There are a lot of medical needs in Tanzania....battling tropical diseases, addressing the climbing birth rate, treating patients with meningitis, TB, and of course, AIDS. There are some very well-equipped privately funded clinics, but most of the public hospitals and clinics are struggling with minimum supplies. We had a few suitcases full of gauze bandages, hypodermic needles, sterile gloves and other supplies we had collected. We took the jeeps to a number of small clinics during the week and delivered what we could...
One of the pastors, Pastor Timba, has a heart for handicapped and injured children. He brought Sandy and Megan to visit some families with kids with special needs.
It touched their hearts to see a little boy with a severe snake bite and another with cerebral palsy who sat in a chair or bed all day. Not only were we able to bless these families with a Swahili Bible, some clothes, blankets, rice, sugar, corn, beans, and mosquito nets, but also gave money towards some mattresses, medical care for the snake bite, and a wheelchair for the boy with cerebral palsy.
We still had a few more suitcases of medical supplies to deliver, so we made a visit to the Karatu Hospital. We had an eye-opening tour of this small hospital on the edge of town. The drive was up another dirt road.....how patients get there was beyond my understanding. There certainly are no ambulances.
They do the best they can with what they have. The dispensary lacks the basics....a shortage of gauze bandages. They had two x-ray machines, but one was broken. The only washing machine was fueled by a wood fire. Sheets were dried in the sun.
We visited the maternity ward where new mothers were nursing their new babies or waiting to deliver. We prayed for many of them, and then went to the nursery where even women from the Maasai tribe were patients. It was sad, though, that new mothers who had lost their babies were in the same ward as those with new babies. The sadness in their faces broke our hearts.
There are only a few doctors and overworked nurses, but they are dedicated and caring. There are no meals prepared for the patients; families must bring them. It is a bare-bones operation. We brought in gauze bandages, hypodermic needles and other donated medical supplies, which were received with grateful smiles.
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