Orientation and Plaster House

Tanzania is an incredibly interesting and totally exhausting country! Katie, Christine, and I began our day with an orientation at the newly built, immaculate Arusha Lutheran Medical Center (ALMC). This hospital is located right in Arusha and is run by the same doctor that founded Selian Lutheran Hospital outside of Arusha. ALMC is a gorgeous building complete with gardens, fountains, and a stained-glass filled chapel. It doesn’t really fit with any other buildings we have seen in town! At the hospital, we attended morning report where the overnight on-call resident presents the newly admitted patients to the rest of the medical team. Next we went to a nice daily chapel service. The singing was incredible! No piano, no guitar, just the local doctors singing Swahili hymns a capella.

After chapel we went with an occupational therapist from Australia to a place called “Plaster House.” We had to ride in a daladala (little minivan) and then walk about 30 minutes up a road with “explosive dust.” The Plaster House is a compound where children go to be evaluated for various orthopedic surgeries and then undergo rehab after their surgeries. They are treated for club feet, fluoronosis (bow legs), burn contractures, and many other ailments. The children are amazing little survivors. They are left by their parents, unless mothers are breastfeeding, and undergo surgery alone. Many of them have casts on both legs and get around by dragging themselves or using crutches. Their bedrooms are crowded and 4 children often have to sleep in 1 bed. They suffer from fungal skin infections, pressure ulcers, and malnutrition (although they are fed well at the compound). Despite all this, they are energetic and loving children! We spent the afternoon playing, doing crafts, and treating some of the milder medical conditions. We left tired, but inspired and talked about the children while we walked the dusty road back to our house.

With the kids at Plaster House

What a cutie!

Making pom-poms

After the walk home we took much needed showers and relaxed for awhile. For dinner we joined the other Selian medical staff for at a delicious Chinese restaurant in town! We had great wine, conversation, and even ice cream for dessert! I wish I could have brought some to the Plaster House kids...maybe sometime soon.