It’s a revolution that brought singing to us!

Some of the visiting nursing students

Habari za jioni kukota Ilula! (Good evening from Ilula). Today started out slow as it was a public holiday for all Tanzanians. It is a day off to celebrate the Zanzibar Revolution. We did not have our usual devotion and medical report that would occur every morning prior to rounds. However, it turned out to be a great morning as undergraduate students from Gustavus College Minnesota were visiting us. We were able to spend about 3 hours with them prior to rounds. The visiting students came ready with their singing voices and instruments. We started out with Randy giving them a quick overview of our program. I, Lauren, Lisa and Margaret then talked about our medical and cultural experiences so far. The students were very engaged in this process and asked lots of great questions. We then turned it into a circle of sharing. All the visiting students as well as our team here in Ilula shared our most shocking, rewarding or stand out experience so far. The experiences that the visiting students have had so far included; observing the way faith and hope are integrated into healthcare provision here in Tanzania, visit to palliative care facilities, visit to the Masia girls school, visits to the Pastors house to see kids with disabilities such as cleft lip and palate getting care and also lots of singing in medical wards to encourage the patients.

Our circle of sharing

After we got the chance to hear from everyone about their experiences and what they will take back home to the USA with them, we then got to hear the students from Gustavus sing. Interestingly, Todd (one with the guitar pictured below) who is the pastor on this trip with them teaches them songs in Swahili which he learned from a Pastor in Minnesota that conducts 2 pm Swahili services on Sundays. How cool is that?

Gustavus students singing for us! Lovely

We provided a tour of the facility to them and after the tours, they sang to patients in the Labor and delivery ward as well as the general ward. The song they sang was very beautiful and this was a huge part of their healing message to the patients. The patients really appreciated this.

We then received a grand tour of the nursing school and took a picture as shown below.

Gustavus students in the Nursing school

We said our goodbyes to the Gustavus team as they continued on their amazing exploration and singing J-term global experience in Tanzania.

The rest of the team went ahead on rounds with the few doctors that were present today and lots of eager and sharp looking nursing students.

Side note: the nursing students here are great and are very eager to learn. They were pretty much running the show today as it was a public holiday and not all the staff nurses were present. They are such a lively and amazing group of students and one of the faculty also mentioned how interactive they are in class.

We rounded up the didactic day with discussions on the porch with the amazing view of the mountains. We discussed altered mental status and HIV overview. Randy gave us a great tool for assessing and managing patients with altered mental status and Michael gave a great overview of HIV/AIDS.

Amazzzzzing views!!

We ended the day with a long walk through town and explored some new areas of town. We stopped by the local pub (previously the Peace Garden) to wait for our scheduled dinner time with Dr. Saga. The weather was fantastic so we sat outside.

Some members of the team at the local pub enjoying the lovely weather

We stopped by Dr. Saga’s for dinner made by his beautiful wife Anita. The meal was delicious and we were very grateful for this amazing time. Dr Saga devoted his 30 year plus career to the Ilula Lutheran Hospital and has been such a great partner for this program. He is currently retired from the hospital but runs a Duka La Dawa (pharmacy) near his home. He is also still involved in planning our Annual Minnesota-Ilula Medical conference coming up next week.

It was indeed another great day in Ilula. Tomorrow we will be going into town to explore the markets in Iringa town and continue to perfect our kSwahili. 

Kwaheri!

Good bye for now.