Village: USA

After we got back to the house I went and found Moira.  Moira lives in an apartment attached the house. Moria takes care of all of the house things like food and telling us when we need to be where. Moria takes very good care of us.

I knocked on her door and showed her my leg. She immediately told me that I had to go to the hospital because of how dirty the wound seemed to be.  She called a taxi while I showered and found purified water to wash it off as much as I could.  When I climbed into the taxi I was exhausted from the hike and dreading the long wait I had heard would be inevitable at the Tanzanian Hospital. On the way there I thought of how to nicely tell everyone one at home the story. Through the taxi window I got to see alot of Arusha I had never seen before. The road around the hospital was a dirt road with lots of bumps and pot holes. I became a little nervous when we approached the gate and a security guard used a metal detector wand on the edges of the car. 

The hospital facility put me at ease when I realized it was clean and calm. We went to the front desk and I filled out a card. 

Surname, other names, father's name,....village?, date of birth, sex, ..tribe?, years. 

This was going to be an interesting adventure.

After I filled out my card I took it to the other window where I paid 5000 shillings $3.13 U.S for the consultation. I Walked to a room and waited to be weighed and have my temperature taken by a nurse. I was a little nervous about putting the thermometer in my mouth just because I was still thinking about how I have always been told you do not want to go to the doctor in any other country. To my surprise the nurse put the thermometer under my arm pit and I laughed a little and realized I needed to stop worrying so much.

Next, I moved into another waiting room with only a few other people. Moira told me usually it took awhile and that we were lucky that it wasn't too crowded tonight. However it was probably going to take longer than an American hospital. I settled down in a chair and watched the T.V in the corner. It was a 90s american biblical game show for teens. Cher was blaring from a car outside. Moira started dancing to keep herself awake. By this time I had realized that Moira had done this a few times. The people at the different counters seemed to recognize her. She was admittedly very impatient  and the biblical game show didnt seem to keep her occupied. 

Finally after fourty-five mins I was called into a back room. It seemed all of my information was already processed on their computer system and the doctor checked my leg and typed in more information from his desk. 

He looked at my shot record and decided everything was okay. He was okay at english but it was clearly not his first language. He told me one of my cuts would need two stitches in order to heal nicely. He quickly subscribed me pain killers and antibiotics so that it wouldn't get infected. 

Back outside we went. I paid 24,000 at the window for the medicine and then they ushered me to another window to pick them up. 

Then I walked back to the back room and waited to be called back for stitches. A few minutes later he was ready. This time he wouldn't let Moira in the room and I got a little nervous again. I have never had stitches and I found myself wondering what kind of strength the numbing medicine was going to be and if I would have that at all for such a minor wound. The doctor and the nurse started preparing everything and pulling out needles. They spoke fast swahili to each other and I started to feel tense. The doctor poked and cleaned my cuts. That might have been the most painful part all of the scrubbing and tugging. Then he injected around the big cut some sort of numbing medicine... and the rest is kind of gross honestly. I looked for a bit but it wasn't very pretty. No need to tell you about it poetically I'm sure you can imagine. 

He ended up only giving me one stitch and wrapping up my leg. Then I just got up and walked out. No extra charge for the stitch yet...maybe when i go to get it out?

Next we went to the supermarket and bought the house milk, eggs, water, etc. I bought myself some chocolate I felt I earned it after such a long day. 

Next we went by Moira's house and I met her sister and mother. Moira wanted to pick up some food her mother prepared her and I sat in the living room while she packaged it up. Moria's mother was great. She gave me fresh squeezed orange juice with no sugar, pulp, or water added.

Then we hopped back in the taxi and went back to the house. 

Tonight I can take off the bandage. It really was pretty pleasant as far as hospital experiences go. No tears and only a moderate amount of blood. All in all not a bad african hospital trip.

The hospital paper work

My wrapped knee. 

It looks like a war wound.

That colored spot on the bandage is iodine not blood or infection just so no one freaks out.