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.