Certainly the Ground Hog saw its shadow here in
Tanzania! It began bright and sunny
here, although it is now threatening to rain on our parade, I mean drying
clothes. I think it is a bluff. Several times in the past two weeks we have
seen this pattern only to watch it blow over.
We have had no significant rain since the Hurleys left. I blame Randy. Of course it has been rather nice, however we
really do depend on rain right now for water.
I cannot remember if I waxed philosophic or prosaically on
the water situation: there is none. That
is to say, the water system has been broken for several months, in fact, since
Birdie and I were here in September, possibly before. So I have felt quite chagrined to find this
out on arrival. I toured the nursing school
with Dr. Saga, Mwamoody and Mchungaji Lamont just before leaving at the end of
September. We knew the water supply was
having trouble. We had no idea of the
extent to which the well had failed. It
was not simply the leaky pipe we saw.
So this means the Ilula Lutheran District Hospital has been
without a reliable water supply for four months. On arrival January 6th and
discovery of the problem, Dr. Moody consulted with Shoulder to Shoulder to fix
what needed to be fixed (about $4,000). In February. Well it’s February and it isn’t fixed. OK, I acknowledge that it isn’t very far into
February. OK, also that today is a Sunday. However, can you imagine a hospital without
running water? We have had water carried
in for nearly two weeks. At 500 TZS per
20 liters, it is pretty expensive to do this.
We conserve as best we can. I can
shower with less than 1.5 liters of water.
Carl Sherman, thanks. Two years
ago Carl put several holes in the plastic bottle caps for each of us making a
very efficient shower vessel.
The town’s water supply is no better. Apparently it failed also but not necessarily
at the same time. When it was running, Ilula
still got only a trickle; hence its own well and pump.
Oh, and it just rained for nearly 5 minutes. This does not count. I think we collected a total of 5
gallons. “In a real rain, we could
collect over 50 gallons in 5 minutes,” Cole explained, experienced from before
we came. So, this one was only a
taunt. Still looks promising for more,
but my challenge holds until then.
Dr. Jill (Stebbins) and I did Maternal-Child rounds this
AM. I was not exactly useless (perhaps
“useless” is a little too self-deprecating), but she carried the ball, in part
because I bailed to do a couple other things.
In this ward are the post C-section moms and their
babies. If they live close, they can
leave on Post Partum Day #3 (PPD) and return PPD #7 for suture removal. If distant to ILH, they stay until PPD #7 and
have their sutures removed then and home.
Today we saw a 16 year-old mother and her baby. It happens here too, just like at home. She is doing well physically. I do not know if there is a baba (baby’s
father) in the picture. Also saw a mom
whose milk has not come in, so baby is a little disinterested. Dr. Furaha did an excellent job of helping
her. Left breast seemed a little awkward
and a bit dry. He switched her to the
right and with a little more expression of the nipple got some milk. This little boy knows the good stuff! Maybe all the suckling stimulated a little
let down to help out, but not before this concerned new mom shed a few
tears. She looked much happier when the
baby was latched on.
In the nursery is a newborn a few days old now, born at 32
weeks gestation. So far this little
peanut is doing well. She is breathing
well and has good muscle tone when stimulated.
Since virtually all of the moms do round-the-clock care, there isn’t
much need for the bassinets. However,
also there are two simple but elegant warmers with fluorescent bili lights and
incandescent warmers. However, I learned
a couple months ago that even the special blue fluorescent lights (these have
standard fluorescents) must be within a specific distance or they do no
good. Unless the placebo effect on the
medical staff somehow helps the baby, but I doubt it. This will be something we can repair
easily! Thank you Kiwanis Netherlands!
Oh. And the storm
blew over. No more rain.
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