Heading South

Tomorrow Amy and I are heading to Njombe, which is about 13 hours south of Karatu, where we'll visit a hospital that MIHV is considering partnering with to send medical volunteers to in the future. I'm really looking forward to seeing another part of Tanzania, and after a few days in Njombe, we'll head to Dar es Salaam, and then spend a few days in Zanzibar!

Karibu Karatu

After almost two months in Uganda, working on MIHV’s Child Spacing Program and new Malaria initiative, I’ve moved to Karatu, Tanzania, a district in northern Tanzania that is home to MIHV’s Child Survival Project.

In Karatu, where 112 of every 1,000 children born die before their fifth birthday, MIHV's project is promoting maternal newborn care and child spacing and working to control malaria, diarrheal disease and acute respiratory infections. Over the next five years,the project will help over 100,000 people. The project reaches the community through groups like Survive and Thrive, a support group that enforces healthy behaviors for young single mothers and MAISHA (Men Active in Sustaining Health, MAISHA means "life" in Swahili). MAISHA works with taxi drivers in the region to convey health messengers to their passengers and trains the drivers to assist with emergency transport to clinics.

Karibu Tanzania!

To the Field

This morning I'm leaving for Ssembabule (red), one of MIHV's two Ugandan field sites. The drive from Kampala (blue) to Ssembabule will take about four hours.

Being in Kampala has been wonderful, I've gotten to meet Paige, MIHV's Uganda Country Director, who is incredible. I've wandered through the tombs of the ancient Buganda kings, met with editors at the local Ugandan papers, visited the Nommo National Art Gallery and feel somewhat adjusted to life here.

That said, I can't wait to get into the field. The work MIHV does really happens in the field. Throughout the month of September every Sunday MIHV will be hosting a Family Planning Day, a day designed to be fun for the community while also increasing awareness about reproductive health and MIHV's programs. These Sundays will target males and youth and aim to increase their involvement in family planning. The events will include a drama show, quizzes, a puppet show, a soccer match, and a film show.

Being in the field will give me the opportunity to meet MIHV's Ugandan staff (Paige is the only American working for MIHV's Ugandan programs) and Community Health Workers as well as the beneficiaries of MIHV's programs. I hope that being there, sitting and listening and sharing time and place, will allow me to start to tell their stories.

In the next few weeks I'll be at both the Ssembabule site and Mubende (yellow) site. Ssembabule doesn't have electricity or running water, let alone internet, so I may not be able to post until I get to Mubende.

I'll write soon. Take care.