June 20, 2018 Greetings once again from Tanzania. I have kept myself busy by continuing to learn Swahili and learning how to survive in this environment. I think I sent a photo last time showing my weight loss. I still remain at that weight, but I have learned to cook a variety of food using the readily available local ingrediants. My favorites would have to be the Irish Potato soup and the spaghetti. I greatly appreciate the two care packages sent by MJ and Brianna. The Jiffy Pop popcorn was a big hit. It was hilarious watching the kids run when the tin foil expanded. They thought it was going to blow up, but they loved the popcorn. They had never had anything like that before, and ate the unpopped quernals even though I told them they shouldn't.

At the end of the last issue I think I mentioned a survey. In addition to learning the language and survival techniques we are actually supposed to be doing a job here. As a health volunteer I am supposed to assess the needs of the community and use this information to decide upon the projects I will work on for the next couple of years. I might have mentioned that there seems to be plenty of work, but further details are found through conducting a survey. This is required by the Peace Corps, and the information is shared with both them and with our community.

The creation of the survey has been a real challenge. There were numerous meetings with the village leadership, the clinic doctor, and with my tutor. Here is the plan: there are six subvillages in my village and each one has a leader. My escort/interpreter and I will walk from house to house with the sub village leader and ask the families the questions. We will do one sub village every other day for two weeks. We are currently in the middle of the process and things seem to be going well. My original thought that there was a lot of work to be done has been strongly supported.

The survey covers topics like nutrition, safe water, education levels, family structure and responsibilites, and a variety of health topics (HIV, AIDS, Malaria, diarrhea, pregnancy, and long term health problems of any type).  We have been able to determine that their water is not treated, Malaria and diarrhea are a constant problem, mothers are having their babies in their homes without medical professionals, there are many children and adults suffering from untreated health problems, and there is a total misunderstanding about HIV and AIDS. Additionally, the family structure is generally male dominated with the women doing the majority of the work, but have very little say.

I have included photos of part of the survey. Most families were very patient and welcoming. We were always surrounded by many children in a wide range of dress and condition. One boy had severely pronated feet that were painful to walk on, another had a skin infection on his arches that bled and was painful, and another young woman is nearly blind but can't afford glasses. Neither of the children have been to the doctor. This information and the photos will be shared with the doctor. The photo of the elderly man is very unique. He visited us at one house. It wasn't until we were leaving that I was told that he is a witch doctor and the medicine he uses to treat HIV can be seen lying on the ground in the photo.

So the survey continues next week. The results should be very interesting, and I am confident that I will have plenty work to do in the near future.
Until next time,  Brian