Tancan 2013 Medical Mission

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Friday, August 16^th, 2013



The Last Day of Clinic in Songea and it is Party Time !!!!







Songea Clinic Day 3: So today marked the last day of clinic in Bobambili, Songea. We assessed the elderly in the morning and pre and post natal mothers in the afternoon. The day was slow in the HIV briefing and testing room. Not many elderly and mothers wanted to have HIV testing. Apparently, pregnant mothers already receive HIV testing at the hospital before their children are born to reduce chances of the virus passing to the child.







I spent the majority of the time checking out the other different stations (Social Learning and Counselling, Hygiene Briefing, Nutritional Assessment and Triage, Nutritional Briefing, Vitamin A and Deworming, and Eye Care and Dental Briefing) and hanging out with other members of the Tancan 2013 team.







I learned a lot about Tanzania, and English-Swahili translation from Adamu and I got to see a lot of thankful elderly and cute babies. Fran, the teacher knitted some breasts with tumours inside to help demonstrate how to perform a breast exam. I found a couple of tumour in the knitted breasts but it was difficult to locate them all. I also took a picture of a mother and her beautiful baby, who was playing with one of Fran’s knitted toys. The baby kept on throwing the toy on the ground because it makes a dinging sound if dropped. Fran is very talented. I only hope to be able to knit like her some day.







After the clinic, the entire Tancan 2013 group headed off to the community hall where our Tanzanian colleagues were given certificates and the gift bags for their hard work. I presented a certificate to Adamu and a gift bag. Naum did not end up coming to the hall and I guess Sister Mary Grace did not want any certificates. She is too humble… Awards were given out to nominate outstanding work by the Tanzanian group. The reward categories were able to handle anything thrown at them – poncho (handle any weather), nicest person – maple syrup (because it is sweet), always on time –watch, and precise and accurate – pen set. I made sure that Adamu was rewarded for one of the rewards. He did an amazing job on the HIV briefing and testing team. He ended up receiving the pen set for the precise and accuracy reward.







Then it was party time, and we ate, chatted and danced until we were kicked out. Then we danced with the local children who were watching us from outside the hall. Finally, we had to leave so we said our final goodbyes and headed off back to the inn for a good night sleep.

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