Out of Africa View

Post of michael madalon who is mostly case insensitive.         08jan17/sunday/ilula, tz/ilula hospital area

The rosy-fingered dawn begins to massage the retina shortly before 0600 at this time of year....even earlier for a resident rooster (so it goes for brief poetic license with an apology to virgil)
Our group of nine has a classic "out of africa" view from the veranda at faculty/student housing (ed. note: the blog background is the view)....prosperity, margaret, lauren, and lisa jogged the 2 mile path to the valley area...breakfast from our cook, anna, was welcomed and included hard boiled eggs (white yolk), fritters and cakes, bananas, and of course, coffee (instant) or tea and this gets our day started well....our housekeeping person is jennifer....a discussion over breakfast included general blog info, assignments, and downloading photos

At 1000 we were welcomed by mr. kikoti, the hospital administrator, to the lutheran church service and this event turned out to be the highlight of the day....the building held an estimated 150-200 members and is L-shaped....a large share of the service was group singing, often with a typical african rhythm (think ladysmith black mombazo) as well as some dancing in place....the lady with the red dress and her co-singers with guitar accompaniment as well as a young girl vocal duet were particularly good....one of the music groups had a cd of their work for sale after the service....we scarcely understood a word of the pastor's message but his delivery was earnest and expressive....speaking for our group we were impressed with the upbeat and joyous music as well as the smiling faces of the performers and left the church at 1230 in an uplifted mood...the ensuing thunderstorm was heavy and easily filled a 40 gallon container with roof and gutter water in less than one hour (which is the preferred liquid for our female hair washing, i understand)....lunch was served promptly after the church service and during the storm and included rice, beans, a tomato sauce, and french fries (a familiar culinary theme)

At 1300 (1 pm) our swahili language instructor, Fatuma, challenged us with her "immersive" style for  
 learning a language....in another life she would make an effective drill instructor....it is clear that this author needs more practice....when our 3 hour lesson ended, we felt that another lesson would be helpful

Before our evening meal Randy took us on a 1 mile walk and tour around the hospital campus....on the return portion we chanced to pass dr. Saga's home....he invited us in for sodas, peanuts, and conversation (we learned of his early role in establishing the ilula hospital as well as his recovery from a major motor vehicle-doctor as pedestrian accident over 1 year ago)....we also visited his pharmacy near his house

Our post walk dinner included fried rice, a red sauce, spaghetti pasta, cauliflower/peanut sauce, a meat dish as well as beer, water, and sofa for drinks....this was followed by a game of swahili word-guessing with a smart phone/timer and the word displayed placed at the guesser's forehead while the group offered the english clue....

The day was a full one....however we have again learned that americans have the watch, but the tanzanians have the time....also one could note that time flies like an arrow, but fruit flies like a ndizi, especially in ilula.