Mambo from Hanga!

Mambo from Hanga!

As you can see from the pictures we posted, we have been living it up here in Hanga. The last 2 days we have focused on spending time working with the students of Saint Laurent’s primary school and Saint Benedict’s secondary school, as well as assisting in the Dispensary.

Today, Kayla, Michael, Sam, Yama, and Izzy taught a computer class at Saint B’s. They were teaching things that ranged from how to use a mouse, to how to make a powerpoint! Some of the students were pros at using Facebook, yet barely new how to open a word document! A big part of their lesson was how to use a keyboard correctly and how to use Microsoft Word. Those of us who are Mac people were surprised that Macs are virtually non-existant here in Tanzania. It’s a PC world over here!

At the Dispensary, Hannah and Stuart worked on making the new log books for the clinic, while Katie helped with organization in the pharmacy. Eric was the star of the show, working with the head doctor. He proved himself to be extremely useful, and Dr. Lucius began introducing him as an American doctor! It’s not easy seeing some of the sick kids that come to the dispensary, and while the dispensary is quite advanced and well run, there are many things that they could use. Eric gave Dr. Lucius his penlight because he had no way to check patient’s eyes. It’s amazing that something so little can make such a big difference!

Later today, Caitlin, Eric and Yama, assisted in making dinner for us! They made a delicious dinner of chipati, plantains, rice, ugali, stew, and chicken. Lately we have been enjoying fresh papaya for dessert!

While they worked away, the rest of us went to a soccer game in town. St. Laurent’s was playing the public school. We had a ton of fun hanging out with the local kids! Some of us had brought our cameras, and the kids could not get enough of them! The wanted us to piga picha over and over and over again. While they liked having their pictures taken, seeing the picture on the digital screen afterwards was even more exciting!

We have also made friends with some other people at the guest house, there is Sam, a British actor who is filming a documentary, and Kiara, an Italian who is here with Veterinarians Without Borders. They both seem to enjoy having us here, it must have been quiet at the guest house before we came!

Tomorrow we are leaving for Imilliwaha, a town in the mountains that is 4 hours from Hanga. (According to Ben, so we will see how that goes). We will stay there for the weekend and then come back to Hanga for a night before leaving for Mbamba Bay. If you have been following our itinerary- you might as well throw it away, because as often happens in Africa, plans change, and we have reworked the entire trip. It actually worked out well, because now we will be back in Hanga on June 7th for the Jubilee, a celebration in honor of the Bishop’s 50 years of service as a Bishop! He is almost 95, and a total trooper!

We will try to keep you updated as we go! Thank you so much for all the wonderful comments, we love to hear from you guys! Hope everything is going well in the USA.

Lots of love!
-The gang.