Mr James' good deed

After receiving a grant of 1.2 million shillings from the Tanzanian Development Trust, my neighbour James, a biomedical scientist/VSO volunteer, was able to organise a series of outreach visits to local villages to test residents for HIV. Having nothing better to do on a Saturday morning in the African bush, I tagged along. Before we went, permission to attend had to be sought from the village elders. Early in the morning stocked up with test kits, lab equipment, HIV counsellors, student medics and a couple of people who needed lifts along the way, we set off. This time we went to the village of Ndawa - only 15km away but a 90 minute drive along sandy tracks into the bush.

On arriving we were introduced to the village elder and given a tour of the school. Later, after setting up in the meeting house and preparing the equipment for testing we awaited willing volunteers. Part of the package was a drum to announce our arrival and encourage participants but sadly today the drum was late.

Ndawa Village school

The Village Elder

The adult rate of HIV in Tanzania is 5.1% which has fallen in recent years. 1.6 million people in the country live with HIV; 230,000 of whom are children. Condom use is low and whilst 48% of women have a comprehensive knowledge of HIV, only 43% of men can say the same. Many misconceptions about the cause, treatment and so-called "cure" for HIV still exist, leading to many dangerous practices and abuses of young girls, in particular. Today, 56 people were tested and received counselling on preventing the disease. Whilst outreach clinics are invaluable for reaching the communities far from hospital based HIV clinics, the question remains whether those who suspect themselves to be infected actually come forward for testing. Over the 2 days of outreach this weekend, 100% of people tested were negative for HIV.

Leading by example and getting tested for HIV

By the afternoon the flow of patients had reduced and we had a look around the village. Some of the group wanted to buy chickens. A couple of hours later having found a man happy to sell his birds and an entertaining time watching them being chased through a corn field, a fair price had been negotiated and the 3 cockerels were trussed up and thrown in the back of the hospital 4x4. It was time to head home dropping off the passengers, counsellors and chickens along the way.

Our driver took a diversion on the way back and we ended up at Namupa; home of Namupa Seminary. The Head Teacher of the boys' school took great pride in showing this unexpected group of visitors around his school which involved looking in every classroom, dorm room and staff room on all 4 floors. The chemistry lab was a nostalgic throw-back to the 1970's, with Bunsen burners right next to the caustic chemicals. No health and safety regulations in force here.

The view from the top of the Seminary

The next day, I watched one of the chickens turned into dinner. Nothing went to waste - liver, heart, testes, stomach, feet, all went into the pot. Only the intestines and lungs are thrown away. An interesting piece of information I gathered in addition to how to kill your own dinner - chickens don't have kidneys (they never pee).