Tancan 2013 Medical Mission

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Tuesday, August 13^th, 2013



A Tanzanian welcome, ribbon cutting and meeting the rest of the Tancan 2013 team…



Today is going to be a jam packed day. We are first going to visit De Paul Primary school and then tour the newly built clinic and meet the our Tanzanian clinic volunteers





First we headed off to the De Paul Primary school. The school was conveniently situated within walking distance from the inn we were staying at. Walking out in the Tanzanian sun, I felt the heat on my skin and the red dust in my shoes and in the air. My shoes were starting to turn red and my eyes were starting to burn from the dust.





At the school, we were greeted by over 200 screaming children running at us singing Karibu Sana (Welcome) and Asante Sana (Thankyou) in Swahili. It was definitely the warmest, heartfelt and overwhelming welcome I have ever received. They were smiling and generally happy to see us.





After the incredible welcome, the children and community performed various cultural dances for us. It was interesting to experience the culture and gratitude of the people. They have no musical instruments, yet they were able to use their voices, feet, and hands to make great music. It was intriguing to see the elders, cheering the performers on, by joining in the music and making this “lalalalala” sound with their tongues.





After the performances, the Tancan 2013 group had to get up on stage in front of 200 children and the community and perform a song as well. Yes, we had to actively participate. We taught them “if you’re happy and you know it…..” and the “I’m a little teapot” songs. Thankfully, the children enjoyed our little performance.





Afterwards the MC Don Bosco made sure the children knew what time to arrive for the clinic the next day. (San mbili – 8:00am) they yelled. I found that when the children speak together or sing, they can be heard miles away but individually they speak so softly you can barely hear them unless you have candy!!! Sue, the nurse from our Tancan team came to the school with a bag full of candy. She may have been surprised to find a mob of children surrounding her as she handed the candy out. She managed to survive though to be able to help the rest of the group serve lunch to the children.





When the performances were finished, we thanked the children and community and started to get ready to serve lunch. Lunch consisted of two types of rice brown and white, salad, beef, and a drink. It seemed that the line up of children receiving food was never ending. Apparently this was the only meal some of the children will receive this day, so we filled up their plates. The paper plates that were used got very hot when the food was put on them. They seemed like they were about to fall apart but the children still managed to hold onto them. I found it particularly difficult holding onto the hot plates. I can only imaging how difficult it would be for the children, but they did not complain.





The Tanzanian heat was starting to take a toll on the Canadian team. One of the members of our group Virgil, fainting and was taken to the clinic. We were all worried about him but he came back later, feeling a lot better when he got some fluids in his system. During lunch service my eyes started burning really badly that I was thankful when the Tanzanian community took lunch service.





During lunch, I spoke with Fran, a retired teacher in our group. She had some contact lens solution in her room that would help wash the dirt out of my eyes. We both headed back to the Top One Inn, to apply the contact lens solution. When the burning in my eyes finally settled down, the Tancan 2013 group was ready to head off to the clinic.





At the clinic we were greeted by the Neema orphans, singing and popping balloons. Shirley, the social worker in our group and Suzanne got the opportunity to perform the ceremonial cutting of the ribbon. In the newly painted clinic, we met the rest of the Tancan 2013 team in Songea. I was going to be working with Adamu, and Naum, two lab techs, Sister Mary Grace, a nurse, and Susan (Canadian student) on the HIV briefing and testing team. We were shown the rooms where we would be stationed and setting up for the next day. For the HIV testing room we brought in school benches and shaped them as a U formation, to maximize the space. When we were all finally satisfied with the layout we headed back to the Inn for dinner. After having a brief meeting to describe what to expect on our first clinic day the group headed off to bed.

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