En route to Dar es Salaam

We've been driving across Tanzania from Arusha to Dar es Salaam all day. We miss Hussein, but our new drive, Abdallah, is nice as well. Our bus is the best!! We have Bill, Gina, Tina, Anna, Alex, and myself in our group and we've been playing games almost the whole trip. It's probably the hottest it's been since we arrive in this country, but I like the warm wind. How did I gorw up in SSF and love hot weather so much?

It's pretty neat traveling through this country. There is so much open space in Tanzania. Most of the time we are traveling through land that may have a few scattered farms or crude huts if anything at all. And then we'll drive through a quick pocket of civilization in the form of a village, with bars and farmers markets. The highway is nice and smooth. Tanzania has either rough, dirt roads or really nice highways. They keep up the roads well and are constantly making new improvements to facilitate the tourism that seems to be the lifeblood of Tanzanian economics. We have yet to see any homes that resemble what you'd find in American suburbia and the poverty that Tanzanians live in is apparent, but I find myself forgetting this fact during our travels. In general, Tanzanians are warm and friendly, and it is easy to feel like there is nothing to worry about... hakuna matata. While it is important to have improvements in sanitation, nutrition, and disease prevention, it is clear that we are accustomed to a society of excess. Americans determine their quality of life by the amount of unecessary things we have - TVs, designer bags, multiple cars, etc. Being here forces one to consider what is really necessary for health and happiness - which is surprisingly little. Even in these "roughing it" conditions, I feel so at ease and comfortable. For all of the luxuries and comforts that we have in the U.S., we make ourselves sick with stress and anxiety. After only two days here, I realized that I stopped needing to crack my neck all of the time. I think I carry my stress in my neck and shoulders and I have felt no stress pretty much this whole trip. I don't know if I can go a day in the U.S. without being anxious about something. I've had no need for the coping mechanisms that I usually resort to in order to deal with the stress and I am feeling happier than I ever have. I think that I have been so restless, especially these past few months, and now I realize that I am the sort of person that needs to see the world and live a life filled with adventure and new experiences everyday. I am REALLY enjoying learning Swahili and hope that I can find a way to expand further when we return to the States. I know it sounds cheesy, but I had a feeling that this would be a life-changing experience and I think that was a correct prediction. I don't really know how to explain it, but I feel changed inside... like I'll return home at the next stage of personal matamorphosis.

I'll probably also return without a voice. I'm feeling super healthy, but I think perhaps the dust has irritated my throat. I've been feeling more and more hoarse all week and have had some minor asthma symptoms and today my voice is nearly gone. Hakuna matata, though. I don't think that everyone else is having this smooth of an experience. Several people have gotten motion sickness (although everyone in our truck is pretty chipper, even when they don't feel well). A few people also had run-ins with a stinging nettle and one person got some pretty bad fly bites. I have two little bites on my knee, but they don't hurt unless I touch them and they are healing well with antibiotic cream. Anna drew a smiley face because she said they look like eyes, so now it makes me smile everytime I look down at my knee.

One thing that was a little difficult today was passing by a very bad bus crash. Sheila was telling us that there were lots of traffic accidents in Tanzania, but this was the first that we have seen. Gina suggested that we stop and help, since we have so many nurses in our group, but I guess the drivers decided to keep going. It was hard to get back to our games for a while after that. I felt frustrated that we just drove by when we could have done something to help. The whole front of the bus was crushed so I'm sure there were casualties. We saw a few policemen and a crowd of people standing around, but I'm not sure if or when medical help would arrive. Just thinking about it now makes my stomach turn again. The whole reason most of us are interested in careers in health is because we want to help and it is so difficult to just pass by someone in need.

To cheer myself up just now, I started thinking about my plans to partner with those Australian students and distribute the shopping bags made by the women at Angaza. I am serious about trying to help Kami if I can, too. I hope that I can use some of my connections to see if he can study at a university here. I wonder if our conservatory has a program in music production? There is so much that I want to do. I just realized that I have already reached my goal for this trip. Before coming here, I felt this vague sense that I wanted to be helpful in some way... any way. I had hoped that this experience would show me some specific purpose that I might have, and already I have several ideas for good things I might be able to do... some specific ways I can positively affect my world. I wouldn't trade this experience for anything. I don't think that in eighteen years of study I have learned so much in such a short amount of time.