First installment from John on Tanzania

To Tanzania and back again


The trip to Tanzania was a medical mission specifically to the Maasai in the Ngorongoro game reserve and we tagged along to add the word of God. The mission was organized by Myrna Shelley an American from Kalamazoo, who is a retired nurse and who also has a non profit here in Kenya

The Ngorongoro is a three day journey along roads that are extremely hard upon your bum, we travel from Kisumu to Nairobi to Arusha and onto a village called Eseri and there we set up camp.

The mission was dogged by stumbling blocks of various sizes of frustrations to the individual and the group at almost every stage of the trip, but the mission went ahead in spite of everything that came our way.

The frustrations ranged from sabotage from disaffected individuals in Kenya to the incessancy of beaurocracy in Kenya and Tanzania. There were problems with logistics and supplies both food and medicines and free passage in and out of the reserve.

The medical team treated 420 patients in the time they were there and by far the majority suffered from some sort of urinary infection. This is not a surprise when you consider that female genital mutilation is alive and well and combined with polygamy the infection is riding on a merry go round. There were three patients who we saw needed immediate hospitalization and so we would transport them there.

The days of the clinic started at about 8 am and we closed the doors at about 3;30 as it sometimes took a couple of hours for the back log to clear as after the patients saw the clinical officer they would go to the lab and from there to the pharmacy,

Many more people turned up than we could ever see but we believe each day we attended to the most unwell The people started arriving at 6 am having walked many miles from their villages, the word got out pretty quick that the clinic would be free, other medical help available has a charge

Connie worked the pharmacy some and also directing patients to their next stage. I got to be the doorman most of the time as well as talking in waiting groups about God.

The Catholics have moved into the game reserve and have a hospital there along with a number of churches scattered throughout and by far the majority of Maasai describe themselves as catholic.

When I was talking to the Maasai I spoke through two translators, which made conversation very interesting,,,,, one time when I was talking to the chiefs and elders the chief asked what was my denomination and when I said none but God he called me a pagan,,,, and as I walked away after saying goodbye, he called out to me and through the two translators he said,” go find a denomination!” how funny is that?