Ilula-Friends-2020

I arrived back in Ilula Monday morning. It is great to arrive back in Ilula after a long series of flights, including a 5 hour delay for our first flight which resulted in missed connections and rebooked flights.  But in the end it all worked out.   Our group is a mixture of very experienced volunteers at Ilula, some who are here for the first time, and everything in between.  This is personally my ninth time coming on the trip.  Many thanks to Randy, Gary, and Ken for all their work and commitment making this amazing even happen every year. It is also great to see so many of the staff here who we have come to know and respect over the years including Dr Saga, Dr Sovelo, Dr Benjamin, Tuli, Anna our cook, Frank, and Mr Kikote the hospital administrator, and many others.  We have also made some new friends this year including our wonderful new cook, Immanuel, and social worker, Happy.  They do amazing work with extremely limited resources and

January 22, 2020 Habari za Asuburi, We woke up to a severe thunderstorm and pouring rain as we did the day before.  The weather can be cool, hot and humid, stormy, rainbows and sunshine all in one day.  No matter what the weather, it was another wonderful day working with the students and medical staff here.  Today Patrick, Marissa, Jill and I met with Happy Maya, the Ilula social worker highlighted in a prior blog.  We had the opportunity to do home visits in Kipaduka village about 30 minutes drive from Ilula.  Kipaduka is spread out, a beautiful farming town and has a population of about 1,700.  Our loaded  four wheel vehicle made its way along a red dirt and very wet bumpy road.  Frist stop in the village was at the pastors house where we were invited in and offered refreshments.  We were asked to sign a guest book, which apparently is a custom whenever visitors come to a village.  We then walked through corn and bean fields, past cattle, goats, chickens, pigs in pens, and mud h

23 January I awoke this morning, listening to our rooster crow, and the rain.  Reflecting on the ironies and contrasts that are Africa and Ilula, and what is an undercurrent in discussions. The incredible lushess of this area in the rainy season...green, fragrant, very! damp that will become so very dry, brown and dusty in the dry season in the dry season... The frustration and reality of poverty, limited resources, preventable death, limited/halted education for a people that do and accomplish much and continue to, with broad smiles, palpable joy and gentle,welcoming manner. Passing the farmer carrying a hoe to the field or "encouraging " his cow to pull the single blade plow through the red clay with serious purpose as the crops must sustain them, while smiling with an hakuna matata outlook. So, it has rained and rained...hard at least once a day all.week, last nite at least 3 times.  Usually short, fierce bursts with thunder, lightning, then drizzle, bu

Healthcare professionals trying to be healthy after sitting too long on an airplane or ...Cheesey yoga: you make the call

Today was a very interesting day at Ilula!  We had morning report this morning and sadly we learned of a young HIV patient that had passed in the night- we had been following her and had hoped for the best.  We also discussed ectopic pregnancy - interestingly, Frank the pharmacist at Ilula must procure Methotrexate at a cost of 10,000 schillings (~$5) for one dose. Not only is it expensive for the hospital but difficult to come by- he must procure it from Dar Es Salaam- over 300 miles away.  To compare, a full course of antibiotics for out-patients is approximately 3,000 schillings (~$2).  Again, we are constantly in awe of the amount of good work that gets done with challenging resources.   Elizabeth and I spent the morning in the Hypertension/Diabetes Clinic too.  This is a combination out-patient clinic that also serves the government benefit patients.  The patients are all walk-in.  The range of disease is from Hypertensive Crisis to chicken pox to pneumonia and everything in-b

Here  Ilula's new transformer is a picture of the transformer STS paid for as a prerequisite for x ray machine.  Below is a picture of the transformer STS paid for as a prerequisite for x ray machine.  Randy

Happy Maya is the social worker at Ilula. She counsels patients and helps distribute the poor patient funds to deserving patients. Originally from Njombe, she began work at Ilula as a nurse. She also worked in the hospital pharmacy for some time before completing a degree in community development a Happy Maya is the social worker at Ilula. She counsels patients and helps distribute the poor patient funds to deserving patients. Originally from Njombe, she began work at Ilula as a nurse. She also worked in the hospital pharmacy for some time before completing a degree in community development at Iringa University College.

Changes at Ilula 20Jan2020 Many of us have witnessed the changes at Ilula over the past many years but I get this optimistic feeling that the improvements are coming more rapidly now. Several highlights: 1. Advancement of the culture of learning: Ilula opened a 3yr clinical officer school to compliment the recently upgraded diploma level nursing school. They even have an administrative intern here. 2. Addition of internet based learning: a wide screen video screen is used in the morning report room to hold televised lectures for the staff. Today’s seminar was on the introduction of a finger stick POC rapid HIV test 3. Addition of hand washing stations (using hand sanitizer) outside each ward. 4. Lab test results are now entered into the electronic medical record for the outpatient dept. 5. Adequate medical officer staffing: they now have 8 medical officers at Ilula ( they had 9 but one, a 32yr old, is on leave after a diagnosis of breast cancer). They routinely have 2 M.O.s do

Another great day in Ilula! The highlight of the day was the 2 hour church service this morning.  Lots of beautiful acapella singing, dancing. The congregation was colorfully dressed and the children so well behaved and attentive. Dr. Randy made us proud singing a song with Alamu.   He then gave a great talk, saying that “when we come to live and learn with the Ilula people we can achieve great things.” He told them that they can be very proud of the progress they have made the last 19 years! Wow! After lunch  7-8 of us hiked up a big hill for 4 hours. Great practice for Doctor Patrick in his preparations for climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro.we are so proud of everyone.  Dr. Saga came for dinner to speak to us about the history of Ilula. Tu me furahi

Today we were all excited to sleep an hour later as no morning prayer or morning report was held.  We managed to get a nice long walk in before the rains began. Jill tells us that the amount of rain this year is unusually high.  After morning rounds and a light lunch we headed in to Iringa for the afternoon. There we met up and had coffee with some friends living in Iringa. Of course we had to stop and shop at the local craft shop and also the Masai market featuring lots of wood carvings, paintings, jewelry and hand sewed goods. The sun finally broke thru the clouds in the late afternoon and we shared some libations at a bar with a wonderful outdoor patio before heading home on the bus.  After another delicious meal by Emmanuel, the group shared a game of Exploding Kittens before retiring for the evening.

Birdie and I, and I can imagine Ellen H. and John K., are putting the final touches on our packing as we are being picked up by another future traveler for next week, Pastor Walt Lichtenberger. We had a pretty big snowstorm yesterday, but it seems to me the Weather Folks are over-blowing the predictions. We got somewhere over 4-5 inches at my house, not the 8+ we expected. I know there were places around the Metro that did get that much.  And there were a 176 flights canceled yesterday at MSP. So I have been a little on edge about getting out. So far all seems well and out flight is on time for 3:15pm. And to be sure, traffic was horrible with a capital HORRIBLE yesterday. The snow moved in quite suddenly when it actually started. Quiet, gray, dry until 1 PM, then at 1:05 - BOOM - it was an inch an hour. I blew the snow off my driveway this morning before sunrise. Neighbor Doug, the Snow-plower Extraordinaire, has already made a pass this morning too. So all I have to do is complet

Today was day 2 in the hospital. People split the morning in the hospital between the maternity ward, HIV clinic, inpatient ward, and outpatient ward. In the afternoon we had the pleasure of speaking with Petro, a dentist at the hospital who is finishing his study of psychiatry with the intention of starting a psychiatry clinic here in Ilula. We discussed the emergence of psychiatry practice and the stigmas that exist around mental illness here in Tanzania. After a short storm rolled through, we walked into Ilula again to stop at the local watering hole and reflect on our first week. Emanuel continued to step up his game with an outdoor barbecue for dinner which was amazing per usual. Looking forward to a day in Iringa tomorrow after a short morning!

Anna's Chef I sent a previous email about the gourmet food at Ilula but it has become ridiculously good. Anna, our long term cook now has an associate, Emmanuel, who usually works as a chef at a resort in Tonga. Tonight he made thin crust pizza, and bbq pork and chicken served outdoors on our porch for dinner. Moist, fall off the bone chicken at Ilula? Yes Yes.   Randy

Petro Lusasi Petro Lusassi will be completing his 4th and final year of psychiatry training in July 2020  at Sebastian Kolowa University College in  Tonga, TZ.  He will then be assigned to a 1 year internship.  He then plans to return to Ilula to begin his psychiatry practice. This includes prescribing rights for medications.  Originally from Ihimbo, Petro initially was sponsored by friends of STS to complete dental training.  While working with patients as a dentist he began to appreciate the burden of mental health disease at Ilula. He continues to work as a dentist at Ilula during school breaks and is called upon to counsel patients on the ward.  The global burden of mental health disorders is staggering, having an appropriately trained MH professional at Ilula is inspiring.  Randy