeep. From the babies to the big males, none of us could contain ourselves. I think my jaw dropped open the entire time. It was pure bliss, joy, excitement, and amazement wrapped into one moment. They surrounded one of the jeeps - so close that Katie was less than an inch from reaching out and touching it. While we were watching in awe of these majestic creatures, one came up from behind us and passed our jeep within arms reach. The guide - “no don’t make so much noise guys please” - because the only words that we could put together were “oh my god, oh my god!” They all marched down the hill next to us and were out of sight. What a moment to remember - a moment where we all saw the beauty of this earth and felt the joy nature could fire within us. I think I’m still in shock. Well after that, I think we all felt nothing could top that moment for the rest of the drive. I can’t even remember what we saw next because I was still star struck from the elephants. We stopped for our afternoon snack and drink right at sunset with the blue mountains and pink sky behind us. Picture perfect (so of course, we took a bunch). We headed back to the lodge for our braai (aka barbecue) with the guides where we chowed down on a buffet of chicken, steak, pap, potatoes, and all sorts of veg. I just wish I could have one meal without a giant bug flying into my face or landing on my head. The bugs are a lot bigger here, if I could just throw that in there. As we were leaving dinner, I asked Rachel if she could just double check that it was gone. Her face went straight to full panic mode so obviously I panicked. I screamed as she hit me multiple times with her safari hat to get it off. Jeremy ran to the rescue because from the sound of things I was getting attacked by some large animal but he turned back as soon as he realized it was just another bug incident (sorry guys). After dinner, we hung out in the lounge and around the bar (which seems like a frequent spot for us:).  Hopefully we get to watch the Lion King tomorrow. Incredibly thankful for this entire trip and all the experiences leading up to now. It’ll be a hard farewell tomorrow but until then – goodnight from safari! -Sydney

(Love and miss you all back home!!)

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Jan 28th

Today was a travel day so we said goodbye to Tanzania and headed to Johannesburg for the last part of the trip. We woke up early, had breakfast at the hotel and starting packing up the busses with our luggage. Jimmy brought his family by so that they could meet his friends :) We left for the airport and it was about an hour drive, most of us were pretty tired from last night so a lot of us slept on the way there. When we got to the airport Issa was on top of the bus unloading the luggage and he said “i think they have small elephant in here” it was really funny and probably true. I think a majority of our bags were over weight with all the stuff we’ve bought. We had to say goodbye to our drivers and to Jimmy. He has cared so much for us in our time in Tanz and it was hard leaving him behind. The first flight was from Kilimanjaro Airport to Dar. We had a stop about an hour into the flight in Zambia but we stayed on the plane and then it was only 20 mins to Dar. When we got off at Dar we had to wait for our bags, put them through a security screen and then walked to the check in desk. But before you can check in, you have to go through security again. Then we checked in and unfortunately some people’s plane tickets got messed up and people thought they were going to be on a different flight but it all worked out because we all made it on :) Once we checked in we had to go through where they check our passports. Then, before we can go to our gate we have to put our bags through another security screen. I’m very thankful we only have 1 security check point in our airports. Once we were in the gate we all went to get food because at this point we were super hangry. A lot of people, including myself, got a pizza which did not taste like traditional pizza at all but it was pretty good. Other people got chicken fingers, fries, samosas, hamburgers etc. After we all ate, we just hung out in the terminal and waited for our plane which was at 3:30. This flight was a little longer - around 3 hours. Before we took off everyone really wanted McKayla to do her goat noise. Even Lisa was encouraging her to do it and said she would get a 1/3 grade increase if it was loud enough. During the safety presentation she did it and the whole plane heard, it was definitely super funny. Most of us still had to journal so that’s how we spent our time. When we finally landed, we had to claim our luggage and we were waiting for the bus, but unfortunately it never showed up. Jeremy was pretty irritated and we were all a little cranky at this point but we got in the vans and took the short drive to the Safari Lodge. When we walked in the management was so nice and welcoming and had all our room assignments laid out with our keys. It was a little hectic getting all of us and the luggage sorted because it was storming and raining and our bags were outside?but we got it all in and then went to eat the dinner the hotel made for us. There was a huge salad, pasta, chicken, and lots of veggies. Everyone was hangry (again) so we were all pleased with the meal. After dinner we went back to our rooms which were very nice. It’s unfortunate we’re only here for one night. But I think everyone went to bed early because we’re exhausted and excited for the safari drive tomorrow!

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Sunset views at Isoitok camp! We are posting pictures from the past few days in Tanzania where we didn’t have WiFi :)

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Visit to Kimemo coffee farm in Tanzania. Fun fact: coffee goes through 46 stages before it is perfected. Each bean on this 900 acre farm is hand picked by local women.

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Bhavana and Catherine with sisters after our presentations on ethics, compassionate care and best practice at Ngarenaro Clinic

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January 27, 2018

Saturday Last day in Tanzania Habari za asabuhi! (Good morning!) And a good morning it was because we got to sleep in real beds last night and not cots in a tent. I have never been more thankful for beds! We also got to sleep in until 8 and that’s a record folks. I’m sure we all really appreciated that extra bit of sleep because the last few days have been so hectic. After breakfast, we headed out to the safari jeeps for one last time. Before we made our trip back to Arusha, we took a detour. Five minutes away from the hotel, we visited to an NGO called Kiretono run by a lady named Tina. She owned a beautiful house and we all sat outside on some benches to listen to her story. Tina is originally from Oklahoma, but moved to Tanzania after making a visit to the beautiful country seven years ago and marrying her Maasai butler! In the Maasai culture, it is frowned upon to marry outside of their community, so it was interesting to hear about Tina’s husband’s family being so supportive of their marriage especially after only meeting three times before the wedding! A few months after their marriage, she asked her husband what the community needed the most help with and he said that she could help sponsor a child to go to school and that’s exactly what she did. Fueled by this new idea, she started her own NGO to help the local Maasai people who live in the foothills of the Ngorongoro crater. This NGO is responsible for sending kids to primary and secondary schooling through funds made by the sales of specially beaded Maasai creations such as Christmas ornaments, keychains, placemats and other home decor. Tina’s efforts to provide more education were really inspirational, but she reminded us that we should always remain humble. Although, we are here to help them, they don’t need our resources as they have been living with their traditions for centuries. We should appreciate the culture that they teach us in return and that’s how she came up with the name for her NGO Kiretono: A Maasai word for mutually benefiting each other. After hearing more of her story, some of us were awed by the intricate designs and decided to buy some of the products. So, next Christmas you all might see some beautiful elephants, giraffes, and lions on your trees! Get excited! After leaving the house, we were all appreciative of having the opportunity to hear Tina’s story and being able to have an education, which most of the girls in the region struggle to obtain everyday. Tina was also looking to hire a person to help with American fulfillment and website design, so if anyone knows someone who would be willing to help out, let us know. Here is more information about the NGO if anyone is interested: Kiretono Phone Number: [phone] Email: [email protected] Website: www.kiretono.org Facebook: www.facebook.com/kiretono Instagram: Kiretono After a long three hour drive, we made our way to the Cultural Heritage center to look at some Tanzanite rings. Tanzanite is a jewel that is only mined in Tanzania, specifically in Mt. Kilimanjaro. It can get really expensive back in the states because it is pretty rare. Or at least that’s what I and some others keep telling ourselves after the purchase we made that broke our bank accounts (sorry mom and dad!). A few people also bought some other things around the center which was fun fact visited by George Bush and Bill Clinton a few years earlier! Next, we made our way to the Tanzania Edutours team house for a farewell dinner. A few of us got really emotional when we had to say goodbye to our amazing drivers and Jimmy! Jimmy was our incredible tour guide during our time in Tanzania and really helped make the country feel more like home. After dinner, we headed back to our hotel and some of us went to sleep while others went out and danced the night away with the drivers! Today was definitely a rollercoaster of emotions, being our last day in Tanzania. We’ve all had some really great experiences in this beautiful country and learned a lot about African culture! Our next adventure is South African safari! ~Bhavana Aitha (shoutout to my mom and dad who I hope are reading the blogs!)

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January 26

We all woke up in our tents at 5:45am this morning very tired from the previous days Maasai projects. After eating a breakfast at the “mess hall,” we all chugged our coffee and went to go load the busses. We said thank you (ashingalingaling p - thank you in maasai) to the staff at Isotok. With excitement, we started to drive towards the Ngorongoro Crater. Lisa had raved about how this was her favorite part of the trip 2 years ago so expectations were high! On the way to the crater one of the vans pulled over because they thought there was a bad break down. Jeremy and our drivers worked around the van only to find that there was a rock logged in the hub and there were no problems. As we drove the roads became increasingly rocky and from our cars experience, Jen and I definitely saw our lives flash before our eyes going around a few turns. The maasai had just gone to there cattle auction so we were stopped many times by the herds of cattle and goats being driven up the mountain. As we reached the top of the crater, the foliage opened up to a breathtaking view of the crater, lush green grass with specks of trees all surrounded by a backdrop of blue mountains. At the top, we were near the clouds and we could see them surrounding the tops of the mountains. The colors were a spectacular blend and we all got out of the jeeps to admire the view. As we started our decent into the crater we opened the tops of the Jeep and stood on our seats to look outside the van. The crater is 600 meters deep so the view was amazing! The goal of the day was to see the big 5 - rhino, lion, elephant, leopard, and buffalo. The first animal we saw was the buffalo. As we drove down we continued to see animals: zebras, gazelles, Thompson’s gazelles, hyenas, pumas, jackals. As we drove inside the crater, we entered a wooded portion were we saw 3 awe inspiring elephants grazing. We stayed extra long on the side of the road just looking at how powerful they were. We also passed a couple trees with very large leaves. Our guide explained that the local people use these leaves to cure malaria by boiling them in water and drinking the tea. A little alternative medicine as we drove through. We ate lunch by a large hippo pool and saw many beautiful colored birds flying around the picnic area. Many of us were so tired from the day and decided to head out to the country lodge, our hotel for the night. One van decided to stay behind and continue to safari My van took a quick nap on the way down though we were awoken many times to sharp bends in the road, or we would hit a particularly large bump in the road. The country lodge was pretty close and we arrived ready to go sit out by the beautiful pool surrounded by a garden. We sat in the sun till dinner journaling. At 7pm we went to dinner. We were served a fresh tomato soup, an avacado with salsa, lamb, chicken, cheese cauliflower, potatoes, spaghetti, and carrots. It was feast and we were all pretty suffered when a carmel banana desert was served. After dinner we were all exhausted from the day and crawled into bed. These days have been filled with so much joy and opportunity for new experience. We are so greatful for this opportunity to learn from these different cultures and see sites like the Ngorongoro Crater! Chrissy Taylor

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January 25, 2018

Today our group had an exciting day with the Maasai! We woke up around 6 am. We immediately split into 2 groups and both groups visited different “bomas.” Bomas are what the Maasai call their villages. All of the Maasai live in huts made out of mud, clay, straw etc. in their culture, one man has multiple wives. Usually you can see about how many wives he has by counting the number of huts in one boma. My group visited a nearby boma where the man had 4 wives. However, there were 5 huts because his older children have one for themselves because they still are able to live there until they get married. Something I found very interesting was that a man’s worth is based off of how many cows, goats and sheep he has. In other words, the more animals a man has, the richer he is. In Maasai culture, the men do not work at all usually. Their job is to herd the cattle and therefore, “care” for his family. We learned that a man is able to have a lot of wives as long as he can provide for them. When we arrived st the boma, we noticed there were multiple puppies right outside. The dogs are there to keep away other animals from the village. It is funny because to us, puppies are pets, but to them, chickens are pets. Next, we were able to walk inside the boma to listen to our guide and observe. They all have huge gages (aka holes) in their ears where they wear multiple, colorful beaded earrings. They also wear many necklaces and bracelets as well. Also, all of the women shave their heads. Inside each hut, there are basically only 2 rooms. Both beds have mattesssed made out of cow skin. However, one of the most shocking and disturbing parts of the trip to the boma was the amount of flies that are around. Literallty, this one little boy would just them them all crawl all over his face and he wouldn’t swat them away. Something I forgot to mention earlier was the greeting for hello in Maasai. It is “supai.” They all reply with “ipa.” The children will walk up to you and how their heads as a form of respect. In response, you are supposed to tap their head and say “supai.” At the end of our visit, we thanked the husband and wives by saying “shingalingalingalingpi.” Next, we went to the community center, which is where the Maasai children have kindergarten. Our guide also happened to be the teacher. The children were all adorable and they even sang a song about elephants for us that had the cutest dance moves!! This whole your took about 1.5 hours. Then, we went back to the tents for breakfast. This was scrambled eggs, toast, fruit, cereal and coffee. After breakfast, we had a break before we went off to help with different projects in the community. After break, we split into 3 groups of 10. The projects were building a cement portion for a bathroom, helping finish a bathroom by covering the outside with mud and going to the Maasai clinic. My group made the mud bathroom. This literally consisted of us collecting many buckets of cow poop to mix with dirt (from a termite hill) and water to create this thick mud that acts as clay. This kind of work is typically a girl’s job in the Maasai culture. Thank god we had a few girls from the boma to help us out because we were all gagging while we were collecting the poop. Also, the girls don’t even use gloves when they do this!! Eventually, we finished the outside of the bathroom the Maasai girls did most of the work lol. After we got home and showered we ate lunch. We had about a 2 hour break afterwards. Next, we went to a session with the Maasai women. It was basically a Q+A session between our two cultures. They asked us a lot about marriage, divorce, jobs, and children in America. We asked them about their daily lives, how many kids they normally have (6-9), cirumcision, and love. They stated that they could eventually grow to love their husbands. But, it did not seem like they were really grasping the concept of what it is to love a man. Something else I found I found interesting was they had no idea what we meant by birth control. Also, they informed us more about circumcision in their culture. They stated that boys are circumcised around 10 and women around 13 when they get their period. Circumcision is part of a ceremony they have to welcome the person into adulthood. We told them that women are never cicumcied in our country and they replied by saying you are not a woman in Tanzania until you are circumcised. They also said it is a lot more painful than childbirth. We also learned that when a man is marrying a woman, he is presented with 2 options. Both women are fully covered except for the eyes. This is because all women are equal in their culture so the men cannot pick based off looks. One of the women is the “right” option. Aka the woman his parents picked is the right option. After this discussion wa over, we all went back to the camps. Around 5:30, some of the Maasai boys and girls came to dance for us. All the boys had walking sticks and were chanting. Part of the dance was that they would each take turns jumping as high as they could while shaking their shoulders and yelping. The girls would walk up to a boy and slowly shake their necklaces. It was odd because we found out that girls can be promised off to a boy when they were around 10 years old. After the dancing, we went to have dinner and ended the night singing happy birthday to Jeremy!! It was definitely an amazing, eventful day!!! PS I hope everybody at home is enjoying America, especially Mom, Dad and Bec!! Love you guys, thank you so much for this amazing experience!! :)

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January 25, 2018

Today our group had an exciting day with the Maasai! We woke up around 6 am. We immediately split into 2 groups and both groups visited different “bomas.” Bomas are what the Maasai call their villages. All of the Maasai live in huts made out of mud, clay, straw etc. in their culture, one man has multiple wives. Usually you can see about how many wives he has by counting the number of huts in one boma. My group visited a nearby boma where the man had 4 wives. However, there were 5 huts because his older children have one for themselves because they still are able to live there until they get married. Something I found very interesting was that a man’s worth is based off of how many cows, goats and sheep he has. In other words, the more animals a man has, the richer he is. In Maasai culture, the men do not work at all usually. Their job is to herd the cattle and therefore, “care” for his family. We learned that a man is able to have a lot of wives as long as he can provide for them. When we arrived st the boma, we noticed there were multiple puppies right outside. The dogs are there to keep away other animals from the village. It is funny because to us, puppies are pets, but to them, chickens are pets. Next, we were able to walk inside the boma to listen to our guide and observe. They all have huge gages (aka holes) in their ears where they wear multiple, colorful beaded earrings. They also wear many necklaces and bracelets as well. Also, all of the women shave their heads. Inside each hut, there are basically only 2 rooms. Both beds have mattesssed made out of cow skin. However, one of the most shocking and disturbing parts of the trip to the boma was the amount of flies that are around. Literallty, this one little boy would just them them all crawl all over his face and he wouldn’t swat them away. Something I forgot to mention earlier was the greeting for hello in Maasai. It is “supai.” They all reply with “ipa.” The children will walk up to you and how their heads as a form of respect. In response, you are supposed to tap their head and say “supai.” At the end of our visit, we thanked the husband and wives by saying “shingalingalingalingpi.” Next, we went to the community center, which is where the Maasai children have kindergarten. Our guide also happened to be the teacher. The children were all adorable and they even sang a song about elephants for us that had the cutest dance moves!! This whole your took about 1.5 hours. Then, we went back to the tents for breakfast. This was scrambled eggs, toast, fruit, cereal and coffee. After breakfast, we had a break before we went off to help with different projects in the community. After break, we split into 3 groups of 10. The projects were building a cement portion for a bathroom, helping finish a bathroom by covering the outside with mud and going to the Maasai clinic. My group made the mud bathroom. This literally consisted of us collecting many buckets of cow poop to mix with dirt (from a termite hill) and water to create this thick mud that acts as clay. This kind of work is typically a girl’s job in the Maasai culture. Thank god we had a few girls from the boma to help us out because we were all gagging while we were collecting the poop. Also, the girls don’t even use gloves when they do this!! Eventually, we finished the outside of the bathroom the Maasai girls did most of the work lol. After we got home and showered we ate lunch. We had about a 2 hour break afterwards. Next, we went to a session with the Maasai women. It was basically a Q+A session between our two cultures. They asked us a lot about marriage, divorce, jobs, and children in America. We asked them about their daily lives, how many kids they normally have (6-9), cirumcision, and love. They stated that they could eventually grow to love their husbands. But, it did not seem like they were really grasping the concept of what it is to love a man. Something else I found I found interesting was they had no idea what we meant by birth control. Also, they informed us more about circumcision in their culture. They stated that boys are circumcised around 10 and women around 13 when they get their period. Circumcision is part of a ceremony they have to welcome the person into adulthood. We told them that women are never cicumcied in our country and they replied by saying you are not a woman in Tanzania until you are circumcised. They also said it is a lot more painful than childbirth. We also learned that when a man is marrying a woman, he is presented with 2 options. Both women are fully covered except for the eyes. This is because all women are equal in their culture so the men cannot pick based off looks. One of the women is the “right” option. Aka the woman his parents picked is the right option. After this discussion wa over, we all went back to the camps. Around 5:30, some of the Maasai boys and girls came to dance for us. All the boys had walking sticks and were chanting. Part of the dance was that they would each take turns jumping as high as they could while shaking their shoulders and yelping. The girls would walk up to a boy and slowly shake their necklaces. It was odd because we found out that girls can be promised off to a boy when they were around 10 years old. After the dancing, we went to have dinner and ended the night singing happy birthday to Jeremy!! It was definitely an amazing, eventful day!!! PS I hope everybody at home is enjoying America, especially Mom, Dad and Bec!! Love you guys, thank you so much for this amazing experience!! :)

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January 24th

Hello everyone!!

Today (Wednesday) we left Outpost Lodge and headed to Isoitok Camp to visit the Maasai village but first stopped at Kimemo, a coffee farm. My family will definitely understand why I️ chose to blog today because they call me a coffee addict (hi mom & dad!!). The name Kimemo comes from the 3 mountains where coffee is grown in the area. Ki for Mt Kilimanjaro, me for Mt Meru and mo for Mt. Monduli. In order to grow and produce coffee, there are approximately 42 different stages (wine takes about 20). I️ never realized the work that goes behind making coffee! We first went out to the farm to learn about the coffee berry. At Kimemo, there is a mix in the type of tree used, Robusta and Arabica. The variety of the coffee is the mix of bourbon and mocha. The wood of the coffee tree is only able to produce berries once. When the tree blooms, the white flowering looks like a snowfall across the farm. The berries swell from March-April and the larger they swell, the better the quality. Once July comes the berries are ready to be picked. Just like a traffic light, the berries are green, yellow and red (the most ripe). These are all handpicked and brought to the factory. Sometimes, once the beans are cleaned and brought to the factory, they are stored there for 3-5 years. The most difficult stage of coffee production is the roasting. But, lucky us, Kimemo has a “Ferrari of a roaster”!! Of course we had a coffee tasting after learning so much about coffee production. We had the medium roast that had a citrus taste and the continental roast with more of a chocolate flavor. After our tour, we had a delicious homemade lunch and of course we all had the chance to order a mocha latte or cappuccino! I️ had the mocha latte and not only was it so pretty but tasted delicious! We were on our way to the Maasai village and arrived at Isoitok Camp just in time for a hike to see the sunset. After a small hike using our Maasai walking sticks, we all enjoyed wine and beer while watching the sunset and the view was incredible! After dinner, we all headed back to our tents for the night. Alyssa, Christina, Colleen, Jenna and I️ were all very entertained by the tent accommodations including the 15 liter shower and small lizards we found everywhere. Stay tuned for our visit with the Maasai tomorrow!

Sara Bragg See you soon mom and dad!! Looking forward to a home cooked meal :)

[udnursingstudyabroad]

January 23rd 2018

Hello world! Today had a glorious start because we got to sleep in! Granted, it was only till 8 am, but every extra hour counts.  On today’s agenda, we had a presentation scheduled for the Tanzanian sisters. Three separate groups prepared a slideshow to discuss important topics about nursing care in the United States and Tanzania. The topics were best practices, ethics in nursing, and compassionate nursing care.  We were told that many sisters would be coming to learn from us and even receive an educational certificate, so we were all a little anxious on the drive over. The presenters left the Outpost Lodge first to set up. I was a part of one of the groups along with Morgan, Mary, and Rachel Weyd. I know my nerves were a little high when we pulled up outside of Ngarenaro. The clinic already looked busy, filling up with patients for the day. We walked up to the conference room to find another meeting underway. We waited quietly in the back of the room for it to finish which delayed our setup time. When the meeting was over, the rest of our group filed in, along with some of the sisters who had come to watch.  Everything was ready to go in a few minutes, and my group was scheduled to present first. It wasn’t long until we realized we were running on African time. Sister Jane, who was tasked with introducing us, ran almost an hour late. We were stressed about making people wait just for an introduction, but formalities are a bit ig part of this culture, and no one seemed to mind but us. Hey, TIA (This Is Africa)! Finally, she arrived and began her long introduction. She welcomed us and thanked everyone for coming and learning from our experience here in Tanzania. We then started or presentation on best practices, which included topics such as timing of assessments, estimation of gestational age, sterile procedures, kangaroo care, and breastfeeding. As we talked, the sisters took notes and appeared interested in the material. Next, Riley, Maddie, Rachel Miller, and Jenna reviewed the seven ethics of patient rights in nursing care. A doctor at the front of the room admitted that he had not heard of all of the rights so this was a good sign that we were teaching new and important information to these care providers. The last group consisted of Colleen, Bhavana, Jess, and Alyssa. They presented the seven rights of maternity care. Although some of this presentation was similar to the one before it, both groups did a great job of giving thorough explanations and examples about the topics and their differences. The last slideshow had two videos, which was a hit with the sisters.  Overall, the room was very receptive of the information, and there were many questions at the end. For example, a sister asked what we would do if our boss was sick and in the hospital. We explained that everyone should be treated equally, and if everyone receives the best care, then all care will be more efficient and effective. Of course, it wouldn’t be a good meeting if there wasn’t tea time! Snacks and sodas were passed around. After this mini lunch, we waited for certificates to be printed for the sisters. It was getting hot in the room, and some of us were getting antsy because it had already been three hours. It was all worth it when we realized the amazing gesture we were about to receive. Not only did the University of Delaware get three certificates for our contribution, but they also gave each and everyone of us a gift. Sister Jane and the city director presented us with a kanga. This is the colorful cloth that you can see all the babies wrapped in from our pictures in Tanzania. They explained that the kanga is used to keep babies warm after delivery, and they wanted to give each of us our own as a piece of Tanzania to take home. They first wrapped Lisa in a skirt and then draped a folded kanga over her shoulder to make a dress. Then each of us lined up, and they placed a kanga on our shoulders. The ceremony felt like a mini graduation, ending an important part of our educational journey. We then filed out downstairs to take pictures in front of the maternity ward. We took a big group picture, and the sisters loved taking individual pictures with the students. It was nice to see that the sisters wanted to remember us and were happy to have worked with us. Both the sisters and the students learned a lot from each other, most importantly how to compassionately care for our patients and one another. The next part of the day was the hardest part of the trip so far: saying goodbye to the Pippi House. The girls’ level of sweetness reached a new high when we arrived and they had decorated the whole place for us. There were streamers and balloons, and they even painted parts of the walls to brighten the place up! They were excited to show us what they were cooking. We all proceeded to talk and laugh, and some lucky people got their hair braided! It wouldn’t be a party at the Pippi House without dancing! The girls started us off, and then we joined in and got our groove on. Mary was front and center keeping up really well with the girls! At dinner time, the girls served us buffet style. The food included samosas, spaghetti, beans, rice, chili, and much more. They made sure that we all ate first, and even the little ones were patient. It was nice to eat a meal all together, and the food was delicious! Dancing ensued again until it was time for the second ceremony of the day. The Pippi House had printed us individual certificates with our pictures on them. They were dedicated to our contribution to the foundation. The best part of it all was they way the girls cheered as our names were called out. After each name, the girls roared and cheered for each of us. I’ve never felt more love and appreciation, and their cheers for us meant more than anything. Even graduation won’t top the amazing gratitude and love we felt from the girls we had only known for a week. As a send off, we danced to a few more songs. Even when the power went out, we kept the party going with Lisa’s speaker. When the time to say goodbye approached, emotions were at an all time high. There were tears, but there was also a lot of smiles, hugs, and laughter. Even after we got on the bus, the girls were leaning in through the windows to say goodbye one last time. It was one of the hardest things to leave them, but Siobhan assured us that we did make a difference in their lives and we will all remember each other forever. I have faith that some of us will even come back to see them again. This is not the last time UD will be with the Pippi House! Naku penda sana (I love you very much) girls. Thank you so much for you’re unwavering positivity and kindness. As a heads up to family and friends, today we are headed to an the Isotek camp that will have no WiFi and not the best service. We will keep in touch when we can and will be back in WiFi on Friday! Cheers, Jessie Ambler P.S. Love you Mom and Dad!

[udnursingstudyabroad]

Sydney and Morgan with the nurse they worked with at Mt Meru