Well our time in Zanzibar is quickly winding down... hard to believe this is our 4th week at the hospital!! Lately, it has been overrun with medical students... mostly from the UK, which is annoying when trying to go to clinics. But we've managed to have a good week. Aiden & I went to HIV clinic on Monday, which was amazing. The Dr was so incredible. She's been treating HIV for years, but has only had access to anti-retroviral medications (life-prolonging HIV meds) since 2005. They are provided free of charge, with sponsorship through NGO's and the Bill Clinton Foundation. They [View Full Entry]

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Well if I depressed you with stories of the hospital, I'm back with happy tales of birthday fun and foolishness to lighten your day. We came up to the north of the island on Thursday to check out the beaches of Kendwa and Nungwi. Haven't quite made it to Nungwi yet.... but the beach here is amazing. Powder white sand, clear blue Indian ocean waters, and bright sunny skies. Hard to find a better place for a birthday!! The celebrating started Wednesday night at the house with a massive BarBQ, and surprise coconut cake from the hotel next door. Actually went [View Full Entry]

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My advice to you... Never attempt to deliver your baby in Africa. Or at least not in Mnazi Mmoja Hospital. Have spent the last 2 days on the maternity ward / labour & delivery. I will try to describe it as best I can.... sorry for all the non-medical people reading the blog..... but may be interesting for all to read anyway I suppose. And especially interesting for Katy and Rachel. All the women in labour are in one giant ward.... today every bed was full, so about 20 women. They seem to be checked about twice a day. There is [View Full Entry]

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I acknowledge that I have been extremely tardy on adding an entry to this blog. Unfortunately, I've been tied up most of the time, enjoying the constant 25 degree or hotter weather and beach time. Most of the good stuff Shanda has already told you about, the swimming with dolphins, the sunset cruises and fabulous beach weather. Don't worry though, I have put in my time at the hospital. I am getting exposed to a lot, blood and pus mostly, but these are memories to last me a lifetime. Since there's no CT for hundreds of miles and you never know [View Full Entry]

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I swear I am not intentionally doing things to make people jealous. Aiden & I had the most amazing day of all time yesterday.... swimming with dolphins. Still doesn't seem real. You know you hear of people doing this in Florida and stuff, and I always have this image of like a Sea World pool with a dolphin trainer and orange lifejackets. So my expectations were fairly low. We, with 3 others, hired a boat and snorkel gear from Kizimkaze (coolest name ever), on the southern tip of the island. The boat takes you out into the bay offshore and starts [View Full Entry]

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At the hospital the last few days.... I've been in the female medical ward, where I'm feeling a bit useful. The junior doctors like to ask my opinion, then try to argue their points, then end up going with whatever I say anyway. I suppose they are just doing their best. Had a patient come in with respiratory distress - probably asthma attack +/- pneumonia. On the ward there is no ability to give Oxygen, no nebules or inhalers, peak flow, blood gases, etc, etc. They give every asthma patient iv aminophyllin! And Ventalin po - tablets. Didn't even know they [View Full Entry]

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Welcome to our Zanzibar blog! Had to steal/copy this amazing idea from our very cool traveling friends - Anna Kate & Colin. Unfortunately the internet is quite a trek from the house, so the updates have been slow in coming. But here we are! Hopefully we'll get some pictures up soon too. Zanzibar is absolutely beautiful. Old stone buildings, narrow alleyways, amazing beach just seconds away from everywhere, seafood galore..... on and on. Very Muslim society, so conservative and kind people. Ramadan starts this week, so it will be interesting to see how things change. The house we're [View Full Entry]

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