Jambo!!! This means a lot of things in Swahili including hello and is an approprite start to this blog. We arrived in Moshi (at the foot of Kilimanjaro) on July 8th. We had an appropriate introduction to life here by having one of my bags left in Amsterdam by KLM for unclear reasons then riding 45 minutes in a "SUV" w/ 9 people in it (6 of which were moving here for 1 year) and approximately 20 bags on the roof of the car. It was fantastic. We arrived in the doctor's housing at KCMC (Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Center) that night and hit the ground running the next day. We arrived in the middle of the night so I could not see my surroundings but when I woke up the next morning to see the snowy peaks of Mt. Kiliminjaro from my house fell in love.
Yesterday I got my "orientation" to the hospital (though I am sure I will remain disoriented for my whole 3 months here). I am still not sure exactly what my duties consist of but that part I am sure I will learn fast. I had a 2 hour break between meetings yesterday and was told I should try to "go in town real quick to get a SIM card for my phone". I assure you that quick was the wrong word to describe my next experience as I packed into a mini-van that functions as a shuttle that packed about 20 people into what would typically carry 7-8 in the US and became a fun journey. I know my wife tells me I can smell at times but I am pretty sure I was the best smelling person on that van. Anyway, it was a lot of fun and quite eventful in the downtown. Later that day Audra and I went back into town and I paid 12 dollars for a cab driver to take us around the markets and other stores so I could figure out what kind of deals I good get on produce. At the end of the day we went to these fields by the hospital and played ultimate frisbee with a bunch of locals (who would have thought that was big in Africa) until the sun went down with Kilimanjaro towering over us. It was surreal.
This morning I started my time on the ward and have already begun to see some fascinating cases. I made quick friends with the chair of medicine here and by mid morning we were grading students on their patient interviews together (by the way, they are not quite as touchy feely as we our in the states, he made one of the students cry in front of me). I then joined my team for rounds and I had some awesome cases just today- 2 cases of portal htn w/ ugib 2/2 schisto, 1 kaposi sarcoma, 1 TB, 1 brain lesion of unclear etiology w/ R sided weakness, one old rheumatic fever now w/ heart failure and one ascites of unclear etiology. Anyway, it was really fun. Tonight is pizza night and we are looking forward to that. Audra is currently sorting out where the best place for her to work is. We are both having a blast. I promise blogs at least once a week and they will usually be much more entertaining than this. I will also be putting pictures up as well. You can communicate with be by posting a comment on the blog or emailing me a chrismeduri@gmail.com
Cheers,
Meduri
