Canadian Passports are bulletproof...sort of

Well, we had a great day in Himo Town on Thursday with our full group of volunteers minus 2 who were ill. Irene arrived quite sick with a Canadian Flu and has taken a while to bounce back. Despite her best efforts to come to Himo (she is a trooper!), the heat and likely the smell in the building we were working in, sent her back over the edge. I sent her back to Moshi in a taxi to take Jess (Jenn's nanny from Canada and a future public health professional)some cipro (antibiotic) as she was bed ridden with stomach grumblings. Valerie Macloed, one of the family medicine residents who is here with us (who climbed Kili last week and started the caravan the day after coming off the mountain!), was down for the count from the previous day, having been admitted to hospital here with vomitting and dehydration. They gave her some IV fluids and we picked her up that evening. It seemed like a good idea to get her to stay home from Himo...it is a bit hard on anyone's constitution!

The day went well. We saw 315 people. We sent away more than 100 and told them to return next week for our remaining day there.

On Friday we were had almost a full contingent of volunteers and arrived at the women's center for our third caravan day there. There were over 1000 women and children waiting to be seen...I actually felt a sense of panic but after about an hour we had a system wereby, 200 were given numbers and told to stay and another two hundred were given numbers and told to come back on Monday. The remaining people were told to go home and try again on Thursday or to come back to the center when our clinic was up and running three mornings a week. We don't know the exact date we will open but we hope that it will be within a week or so of the caravan ending.

We had started to process people through the gate and 20 orphans (of a group of 60) had arrived from a local orphange for testing and check-ups when all hell broke loose. A couple of men from the regional immigration office in Moshi arrived earlier that morning and asked if everyone had volunteer Visa's. I assured them that we did and that I would bring all documents along with my resident permit and Tanzanian Medical License to Immigration on Monday morning. They agreed that that would be acceptable. It obviously was not....within an hour, the head of regional immigration and 4 of his cronies (one female) and the head of the police (avec Tanzanian Paddy wagon ) arrived at the center. They got out and the small man with the uniform started to yell at me to stop everything and shut it down. He then demanded to see everyone's passports (some of which had to be retrieved from the hotel in town). The chief of police was informed about why we were here and that we were all here legally with appropriate permits from the Tanzanian High Commission in Ottawa. He took a look around and told the immigration officials that they should not be harrassing us. He could see nothing wrong with what we were doing. He got in his truck and left after giving me a look of sympathy.

We then set about collecting passports and they were taken by the group of officials who started to go through them and write down information from each one. After about 30 minutes they told me to come to the immigration office in town and I followed them in the KWIECO vehicle. They told everyone to stay at the center. By this point Mama Selikana, KWIECO's accountant and second in charge when Mama Minde is away, had arrived and was also trying to negotiate with the officials. She accompanied me to immigration and called her friend who is a lawyer and asked him to meet us at immigration. Too bad Mama Minde was in Zanzibar at a meeting. Incidentally she was on her way home to Moshi when this ocurred. Someone had texted her and she somehow go the message that the Wazungus (white people) had been beaten! I waited at Immigration for 2 hours while Mama S did the negotiating. They had an issue with my resident permit (which I carefully renewed in February of 2008) but they were unable to find the file at first (ie. didn't even look for it). It was eventually retrieved and they realized that I was also legal as were all the volunteers on their list. The sticking point was that were needed another permit (not true) and by not having that permit, we were subject to a fine of $400 US each! Mama S was negotiating that issue and ultimately paid a bribe to make that issue go away. We had our documents returned to us and a relieved group of volunteers went to email their families. The day was a bust in terms of patients. We saw less than 30 by the time everything was shut down. They will all be back Monday. We did get to see the first group of 20 orphans. 1 was HIV positive. A man that we tested on Wednesday (who was positive) practically carried his sick wife to the gate along with their children. We let him in and she tested positive and was treated for a number of other ailments and referred for a free CD4 cell count at the government hospital HIV clinic. HIV care is free in Tanzania. But, it is getting people tested and willingness to follow-up with care that is the challenge...all related to stigma.

There was another issue with our medical registration as a group that needed some sorting out on Friday but that is a whole other story. I had to also spend some time with the regional officer for health. He was very helpful and no bribes were paid. Needless to say, we sorted it out because there is a lot of good will on the part of most Tanzanians to have us here and support us. By the end of the week the women's center will be officially registered as an independent health facility in Tanzania!

We all blew off steam on Friday night with the group going to Glacier, and outdoor pub. Dialo, one of our triage translators is the lead singer in a reggae band. He was terrific. We danced and partied until late. I am sure many of the volunteers had heavy heads the next morning as they departed for their 2 day safari to Lake Manyara and the Ngorogoro Crater National Parks. They return Sunday night and we are back on track for Monday at the center.