#1 GETTING READY
With only five more sleeps to go mum and I are getting ourselves ready to head back to Tanzania and getting very excited. We are currently using our spare room at home as a packing room (photos to follow) and it's getting a bit crowded.
For those of you who have donated things to us we say a massive THANK YOU!
Amongst the things we are taking are 390 pairs of socks (I counted)! And no they are not just for mum and me which is what people tend to think when I tell them. They were donated to us by East Lothian Special Needs Playscheme who carried out sponsored walks during the Easter Playscheme this year and managed to raise money to go out and buy socks and plasters for us to take out. We also have a number of leg splints which will be used for people coming to the centre and for in the community. We also have hearing aids and glasses which are just as important as it is so difficult for people to attain these things in a third world country. We have a huge bag of toothbrushes which will become very useful once the dental clinic at the centre is all set up. The biggest things that we are taking however are our three manakins. We have one junior size manakin and two baby sized manakins which will be used for training with the nursing assistants. Our plan is to give one of the baby manakins to the dispensary mum worked in when we first visited so that the mothers who go there can be shown basic First Aid for their children.
How we are going to pack all of this I'm not sure but we'll give it our best shot!
I'm not sure what it is that we will be doing when we get there but I'm hoping to keep you all updated twice a week but please don't hold me to that because it is all dependant on how much free time we will have and of course internet.
I hope you all enjoy reading the blog as much as I will have writing it!
25/06/2017
With only five more sleeps to go mum and I are getting ourselves ready to head back to Tanzania and getting very excited. We are currently using our spare room at home as a packing room (photos to follow) and it's getting a bit crowded.
For those of you who have donated things to us we say a massive THANK YOU!
Amongst the things we are taking are 390 pairs of socks (I counted)! And no they are not just for mum and me which is what people tend to think when I tell them. They were donated to us by East Lothian Special Needs Playscheme who carried out sponsored walks during the Easter Playscheme this year and managed to raise money to go out and buy socks and plasters for us to take out. We also have a number of leg splints which will be used for people coming to the centre and for in the community. We also have hearing aids and glasses which are just as important as it is so difficult for people to attain these things in a third world country. We have a huge bag of toothbrushes which will become very useful once the dental clinic at the centre is all set up. The biggest things that we are taking however are our three manakins. We have one junior size manakin and two baby sized manakins which will be used for training with the nursing assistants. Our plan is to give one of the baby manakins to the dispensary mum worked in when we first visited so that the mothers who go there can be shown basic First Aid for their children.
How we are going to pack all of this I'm not sure but we'll give it our best shot!
I'm not sure what it is that we will be doing when we get there but I'm hoping to keep you all updated twice a week but please don't hold me to that because it is all dependant on how much free time we will have and of course internet.
I hope you all enjoy reading the blog as much as I will have writing it!
25/06/2017
#2 SO WE ALMOST WENT TO JOHANNESBURG
Here's a story I'd like to tell you...
Everything was planned and going so well. Mum and I stayed at my brother, Luke's flat in Edinburgh last night and had booked ourselves a taxi for 3:45am which came on time. Made it to the airport with plenty of time to get ourselves organised, we got all five of our suitcases on the plane, got our boarding passes and through security no bother.
Here's where is starts to go wrong. Our flight was originally meant to be leaving at 6:20am but instead of leaving on time we were sat in the plane for over an hour until we finally took off. Now, I'm not that bothered about delays normally but today was slightly different. On our original flight plan our plane was meant to arrive in Paris at 9:10am their time and our connecting flight to Nairobi was leaving at 10:55am. Had our plane arrived on time we would have had over an hour and a half to figure out which terminal and gate we were meant to be at. Instead we had 15minutes, we rushed through security, hopped on a bus to take us to another terminal only to find out that boarding had closed and we were not going to be getting on our flight to Nairobi. Stress.
Thankfully the Parisian people were very kind, telling is which terminal to get back to so that we can get a new flight and somewhere to stay for the night. When we finally got to the AirFrance desk (Charles de'Gaulle is a very large airport) there was a lovely man having a look at a new flight for us. One of the options he gave us was flying down to Johannesburg tonight and then back up to Nairobi. I don't quite understand why they have flight plans like that, there is no way we were going to be flying all the way down to the bottom of the African continent just to fly back up.
So instead we are spending the night in Paris, all paid for by AirFrance of course and we will be getting the 10:55am flight to Nairobi tomorrow morning and fingers crossed there will be no more problems and we will still be able to get our bus tomorrow night and get ourselves to Musoma.
Hopefully the next update will be from LVDC!
30/07/2017
#3 A NIGHT IN NAIROBI
Clearly luck is not on our side for this trip.
Well we managed to catch our flight yesterday from Paris, even though we were a little bit rushed. We left Charles de Gaulle a little late but arrived in Nairobi just after 8pm which meant we had just under 2hours to get our visas sorted and collect our luggage before we had to catch our bus to Musoma. Things seemed to be looking up. That was until only one of our suitcases turned up.
So it's a night in Nairobi for us while four of our cases still lie somewhere in Charles de Gaulle airport.
At least there's hot water for a shower and wifi!
Hopefully our luggage will arrive tomorrow and we can finally get on our way to where we're meant to be. All fingers and toes crossed!
01/07/2017
#4 HERE AT LAST
I guess it’s been a while since I last wrote on here but I see that as a good sign as it means I haven’t had internet to get on to the blog which means we are back in Musoma!
It was an early start on Monday morning as we were told that the flight that our luggage was on would be arriving at 6am and we didn’t want to hang around, the sooner we got our suitcases that sooner we could finally get to Musoma. I think it was the best sight when we saw the first case on the belt, I’ve never been so happy to see so much luggage in my life!
Grace met us at the airport to make sure that we got a taxi and helped us get on a bus, I’m not sure how we would have done it on our own because bus stations are a busy place anyway but when you’re in a bigger city like Nairobi it’s on another level.
I think we can go through life without getting that bus again. Nine hours, two stops, hot weather and a window that doesn’t open is not a good combination! I have to say my favourite part of the bus journey was waking up, looking out of the window and over the side of a mountain which we were half way up. Didn’t scare us at all… Good view though.
We got to the Kenya/Tanzania border just after 7pm and Grace had told us that Dennis wouldn’t be able to pick us up so he was going to send a driver and a lady called Martha, so much information. So we arrived and unloaded all of our bags and just stood waiting around because we had no idea who was coming to get us. Thankfully we were the only two white people around so we kind of stuck out. And then the most beautiful man appeared and it was Ferouze (not actually sure on the spelling). I’m not sure how long he has been the driver for LVDC but mum and I met him when we were here last time and I was just so happy to see him.
There are two other volunteers here at the moment from Glasgow University, Niall and Pogi and they came to meet us as well, it’s always nice to meet new volunteers. We got our visas sorted and then it was another three hour car journey to get to Musoma.
We are so happy to be back, it feels like it was only yesterday that we were here. It’s like a home away from home. What was even better was that Rose (Dennis’s wife, just to confuse you) had made chapattis, my favourite food while I was here!
We were up at the centre on Tuesday and it is incredible how much it has changed in the last three years! I will take lots of photos and just hope and pray I can upload them on to here. The students are on holiday at the moment and will be back next Monday which is when the work we will be doing will start so I’m sure there will be lots to tell you. I’m looking forward to all the students coming back and seeing if there’s any that I would have met three years ago.
Mum visited the dispensary she worked at last time yesterday, I think it was a bit emotional for her. They also asked if she would be coming back to work with them, she obviously made a good impression. They received around 200 of our toothbrushes and next week we will be taking the toys Benjamin’s mum gave us and one of the baby manikins.
We have unloaded everything at LVDC and mum and I will be giving the nursing assistants building a good clean and reorganisation for the students coming back next week.
It’s good to be back!
Photos to follow:)
06/07/2017
From left to right: Danny's shoes, Jamie's splints, Rocco's splints and Ellie's splints. A big thank you to our wonderful kids that we get to work with!
And another thank you to Charlie for donating all of these splints, we were delighted you could give us so many to help the children here!
Another thank you to the East Lothian Special Needs Playscheme for doing such an amazing job on your sponsored walks and raising money to buy us plasters to bring out with us. I think we're going to have to get a bigger first aid box!
Unpacking at Lake Victoria Disability Centre
#5 DANIEL JOHN
As some of you may know, we were donated 5 hearing aids to bring out with us. Last Thursday a young man came to LVDC, Daniel John was born with full hearing and lost it through quinine poisoning which is a treatment for malaria, he was aged two. Daniel John had had hearing aids in the past but they are expensive to purchase in Tanzania and he no longer has a pair. The loss of hearing has not stopped Daniel John from completing his education and has incredible English. He came to LVDC as he had heard that we had brought several hearing aids with us. The only worry we had was that all of these hearing aids had been designed for specific people so we weren't sure if they would fit or even work for him. After trying different ones we finally had two that fit and were successful in giving him good hearing! The photo I will put up will show you just how thrilled he was.
It was was such a pleasure to meet Daniel John and help him. He is now going off to university to further his education. We wish him all the luck!
As some of you may know, we were donated 5 hearing aids to bring out with us. Last Thursday a young man came to LVDC, Daniel John was born with full hearing and lost it through quinine poisoning which is a treatment for malaria, he was aged two. Daniel John had had hearing aids in the past but they are expensive to purchase in Tanzania and he no longer has a pair. The loss of hearing has not stopped Daniel John from completing his education and has incredible English. He came to LVDC as he had heard that we had brought several hearing aids with us. The only worry we had was that all of these hearing aids had been designed for specific people so we weren't sure if they would fit or even work for him. After trying different ones we finally had two that fit and were successful in giving him good hearing! The photo I will put up will show you just how thrilled he was.
It was was such a pleasure to meet Daniel John and help him. He is now going off to university to further his education. We wish him all the luck!
#6 MADAME KATHERINE
So mum has been putting her nursing skills to good use in the classroom with me as her glamorous assistant.
The students have been doing a lot of theory so far, all very useful information but we discovered they hadn't done any practical skills. So the first task we gave them was to assemble a first aid kit, we laid out things that would go in a first aid bag and wouldn't go in. Mum has also taught them about basic life support on the baby and child manikins we brought with us.
Next week mum will be doing a disability feeding session with the students. This means that the students will be blindfolded and fed different foods so that they have the understanding of what life is like for those living with disabilities. Mum has taught them how to make up a hospital bed and next week they will be shown how to make one with a patient in it.
It has been a great class to be a part of. A lot of the students are so enthusiastic and asking lots of questions. Some of them want to become nurses and doctors, it's great that they have such big ambitions!
As well as being in the classroom, I've been doing bits on my own. On Monday Dennis asked if Niall, Pogi and myself would make up a PowerPoint for him on LVDC for a presentation he was giving to graduates at a college. We all went to the presentation but not to a college, to a pre military camp. It was only slightly intimidating. Dennis said that it was all very positive and they are hoping that around 100 of the students who attend the camp will transfer to LVDC. I have also been updating the LVDC volunteer welcome pack, which I didn't even know existed. It's six years old so there's a lot to add to it!
Just a little bit to add on...
Amongst all of the things we brought with us to Musoma were lots of hats and sun cream. Today we visited the school at the end of our road, there are a lot of albino children who board there. Mum met the head teacher yesterday at church and he asked us to come and visit the school and bring the hats with us. The children were very grateful for them!
16/07/2017
#7 LAST WEEK AT LVDC
Three weeks is almost up at LVDC. I can't tell you how much we have enjoyed ourselves here and once again the students and staff have welcomed us into their LVDC family!
On Monday I finished up updating the LVDC Volunteer Welcome Pack and started some work with Dennis while mum decided to raise the hygiene standards at the centre and scrub the toilets, something I was quite happy not to be involved in, although poor Pogi was roped in to it. In the afternoon mum taught her class about pharmacology, or as much as she could on the subject. It was Pogi's last day at the centre so towards the end of the day we had a small farewell ceremony where Pogi was given a gift and said goodbye to all the staff and students, it was quite emotional and he will definitely be missed by everyone!
As it was Pogi's last day in Musoma, mum and I decided to stay at home and not go to the centre in the morning. It meant that mum could go back to the dispensary and give them the toys from Benjamin and it meant I could help Pogi clean the lodge before the next volunteers arrive. We had 'goodbye' chapattis for lunch, a favourite for most volunteers and then Dennis picked us up to take us to the airport to say our goodbyes. We headed up to the centre and mum spent some time with her students talking about life back home.
On Wednesday the Doctor was in with the nursing students in the morning so mum printed off a few things for the centre and kept herself busy while I carried on the work Dennis and I had started. After break mum and I joined in the sign language class, I had already learned the alphabet and I picked up a lot of the signs in the class quite quickly. In the afternoon mum carried out her disability feeding session with her students which I think was quite eye opening for them and gave them a better understanding when they go out and care for people with disabilities. Neither of the vans were at the centre to take us home so we hired a dala dala instead and managed to fit 26 of us in it. It was super cosy. At least the door on this dala dala wasn't falling off and I couldn't see the road through the floor of it.
Dennis let me drive to the centre on Thursday! I can leave Musoma happy now. Although we're having to take the long route round to avoid immigration! We spent the morning teaching a sexual health class to all of the students, it was great and a few of them were asking really good questions which shows that they are understanding what they are being taught because by far one of the biggest obstacles for us is the language barrier. Amongst all of the glasses we brought with us it's a miracle that some of the staff have found a pair that work for them, including Michael the albino teacher who we were so pleased to have helped as it is very common for albinos to have problems with their eyes. We left early on Thursday as mum and I wanted to go in to town and that way we could spend all day Friday at the centre as it would be our last day there.
It was time to get emotional. Our last day at LVDC. We didn't do very much in the morning as we were waiting for church to start as that would be our farewell ceremony. There are some incredible singers amongst the staff and students at LVDC, it was very moving. Dennis said a few words about us and then the tears started. Both mum and I are hopeless in these situations. We were asked to come up to the front and say something, I let mum do that part. Then all of the staff and students got up and came and shook our hands and gave us a hug. Mums students were by far the most emotional, it's been wonderful spending the last three weeks with them and they have built up such a great relationship with mum. We were then gifted with a dress and trousers each made with the same material so now we can match! They are so beautiful and Noella the seamstress at LVDC did an incredible job!
Today (Saturday) mum and I went to church in our fabulous new dresses. We sat with Dennis and the deaf group. Halfway through we were surrounded by lots of children who were wanting to learn sign language. We're both annoyed neither of us had our camera/phone because it would have made a great photo. Then we were invited into the main church to say goodbye to everyone there, again I let mum do that talking part.
We'll be spending tomorrow doing the last of our washing and packing our suitcases ready to head of to the paradise that is Zanzibar.
We have had such an incredible three weeks in Musoma and with LVDC and we are so grateful for our time here. We have made some wonderful new friends and created some amazing memories that we will never forget. I don't think it will be too long until we are back again. I've already promised Pogi we'll organise our next trip together.