An interesting, encouraging and productive week working alongside CCBRT to monitor and evaluate a programme funded by NZAid and cbm. CCBRT (Comprehensive Commuity Base Rehabilitation Tanzania) is a Tanzanian based organisation established originally by cbm and now an independent entity. Services are centered around a disability hospital – about 200 beds in Dar es Salaam and an outreach clinic in Kilimanjaro. The hospital has a very busy eye department providing treatment and surgery and an orthopaedic department. From these bases also significant programmes seek to identify and assist and support people with disabilities in surrounding communities. CCBRT also have an ambitious project they are fundraising for now to build a maternity hospital at the Dar es Salaam site – on the basis of seeking to prevent disabilites many of which are a direct result of poor birthing practices and care.
Zanzibar
Having a weekend free time we had decided to check out Zanzibar (the spice islands) just off the coast of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Flew in from Nairobi on Friday afternoon – the airport was slightly organised chaos, long queues for immigration, baggage unloaded 1 bag at a time onto table – no carousel, then customs wanted to have a cursory look in every bag, once outside the door beset by people trying to sell all sorts of wares, take your bags or get you into a taxi! There was a desk organising the taxis but that only resulted in getting into the most decrepit taxi I have ever ridden in! for the short journey into Stone Town to Tembo Hotel. Was an interesting experience for a couple of days – nice pool and restaurant patio looking over the beach, good reasonably priced food. The beach in Stone Town is busy with dhows and motor driven boats plying tourist trades to nearby islands and diving expeditiones etc as well as for smallish freight ferries which drive onto the beach and load and unload with some difficulties across the sand. So plenty of goings on to watch.
Rwanda and Burundi – cbm programmes
How to summarise a full on week in Rwanda and Burundi visiting projects and work sponsored by cbm!
Rwanda
o In Kigali, capital of Rwanda met up with Helen Green and Nathalie Vezier, Programme Coordinator cbm East Africa who is our guide for the next week or so.
o First day Friday visited an orthopaedic and general hospital and school complex run by the Anglican Church an hour out of Kigali. cbm sponsors the orthopaedic work. Met dozens of children and young people who had had operations for club foot or had plasters set for traumas etc. There was also a rehabilitation department offering ongoing physiotherapy and occupational therapy, as well as a prosthetics department – we witnessed a young man taking his first steps on his new prosthetic leg manufactured there. Other people were involved in small scale income generating crafts and activities.
o Afternoon back in Kigali Helen and I spent some time viewing the Genocide Memorial Museum – it was very interesting to read and understand a little more about the dreadful events of the 1994 genocide and the conflict between Tutsi and Hutu peoples – when an estimated 1 million mostly Tutsi people were killed in a period of 100 days (as well there were many 1,000s more killed in the period leading up to that time). It was very moving and difficult subject matter to comprehend and to deal with. On the one hand it is amazing now to see the progress in the country with new roads and buildings in evidence everywhere, and outwardly people getting on with and enjoying their lives. However underneath there appears to be tensions which still continue unresolved.
o Saturday morning picked up by Piet a young Belgian ophthalmologist and driven an hour out of Kigali in a different direction to a large Roman Catholic complex which includes a substantial eye department of Kabgayi Hospital which is sponsored by cbm. We were invited to observe in the theatre for his Saturday list – 8 patients for cataract surgery, and one for exploration following injuries and foreign matter in the eye from a grenade explosion in the market place on Friday night. It was very impressive to see the operating theatre in action – the microscope had two eye sets so we were able to take turns observing the detail of the surgery – a form of cataract surgery – “small incision surgery” is practised where the surgeon makes a small incision and removes the lens badly impacted by cataracts and inserts a replacement lens. As the incision is only small no sutures are required to close it. The average time taken per operation was about 12 minutes. There were two beds in the theatre and as soon as one op was finished Pete immediately changed gloves and moved to the next patient. We talked to several people who were blind due to their cataracts and due to the operation now had sight.
o Piet very generously invited us to stay at his house for the Saturday and Sunday evenings – so we had a relaxing day on Sunday and took a walk around the hillsides and nearby villages. Monday morning we were driven by the Kabgayi hospital driver back to Kigali and then out towards the south to cross the border into Burundi at …
Simba Safari
I have long held an ambition to embark on a wildlife safari – and I have not been disappointed – a really excellent experience.
For me there was both the great diversity of the African landscape, and seeing a lot of wild animals in their own habitat. We visited four National Parks all quite different landscapes and vegetation and drove the distances between the Parks – being in the ‘middle’ of the Serengeti Plains where grasslands stretched in every direction almost as far as the eye could see was a very moving experience. I was fascinated to begin to understand how the various species interact – who eats who and who respects who and how and why.
Travels in Africa
I am travelling to Africa firstly to work with aid and development agency cbm New Zealand. Prior to starting the cbm work I booked for a wild life safari in Tanzania. More on both later.
It’s a long way to Africa at any time and I didn’t quite come by the most direct route – but used some Qantas airpoints for upgrades on the Auckland Sydney Hong Kong sector, then Emirates to Dubai and down to Nairobi (so can stop over in Dubai on the way home), then local flight to Kilimanjaro, Tanzania. Left Auckland 5.30 am Monday 14th arrived hotel in Arusha Tanzania 7.00pm Tuesday 15th. All in all a good journey – Emirates were particularly helpful both in Hong Kong and Nairobi making sure my bag transferred to the onward flights without me having to clear customs and retrieve etc. Hong Kong is a huge airport especially walking from end of one pier to the next! Dubai is very very hot – especially as had to disembark and embark onto tarmac and bus to terminal – very suprising that Emirates couldn’t find space for their own flights at the piers of their nice new terminal.
2009 to date- Catch-up!
So far 2009 has been a year of family celebrations and little trips and there were no plans for a “big” trip however…. as you will read, sometimes things just happen along!
But backwards first – 2008 finished well with son Andrew announcing his engagement to Sarah in early December.
New Year 2009 saw us tripping off down to the South Island for 14 days enjoying a scenic road trip, (Christchurch, Oxford, Tekapo and surrounds) to stay with my youngest sister in Wanaka before celebrating nephew Micheal Brown’s wedding in Dunedin. We also caught up with friends in Roxborough who we had met on our European bus tour and enjoyed 2 nights in Moeraki on the return journey.
Great to be home again
A nice flight home – we both managed a little sleep and were met at the airport by Andrew and Sarah and Lynne and Ray. A glorious warm sunny day welcomed us back – everything is so green, lush and beautiful – the rhododendrons, clematis and bulbs in our garden are a mass of flowers. The house and garden have been very well looked after by Chris, Rach, Andrew, and Sarah – it is good to be home after 7 weeks of fantastic experiences and living out of suitcases.
A Drive around LA (Saturday 11th)
This afternoon we drove around LA in a Lincoln Town Car – a bit smart! Toured a few of the spots via Santa Ana and Santa Monica Freeways, Rodeo Drive, Wilshire Boulevard, Sunset Boulevard, Sunset Strip, Hollywood Boulevard, some of the tree-lined residential streets of Hollywood and Beverley Hills, Pacific Coast Highway, Marina Del Ray and Santa Monica Pier. LA is extremely spread out and driving certainly allows you to appreciate this.
Mark on the Europe experience
General: It has been great to experience a little of many parts of Europe. A continent where we were able to visit and see evidence and reminders of earlier civilisations, great engineering, architecture and art. Churches centuries old and still in use that are grand and lavish in the extreme – difficult to comprehend without the explanation that people saw the Pope and the church as God’s representative on earth and the church architecture and decoration reflected this. Castles and palaces and sites of World War 1 and 11 battles and events evidenced the centuries of conflict which have shaped this continent. Amazing now to consider the European Union (covers all Europe except independent Switzerland) with a single currency and mostly no border controls. On the surface a very unified situation given the past. Will be interesting to see what the future holds as opinion/comment in local newspapers over the handling of the current financial crisis to the effect that the EU is a sham and each country is just approaching things from their own nationalistic point of view!?
Under the Weather
We had an interesting wander around Balboa Village on our first afternoon in LA – the village is on a peninsula/island off Newport Beach – very expensive eclectic mix of houses – prim and proper with beautiful gardens – many decorated along with the house for Halloween. Most fronting onto marinas with jetties and boats of all shapes and sizes but predominantly grand. We enjoyed a nice dinner back over the bridge.