Friday 30 December 2011

On big fish little scuba divers and Capt'n Josh

 So today was the dolphin safari which, much to Zac and Josh's consternation, involved getting up at 5:15AM! There was something mildly therapeutic in making the boys get out of bed at that time against their will, if nothing else I felt that we at least managed to get one point back on the ‘being woken up TOO early’ scorecard. The place we are staying at, Panga Chumvi Beach Resort were fantastic and had a great breakfast all sorted in time for us to fill up and head out on our trip.
Shark...quick Zac get him!
So we're ready, check whistle, mask, snorkle...bring on the big fish.
Zanzibar has some very well organised excursions and also has the kind we go on which at best can be described as prit-stick tours. That is to say they are a bit cobbled together but ultimately work well enough for you to be left with a sense of adventure. We schlept up the beach and met our guide come new best friend ‘Bob Marley’ who arranges our haphazard excursions.
We drove to Kizimkazi where we introduced to the skipper of our launch for the morning. Bob, who had by now spent considerable time with the boys had taken to calling Josh ‘Capt’n Josh, having let him skipper the last boat we went on snorkelling. Everyone was fitted for the deep blue and we were off. It was not long before the dolphins were dancing along the water,a truly majestic sight.
Unfortunately this was not nearly as idyllic as I first envisaged as in no time there were ten other boats all off loading various obese mezunga into the water over the top of the dolphins. Zac, Zanner and Josh went in a couple of times before they too felt this just wasn’t the way to see the dolphins and we all stayed together in the boat. The irony was that had the dolphins been left to their own devices they would have happily swam around the boats. 

We took some great shots of them but at the end of the day this was another example of the Zanzibarian’s not really working to protect their natural resources and effectively selling off their heritage. There is a desperate need to educate so this wonderful island will be here in generations to come. 

We retired to Stone town where the boys were fed again and we enjoyed a cup of wonderful coffee at Archipelago. Stone Town deserves its own entry so look out for that soon. 




Zac drafting Nou Nou & Edda's postcard after a full day diving
Capt'n Josh & Bob








Tuesday 27 December 2011

On the Indian Ocean explorers by Josh HT

It's all too much and I am very tired...
On the first day I was very poorly with a rash and a temperature.  The next day we went to the doctor's and I had to have a big injection in my bottom.  We left the doctors and went for a lunch at a pizza and ice-cream and coca cola shop with a brilliant view of the sea.

We went to a new hotel on Christmas day and we had dinner on the beach at night-time and it was very nice.  We had goat at lunchtime which was very yummy.  Then we had a brilliant fire at night and it was my best Christmas ever because we had dinner on the beach. We missed all our friends and family at times and we wish them all a merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.


I drew this heart in the sand for my Mummy because I love her....



The Indian ocean is like a bath because it is so hot and if you dig a big hole you can have a hot tub when it fills up with water.  We met this lovely girl named Wendy who runs the hotel and she has some kittens and some puppies.  One puppy is called Mazungu as he is all light brown like a white person!


exploring the Indian Ocean....

On the Zanzibar holiday by Zac HT

Cousteau I presume..
When we first arrived at Zanzibar I took a look at the sea and it was brown and murky and when we looked at the sand it was white so we called it White Cap Bay.  On the first day we found a little hideout that was pretty cool and met a boy from Finland who played lots of draughts with me and I always won.  On Christmas Eve we went on a snorkelling safari trip and we thought we were going to see dolphins.  I was very good at snorkelling and really enjoyed it but in the end I was disappointed as we did not see any dolphins.  Then after the snorkelling trip we went to a new hotel called Panga Chumi and on the first day it was Christmas and if you look in Mummy's blog you will see our sand card.

Today I snorkelled and went in a big pink canoe with Mummy and Daddy.  We rode the waves back to the shore.  We found lots of jelly fish because everywhere we looked there were jelly fish and millions of sea urchins.  When i was snorkelling I saw 26 zebra fish who are black and white and a small mini killer whale fish and some little fish homes in the coral.
In the hot mangrove swamp 


The 2.45 to Paddington is running late due to water on the line

On Snorkelling safaris, sea urchins and Christmas in Zanzibar


You will be pleased to hear that Josh's rash was much improved in the morning but worryingly was still present, particularly on his face.  As I had had the pleasure of sleeping with Josh that night I was up at the customary dawn hour and took the opportunity of dosing him up with the prescribed 20mg of prednisolone, cetirizine (anti-histamine) and a red and white paracetamol capsule which for some reason Josh really liked and kept asking for!  Another example of my poor medical expertise was that only tonight when i took one of Josh's anti-histamines did i notice that they were dispersible tablets ie. meant to be dissolved, but me being a rushing doctor hadn't read the packet and kept asking him to swallow them which is difficult with these tablets as they try to dissolve in your throat as you swallow them!
So we set off on Christmas Eve with Meg and Theo, a great American couple, who are working in Dubai but previously worked for the US Peace corps in a Russian enclave having hoped they would be posted to a balmy country.  Josh was pretty good but very wingey and both boys were ecstatic at the free bar on the boat where Zac managed to consume 6 Coca Colas whereas Josh realised that 3 was enough and switched to Sprite quite early on in the day.  I had my usual Christmas cold/ flu which was really irritating in such beautiful sunshine and hot weather.

Oh no I forgot my Oyster card
The Safari Blue day trip was amazing - you can see by the photos how beautiful Zanzibar is.  The sea is a luscious turquiose blue and the sand is a blissful silky smooth whiteness slipping between your toes.  Zac took to snorkelling like a duck to water and was amazing zipping round the coral, handling star fish and lusting after sea cucumbers that the guide had picked up.  We saw amazing fish and Zac, who loves Finding Nemo (the Disney film) kept saying to me "There's a Dory"  or " We've found Nemo".  Josh unfortunately who was very wingey but probably not feeling well could "only snorkel outside the water" as he put it.

It's a bit tooo busy here
We stopped for lunch on a glorious island, where the boys had more coca cola. and had a delicious beach BBQ of fish, chicken, maize cakes, tamarand sauce and then pudding was an incredible array of local fruit including star fruit (very bitter but very pretty), 2 different sorts of mango, bread fruit and these incredible bright red seeds from the baobab tree which Josh sucked like sweets which gave him a very red tongue! (http://news.softpedia.com/news/What-039-s-Good-For-a-Baobab-56643.shtml;  http://www.krugerpark.co.za/africa_baobab.html)
The Munsters on holiday

There were some very red sunburnt people by the end of the day and i am ashamed to say that i managed to get burnt whilst snorkelling....  The day was perfect apart from not seeing any dolphins much to Zac's distress. We came back to our hotel and sang carols in the treetop bar with mulled wine (very British despite the 32 degree heat!)

Just like sunset over the Thames
The next day we jumped in a taxi with Meg and Theo, who we had tempted to move across the island with us, to Matemwe and Panga Chumi a little guest house recommended by Sebastian and Juilanne.  Stone Town had been interesting but stressful because Josh had been so unwell and i have to admit disappointing.  It was obviously once an elegant and thriving city with a wonderful almost mystical appeal but post the revolution in 1964 was now a dilapidated collection of disintegrating faded grandeur.

We drove through luscious countryside and off the main road down a bumpy track through a collection of mud houses wondering where we were going now - Aaron looked most concerned and i was pleased that i had devolved direction responsibility to Theo!  We pulled up to a clean white washed building with a palm leafed roof and tiled balconies and dark wood chairs outside.  We then walked up to a veranda overlooking the most amazing expanse of white glistening sands curving around a multi faceted blue, turqouise shimmering sea.  Zac said "Wow, this is so much better than the last place, it is like white cap bay" ( in Pirate of the Carribean for those not in the know...)

It is the most perfect view with the most perfect on shore sea breeze keeping us all cool.  I am writing here on the restaurant deck now, listening to the waves and having a glass of cold red wine which i am becoming quite partial to.  When the tide is low the beach is full of local people fishing, cultivating seaweed which they dry on the beach to put in all sorts of lotions and potions, there are banks of sea urchins and for some reason today Zac decided to pick one up to show me!!!  Luckily he didn't get spiked. Swimming in the sea is like swimming in a hot tub - the water is so warm and silky and Josh said 
"Of course it is, it is the Indian ocean so it is like being in a hot tub"

We arrived at 11.30 am on Christmas day and Wendy (yes another Wendy) the manager made us feel like family coming to visit!  The owners of the guest house arrived and they were fascinating.  One had lived through the revolution - he had been 17 at the time and Aaron and I had a long chat with him about the history of the island and why the revolution and massacre of the Arabs occurred.  I am sure Aaron can put a link to it if you are interested.  There was another interesting man who had been born in Zanzibar and when he asked me where we lived said "yes i know Littlebourne" as it turned out that he had lived in Canterbury for 11 years and before that in Headingley in Leeds! Yet another example of 6 degrees of separation.  We have met such interesting people since being here - only tonight we chatted with a Finnish couple close to retirement who have worked for a missionary in Tanzania for 12 years who have set up a teleconsultation (on-line pictures) service for Tanzania. They are here snorkelling and have some incredible video coverage.

The view from our terrace is a bit dull in Zanzibar
Anyhow I digress - we had arrived in this beach paradise and I found a cold glass of wine thrust into my hand, began chatting about Headingley in Leeds and then the next thing we knew everyone staying had been invited to the Christmas lunch feast organised by the owners for their friends.  We sat down to a feast of roasted goat (we told the boys it was chicken but afterwards Zac told us that he had suspected it wasn't as it was brown and the bones were too big!), rice, samosas, fragrant spinach and garlic, fresh salad, ice-cream and fruit salad...  When we could move late in the afternoon we basked in the warm water of the Indian ocean.

Christmas night was even more amazing as we had a feast under the vast African starry stars on the beach next to an open fire smoldering in a fire pit.  We feasted on fresh pumpkin and ginger soup, home made bread, BBQ red snapper, beef kebabs with garlic and tamarind sauce, salad and then for dessert little fried donut things in a caramel sauce.   The boys delighted in running round the table drawing protection circles in the sand (having watched the Spiderwick chronicles) and laughing with Wendy.  The sky was vast and so full of stars with the milky way threading it's fluffy way across the horizon.  I kept missing shooting stars and thought i had finally seen one only to have my hopes dashed by Theo telling me it was a bird!  Josh said it was his best Christmas ever and when i asked why he said 
" tonight we had dinner on a beach and we normally have it in a room"  We finally took the boys to bed at 10 pm after a fabulous day.

I have to say it has been wonderful missing all the commercialism of Christmas in the UK, which seems to start earlier and earlier each year.  It was also great for the boys to have only a few presents.  They were delighted with one tiny transformer each and our family had kindly given us our flight tickets to Zanzibar which is so much better and more lasting than a mountain of coloured plastic.
Daddy flying the Christmas kite before the kids!



We have had an amazing Chanuka and Christmas and tomorrow we are off to Kendwa in the North east of the island.  Then more reading, snorkelling, playing...... 

Never trust the dyslexic in the family to write the Christmas message!




Monday 26 December 2011

On blistering babies, disappearing doctors and useless dermatologists



Isn't he gorgeous?
All pictures have been shown with his Mother's permission
It has been a hard couple of weeks and I am glad that we are away on our Christmas break.  I was rostered to lecture the second year EADV (diploma students) on Epidermolysis bullosa (EB).  I had volunteered myself as this is a very rare genetic blistering disease, and I was the doctor that had seen the most cases.  As a dermatology registrar I was fortunate to organise an attachment at the Birmingham Childrens’ Hospital with Celia Moss an international expert in paediatric dermatology.  She has established Birmingham as one of the two EB centres in the UK.  Birmingham has a high Asian population where first cousin consanguineous marriages are very common so unfortunately EB is seen quite frequently. 

So there I was last Thursday at 8.15am sitting in the big lecture theatre waiting for something to happen.  As Kelvin and Esther were away there was no picture session where recently seen patients are discussed.  I therefore suggested to the second year EADV students that I gave my lecture scheduled for that afternoon.  I explained that the lecture was on EB – a rare blistering disease and I invited everyone to stay: medical students, first year EADV students and residents.  True to form however everyone else left apart from Michael the Dutch dermatologist and the 2nd year EADV students.  The first year EADV students sat outside around some tables and talked very loudly and irritatingly until I went outside and invited them to either come in or join the lecture or to shut up and go away.  They of course chose to go away.

After the ward round Alice took us to see the ward referrals and we were asked to see a baby who was on IV antibiotics with “congenital syphilis”.  I undressed the baby to see extensive blistering, erosions, scarring and dystrophic (abnormal )nails.   This wasn’t congenital syphilis but was Epidermolysis bullosa; a dreadful diagnosis for a baby here.  EB is not a curable condition as there is an abnormality in the skin causing permanent fragility and blister formation on minimal trauma.  In the UK with multi-disciplinary care, soft non-stick specialist dressings and amazing EB nursing input babies are now living to adulthood. Obviously it is a different picture here and babies often succumb early to sepsis from the multiple skin erosions.  It was so bizarre to have given a lecture on the condition in the morning and to see a baby later on that day with EB.

This boy is a little fighter and I scoured the cupboards and drawers of the RDTC for appropriate dressings.  We found some allevyn which is a non-adhesive foam dressing and Alice, Sebastian and I cleaned the eroded areas, tried to explain to Mum about the condition and did a Blue Peter attempt; cutting the allevyn to size and trying to stick it circumferentially whilst covered in Vaseline from the Vaseline gauze and then tying soft bandage around trying not to dislodge the allevyn.  Our first attempts were pretty dismal but I am pleased to say we have improved and on the third dressing change all areas were healing apart from his thumbs where he has lost both nails and keeps rubbing the areas with his fingers so they are dreadfully eroded.  His poor mum was distraught as we tried to dress the thumbs, which was very hard and they kept bleeding.  However once everything was covered he settled down, as eroded areas open to air are very painful.

Our 3rd dressing  - a much better Blue Peter attempt!

I asked for advice from the UK and Celia was amazingly helpful again and thought the baby had Herlitz Junctional EB.  This is still a very difficult diagnosis to have here and I have e-mailed drug reps in the UK who are kindly donating specialised EB dressings for the baby and dermasilk (silk) suits for him to wear.  My colleague Claire Fuller is coming out for the CME meeting in January and is kindly going to bring them although in her experience these babies do poorly.
Friday was another tough day as it was quite a big paediatric clinic and as per usual Sebastian and I together with 2 residents were the last to leave.  The attitude of many of the doctors, diploma students and medical students is that as volunteers are here the work will get done so it is fine to disappear as early as possible.  And by early I mean at 11.30am and this is after having gone off to breakfast between 9-10am!  One who shall remain nameless has disappeared early 4 Fridays in a row and Professor Grossman yesterday told the Diploma students firmly that they were expected back on 3rd January for the new term.  He said “ I have heard it all before– the bus broke down, I lost my money, my Aunt died ......”  It remains to be seen how many will return on this date.

Julianne recently asked one of her physio students why they missed her teaching session and they said quite unashamedly “ I went to a party last night and came back late and so was too tired to come in this morning”  !!!!  Our residents/ students etc.  are frequently telling us that they are “feeling tired/ a bit dizzy/ unwell/ feverish” and have to go home.  Quite an eye-opener for us hard bitten work through anything brigade.  

It makes teaching here quite a challenge!  I am trying to understand why people do not want to learn as we are used to treasuring teaching particularly from experts.  Here in Tanzania I am amazed to hear that no doctors, teachers, professionals will attend any courses unless they are paid to go!!  The most effective and useful thing us foreign volunteers can do is to teach so that all these dermatology doctors/ medical officers can use this learning to treat patients in East Africa.  It will be non-sustainable help if we just run the clinics.

So what do you do?  Sebastian and I have started to joke with each other that “we are a bit tired/ had a late night/ can’t come in....”  We did explain the situation to Prof Grossman but I am sure he has heard it all before.

The EB baby story took an unexpected and sad turn as the baby has been labelled as having congenital syphilis.  Due to this diagnosis the baby’s father refused to allow his wife and child to come home.  There is still a huge stigma about syphilis, HIV  and other sexually transmitted diseases and the men tend to conveniently forget that they are the ones that usually do the transmitting!  We kept explaining that the baby did not have congential syphilis but a totally different diagnosis – EB and the mother had tested negative for both syphilis and HIV.  This would have been the end of it in the UK but here the medical director became involved as someone from the family had telephoned someone else important who had telephoned the Medical Director....  So Alice took me as an “international expert” on EB to see the Medical Director who was in his room sat reading the paper.  I explained that the diagnosis was unequivocally EB but it remains to be seen if the poor woman is able to take her baby home for Christmas.  Life is very hard here.
Teaching Mum how to do her baby's dressings

So now I must admit that the useless dermatologist is me.  On Wednesday Aaron took the boys and Noga and Amy swimming before the Hanukah party.  When he was drying Josh he noticed that he had a red and blotchy rash.  Josh seemed fine and the rash looked urticarial to me so I wondered if he had eaten something/ reacted to something at the swimming pool.  The next day we got up early to fly to Zanzibar and the rash got redder, more extensive and itchier and in the middle of the afternoon, after I had woken up as I was feeling poorly and a bit tired, Josh had a raging temperature and a terrible rash.  I dosed him up with anti-histamines, Calpol and Brufen but it kept him and Aaron up most of the night.  Apparently though at one point when Aaron was asleep Josh woke him to say softly and sadly “Daddy will you please stop snoring?”

In the morning Josh looked dreadful with a very extensive rash, a temperature and it took Aaron to notice that his face was swollen!  He was lethargic too and even his horrible doctor mum was worried!  I thought he might have malaria so we took him to the Zanzibar health clinic in town. 
Zac said “who will I play with if Josh dies?!!!” but I am sure he was just concerned.

Josh's very impressive urticarial rash - and this is after a lot of anti-histamine!

Luckily we saw a very competant doctor and after a traumatic finger prick test malaria was excluded.  The doctor thought it was just a severe urticarial reaction and despite the fact that I had never seen a temperature with urticaria I was at a loss to know what else it was.  I had started Josh on azithromycin (antibiotics) that morning.  It is a nightmare having an ill child but much worse to have an ill child on an island in the middle of the Indian Ocean just before Christmas.  The doctor suggested a 4mg IM dexamethasone injection into Josh’s bottom, which was not fun but miraculously his rash all settled and he felt much better after pizza and ice-cream.  He was fine all day but the rash started up slightly in the evening so I have given the prednisolone 15mg and promethiazine syrup as prescribed.  I hope it settles now and have posted some pictures.

We are hoping he is well enough for our planned Safari Blue dolphin spotting, snorkelling trip tomorrow and will keep you posted.......






Friday 23 December 2011

On faith, friends, feast and fiends

Slugs and Snails Menorah...MOMA collection 2012!

One of the few negatives to being here during this time is not being able to share the festivities with friends and family. So in the spirit of all things we wish you good cheer and a happy Chanukah. But wherever we find ourselves in the world we always somehow find like minded people, sometimes that happens on top of a bus traveling through the Kathmandu valley with two mad Israelis or hitching a lift along the road with your blonde friend in an area renowned for murders. This year things are different because we are both traveling with our hobbits and that means a different set of life experiences. The boys love Chanukah, not because they think its great to get gifts each day, but because we always share it with family. This year we were resigned to a simpler small family affair. 

But in this world you are never alone and we were invited by one of the school parents to her house for day two of Chanukah. I didn’t know about this until an Israeli au pair who was looking after the two girls who happened to be swimming with Zac and Josh introduced herself and told me I was going to their house the following day for the celebration. Now it is not every day you’re ordered (in the way only Israeli girls wearing a bikini can) to someone’s house for celebrations and good food.
Upon our return to the house Zanner, or as she is now called the ‘oversight oversight committee’ reminded me without having told me, we were cordially invited etc etc.
So the next day the boys decided that as school finished at 11:15 they were inviting themselves early to the girls (Nogha and Amy’s) house. This was made all the more interesting because Odette the nanny was driving. Whilst we walked towards the car the ‘hellcat’ (see: On hot climate carols and camp guard food keepers) fell off her bike outside the school gate in full view of Zac. Not having chance to investigate if Zac had a 666 branded on his head I rushed out to help pick her up and bring her into the guard house. We organised a car and I administered a degree of first aid.
The boys went off and I went to her (Anna-Marika) house where I finished cleaning her up and rang for her husband who works at the same hospital as Zanner. Although badly shaken I couldn’t determine any serious injury but it was clear something was not right. I ran round and got Tobias the Physio and he arranged to get her to the hospital. I learned later that she had unfortunately broken her arm, but on the plus side it was a small fracture and it would seem didn’t warrant a cast.
Zac as always first to the flame
Whilst all this was going on the woman who had driven Anna home had asked her parents to take her children home, a ten minute walk down the road. Her mother and father duly took smalls down the road only to fall victims to an attempted mugging...this was 11:30am!!!! The father (grandfather) put up a sterling effort and fought off the would be fiends and although took a few punches for his trouble managed to wrestle the t-shirt of one of them. Of course the children were traumatised and this has left a terrible taste within the community. It is a renowned trouble spot for muggings on a night-time but it is unheard of during the day. It is assumed that there is a real desperation around running up to x-mas in these parts.
Joshua and Amy decide upon private prayer
Unfortunately we were now faced with this information whist noting we were due to walk round the 1/2km to our host’s house. I had already spent an hour trying to find the place earlier when I went to pick up the boys. We tried calling our taxi guy but he was no doubt asleep...Come on it was 6pm! So with Zac deciding to take a sharp stick and threatening all sorts of retribution we set off. Given his recent track record I pitied anyone who crossed him but at the same time it was a rather edgy and very quick walk.
Baruch hata Adonai

We arrived to find a feast and great company with which to share our celebrations. Again the people you meet never fail to impress with their commitment to working against the odds here in Africa. Jeremy, a South African by birth who had spent many years in the UK had travelled to Israel where he started a new life with his Finnish wife Camilla.  They were both homeopathy practitioners who had set up numerous clinics across Tanzania and were achieving great results with the HIV/AIDS patients. This excited Zanner and from this they are hopefully going to work together with some of Zanner’s patients. But for those of you with a medical bent I am sure Zanz will update you on this as it develops. Suffice to say we lit candles, sang songs and ate great food with lovely people. The children all played wonderfully together and dressed up in an array of the girls dressing up clothes. At the end of the night Jeremy drove us home and we made a commitment to eat as many Friday evenings together as we could. We arrived home tired but needing to pack for our next adventure, as we were to fly to Zanzibar the following day at 8am...

On cars, camping and climbing



The Mighty Bodle
In our previous post we had mentioned Clive and Bodle. They have been in Tanzania for many years working with a Christian Mission amongst other things. Ironically Clive is the brother of a well-respected colleague of Zanner back in the UK (small world, six degrees etc).  The ‘amongst other things’ include their involvement with one of the longest running mountaineering clubs in the world, the Kilimanjaro Mountaineering Club. Throughout the past year Bodle has been fastidiously archiving reams of documentation that has been collated since 1900, (see this link for interesting short article). So it was on this weekend (17/18th Dec 2012) that the official opening of the archive was arranged at the Marangu Hotel. The call went out to all those who might be interested and as we never have anything better to do we said yes. This somehow led to being lent a car and all the equipment necessary to go camping...which was nice.
Rub a dub dub...
Bodle turned up with the car and gear on the Saturday and we loaded the boys up who felt like this was more like it. I mean chauffeured by dad is the way things should be.
Upon arrival the boys off to swim whilst the tent was erected at speed by dad, then it everyone congregated for a fantastic buffet lunch on the garden of the Hotel. The hotel holds the archive and is one of the traditional starting points of one of the major routes up Kili; the hotel is owned by an English family who have been in Africa for generations and still maintain a colonial English accent.
Nick, you could listen for hours to this man.
After lunch we went to see the unveiling of the archive and listened to some fascinating stories about the club. The guest of honour was a gentleman called Nick (he is the father of Guy the Guy from the hash!), now in his late 80’s  he was one of the early secretaries of the club and again had some really interesting stories to tell. Not least the one about the secretary he took over from stealing all the club funds as well as funds from two businesses he was working for at the time.
Sleep came early and we woke the next day to camp breakfast. A short 3hours walk through plantations and villages to picturesque waterfalls was arranged for those with children, whereas other club members went on the longer walk of 2 hours...mmmmm it must be an African thing! Suffice to say we walked further than the ‘long walk’ but the kids were great. Luckily for us we had a lovely Dutch couple with their son, Sill [?], with us so the boys simply ran around scaring anything that was worth looking at. Much to the amusement of Clive who had chosen to come with us because we were doing the shorter walk!
The drive back was only eventful in that it brought home how wonderfully safe it is to drive in the UK. Undertaking, now prevalent on the motorway, is nothing compared to three Dala Dala mini buses all overtaking us around a corner into the path of an oncoming 18-wheeler. Part of me was happy to give the car back...the boys however thought this was the stupidest thing we have done thus far!  

On hot climate carols and camp guard food keepers


We were fortunate to experience one of the longest running traditions within the doctor’s compound this year when our neighbour hosted the annual KCMC Christmas Carol Concert. The house belongs to the Church of Sweden, who rotate medical support staff every 15 years or so… However, the present incumbents, a very cosmopolitan couple, Tobias and his wife Martina + two smalls who are adamant that this is a two year deal at best.
Tobias thinks this is the Hacienda!
The Congregation develops









In keeping with the African way the concert is organised not by the homeowners but by a wonderfully colourful pair of ex-pats, Clive, an English accountant and his Dutch wife, Bodle (more about them in the next post).
With Colonial precision Clive had the concert tied down and the different countries represented had to come up and sing a carol in their respective languages in-between which the whole ‘congregation’ sang classic Yule hymns. The mass ranks of the German contingent sang a militaristic hymn about baking, whilst the Americans sang Star Spangled blah blah blah very loudly or something akin to that; it was simply loud! The Swedish, dressed as angles, sang a beautiful Italian song, but I suppose we had to be thankful as it was either this or some cr*p by ABBA. The Brits, led by Vice-Marshal Baron sang ‘We Wish You a Merry Christmas’. This was followed by Zanner giving a Chanukah lesson and, having bribed the children, a rendition of Ma’Ozzur, to much applause as this was the most cultural part of the evening!
Swedes! What a bunch of Fairies?
To accompany the event we were all asked to bring some food, we brought a very healthy home made carrot cake. The food was then placed on long tables by the side of the seated guests and their respective children, who outnumbered adults by 2-1. No food was to be consumed until the two and a half hour concert was over... Do you see where this going?
We got the X-Factor? Marianna, Julianna, Sebastian and AHT
Now Zac and Josh have a limited amount of patience at the best of times around food, especially cake! The camp guard for this event was a very …mmmm I’m thinking of a politically correct way to describe the hellcat! Ok, the child-challenged age enhanced lady, who took to chastising any child (Zac) for looking, touching, contemplating or making any move that would be construed as an invasion of the space occupied by the food. This didn’t go down too well with our first born who took great umbrage to the whole temptation placed before God issue at a Christmas carol concert. However, it would seem that Zac may have a direct line to a place that deals in retribution. Less than five days after said event the poor woman fell off her bike and broke her arm! 

Friday 16 December 2011

On snakes and trolls, kids in wolf's clothing...& blo*dy Mosquitos!

Last night the Moshi mazunga glitterati were out in force for the premier of 'Who's afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?' Presented by the primary years programme of International School Moshi. 

Just the 2 of us, we can make it if we try, just the 2 of us
The red carpet walk competed for glamour with any of the big European opening nights. Spot light was on this years must see item, a pair of non authentic crocs worn with ill fitting cut off trousers surrounding the requisite middle aged spread of the ex-pat. Open neck shirts of varying shades of loud for the men were accompanied by the who had more pockets on the trousers look of early 2000. Different combinations of pseudo-ethnic garb lent the evening an authentic East Africa touch, spoilt only by the locals looking more western than the advancing white tribes!

Zac and Josh, although though not playing the lead roles were happy to be both Troll King and Crocodile respectively. One assumes Josh wasn't given a speaking part as they play only lasted 45mins. To the boys' credit they did play their parts very well and have both been very excited about dressing up and painting their faces all week. Clearly a life of drag awaits or politics...party as yet undecided. All the children played their parts with gusto and their was even an unscripted prat fall from the child playing grandma. Having shown the audience his karate kick at the wrong time he then kicked

Oh but please let me TALK
So I'm like thinking more method in
a Brandoesque kinda way ya?
again but added the requisite arse landing to the merriment of all those concerned. When Goldilocks (clearly little red riding hoods understudy) had finished laughing the play came to its natural end and the audience roared and cheered. It was a great production much in the same vain as Wickhambreaux CofE the boys UK alma mater, Zac and Josh thoroughly enjoyed it with both receiving a rose which was duly dispatched to mummy.

The evening was finished with the grownups popping out for a spot of supper at Michael's the  Dutch consultant down in the Dermatology compound. Goat and Banana stew...which is different, was the evenings delicacy. The guests were all very interesting and again all had vast and varied experiences of Africa. Michael began as a leprosy specialist in Uganda having arrived under one regime to find Mugabe wresting control (you'll remember him...nice chap in that film with the pleasant young Scottish Actor).  His sister is a retired HIV specialist nurse from Amsterdam and has huge experience of HIV herself.

The other guest of note is the interminable mosquito. I would like to say that I am making an impact upon their population with my extermination tactics. Alas like all irritations their persistence knows no bounds and at this rate transfusions may be necessary simple to maintain vital organs!   AHT





Wednesday 14 December 2011

On Lake Chala and hills that my boys thought were mountains……………


It was wonderful to be driving away from the KCMC compound on Saturday as I had begun to go a bit stir crazy.  Sam picked us up at 9am in his taxi sporting a Barcelona football club swinging, not quite furry, dice attached to the front window.  The drive was beautiful and I tried to encourage Zac and Josh to come up with more adventurous eye spy objects outside the car!

After about an hour we turned off onto a dirt road for about 10 km and arrived at the dusty red campsite where our family tent was waiting to be erected.  Lake Chala is a deep, deep lake situated in a crater fed with water from Mount Kilimanjaro.  Half of the lake is situated in Tanzania and half in Kenya and one of Aaron’s mad running friends from the ISM school told how when he was running around the rim he hopped over the fence and discovered from some men in a field that he was now in Kenya!

Tent with a view.....
We met a lovely Australian family who have settled in Arusha.  As they couldn’t afford the ISM fees for their 3 children and didn’t find an alternative school they liked, they started a new school themselves!  They have 3 children aged 10, 8 and 6 who got on with Zac and Josh like a house on fire.  We all climbed down the extremely steep and dusty path to the lake where we had a wonderful swim in the refreshing cool water and basked on the rocks.  Apparently the last crocodiles were seen here 9 years ago. By seen we mean that it was the last time someone had been eaten by one!  


It was amazing being in such a beautiful, peaceful place – well that is when Josh stopped talking!  We sat and talked and the kids played and we ate and drank and in the evening sat by the fire pit looking at the stars and bright almost full moon. I would like to say we had a peaceful nights sleep but Zac kept waking up sleep talking. Every few hours he sat bolt upright and at one point looked straight at Aaron and said 'they're coming!' (we did find out who was coming as he had no recollection of anything) at 6am when it was light both boys bounced up and bounced on.

It was so hot by 7am that I decided we should go for a walk up a nearby hill to see the early morning view of the lake.  Now by rights this walk should have taken 30 mins but with Zac and Josh it took 1 ½ hours and you should have heard the whingeing!
 “My feet hurt, I have gravel in my shoes, the thorns have scratched me, where are we, are we nearly at the top of this mountain, can we go for breakfast now, I’m hungry…………….”

I didn't realise the mosquitoes were that big!
Is this my lunch?



Waking up: view from the tent

Sunrise over the lake

The bar was always too busy.......

We finally arrived at the top......
But I'm now BLIND!!!!



The small hill Josh thought was a mountain

A lizard mid poo!
The view was magnificent and Zac and Aaron even saw a baboon amongst the half built abandoned luxury lodges.  We had another swim before lunch and  came back exhausted but happy to Moshi after our first weekend away.
Do you find this in your toilet?