Diary - Sunday, March 02, 2003
It's a beautiful Sunday morning here in Jambiani and Wayne and
I have just returned from the clinic after seeing a few patients
who had come from Stonetown. Pat is at a meeting and Mona has
gone on a spice tour so we are enjoying some quiet time, for a
change, hee, hee!! :-)
Yesterday we went to a wedding in the village, which was quite
an event as three couples were getting married. It was extremely
hot and with no sea breezes to temper things we decided not to
stay for the whole day but at least Wayne and Mona had a very
good introduction to some of the local customs and traditions.
As I mentioned before, we were looking into doing a safari on
the mainland next week so I'm excited to say that we have been
able to arrange that and will be heading out to Arusha next Thursday
and returning to Zanzibar on Sunday. This will be a fast but hopefully
memorable trip as we will be staying at Ngorongoro crater and
Lake Manyara, both very well known conservation areas and famous
for their abundant wildlife. In fact Lake Manyara is said to have
the highest concentration of elephants in Tanzania. Pat has been
through these regions before, but it has been many years now so
it will be interesting to get her feedback on how things have
changed.
We are really enjoying our visit with Wayne and Mona and it has
been great working with Wayne doing what we call, "tag team
Chiro" as we sometimes will work together with one patient
comparing notes and ideas as to how to best approach a particular
problem. I know I'm having a lot of fun and I think the patients
appreciate it too.
The clinic is continuing to run smoothly and we have now registered
over 400 New Patients since our opening on January 20th so we
are keeping very busy taking care of people. There are lots of
challenges here and with a distinct lack of modern facilities
and services we have had to become quite creative with our patient
management.
We are starting to see the first weather changes associated with
the approach of the rainy season. The sea breezes have reduced
and the temperatures have therefore increased, so even though
it is still very pleasant, we are expecting some rain to arrive
in the next two to three weeks. As I have said before, the rainy
season in Jambiani is quite subdued compared to the mainland or
even Stonetown so it always is a pleasant change for us and of
course the garden really appreciates the increased moisture. Speaking
of gardens, ours is coming along very nicely and we just got a
load of cow manure delivered so the plants have some excellent
food to look forward to. That combined with the upcoming rains
should be the perfect recipe for plant growth.
Every time we go to town, we buy more plants and trees so we are
getting quite a variety established out here at the old hacienda.
It should look great in another few months.
Well, I think I'll take a little time out here so back in a moment.
Sunday, March 09, 2003
Well hello once again and this time it is from the Internet café
in Stonetown. We just arrived back from our Safari on the mainland
and needless to say this ranks as one of the best trips ever.
Unfortunately I don't have the time to go into details here but
will try for the next update. As well, I have not had an opportunity
to include pictures with this so will make up for that next time.
We are all well, a bit tired from the trip but still plugging
away here. Wayne will be in the clinic tomorrow so that will free
me up to catch up with odds and ends around the house.
We hope you are all well and I promise to get another update out
soon with more details of life here on Zanzibar. 'Til then, much
love from us all here at the Jambiani Wellness Center.
Ali Baba, Mama Pat, Dr. Wayne and Mona
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