We have touched down in Moshi! Jennifer and I, thankfully, had an uneventful and on time flight. We arrived into Moshi, and we met by our driver after a relatively hasslefree process through customs.
Customs is always an anxiety inducing moment, especially when you are bringing medical supplies. Government policy here accepts the free transport of donated medical goods without tax, but if certain paperwork or notifications are not made, there can always be issues. I brought several boxes of expired suture for practice and labs, and these received much inspection due to the dates.
Unfortunately, the rest of the “first arrival” team was not so lucky. Josef and Ani had their flight delayed in Charlotte causing them to miss the transatlantic flight. They had the “privilege” of spending an extra night in Atlanta and left out the following day. They have arrived this morning a day letter then planned. They certainly are tired, but happy and excited to be here.
Jen and I got moved in yesterday and met with our good friend Mosses, who helped us get groceries and a Sim card for my phone. We picked up a couple of fans and then got moved in. The house renovations are awesome and make the trip already seem more comfortable than years past. I will devote more time to discussing the new accommodations in a later blog.
We got to bed early in anticipation of Josef and Ani‘s arrival and our first day at the hospital.
The next morning (Tuesday), we went to morning report – the typical start for the day. We exchanged many hugs with familiar faces and met lots of new ones! We were certainly made to feel very welcome on our arrival.
Charity Burke, a hand specialist from Louisville, was finishing up a rotation here and joined us at morning report. There are several fractures on the wards that need to be worked up and operated on. She also had some success to develop a template for Soap sponsored surgeries. For more details of soap, please follow that blog at www.operationsoap.org.
We went back to the house and met Josef and Ani as they were arriving. They got their things moved in and we headed out for lunch – an outdoor café near the front of the hospital served us some barbecue chicken and fries. I think it was a great meal for our new team members!
In addition to the house renovation, we have another new household excitement to share. We were able – with the help of one of the residents – to negotiate laundry service with our housekeeper! With our limited experience, hand washing laundry required approximately six hours of work every three days. Our housekeeper said she would be excited to make some extra money, and we are certainly excited to use her skills! In addition, Jen will be further freed up to work on operation soap.
I am very excited for this new chapter. Last year‘s team really began to build up trust with the Orthopedic Department. I feel that their efforts, have set us up for success this year. I hope you will join us over these next several weeks in our successes and failures!
Dr. Sachdeva, Dr. Mandari, Dr.Burke, Dr Erdin meeting at orthopedic wards.