Creepies,Crawlies,Noiseies and Wierdies

Living in a rural area, I am surrounded by nothing but natural bushland,  and this being Africa, the bush is inhabited by some weird and wonderful creatures, and sometimes these venture into my house.  Many of them do not last long in my house, as I am not keen on sharing my lodgings, although some I do tolerate, as long as they don’t bite or sting!

I’ve already mentioned the snake.  But I also have this rather large lizard living in the roofspace.  He climbs the walls of the house and squeezes through a tiny gap to live in the rafters.  This is fine as I’m hoping he eats some of the other less desirable things that might live up there!

One evening as I walked between my bedroom and the bathroom, I noticed this tarantula on the ceiling.  Unfortunately (for the spider), I was not prepared to share my living space with this thing, so after snapping a quick photo I got a broom and knocked him off the ceiling and managed to get it before it scurried under some shelves.   The picture does not have a sense of scale… this thing was HUGE!  Ewwww

Geckos on the other hand I will quite happily tolerate as they are so cute!  I have a few large ones that seem to be residents,  and are quite happy to eat a lot of the insects that come in to the house.  One evening as I was sat on the computer I heard a crunching noise.. upon investigation I found it was a gecko munching on a massive grasshopper!   This brave little gecko crawled up my trouser leg whilst I was sat in the garden.. I managed to coax him onto my hand, run inside with him, grab my camera and we had a photoshoot.

And this large lizard was poking around my window long enough for me to catch a few shots of his bright blue tounge:

This being Africa, there are lots of insects.. all shapes, sizes, colours and configurations!  Every day I see a new type of insect, from giant millipedes, spiders, huge butterflies, bees the size of small aircraft, various flying things, crawling things, fifty different species of ants, big things, small things,  things that look like other things and things are are just weird!  

 Ants can be a problem, especially when they decide to move their nest into your house during the night, and you awake to find them congregated by the front door!

After the rains, even more animals come out including these tiny frogs (see if you can spot it!).. You may not see them, but you certainly hear them, their croaking is so loud it can keep you awake at night.  The frogs combined with the crickets, nocturnal birds and who knows what else that is out there make a deafining noise at night, but you soon become used to and it gets quite soothing... certainly nicer than the noise of cities, traffic, sirens and drunken chavs!

 And talking of loud things, the cicadas' rasping noise can be so loud as to be physically painful when walking past a tree full of them.  The rains also bring out the Giant African Land Snails (or “snails” as I expect they are called here…. I wonder if the Africans would say “small English land snail” in reference to the UK garden snail???)

There are no large animals near the village (these are mainly found in the wildlife reserve parks) although I did hear reports of an elephant wandering into a village about 100km from Nyangao (the villagers killed it and took the meat) and there was a patient who had been attacked by a hyena in a village near mtwara (he was in his field when attacked and received horrific facial injuries, but thanks to the docotrs at our hospital has recovered well)  There are rumours of a crocodile living in the sewage treatment works of the hospital, but I’ve yet to see it (probably because I’m not about to start wandering through the reedbeds of a sewage treatment works looking for an animal that might bite by leg off!).  There are monkeys that visit the trees near the resevoir, and I have seen a glimpse of them, but never when I have my camera!

Of course there are the ubiquitous chickens – even wandering the corridors of the hospital (could you imagine what the Infection Control team would do in a UK hospital!) and the mosquitos (although thankfully there are not too many in Nyangao)

Tanzania has such a diversity of wildlife everywhere, but is not for those who are squeamish, afraid of insects or who want a peaceful nights sleep!

Outreach Visits

The Tanzanian Development Trust (TDT) (https://www.facebook.com/tanzdevtrust?ref=ts&fref=ts) is a UK based charity that provides small to medium sized grants to assist development projects in Tanzania.  I applied for the maximum grant of 1,250,000 Tanzanian Shillings (about £500) to start an program of Outreach visits.

The aim of the program is to visit villages in remote areas who do not have access to healthcare, and provide free HIV testing and counseling for the villagers.  

Who wants to be a Millionaire?

Together with the help of Mama Mpunga, the HIV specialist nurse, we have organized trips to at least 7 villages in the area surrounding the hospital.  Many of these villages have no electricity supply and are accessed only by dirt (sand) tracks which are sometimes impassable during rainy season.  If the villagers need medical care then they must walk the long distance to the Hospital.

4x4 Landcruiser - the only way to get to the villages (I want one!)

 

Last weekend we visited 2 villages, Ndawa (15km away) and Mahiwa (5km).  In Ndawa we tested 53 people (31 Female, 22 Male) and in Mahiwa we tested 158 (64 Female, 94 Male).   HIV testing is performed using a rapid test and requires just a few drops of blood from a fingerprick sample.  Once the results are ready, the client is counseled by a trained counselor about the significance of a negative or positive result, and told when they should return for another test. 

Our Clinic for the day in Ndawa

Not exactly sterile conditions!

Taking a fingerprick sample

It's always the men who flinch more!

 These visits are also an opportunity to give out information leaflets, detect patients that may need medical care for other conditions (e.g. complicated pregnancy, TB etc) and to increase the profile of the hospital in the region.

Post-Test Counselling

We were well received by the villagers as shown by the good turnout, and the village chairman in Ndawa gave us a tour of the village showing us the school, the water pump, the single shop and the many, many chickens!

As always, the children were inquisitive about the Mzungu in their village, and when they saw I had a camera they all wanted their photos taken and to see themselves on the screen!

Our Clinic at Mahiwa (next door to the flour mill, so it was a bit noisy and dusty)

We are planning another 5 or 6 visits (depending on remaining budget) over the coming weeks, and hope to test over 500 people.

As always, the kids want a picture!

But not just the kids... this Mzee wanted his picture taken as well... although I wasn't sure if he was blind or not!

A Serpent in Our Midst

In Tanzania it is common for "wealthier" people and mzungus to have an askari (security guard) to guard the houses at night.  I’ve always thought the askari who looks after my house has an quite an easy job, as Nyangao is not exactly a crime hotspot!  

 He is a pleasant old fellow whom I have nicknamed “the shuffler” due to him shuffling past my window at night on his “patrol”… that’s when he is not curled up asleep underneath the kitchen window… a trait common in many askaris which has spawned the phrase for a good nights sleep:

                “How did you sleep last night?”… “ooh, I slept like an askari”

So my askari may not have to deal with ruffians, reprobates or ne’er-do-wells but he does have other challenges in his job… I was sat on my back porch one evening with my laptop, and I heard his shuffling approach.  I’m still not great at Swahili so my understanding of our conversation went something like this:

 Askari:  “something something something death/dead/to die something something”

                

 Me “  sorry, I don’t understand, say again slowly”

Askari  (still at the same speed) “something something something death/dead/to die something something to hit/beat/strike something something” … “come, come”

                 

Me “ Ok, I’m coming”

                

 So he leads me round to the front of the house and proudly shows me a massive snake that he has killed by hitting it on the head with a stout stick!

                

 Askari “ I hit it and killed it”

                 

Me “ aah, you hit it, thankyou!”  “Where was it?”

                 

Askari “ There”.. pointing to the small puddle of snake blood outside the kitchen window where he usually sleeps

                 

Me “  wow!   It dangerous?”

               

Askari “ Yes, dangerous, very dangerous”

               

 Me “ Thankyou! I will look when I walk”

eeek!

One squashed-headed snake

So I think he has earned the flask of tea we make him each night, and I shan’t complain about his snoring or his shuffling anymore!   Also, I have now taught myself the Swahili word for snake “ Nyoka”…. I think it might come in useful!

A Big Fat African Wedding

I have just been to THE social event of the year in Nyangao – the wedding of one of the lab staff to his fiancé.  I did not know what to expect but it turned out to be the biggest wedding I have ever been to, and has dispelled a few of the myths or assumptions that we hold about Tanzanians!

  It has dispelled the myth that Tanzanians cannot forward plan since I have seen the months of planning, the timetables and the meetings of the wedding committee.  The contribution cards were distributed months ago (In Tanzania you pay a contribution of 15-30000 shillings to attend the wedding which I think is a good idea given the massive expense of a wedding), and the invitation pens were sent out to the attendees (a pen with a pull-out invitation strip.. how cool!)

The party started the night before the wedding, with a house a few doors down which I think must have been hosting the “hen do”, lots of music, lots of shouting and lots of ululating all night until 7am!

The big day arrived and Claire and I duly turned up at the church on time… but in typical Tanzanian fashion, except for the choir (including Sandra who has joined the choir) who were still rehearsing and a few children who had come for the spectacle there was nobody else there!

 Half an hour later the guests start arriving and after another half an hour the wedding procession arrives complete with brass band on the back of a lorry!  

The Groom's party.... great suits!

 

The church service was similar to a service in the UK, except it was 3 hours long and in Swahili, although it was made more interesting by the crazy woman who kept running down the isle and ululating (I think she probably had one too many coconut wines at the party the night before).

 The evening reception was held in a massive hall in the middle of the bush about 5km from the hospital.  We arrived late thinking that so will everyone else, but no – we had to join the queue of around 30 people waiting to get in and get their vouchers for food and drinks! (Myth 2 :  Tanzanians are always late.  Myth 3:  Tanzanians can’t queue…. Obviously not when there is a party and food involved!)

Quite a cake!

The hall was decorated beautifully, with colour co-ordinated drapes, fairy lights, flowers, a cake which looked like it should have planning permission and a huge soundsystem that would not be out of place in a field in Somerset.  

We wazungu duly joined another queue to exchange our vouchers for warm beers and then sat, feeling slightly mis-dressed as we had all opted to wear African print fabrics, whilst the Africans were mostly in “western” style clothes!
 

 

The bride and groom eventually arrived in the hall and danced down the aisle with the page boys and bridesmaids whilst being showered with glitter and fake snow spray accompanied by much music, dancing and lots more ululating.

The Happy Couple

The organising continued throughout the evening with a timetable of events given to each guest, but in true Tanzanian fashion it was running late (Myth confirmed:   everything runs late.  The timetable included choreographed dance from the bridesmaids and page boys…
 

 Followed by introductions of the Groom’s family (they each stand up and wave), introduction of the bride’s family (they each stand up and wave)…

......cutting of the cake and feeding of cake to bride and groom…. 

 ......Opening of the champagne…All the guests dancing conga style past the bride and groom to clink glasses and bottles…. and then the present giving.   
 

The present giving was also organised, with each group of people dancing past the bride and groom to hand over their presents of cookware, house items, clothing, even a double bed and mattress was danced down the hall and handed to the happy couple.  Lucky me got to dance past them twice, once with the wazungu and once with the lab staff!

Dancing with the Lab staff

The Mattress Dance

 Finally at about 10pm and 2 hours late it was time for food, and another queue.  And after 4 warm beers on an empty stomach, a big plate of rice and chicken was much needed!   

Come midnight we made an exit, but in true Tanzania style the partying continued until the early hours.  

 

So I learned that organisation and queuing are possible although lateness seems inherent, that weddings are an expensive affair all over the world, but above all, I learned that Tanzanians know how to party!