Thoughts from Moshi

I hope this update finds all of you doing well. We are continuing to have a great time and have an exciting 10 days ahead. Since my last update, not much new going on- still working hard at the hospital and having a really good time. I continue to be amazed at how sick the patients are. Last Friday I went up into the mountains with a local NGO and hiked from hut to hut for 10 hours seeing patients they identified need to be seen by a doctor prior to me coming. In total I saw 30 patients and it was probably some of the coolest moments I have ever had as a doctor.

Audra has been volunteering at two different orphanages and is really enjoying it. In exciting news, she sent our an email to friends and family updating people about the orphanage and children. In that email she asked if anyone would be interested in donating money to sponsor an orphan here. It cost 130 dollars a year for these children to be educated, clothed and fed (think about the things we waste 130 dollars on). Amazingly, she has recieved over 1500 dollars in donations already- pretty fantastic. She is continuing to raise funds and if anyone is interested, please email her at audrameduri@gmail.com and she will tell you how this can be done. The nice thing is we know exactly where the money is going to because she is working there.

This week is going to be quite exciting. Saturday we are going on another exciting hash, then at night we are going to a dinner to celebrate the finishing residency for three people in the internal medicine department. Sunday I will be up at 4:30am to participate in my Fantasy Football Draft online with a bunch of guys from Memphis. After that is over we will be picked up at our home because we are STARTING ARE ASCENT OF MOUNT KILIMANJARO!!!! (Note, if any of you read Bill Simmons, don't you think he would give me some props for waking up on the other side of the world at 4:30 am to participate in a FF Draft then climb Kilimanjaro).

Anyway, yes, we are climbing Kili. We are climbing the Machame route and will leave Sunday morning. We will be climbing for 6 days, summitting on Thursday morning here. FYI, Kili is about 19500 feet, which I have been to twice before, but never have I started at 3000 feet, which is where we will be starting. Believe or not- on summit day you have to wake up at 11 PM, that is right PM, and start for the summit with headlamps- after 8 hours of hiking you make it to the top for sunset. You then have to hike down another 6 hours that day. Anyway, please keep us in your prayers during this time, we will definetly need it. We are still discussing what we will do when we get to the top- maybe a sign, maybe a pose, I dont know, but most people have a special picture up there- I guess you will all see in 10 days.

Another exciting adventure will be happening the day after we get back from Kili! On Saturday we will be going riding a bus to Arusha, which is 1 hour away. We will then ride it another 1 hour north of there to a small town, where we will hike for 2 hours to get to are destination (sorry, I want to build it up b/c I am pretty excited). Let me take you back a bit. Some of the patients I have had on my service in the hospital have been there since day one for me and we have been very good friends. One of these patients is a 29 year old Masai warrior. We became close and I helped him a pretty good amount while he was in. He is doing very well now and prior to him being discharged he challenged me to try to help herd his cow (masai's livelihood is based upon their cattle, if you dont know what a Masai is, google it, then you will say, oh yeah). Obviously, being who I am, I had to take the challenge. We then got in a lengthy discussion and he invited me to come to his Masai village to visit (you know I am really excited at this point). Making this long story short, the only weekend that would work is the day after we get back from Kili. So, it will be quite the adventure and we are really excited (I am bringing Audra and one of my local colleagues). They have many ceremonies and traditions and he said he wants us to be honored guest. As you can imagine, I will have a lot of interesting stories when I get back.

A few fun tidbits to end with (or you could call it Only in Africa):
- At least 2-3 times a week a patient tells me they have to go sell a cow so they can pay for a procedure or medicine
- Two times alone this week the hospital has completly run out of glucose testing strips (not good when you have multiple patients w/ DKA- severe diabetes complication)
- Do meetings in the US feel short- things are so incredibly formal here that meeting take 3 hours or more at times
- That a stamp is the most important thing in the world. Really, someone can have anything you want written on a sheet of paper and as long as it is stamped by someone, it is gold.
- That you can fit 27 people in a 12 passenger van
- That I am the best smelling person in the room, without cologne on (so Audra says)

Sorry, there is probably a million more but I am running short on time. Please keep me posted on any exciting news (i.e. vice-presidential choices) and we love reading your post- really.

Cheers,

Chris and Audra