District Sleepers: September 2007

I recently returned from a trip to Tanzania, Africa. Tanzania is a beautiful country full of incredible people. It was a bit of a cultural shock going there and seeing the differences between the USA and Tanzania. I was amazed by the difficulties the people experience in their daily living. Despite the difficulties, the people remain optimistic and don’t seem easily discouraged. It made me appreciate some of the small luxuries, like running water, good roads, and shoes.

When I arrived in Africa Friday, August 17, I was completely alone. Usually we travel with security agents, but they weren't coming until the following evening. I quickly realized how much I enjoy having people to talk with. I had no phone, and no internet access, and I was picked up at the airport by a Tanzanian driver who spoke little English and was taken to my hotel. As Ron Burgendy says in the movie Anchorman "It is hard to be lonely in a big city." I felt that way. I checked in and figured out how to contact Cingular and they were able to activate my service. Having easy and quick access to friends and family is a great blessing that I take for granted. It is nice to be able to have a phone, pick up and call anytime we want. When it is gone, it feels awful! (especially when you're in a foreign country and have no clue up from down.)

Saturday morning, I got to work on lining up a safari for Sunday. A local driver, Steven, came to our lobby and I negotiated with him from $600 down to $300 for a day long safari in Mukumi National Park. The deal was he would drive me there (3 hours), pay for my entrance into the park, and for the guide fee, and drive me back to the hotel. I felt pretty good about the package I got and have been told by multiple sources that I got a screaming deal.

After lining up my safari, I decided to head to a local market where I could purchase wood carvings and other gifts for people. Driving in Tanzania is crazy! Not only is the steering wheel on the opposite side of the car, they drive on the opposite side of the road. I kept thinking we were going to hit oncoming cars until I realized they were coming at us from the other lane. Several times when getting in the car, I would walk up to the drivers side, thinking it to be the passangers side, and open the door. My driver finally started laughing at me and saying "not American my friend!" We got a good laugh out of it.

On the way to the market guess what I saw? You got it, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints

At the end of a long shopping spree in Dar es Salaam. The gentleman in the white shirt helped me around the market and took good care of me.

The shops were incredible and each was loaded with similar goods. In the front of the shops were the sales people, and as you walked to the back they had people sitting on floors carving the items that were for sale.

My first night, I had dinner by myself at the Seacliff Hotel. It is a beautiful hotel that sits on the Indian Ocean. I even treated myself to some ice cream.

Sunday morning I headed to Mukumi National Park for my safari. The park is about 3 hours north of Dar es Salaam, depending on how fast you drive. I was amazed by the amount of people I saw on the side of the road walking from one village to the next that were anywhere from 1 mile to 5 miles apart. Many of the women walked with buckets of fruit or grains balancing on their heads. I saw one woman that particularly impressed me. When I saw her I hadn't seen a village for over a mile. The woman was walking along the road balancing a large bucket of produce on her head. If that wasn't enough, she was barefoot, and was carrying an infant in one arm, and with the other she was holding the hand of an older child. Life in Tanzania is not easy, and the people endure very difficult trials day after day. These women are strong and determined, and they persist despite the difficulty. The streets are also filled with bikers, not Cannondale Caad 8 bikes, these are bikes that look like they are 20-30 years old with rusty frames. The bikes were loaded with goods: wood, seeds, baskets, people, and anything else that could fit on a bike. When there was a hill, the bikers would get off and push the bike to the top of the hill and resume riding. Garbage is a problem in Tanzania. Each village was covered with trash, littering occurred everywhere I looked. The drive was beautiful. We drove up past Morogoro, which lies at the base of Morogoro Mountain. It had rained the night before and the clouds that sat on the mountain created a beautiful scenery. I would describe most of the drive as somewhat tropical. Banana, coconut, and mango trees were everywhere, and the villagers lined the streets selling their produce.

The speed limit on the road was 50 km/hour, but Steven drove like his passenger and averaged 140 km/hour! It was exciting just watching all the cars we would pass as if they were stopped. Steven and I were stopped for speeding 4 times on the way up and back. The first time, I was so nervous! I thought I would end up in prison. Steven jumped out of the car, started small talk with the officer and slipped him 2000 schillings ($1.50) and we were off. Each time we were stopped Steven would slip the officer money and that would be the end of it. I wish we could do that in the USA!

Along the drive to Mikumi National Park, there were items for sale all along the road. These baskets and rugs/mats were everywhere. One item I regret not purchasing...a hand woven basket

Mikumi National Park entrance.... the "Danger...Wild Animals" caught my attention!

This is the location where you sign into the park and begin the safari. It was raining when we arrived, so I spent some time making friends with the guards and staff. My German gummy bears went a long way.

The first animal we saw were hippos. There were about 15 of them in this pool. The National Park actually makes a man made reservoir and then the hippos come to the water. More people die from Hippo attacks annually in Africa than from any other animal.

I felt very lucky about this sighting...that is the King of the Jungle, 2 male lions! We were coming along the road and saw a heard of wildebeests (below) running. I thought they were running from our vehicle, but we quickly realized there was something more scary they were a afraid of.

Pack of wildebeests

We saw a bunch of beautiful giraffes, they were easy to spot for obvious reasons.

We drove through lots of this type of brush. This is prime lion living as they are able to walk around undetected. I kept thinking one was going to jump out and come right in my window. It was a little freaky.

The Bush

L to R: Steven (my driver), Eagle, Tour Guide, and my Chinese friend. I don't remember my Chinese friends name, but when we pulled up to the park he was there on his motorcycle. He was hoping to take his bike into the park. You can put 2 and 2 together and figure out that it isn't a very wise idea. So he asked if he could join us in our car and I agreed. (for $10) Which is a really good deal!

Entrance of Mikumi National Park

Baboon

I was fascinated by the drive back to Dar. It was about a 3 hour drive passing through village after village. Each village had some form of a market that lined the streets selling all types of goods from produce to live chickens to clothing and shoes. I was shocked by the amount of people awaiting buyers. We stopped several times because Steven had to buy potatoes for his wife. When we got out of the car and were instantly mobbed.

The markets had their produce on fancy display. This is a selection of tomatoes, potatoes, onions, and apples.

I think this guy had just finished stacking his produce! It deserves a thumbs up!

Here is Steven negotiating with the sellers. You can see the guy carrying the live chickens. They were flapping all around and squawking. Holding them looked really difficult.

Brick is essential for the structures in the villages. Most of the villages had a brickyard where they would burn the mud into brick for all their buildings. Here is a picture of some of the brick workers unloading the brick.

Monday we began our walk throughs. The first place we visited was Mwananyamala Hospital in Dar. This was a very eye opening experience. As we pulled through the gate to the hospital, we were stopped and told we could not proceed any further because the road was being paved. The hospital was paving their dirt road for the Secretary's visit. As we entered the hospital it reminded me more of a university, or outdoor shopping area than a hospital. People were everywhere, and the buildings were single leveled and open. As we got out of our vehicle, I heard a woman near me weeping. I looked over and saw this woman sitting on the ground, with a friend on each side of her, crying "he's dead! he's dead!" Locals passed by her as if this happened all the time. I wanted so badly to comfort her in some way, but I knew there was nothing I could do. My hear sunk. I can't adequately describe the conditions at this hospital. The waiting rooms, located outdoors, were filled with dozens and dozens of people, mainly women with children, awaiting treatment. The facilities were old and looked as if they hadn't been cleaned for some time. At a hospital in the US, you see doctors and nurses walking around all over, here, I saw no doctors. The demand for care was so high but there was insufficient staff to treat the patients.

The first thing we noticed is that they were putting in a brick road (previously dirt) for the Secretary's arrival. They were very excited that Secretary Leavitt was coming. Our Department is funding a new clinic that they are opening in the hospital.

Some of the completed road

This is the record keeping room for the entire hospital

Here I am with the hospital staff in the new clinic. It was neat to hear them express profound gratitude for the aide our country is giving them. The new clinic isn't huge, but it is clean, well built, and provides a great sense of optimism. The hospital staff is very proud of the new building.

The next site we went to was with Pathfinder International. This is a business that provides home based care to people living with HIV/ AIDS. This walk through took us to some of the poorest regions in Dar. As you can see from the picture above what some of the neighborhoods were like.

At our first visit, I fell in love with this beautiful little girl. She was darling and would mimic everything I did. At first she was very shy, but by the end of our visit, she was jumping up and down and having all sorts of fun with us.

I love this picture of this young African boy

Mohammed is a young boy who is living AIDS free; his mother who is receiving home based care for her AIDS. Mohammed is a strong and vibrant young man, determined to stay AIDS free.

We also visited an older couple who several years ago found out they both had been living with AIDS for some time. Mwaepipiana, the husband, was a very charismatic and positive man. he had a smile that could turn your hear inside out. He is in the blue striped shirt above. Mwaepipiana, who goes by Mwinyi, which I am told means African Master, (He carries the name well) told us their story of when they found out they had AIDS. This strong man said to us, "when we found out we just cried and cried and cried. We didn't know what to do." He became very somber and I then asked him how he felt now that he is receiving treatment? His face lit up and he said "Very good sir, very good!" This seemed to be a theme among the people of Africa, despite the difficulties of life they remained very optimistic and positive.

I found this welcome package funny. You get a nice bowl of fruit and right next to it a can of Raid! Fortunately, I didn't have to use it.

I had my first experience sleeping with mosquito nets at the Serena Hotel.

View from the balcony of my hotel room...not bad.

Zanzibar is famous for their many unique sail boats. They were all over and beautiful to look at.

Another beautiful sailboat on the Indian Ocean in Zanzibar

Getting comfy in the lobby of the Serena Hotel

Big Joe and I. Joe had to be one of my favorite guys from the trip. Big Joe is one of the managers of the Serena Hotel, and is one of the most charismatic and energetic people I have ever met. Every time he would see me he would hollar "Brother man!" and follow it up with a bunch of other expressions ending in "man". Big Joe took good care of us while we were at the Serena. He even showed me his picture with Bill Clinton from when Clinton visited Zanzibar several years ago.

The first walk through we had in Zanzibar was for the President's Malaria Initiative, or PMI. President Bush has created this program to help in the battle against malaria . We went to a warehouse where all of the malaria sprayers go before heading out for the day. They come to the warehouse to get dressed in these hot outfits that protect them from the elements. There is also a helmet that goes with the outfit. The workers then go into local communities, empty the homes, and spray insecticides into the homes to protect the occupants from malaria.

Malaria sprayers getting ready for a hard days work

Tanzania has had enormous success in their fight against malaria. Another form of treatment we help fund is mosquito nets, like the one below. Following our visit to the warehouse, we were able to go into a local village to see where the spraying is occurring.

This is a picture of Secretary Leavitt, Dr. Julie Gerberding, and Ambassador Retzer of Tanzania getting ready to participate in the malaria spraying.

Helping Secretary Leavitt (far left), Rear Admiral Timothy Ziemer, and the Tanzanian Minister of Health get ready to witness the spraying.

Bill Steiger and I after the spraying event in Zanzibar

Pausing to play with some of the local children from the PMI spraying event

Beautiful beaches of Zanzibar

Stonetown is a famous location on the island of Zanzibar. It is a beautiful little town with narrow roads and ancient buildings. I got in some more shopping while in Stonetown.

L to R: Beverly Cummings, Control Officer for our visit, me, Rebecca Miller, CDC employee who came to Tanzania to help with our trip. Both Beverly and Rebecca were great to work with. Beverly has been in Tanzania for a couple years and works for our Centers for Disease Control and Prevention office.

This is how I got to the PMI Warehouse from the Zanzibar airport. A lot of the locals travel around like this. It was about a 10 minute ride and was very enjoyable.

Allyson Bell and I at the Serena Hotel

Dr. Jiddawwi and I at the Zanziar Blood Center. Dr. Jiddawwi was the Minister of Health in Zanzibar and was a wonderful man!

After the Secretary's Departure, I went back to Dar es Salaam and got to go to one of the beaches to swim in the Indian Ocean.

Picture of the back of our hotel, the Movenpick, in Dar es Salaam.

A view from my beach chair
At the beach (we were actually at a beach located within a beautiful hotel) they had these performers that were incredible! Here is one of them doing a flip through two bike rims!