Day 48

Foster Moms

Baby Ramadan, whose actual name is Suleman, is now living at the compound with us. He needs round the clock care and we happily obliged. 

His little heart is doing the best it can but his future is shaky at best. There is only one pediatric cardiology clinic in all of Tanzania, and it's not within driving distance. We're all doing the best we can given the circumstances but there are still so many unanswered questions. 

We also couldn't ignore the fact that today is the Fourth of July! Ali and I made homemade chili and corn bread, which both turned out delicious. The corn bread took forever to bake, but that's probably to be expected when you are forced to rely on a toaster oven. I also bought ingredients to bake brownies for dessert but we were all too full. Oh well, something to look forward to tomorrow!

Happy Fourth of July everyone! 

XOXO,

Amanda

Day 47

Somehow, we did it. 

We didn't get to bed last night until around 2am. We also ran out of printer paper, and still needed to find a pharmacy willing to sell us Misoprostol at a price that didn't make us feel sick to our stomach.

Frank picked me up at 7:30am this morning to go to Arusha and he was on time, a very pleasant surprise! The first pharmacy I attempted to buy Misoprostol at was still closed, as were the next two we tried. We also had to go to three different stationary shops before finding paper. I had wanted to be back by 9:00, but at 9:30 I was still in Arusha, hadn't found a pharmacy with Misoprostol, and our meeting was set to begin at 10:00. 
Cue the anxiety.
Frank convinced me to let him try one more pharmacy and it paid off. They were open, had Misoprostol, and for some reason agreed to sell it to me for a real bargain. I made it back by 9:50 and we quickly printed what we needed to start the meeting, left Ashley to finish it up, and headed for the hospital. We were counting on head nurse Mama Sarah to translate for us but I guess she decided to take the day off.

Awesome.

Dr. Bakari wasn't thrilled he had to translate but he ended up doing a really amazing job. Once again, the chai was late and the food even later. When our meeting finished around 12:30, the chai was cold and the food didn't arrive till 2:00!

In the end though, everything worked out. We had 43 traditional birth attendants and they all left with two doses of Misoprostol. I'm still unsure of how this project progressed so quickly and a little overwhelmed by its potential. I have been talking about this amazing opportunity since March and it's finally happened. The traditional births attendants are equipped to administer Misoprostol in an attempt to reduce postpartum hemorrhage and I am part of the reason precious lives will be saved.
That's pretty darn cool if you ask me.

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I don't have any updates on baby Ramadan but we're all keeping a close eye on him until we know what's next. We may also be adding another newborn to the orphanage tomorrow. We won't know till we get to Moshi, but we are told there is an abandoned baby there who needs a new home. 

XOXO,

Amanda