Back to Karatu

After two days of travel, I arrived in Karatu Tuesday evening, and because all of the sleep I got was on planes, I don’t think I’ve ever been so tired in my life. The next day I took it easy, but did visit my friends in the office. I had almost forgotten how much fun everyone here is while I was gone.
On Thursday, it was back to work, and Friday, Karen, the other volunteer, conducted a planning workshop. It was really great. It can be difficult to track people down to make plans when they are out in the field, so it was wonderful to be able to sit down with everyone and make sure our plans all work together.
After work on Friday, I went out for a jog, and upon returning home my friend Margaret was at my house. She told me there was a man under a tree across the street that was quite sick. He had been throwing up for three days, and had walked from a town that is over six hours away by car without eating or drinking. He had been working in Serengeti, but got sick and was trying to return to his home near Mt. Kilimanjaro. Needless to say he was quite confused.
I made him some oral-rehydration solution. He was able to drink it, but soon vomited again, so we took him to the health center for some additional help. Because his pulse, blood pressure, and temperature were normal they asked him to come back the next day if he was still sick. There were some men in town who tried to help him find some food and a bed. My guess is that he had an electrolyte abnormality, and needed IV fluids, but I did not have access to the necessary lab tests or an IV, so I couldn’t do much more to help. Unfortunately, I don’t know what became of him.
This weekend, Karen, Veronica, and I went for a short hike to the Elephant Caves and a waterfall. We were a little disappointed that we didn’t seen any wild buffalo or elephants because we could tell they were nearby, but next weekend we will be going to Ngorongoro Crater, and the following weekend we will go to Serengeti, and we won’t have any difficulty spotting wildlife there.
MIHV is planning a half-marathon for malaria awareness on April 25. I am excited about this because, initially we had planned to organize a full marathon, which I had no intention of training for. Karatu is about a mile above sea level and the surrounding area is very hilly, not a good place for a first marathon, if I were interested in participating in a marathon in the first place. We changed the plan because many local marathoners are training for a marathon about one month after ours. They were interested in a training race, but running another marathon would have been too much. This works out great for me personally because I think a half marathon is something I can do, so I look forward to participating, even though I probably will be the last one to finish.
This week, a new volunteer, Ken, is arriving. He is a fourth year medical student from Temple University. We are planning to work in the clinics at some of the local health centers and do some community observation regarding water sources, latrine availability, standing water, cooking fires, etc. I will also be putting the finishing touches on our MAISHA training materials, for a training at the beginning of March and working with the District Pharmacist to plan the next round of Drug Shopkeeper trainings.

Nimefurahi kukujua (I am happy to know you)

Hello, I am Amy Walsh. I am a fourth year medical student at the University of Minnesota. After going home for the holidays, I leave tomorrow to return to Karatu, Tanzania. I was in Karatu for four months this fall, and will spend four more months in Karatu before returning to my studies. So far my work has focused on designing a training for local drug shopkeepers to help them recognize emergencies and improve drug dispensing procedures and designing a training for local taxi drivers and long haul truckers to help them provide emergency transport and community health education (MIHV's MAISHA program).

A little about me, I grew up in Bettendorf, IA and studied Biology and Chemistry at the University of Missouri before medical school. I delayed my graduation from medical school to participate in MIHV's project in Tanzania, and after I complete school I plan to pursue a career in Emergency Medicine. I am hoping to integrate international medicine into my career, though as of yet I am unsure how I will do that. Outside of academics, some of my interests are ultimate frisbee and mountain biking, and I've been spending my off time in Karatu braving the dust in Karatu to go running and reading a lot of incredible books, next on the list is The Epic of Latin America.

I look forward to sharing my journey in Tanzania with you.