7/7/10 First Impressions of rural Shirati

I just completed my 2nd full day in Shirati. To give you a quick rundown on what it is like here… I am living at a hostel which is like a dormitory style living built by the SHED Foundation. My roommate is Melody and we arrived with about 7-8 other med students. The electricity here is supposed to be reliable about 50% of the time. The bathrooms definitely require shoes and there is a toilet and sink. In between the toilet and sink, on the ceiling, there is a shower head that shoots out only cold water. I am so grateful that a well was recently installed since before this well, all students showered in lake water that sat out in the sun. Melody and I use our mosquito nets religiously of course. For $20 a day, our stay at the hostel is included as well as 3 delicious meals a day, unlimited bottled Dasani water, and apparently a laundry service. In the hostel, we’ve seen some amazing creatures. In our room we’ve noticed some mosquitoes, spiders, and a huge beetle. The net is totally keeping everything out and I love it. Some of the med students have found a scorpion under their clothes while another discovered an orange rainforest-looking frog in the toilet tank. There’s never a dull moment.

The town of Shirati is accessed by dirt roads which create huge dust clouds whenever they are driven on. Unfortunately for me, there is no ATM. More interestingly, I learned upon arriving in Nairobi that Kenya and Tanzania do not accept $100 USD that are older than the year 2000. Literally, there is no vendor, money exchanger, or bank that will accept these bills. Let’s just say that I have a lot of them so I was a little concerned about money for a bit. Shirati is rural near Lake Victoria, which is a huge lake full of fish. The town consists mainly of farmers and fishers. There are a few stores but they are sort of like wooden stands that sell small items. The nearest bank for international people is 2 hours away by the border. Internet cafes, wireless internet in general, bars, and cable are almost nonexistent. I’ve been a bit out of touch but attempting to get a SIM card and modem to re-connect. So far, I haven’t really minded it. Its been refreshing getting away from constant Blackberry updates, e-mails, IMs, and facebook checking. I thought that I might have a difficult time adjusting to millions of critters, cold showers, lack of internet, time change, food shift, avoiding any tap water, etc. but its been totally fine.

The people that are here in Shirati with me are also fantastic. My partner Melody is super sweet and compassionate. She’s been to so many places and has put a bajillion hours into volunteering, its pretty inspiring. The med students from USC and BU are all so unique and interesting. I love hearing about their travel experiences, life lessons, and jokes. I don’t know what I’m going to do when they leave in less than 3 weeks. There are also about 3 independent volunteers that I’ve met in Shirati. One is an MPH student as well from UPitt and she’s doing interviews with cancer patients in the area. The other two are architecture grad students and they are entirely in charge of building this huge new medical clinic 40km away.
Tanzania and Africa in general is so beautiful. The sunrises and sunsets are the most incredible I have ever seen in my life. The skies are basically purple and pink during these times and the sun is red. Being less than 100 miles away from the equator, I definitely feel that beating of the afternoon sun. I would say LA sun feels 3x’s as strong as NJ while Africa feels 4x’s as strong as LA sun. Melody and I put on DEET, picaridin, and other insecticides like nuts to avoid mosquito bites and malaria. My wardrobe here is nothing like what I wear in the U.S. I have culturally appropriate clothes such as knee length skirts, khakis, and shirts in mostly neutral or white colors to avoid tse tse fly bites. I basically look like a school teacher and was actually called one the other day.

The two translators that Melody and I are using are basically our lifelines and the only way we can complete our research study. Killion is the head translator that has worked on medical translations for a long time. He speaks English, Swahili (a major language in Africa), and Luo (a local tribal language). His 20 year-old daughter, Pili, has a great sense of humor and also speaks those 3 languages. She is currently on summer break from “high school” which is the equivalent of a community college in the U.S. Everybody in Shirati seems to be so friendly and so laid back, its really welcoming. We briefly trained our translators and then started walking out to the villages. On our way to the first household, a swarm of little kids ran up to us foreigners and smiled. One cute little girl held my hand and walked with me for awhile. The kids also shouted out “mzungu” which is the equivalent of “gringas” in Spanish…it means foreigners or most often white people.

Life here seems very relaxed. We usually don’t start or meet people at scheduled times. All the med students finish their clinic work by 2pm, an early end. Then for the rest of the day we play with local kids, walk around the area, talk endlessly, and then watch the world cup at Dr. Esther Kawira’s house. She is the American physician that lives here and sets up the SHED foundation med school program. She has also been a tremendous help in my research project. She also is one of the few households with TV and internet. So far, its only been 2 days and I totally feel like I’m adjusted to living here.