Alexis's thoughts

Seeing as Rachel has commented on the logistics of the trip, I will talk about some of the things we have encountered in the hospital. Rachel and I arrived early in the morning and attended the daily religious service that they have. It was a very nice service because the Tanzanians really seem to enjoy the singing and praises that they give to God. It was a very joyful hymns that they sang and it was quite settling to the soul. After this, we entered the hospital with Dr. Mziray. It was a situation that is perhaps unimaginable in our minds. We first entered the Male Ward. Upon our first glance, we saw a patient who had rheumatic disease, congestive heart failure, and parasites in his stomach. His belly was inflated like a balloon, looking like it was about to pop. There was an immense amount of fluid in his peritoneum and the doctor had to drain it in order to relieve the pressure so that the patient could breathe. After waiting some time for the staff to bring the instruments, they brought a small bucket, a lancet, and a tube. They put it into the patient, and as he was wincing in pain, the fluid began to drain into this plastic bag in a bucket. The amazing part is that this is in a room filled with about 10-12 patients and this fluid had the possibility of spilling on the floor which was in the vicinity of 3 or 4 other patients. Continuing on to the next room, we came upon a patient who had a severe knife wound. It had penetrated his intestines and stomach, and they had performed an emergency surgery on him. When the doctor removed his clothing, the dressing was full of blood and did not seem like it was protecting much of the wound anymore. Moving forward we came across a patient that had TB and was on a feeding tube (a syringe filled with milk, connected to a tube going into the patients nose, being held by a piece of surgical tape). We then proceeded to the Pediatric ward. The most disheartening sight that I saw was a small baby that had meningitis. He had a tube in his nose and was very skinny and nonresponsive. His mother was waiting patiently by his side to see if he could improve. The overall demeanor of the doctors was interesting to me. It seems that they were a bit cold, and it was just not what we are used to being taught. I will have more to come in the future. For now thanks for reading.