Vaccination Day

Tamar and Hadassah were going to come to the clinic with me this morning, but when I woke up they were still in bed. So Trent and I left to go catch our first daladala into Moshi. We walked down the dirt road for about 10 minutes till we got to the bus stop. Then we took the daladala into town, where we got off at the hotel downtown. We walked up the hill to another bus stop and got on another daladala that would head out to the area we worked in. He would get off a couple stops ahead of me in order to go to the hospital. My stop was the very last stop on the route. From there, I walk another 10 minutes to get to the dispensary - that is if I can find it!

I got off at my stop, pretty confident that I knew where I needed to go, and started walking. I came up to my first split in the road, so I have a choice to make. I choose the direction I thought and kept on walking, but as I kept going I started feeling a little less unsure about my decision. A local walking behind me took the opportunity to practice his English by speaking to me, so I took the opportunity to ask him if I was heading in the right direction. Of course, he told me that I needed to turn around and go in the opposite direction. I went back and turned and went the other way. About 2 minutes later I was somewhat unsure, yet again! I asked another lady outside her house, she didn't speak English, but found someone who did. I asked her if she knew the way to the dispsenary, and she started taking my back in the direction I had just come from! Luckily, at this point, I saw Frederick's car turning onto the road. I hopped in the car with him, and Tamar and Hadassah was in the car with him. He took us the rest of the way to the dispensary. I could tell as soon as I got in the car that he wasn't very happy, nor were the girls, but I didn't ask. We got to the clinic, and Frederick finally left leaving the girls at the clinic with me. They told me that when they woke up they told Frederick they were going to go to the clinic with me today, and just wanted information on how to get there, ie. which daladala's to take. Evidently, Frederick didn't like that to much and yelled at them and told them he would take them, but they would have to pay him. He refused to let them go by themselves. This was the first introduction to his alter ego side!

The clinic started out kind of boring, but then people started arriving for vaccinations. I asked Helen if I could give some, and she said yes, sure. So I got to give vaccinations for the rest of the morning - which this actually isn't that big of a deal for me considering I give vaccinations a lot in the military. After this, we got to watch and assist in counseling being given to expecting mothers. Basically, the nurse took their information, counseled them on HIV, took vital signs, did a physical, and lastly an HIV blood test.

The first one was really smooth. Nothing to fear. The seoncd one, however, was a little different. The lady started freaking out, and the nurse was trying to calm her down, but she just didn't want to take the test. We couldn't figure out if she was just afriad of the needle, or if she was afraid of learning the results of the test. She was she stressed out she almost passed out. The nurse told us that she was really worried that the lady had not been truthful about something. I guess it turned out that she was just really freaked out by the needle, because she came back negative. Both ladies came back HIV negative.

We ate a late lunch and then afterwards, the doctor told us he needed to leave early and we could leave with him. So we all walked to the daladala stand together and rode into town together. It was a pretty packed ride. I thought it was pretty crazy how a doctor rode the daladala just like everyone else. I can't imagine a doctor in America riding on a horrible public transportation system.

Later that night, Hannah, Frederick's wife, taught us how to make chapati. After dinner, we played a few games and went to bed.