Saying Goodbye to Moshi

This was our last week at CCBRT - Moshi. We have met some incredible people and learned a lot of things. It's a bitter sweet feeling to be leaving. We were just starting to feel comfortable with living in this city, learned how to get around, and found some good restaurants that we really enjoyed. I realize now how small of a town it really is. Every once in a while we will run into someone that we know on the street, which is a lot to say considering we don't know very many people.

Our program manager, Ruth.

Left to right: Krista, Shedrack, Sabas, Me, Fransis

Our CCBRT bus driver, Swai. Loved him. He doesn't speak much English, but always has a smile on his face!

One of the Occupational Therapists, Neophita

We've heard many stories about Dar es Salaam. Most of them including the weather and the craziness of the big city. I'm not one to love crowded big cities, but I'm sure I will make the most of it and it will be beautiful. I'm sure it will be fun and frustrating all over again learning the ins and outs of living in Dar, and that by the time we leave I will be sad to go.

The clinical aspect of this internship is officially half over. Considering that we are in Tanzania and the way the health care system works is much different than a normal clinic, I still feel like I've learned some valuable life lessons. I'm excited and nervous to see what the hospital in Dar has to offer as far as physiotherapy goes.

Saturday we begin our trek up to Africa's Roof! Kibo, or Mount Kilimanjaro, has been hovering over us the entire time we have been living here. It makes for some beautiful scenery, but is very intimidating when you know that you will attempt to conquer the summit. The peak is 5,895 meters, which is something just over 19,000 feet. (This is another thing about living anywhere BUT America, everything is in the metric system. This was extremely frustrating at first, but I am becoming quicker at conversions). 19,000 feet seems pretty much impossible to me, even though Kili doesn't look all that big from a distance. To put that in perspective, when I went skydiving I jumped out of a plane at 13,000 feet. This means I will be trekking UP 6,000 more feet than I fell from a plane. Seems pretty insane right? I intend to write some things on paper to document my thoughts during the trek each day. This way when I attempt to blog about it some of my raw thoughts will be on paper and I can tell you just how fantastic, or miserable it is. We have talked to quite a few people of all different ages that have completed the Kili climb, all with varying stories and suggestions. Some people claim they didn't feel an ounce of sickness and made it to the summit without complaints. Some only had slight headaches. We heard stories of people that got very sick, and they claimed that saw other people being taken down the mountain via stretcher. One lady even told us it was "the most excruciating, yet exhilarating experience" of her life. I can live with exhilarating, let's hope we don't have to deal with excruciating.

Our hotel room and attempting to pack for Kili.

A view of Kilimanjaro from our house.

Here's to hoping that I reach the summit and don't get altitude sickness!


- K