The price of things....

We're always amused when we see our friend's posting on Facebook about the cost of gas back home.  So we thought it might be fun to share a little bit about what things cost us here.

Gallon of gas = $5.50
Gallon of milk = $6.50
4 sticks of butter (from New Zealand) = $6
5 lb of flour (local brand) = $4
1 lb cheddar cheese (from Ireland) = $6.80
Bottle of Coke = $0.40
20 roses = $3 (it's not all super expensive here)
Rice Krispies = $8
Nutella = $5
Can of Pringles = $3
1 liter Olive Oil = $10
Pilsbury cake mix = $5
Heinz ketchup (32 oz) = $5
Pampers (40 diapers) = $9
Johnson's baby oil (500mL) = $6
Head & Shoulder's shampoo = $10
L'orel hair color =  $17
Glade air freshener = $3
1 bottle Starbucks Frappuccino = $7

We were very fortunate that we were able to ship a lot of grocery items when we moved (and we took full advantage of that perk).  Tanzania does not have much (if any) of a dairy industry.  Therefore, most all of the dairy we buy is imported: yogurt from Germany, butter from New Zealand, milk from South Africa.

One of the things we have enjoyed about grocery shopping here is going to specialty stores.  Back home, it's one-stop-shopping at WalMart for most everything.  However, that is not the case here.  There are chain-type grocery stores, but they can still be limited on what they have.  We use our grocery store mainly for juice, milk and yogurt.  We buy all of our fruits and veggies from either roadside stands or a produce market.  One learning experience for us is that fruits and veggies are only available when they are in season.  It's definitely different from home where you can find most anything at any time of year.  We also buy all of our meat from a South African butcher.  The butcher shop has been a favorite for Mike and Sadie, mainly because of the fresh-made jerky.  Sadie is such a regular that, when we arrive, she runs up to the counter and says "meat please".  And the lady instincively turns around, and grabs a piece of jerky for Sadie.  And, of course, a piece to share with Cash as well.

Sharing Your Dreams

Each year, CDC Tanzania chooses a charity to collect clothing, school supplies, and toys for around the holiday season.

This year we chose the Dar es Salaam Pediatric HIV Clinic. The intent of the clinic when it started 6 years ago was to treat infants and children (up to the age of 14) who were born or had acquired HIV. The clinic not only provides antiretroviral medicines (ARVs) but also they treat other opportunistic infections that affect HIV patients (TB, Hepatitis, syphillis, etc..)

Quickly, they realized that if you did not offer the same services to the mothers, the mothers were not very consistent about bringing their children in for treatment. Most of these mothers obtained HIV either through their husbands infidelity or through prostitution on the side as means of supplementing their family's income in order to insure that the family has enough food or has enough money to pay school tuition. Not to digress, but I've been told that the average amount that a prostitute charges is roughly equivalent of $14. It is not uncommon to see 50-60 year old western men walking sitting in bars with 20 year old Tanzanians. But I digress....
In Tanzania, we predict that about 66,000 women will be pregnant and have HIV this year. Through the PEPFAR programs with the Tanzanian Ministry of Health (MOH) we hope to identify all of these women through testing in their pregnancy and give the needed ARV medicines to them to prevent the transmission of HIV to their unborn babies. The challenge is that most women are torn between being tested and identified with HIV or keeping it unknown. If they are identified, they can get treatment for themselves and their babies but they also risk their husbands leaving them. Thus, this pediatric clinic was established in a busy section of town but strategically hidden behind a crowded area so that women can come freely but out of the public eye.

The hard part for me with this visit was seeing all of these children who were confirmed HIV positive sitting along with their HIV positive mothers waiting for their checkups and treatment. The bright side of it is that all of these children are getting treatment through the love and dedication of their mothers who want the best for them and also the clinic workers who treat these families at the rate of 600 monthly. With proper treatment, children in Tanzanian are experiencing upwards of 30 years of life now when as of 10 years ago, they usually died before the age of 5.
With the increased lifespan, this clinic has created a second clinic for youth over the age of 14. These youth come on Saturdays to continue their treatment. This is important as new research shows that folks on ARV medicines early, have lower viral loads and are less infectious for transmission of the virus to others.

Here are the CDC women (3), clinic directors (2), mothers and a few children.
Violaa, Sajida, Janet from CDC and clinic director (in black).

Poster in kiswahili promoting the benefits of breastfeeding.

Playroom for the kids. Board in the left says in Kiswahili, "when I grow up, my dreams are..." and on the right it says, "when I grow up, I want to be..."
Finally, walking out toward the street after treatment and receiving medicines.


Mungu akubariki.

Delivering a bit of Harmony to Tanzania

On December 20, 2011, it rained in Dar es Salaam. Rain itself is not unusual at this time of year. What was unusual was the amount of rain and the time it fell. In 48 hours 10 inches of rain fell on the city. The result of this rainfall was the worst flood that Dar had seen in 50 years. The rivers swelled and, as high tide approached, had no where to drain. In the end, dozens of people died. Thousands were left homeless, all of their possessions having been washed away with the flood waters.

One place very deeply affected by the floods was the Gonzaga Primary School. Gonzaga is a private school, run by a small group of nuns at a nearby Catholic church. The school was originally established for orphaned children, most of who lost their parents to HIV/AIDS. The school is located on the edge of a very small, shallow riverbed. The river flooded and filled the school. They lost everything: desks, supplies, shelves, filing cabinets, files, computers, printers. The school provides daily lunch to it's 400+ students. The flood waters claimed a year's supply of rice and beans stored in their kitchen. Upon seeing the damage to their school, the sisters at Gonzaga quickly made a public plea for help. Mike's language instructor, Hamisi, heard about the school. He shared the school's story with Mike, who in turn, shared it with our friends back home at Harmony Baptist Church.

Harmony may be a small church but they have big hearts and they respond in big ways. They quickly went about collecting and shipping us 9 boxes filled with school supplies. Accompanied by Hamisi, we were privileged to be able to deliver the supplies to the school. It was a very humbling experience.

9 BIG boxes filled with school supplies:

The river that runs by the school:

Mountains of mud and trash left from the floods:

Arriving at the school:

Sadie is standing with the head teacher at the school. The black arrow marks how high the water rose inside the school grounds:

Files that were damaged in the flood:

The head teacher gave us a tour of the school. Here she is indicating the water line inside the cafeteria:

One of the classrooms, newly fitted with donated desks:

2 of the sister's graciously accepting their boxes of school supplies:

The best picture of all, the faces of the children who will benefit from the supplies:

Through the generosity of Harmony Baptist Church, these children (grades 1-6) have a chance to continue their education with the needed resources to learn and succeed. Each of these families had paid 800,000 shillings (about $600 US) for the annual tuition. Those who could afford it have also paid additional amounts to help purchase things such as new desks, filing cabinets and food. By the provision of these supplies, the education continues. We call this soft diplomacy. People helping people.

Thank you Harmony for making this possible!

Mark your calendars....

The Dillon's are coming to the US!! We have listed our dates and travel plans below. We'll update this post if anything should change.

Please say a prayer for safety during our travels, as well as for our children. We will have 2 little jet-lagged kids who, I'm sure, will be very confused by this whole journey.

We look forward to our visit and to seeing our friends and family again.

Feb. 13: We have finally booked all of our flights and the following schedule is final. Whew!

__________________________

March 8: Depart Tanzania
March 9: Arrive in Atlanta
March 10-15: Orlando (Disney time!)
March 15-20: Houston
March 20-27: Atlanta
March 27-April 6: Memphis
April 6-12: Atlanta
April 12: Head back to Tanzania

A Christmas Card

I thought I was very prepared in our packing for Africa. I just know that I bought Christmas cards in 2010 (when they were on sale, of course). However, in unpacking our Christmas things this year, I have discovered that I have no Christmas cards to send out. I do have 100 Christmas stamps though. Thankfully they are Forever stamps. So this year the Dillon’s will be jumping on the band wagon of the Christmas letter and doing so electronically.

2011 was a very busy and exciting year for us. We welcomed in the New Year with our 2 week old son. We also very quickly started the process of our move to Tanzania. In February Mike made his first journey to Tanzania on a 2 week assignment. The weeks after his return were filled with obtaining security clearances, medical clearances, passports and the (not) very fun packing of all of our things. We were very fortunate that the US government organized all of this for us.

At the end of April we had an early birthday celebration for Sadie’s 2^nd birthday. We were very glad to be able to share her birthday with our friends and family prior to our departure.

On May 6^th we boarded a plane and made the long voyage to Africa. 28 hours after leaving Monroe, GA, we had arrived. After spending a few days in temporary housing, we were moved into our “permanent” house. We were fortunate have Audra Marsh accompany us on this journey and stay for the first month. Having her help with the kids and the transition was invaluable.

In November we had some very special guests visit us. Mike, Patsy and John Irwin (AKA Pop-Pop, Nona and Uncle John) flew 8000 miles to spend 3 weeks with us. We were able to spend some time at the beach, go on an amazing safari and celebrate Thanksgiving together. We enjoyed getting to share Tanzania with them.

On December 20^th we had a big milestone when Cash turned 1 year old. It is so hard to believe that he has been with us for a year now and that he’s now spent the majority of his life in Africa. For his party, we were joined by our friends who all enjoyed watching Cash eat his first bites of cake. Unlike Sadie on her birthday, Cash took no time at all smashing his cake and eating it as fast as he could.

So far living in Tanzania we have learned many things. Even the simple things become challenging at times: driving (on the wrong side of the road), grocery shopping (when supplies are limited or very expensive), electricity (that is unpredictable and not always available), indoor plumbing (that only works when the electricity is on), communication (when not everyone speaks the same language). Despite these challenges, we are enjoying our time here. We have met many wonderful people from many different countries and cultures.

Mike is working with the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare through the US Government as a technical advisor in commodity procurement focusing specifically on HIV testing. He really enjoys his job as he gets to see different parts of Tanzania and gets to see firsthand the burden that HIV has on families within Tanzania as well as the everyday healthcare challenges that they face.

Laura is enjoying the opportunity to be a stay-at-home mom. Although she does miss nursing, she also knows that spending this time with her children is priceless.

Sadie is growing into such a little girl. She loves all things pink (“my favorite so pink”). She experienced a vocabulary explosion after we arrived in Tanzania. It’s amazing to hear her speak in full sentences. She has discovered Disney movies and now knows all of the princess’s names. She also loves coloring, painting and playing with play-dough.

Cash is our mover. He started walking before he was 11 months and is now constantly on the move. He loves to follow his sister around the house (something she is not always excited about). Cash really enjoys music as well. Whenever he hears a song with a good beat he will start dancing (either rocking, jumping or bouncing). He also claps and “sings”. It will be interesting to see if his love of music continues.

George and Keegan adjusted quite quickly to our new life. They enjoy running around our complex and sleeping on the couches. The highlight of their day is their daily walk with our gardener, Peter.

We hope to make a trip back home in March or April 2012. For our friends in the Atlanta, Memphis and Orlando areas, we hope to see you then. To all our family and friends, we wish you a very merry Christmas, a safe holiday season and a happy New Year!

Love,

Mike, Laura, Sadie and Cash

Epilepsy

Habari za siku nyingi? It's been a while since I've posted anything. I have been approached by a researcher from CDC Atlanta about collaborating with the Ministry of Health in Tanzania and a group of researchers from the Universtiy of Innsbrook and Dr. Louis Jilek-Aall in studying an emerging phenomenon called "Nodding Disease". Nodding Disease is characterized as such as children often lose muscle tone in their necks when presented with either a plate of food, drink of cold water, or a bath in cold water. It is equivalent to having an epileptic seizure. As it is usually triggered by eating, a lot of these children are malnurished or even die young as they do not get a chance to eat before the seizure "nodding" is triggered. CDC has studied this already in Uganda and Southern Sudan as they are recent occurrences. Interestingly, in Tanzania, there has been one woman (Dr. Lousi Jilek-Aall) who has been following cases since the 1960s. For those who find interest in inspirational people, she is one. In Tanzania, epilepsy is often believed to be caused by "bad spirits". People who are affected often get no treatment and even get shunned from a community as they believe them to be afflicted by evil spirits. Dr. Jilek-Aall began the only epilepsy clinic in Tanzania in 1960 to educate the locals and to treat those affected by epilepsy. 50 years later, the clinic is still operational and she is still strongly supporting it and gathering financial and technical support for it at the age of 70 something years old. All of this is pending us getting in touch with everyone and setting up potential studies but it is exciting. If you want to learn more, here is a link: http://mahenge.wordpress.com/about/mahenge-epilepsy-clinic/

There is also a youtube video of it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1szyYVuduu4

Spring update

We have now been in Tanzania for 5 months now. In some ways it seems unbelievable that 5 months has already passed. In other ways, it feels like we’ve been here much longer. We have settled into a nice routine and things are going very well.

We braved the winter here and Spring is now upon us. We have noticed a change in the weather these last few weeks. It is getting warmer during the day and the rains have started again. This is the beginning of the "light rain" season.

One of the unexpected joys of this foreign service life is meeting many new people from all different walks of life. Being thrown into this unusual circumstance of living abroad, you bond very quickly with people. I feel fortunate to have met several stay-at-home moms and we now get together quite often for baby playgroups. I have been very surprised how many families with young children are living here. It’s fun to see Sadie learning to play with other children and hearing her talks about all of her friends.

On the flip side though, we are also saying good-bye to people. Foreign posts are just not long-term assignments, so there is a constant turnover of personnel. CDC has a program that allows its US employees to take a 3 month assignment oversees as part of a fellowship. Through this program we were blessed to meet Umed, Keysha, Debbie and Joe. We enjoyed having them over for dinners at our house. Keysha and Debbie were even gracious enough to babysit one night and allow Mike and me to have a date night. Sadie fell in love with them all. Each has now returned to their families in the states and we miss them.

One of our challenges in living here has been finding a church home. We have visited a few places but have yet to settle in to one. Each has its pros and cons. The first church we visited was the church of Christ. The congregation meets at the Russian Cultural Center in town. The service is conducted in Swahili and then translated into English. The congregation is very small. There were about 20 people when we attended.

Most recently we have been going to the Dar Christian Fellowship which meets at Cocoa Beach (yes, in a little grass hut right on the beach). It is amazingly peaceful and serene to watch the waves roll in during services. I would say there are about 50 people who attend DCF. The entire service is in English. Interestingly, at the last service a roll was taken to see how many different countries were represented. The final tally was 18. There is something really awe inspiring about worshiping with people from 18 different countries. Different languages, different ethnicities, different cultures…but all worshiping the same God.

One of our biggest hang ups at each location is no nursery for the kids. Having put Sadie in the nursery at home by 6 weeks of age, we have never had to sit through a worship service with our kids. I don’t know how people do it on a regular basis. At any given time, one of us is up walking around with Sadie, trying to keep her entertained…and quiet.

We have (finally) hired someone to help out with our house. That whole process became more difficult than I had imagined it would be. The first person we hired, Mary, was wonderful. She had worked for ex-pats before and she knew just what to do. She spoke great English, needed very little instruction and was great with the kids. After 2 weeks, she left us for a full-time position (we only had her part-time). Because she felt bad leaving us though, she sent Rosie. Although Rosie was very nice, she spoke almost no English, which really made giving instructions very difficult. After a week, we knew Rosie was not a good fit for our family.

One evening Mike was out talking to our guards and Albert (see previous post) mentioned the he had not seen anyone coming to our house lately. Mike confirmed that we were indeed without help. Albert offered that his sister, Eda was available. After meeting with her, we decided to give her a shot. Eda has never worked in an ex-pat house before. On her first day here I could see her eyes glazing over when I showed her various appliances. She had never seen a vacuum, a washing machine or a dryer before. I figured I would have to train someone to do things the way I wanted them done. I had not, however, anticipated starting from scratch on how to turn on a washing machine.

Eda has now been with us for about 3 months and things have greatly improved. What I love most about her is how great she is with the kids (and I think that’s something you can’t teach someone). She especially loves Cash. I have found him several times sitting in the laundry basket watching Eda fold clothes. Or she’ll tie him to her back while she cleans.

Mike has begun taking Swahili lessons at the Embassy. He goes to class twice a week and is really learning a lot (I think so at least). In the evenings, Sadie loves to run around the complex and go talk to the guards. Mike also takes that time to practice his Swahili with them. Before Albert had to leave, he was like a pea in a pod with our other guard, Jeff. Albert and Jeff mentioned to Mike one night that they wanted to improve their English. So we provided them with some of Sadie’s books to read.

Mike also decided that he wanted to introduce them to American movies. One night he took our portable DVD player along with 3 DVD’s to the building where they sit at night. Albert and Jeff both got very excited when they saw the movie Gone In 60 Seconds and both were saying “yes, Nicolas Cage”! Who knew that he was so popular in Tanzania.

House is slowly coming together. After my sewing machine arrived, I was able to alter some curtains to make them a little more personalized for our bedrooms. We have also been hanging pictures on the walls and settling on final furniture placements. After everything is done, I promise to take pictures of the house and post them.

The kids are growing and thriving. As I mentioned, Sadie is making lots of new friends. She is growing into such a little girl. She loves all things pink. Her language really exploded after we arrived and she is now able to make whole sentences. She can be a little bossy with her brother at times. Her time these days is taken up with the care of her 5 baby dolls. She spends hours sometimes in her room changing their diapers, dressing them, putting them down for naps, feeding them. It’s really quite funny to watch. Of course, I haven’t been able to get any of that on video because she stops as soon as she sees me.

Cash is moving all over the place. He can crawl at a lightening pace and is cruising down the furniture. He loves to eat and now weighs the same as his sister (both are 24 lbs). He loves Sadie. She makes him laugh and he especially enjoys when she brings him toys. His favorite toys are balls and anything musical. When he hears a beat he immediately starts bouncing and rocking to the rhythm.

We are looking at our calendar now and thinking about when we’ll be coming back home for a visit. Right now it looks like it may be sometime in March or April. We will certainly keep everyone updated on potential travel plans. We look forward to catching up with all of our family and friends when we return.