Meet Ezekieli

When I was in Engaruka I saw many children and families in desperate need of help. One child in particular really stuck out to me. He was the smallest of the children that would come asking for candy and also the most shy. It took him three days before he would come all the way up to me to get his candy. On the fourth day however he was leading the pack to come and get some candy from me. His name is Ezekieli. He lives in a boma with five other children and his grandmother. His mother had him while she was still in primary school and he is being raised by his grandmother since his mother passed exams and is continuing with her schooling. They invited me into their boma to show me around and were so welcoming and kind to me.

Ezekieli's family is very poor and does not have enough money to send him to school next year. When I heard this I decided that I would help fund this sweet little boys schooling. With our contact in the village he will take little Ezekieli to the nearest town, Mosquito river, where he will buy his uniform and supplies. Then he will be taken to the village council where the rest of the money will go to fund his education. I have seen a lot of families and children that need help the last month and this is my way of making a difference. Education opens so many doors for these children and I feel so lucky to be able to help him open so many new doors for himself.

If you would like to help Ezekieli as well please let me or Matt know.

With love from Africa,

Sarah and Ezekieli

'Ello!!!! PiPi!!!!

PiPi=candy. Muzungu= non african= must have pipi.

African children are adorable even when they are chasing you down for candy. Here are some pictures of the cuties who came running every day :)

He kinda looked like Bambi

Friday was G day aka goat day. We started off the day with a hike up a "small hill" which would be a medium mountain in Illinois. Once at the top we had a beautiful view of Engaruka. After that we continued on to the sacrifice area. It was a beautiful spot covered by trees and has been used for sacrifice and as a retreat from daily life for a very long time. Our goat had already arrived earlier in the day along with several warriors. To kill the goat the Masai suffocate the goat so they do not waste any blood. After that the goat is skinned. The first thing to be eaten is the raw kidney- no I personally did not partake but one one of the girls i was with did. After that came a sort of blood soup. They stab the heart and let the blood collect in the abdominal cavity before adding some colon crisps and spleen seasoning-yummm. Again i was to chicken to try the blood but both of the girls i was with tried it and said it wasn't as bad as they expected. After that the meat was and liver was set up by the fire to cook. I did try a little but of liver- i ate it but probably wont be adding goat liver to my favorite food list. The meat was actually very yummy i found i liked the leg meat the most. After lunch the warriors sang and jumped for us again and i still cant believe how high they get. Here are some pictures from sacrifice day!

You probably have malaria

In the village we worked in the local dispensary. It was a half hour walk every day to the clinic. At the clinic there were two nurses and one doctor. The clinic consisted of one building with four separate rooms- medication room, delivery room, vaccination room and the doctors office. On monday it was a general patient day and we saw one Masai man who had been hit with a Masai knife on the back of his heel, a child who had frank pus coming out of both ears and a abscess on his right jaw. On tuesday it was antenatal day so we saw a lot of expecting mothers ranging from newly pregnant to 9months pregnant. We did a lot of HIV testes and had many positive results. It was hear breaking to see how many of these women had no idea that they were infected. In Masai culture it is common to have more than one wife so the spread of the diseases can be very rapid since one man may be sleeping with as many as 10 women. And since there is still such a stigma about HIV often the women do not even want to be tested for fear that someone outside of the clinic would find out. On wednesday we had vaccination day. We were vaccination against polio, rotavirus, TB, and pneumonia. Thursday was another general day and i saw the largest hernia I have ever seen in my life. Clinic was truly a wonderful experience and helped add to my time at the village.

Just lie there like a log.....

While in the village we got the opportunity to learn a lot about Masai culture. In masai culture the women once they are married are called Mamas- hence my name of Mama Matayo which means the wife of Matthew. The men in the village are called warriors. In order to gain the status of a warrior the boy must undergo circumcision. Circumcision is preformed on the boys between the ages of 14-21. Circumcisions are preformed in 7 year cycles so each member of the community is divided into age groups depending on their year of circumcision. In preparation for the event the boys will travel with the warriors to a sacred place outside of the village where they are told about "man things" which include how to tend to your cows, how many wives to take etc. During their circumcision they are not allowed to "cry" which to them means they are not allowed to even blink. They have to lay completely still while the procedure is done, if they don't then they would be shamed and would have to leave the village. After their circumcisions the boys wear black shukas and paint their faces white. During this time they hunt birds in preparation for becoming a warrior and will wear the feathers around their heads. Women also used to have to undergo circumcision but that practice has been outlawed now in tanzania since so many women died from haemorrhage and infection.

While in the village we got a chance to spend a day with the Mamas where they taught us some of their traditional dances. The large circular necklaces are used for celebrations or for special occasions. You have to try and bounce the necklace- without it hitting yourself in the face which is all I really managed to accomplish. After we got our tutorial the warriors came and danced and sang for us. for the warriors it is essentially a jumping contest. We also spent time learning how to do some simple beaded bracelets with the mamas.

During the dry season the warriors will take the cattle and leave the village to find grass for the herds to graze. During that time the Mamas stay at home and take are of the children and maintain the houses. The houses are made of a mud/ cow dung mixture and have to be repaired after every wet season. We got to try our hand at mixing up the paste and then applying it to the walls.

Learning about the Masai culture was really interesting. It was eye opening to hear the reasons behind some of their traditions and made some of the things that I had
mount meru hospital make more sense. I feel i have gained an appreciation and understanding of their culture and their people and am so fortunate to have gotten such an intimate glimpse into their daily lives.

Cheesy Mama Matayo

Hellllo electricity! I just returned this past saturday from Engaruka a small village that sits just along the rift valley wall about 6 hours outside of Arusha. I was in the village for one week and it was so amazing. We lived with Louis who was born in the village and was the only one in his family to attened both primary and secondary school. He worked first as a porter on kilimanjaro before becoming a guide and then a safari guide. While he was a safari guide he startted taking muzungos to the village and after that he began working with Work the World.

Our boma(compound) had one main house, a kitchen building, a drop toilet/ shower room, his uncles house, and one unfinished house. All of the buildings are made out of a stick frame and then a mud and cow dung mixture is applied to the stick frame to make a paste that is applied to the frame to make the house. There is no electricity in the village so we used flashlights at night although most of the time the moon was enough light to get around outside at night. There was a huge mango tree that was in the center of the boma that we had "simba time" (nap time) under every day. The whole village was just so relaxing and wonderful. It was a lot less then we have in Arusha but was everything you truly needed. I absolutely loved my time there and Lewis and Namela were the most wonderful hosts. The house really felt like home at the end of the week and i was so sad to leave.

Coffee! Oh yeah and I MATCHED!!!

Today we went to a coffee farm. We left at 9 in the morning and took two dala dalas in order to get to the village where the coffee farm is. Once we got off it was a little but of a hike from the village to the coffee trees. The walk was very pretty through banana farms and avocado trees. At the coffee farms they told us about the plant and how they harvest the coffee beans. After we walked around the coffee trees we continued our hike up the road to our guide, Noel, mothers house. The house was very cute with a very nice garden. There was lunch set up for us to eat before we got to work making fresh coffee. His family has some beans that had been drying ready for us to unshell, sift, roast, then grind. The whole day was super relaxing and a lot of fun. As a bonus the coffee we made was really good. We finished the day with a game of hackie sack with Noel's family.

I am leaving for the village tomorrow and will be without Internet or phone for a week. I am super excited and a little nervous but everyone that has done it in the house has said they had a great time.

In other news... I matched for my residency in pediatrics and will be working at Advocate Hope Children's Hospital for the next three years. I am so so happy and thankful for everyone that has helped me in this journey I couldn't have done it without all of your love and support.

Love from Africa

Four girls three wardrobes....

The work the world house has become my home away from home. There are currently 16 people in the house but the number varies depending on who is on weekend trips or if there is a group in the village. I am sharing a room with three girls- Val, Tara, and Aneka. Unfortunately our room only has three wardrobes and four girls so we have a bit of sharing we have to do with our closet space. It basically means there are suitcases and clothes everywhere all over our room. I also realized that I can add bunk beds and mosquito nets to things I used to think were cool and are not. I would really just say they are dangerous. Especially when you have to get up in the middle of the night in the pitch black and end up almost going head first out of your bunk because you get tangeled in your mosquito net.

Our common area is a big open space with couches, chairs, and tables. We spend a lot of time hanging out there reading or chatting. Next to the living room is the dining room, it's a huge table and so far we have all managed to fit around it for dinner. Upstairs there are more bedrooms, our Swahili classroom, and the balconies that have nice views of mount meru. In the back of the house are spouts and buckets for laundry along with some clothes lines. In the front of our house is a big open area where we have our weekly Thursday night barbecue.

The house is super comfortable and all of my housemates have been wonderful. It's been great getting to meet all of these new people from all around the world.

Asante sana squash banana

We went on a day safari to Arusha National Park today. It. Was. Amazing. We saw blue monkeys, colobus monkeys, warthogs(pumba), water bucks, spring bucks, flamingos, water buffaloes, zebras, and GIRAFFES!!!!! Although I got a little bit too excited about the giraffes and didn't get the best pictures. Today was totally worth the sun burn I am dealing with tonight. Here is a little taste of this amazing country...

A little bit of doctoring, a little bit of awesome

I have been working in the nicu for the past week now. There are currently 38 babies in the neonatal unit. Every morning we do rounds which really just feels like musical babies. The babies are re evaluated and reclassified into ICU, external, internal, observation, to be discharged and the orphans. There is also a separate room for "kangaroo care". In this unit the babies stay with their mothers who sleep at the hospital and are responsible for feeding and taking care of the babies but the doctors are still able to closely monitor weight and how the baby is doing. I have been helping to do daily weights, take vitals and have been taking part in rounds. It is still very difficult to see some of the babies and how little resources there are available to help them.

This past sunday we went to Lake Daluti. We had a guide who took us out onto the lake in a canoe and showed us all of the wildlife that lives around the lake. We got to see blue monkeys, monitor lizards, and lots of birds. The lake used to be used for traditional Tanzanian sacrifices but since the missionaries have arrived it is now used for baptisms and the caves along the banks are used for praying. While we were canoeing along the banks of the lake we could hear people in caves speaking in tongues. Below are some photos from the day, enjoy!