in her words...: Welcome to Tanzania

Jambo! After much build-up and anticipation I have arrived on the continent of Africa! There’s music playing in the air.

Wait, what? Is this a joke? I thought that only happened in the background of movies??

Nope, African beats actually are (constantly) playing in the air. I love it.

We are welcomed into the thick, hot air at the airport where we didn’t get the right visas (more on that later) and made our way out to the bus that would be transporting us to our new home.

And just like that, it’s on to the next one. (I ‘m pretty sure I coined that from a Jay-Z song, btw)

There really is no way to compare India to Tanzania but its hard not to.

I have been in Tanzania now for almost 2 weeks. Already more acquainted with the country but the customs and beliefs and what’s exactly culturally appropriate still remain a bit of a mystery to me. As I type, I am sitting under a mosquito net to protect me from malaria. I am pretty sure I sleep on a pile of ants, but besides that I don’t see too many creatures crawling in my room. (I had a mouse crawl on me while I slept 3 times in India) Off are the Punjabis and Sarees and scarves from India and now we are adorned in simple skirts and shirts. That’s definitely different. I no longer am living in what looks like an orphanage with 10 other girls. Instead, I am in what looks more like a youth camp accommodation (which is actually a catholic Friary compound) and now I only have two roommates. Don’t worry though, the others are just down the hall in their own rooms. And oh, we have an air conditioner…that usually works. Hallelujah, hallelujah!!

We have started class already and it’s refreshing and slightly peculiar, all at the same time.

We did a tour of the hospital. We were warmly welcomed by the staff- even invited to the staff meeting to be introduced to the doctors and nurses we would be working alongside. That’s very different from India.

The hospital looks completely different. We are no longer just at a maternity hospital so we walk by wounds and old men with coughs. We first entered in through the pre and postnatal ward where hundreds of women were lying. A couple women are together on one bed, and many, many women are laboring on the floor. I would venture to say that the hospital is much cleaner, but its still unbelievably overcrowded. Stepping over pregnant bellies we eventually get into the next room, which leads us into the actual labor room.

Ah, and it smells familiar... and...I don’t mind it. How have I grown to sort of like this stench? The women labor here completely in the nude. There are still all together in one room and it’s still on metal beds but there’s more space between the beds and the actual room is much larger. I notice I don’t hear as many high-pitched screams. It looks more like a quiet day in the room, there’s maybe only 6 to 7 women in there right now.

The women- well they are stunning. As expected. They don’t look as young. They look like they actually might know what their doing. They look big and strong. Like pregnant warriors. (this is compared to small young Indian women, after all!)

There’s a lot for the eyes to take in and not enough time during the tour to really get a feel for the place, but I am sure that it is very different from what I am used to. I am reminded of how foreign it felt to be in the labor room for the first time in India and now, only a mere 3 months later, it doesn’t feel foreign at all. It feels like I’m right where I’m supposed to be. Nothing was shocking or hard to look at, in fact, it was exciting and hard to take my eyes away and keep my hands off.

“Yeah, this is going to be good,” I concluded.

Now the only thing keeping me back from jumping in is the opposition we have gotten at immigration. There was a little bit of miscommunication from our school to us and we were never told to get a certain visa that we were supposed to get before leaving the airport. We thought that it would be an easy issue to correct but 2 weeks later and we are still without our working visas. It’s challenging. I am learning a lot through it. I believe that God has called me here to work in this hospital with these women and I believe that we will get our visas, eventually. But my prayer right now is that it is sooner rather than later. We only have 12 weeks here. Right now we are waiting until Monday or Tuesday to have our next update on the status of our visas. Please join me in prayer as we ask that we have favor at immigration so we can begin at the hospital. I want to serve these women. I want to help and learn from these doctors and midwives and I want to be apart of what I know God has called me to be apart of. So while we have faced opposition I continue to hope to see break through soon. I will appreciate your partnership in prayer and I look forward to bring you good news soon!

So with that, I say welcome to this new journey with me. I wish I had more to say or explain but I find myself to be lacking the words to express myself right now. I am aware that there is a lot going on. There’s a lot of adjusting that I must do. And I’m still in that process.