I arrived in Moshi, Tanzania almost a week ago, and it has been a whirlwind of getting acclimated to a new culture and way of life since then. Tanzania is in East Africa, with the Indian Ocean to the east and Mount Kilimanjaro in the north. Moshi is the closest town to the mountain, but at this time of year Kili stays hidden by clouds nearly all day.
The plane ride from Amsterdam to Kilimanjaro was fascinating – we passed jagged coastline, the Sahara, and all kinds of rugged terrain during those 9 hours. As we neared the airport, and again on the drive home, I learned my first lesson about Africa. When its dark here, its really dark! The pitch black made the drive down dirt roads full of potholes quite an adventure.
Sarah arrived the day after me, and we have been learning to navigate this new place together. Even the most basic needs, such as finding food, are a real challenge right now! And the language barrier certainly doesn’t help – we know a little bit of Kiswahili, but not nearly enough to understand what’s going on around us. Most of our adventures thus far have involved going into town. Our first trip was quite an eye-opening experience. People, cars, bicycles, and animals were everywhere. It seemed like complete chaos, and even the cars were driving all over the place – it is apparently optional to stay on the correct side of the road! On that first trip we were with the infectious disease fellow, Elizabeth, who is fluent in Swahili. She only took us to two places – first the grocery store and then the market. The grocery store was hilarious – we walked in excited to finally purchase some food for home, but for the first few minutes we stood paralyzed in the middle of store, completely bewildered. All the cans were labeled in Arabic, so we had no idea what any of the food was, much less what to buy!
Our subsequent trips to town seemed a little less overwhelming, and we even took a dala-dala – Tanzania’s form of public transportation – on our last trip. The dala-dala’s are minibuses that are quite literally crammed with people. I counted 19 in ours and couldn’t even see everyone, and it is meant to seat about 8. It took us two tries to catch one before we were finally able to push our way on, and getting situated with our grocery bags and all those people around us was kind of interesting! Immediately after we got on and squeezed into the last available seats, two Masai stepped on after us, fully dressed in traditional garb. Even more surprising was when they began to speak to us in perfect English. It made for a fascinating ride home.
Sarah and I are living in the Doctor’s Compound, which is adjacent to the Kilmanjaro Christian Medical Center where we work. Our house is fantastic – it used to belong to one of the Duke attendings, but when he and his wife moved back to the States they decided to pass it on to us. We have 8 chickens in the backyard and a huge garden, complete with banana trees, tomatoes, avocados, and so much more! We even have a mango tree, which should be pretty exciting in a few months when mango season starts.
KCMC, the hospital where we are working, is where Duke has based their research in Tanzania for nearly 20 years. It is considered the best hospital in the region, and the campus is huge. It includes the hospital, medical school buildings, lots of dorms for all the students and residents, and separate areas for ophthalmology and dermatology - two of the strongest fields here. Despite its status, manpower and resources for patient care are shockingly scarce. They have a lot of trouble with “brain drain”, in which Tanzanian doctors go to train in the US or Britain and don’t return home, leaving the hospital short-staffed and the medical school without adequate professors. I am hoping to get involved in more clinical work once I become more proficient in Swahili, but for now, simply learning the ropes of clinical research and preparing to begin enrolling patients in the two studies I’m working on is more than enough to keep me busy!
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