Today was our first real day in Arusha, and having the full team in place. We will have three sub teams – one for each campus. Jen is is with the littlies, and I go to the high school campus about 20 kilometres from the Moshono campus where we are staying.
Each team includes two medical practitioners, a nurse, an eye specialist and an other- that would be me or Jen. It feels very safe to be in this group, because just about everything is covered. The medicos include a public health specialist, a surgeon, a medical academic, a GP, an infection disease specialist and a former dentist. The real work starts tomorrow and will likely be a steep learning curve for us. It us uplifting to see the altruism of these people.
This morning we had a guided your of the primary school at Moshono, but with children absent, being a Sunday.
The school is set amid banana plantations and the area is quite densely populated. The little lane from the school to the main road is about 800 metres, but you seem to pass about a dozen small farms. We have not yet walked to the road yet, as we have been in the school bus, but there is a constant flow of people, bikes, push carts, motorbikes. Even the odd car.
This afternoon we took a drive down to Shanga Shangaa a few kilometers on the other side of Arusha. The drive was fairly confronting, quite apart from the chaotic roads, traffic and driving behaviours that would be typical of third world countries. It reminded me how much we take for granted, and how we accept that “normal” is our what we see day to day in Canberra.
What was confronting was the living conditions, and how people try to eke out a living by trading things, growing a few vegetables: nothing is wasted and everything is fixable, sort of. The bikes, cars and trucks all sound they run on 3 cylinders, but at least they run. Mind you, for all the squalor of the homes, the citizens seem remarkably neat, especially the women and children who dress in the mist beautiful, clean and bright clothing

Shanga was a bit of an oasis. Lush green lawns and comfortable garden furniture, waiters serving champagne and punch. Shanga is also a community of craftspeople, all with disabilities, who make jewellery, glassware, woven things. Real artists. So we were content that the hospitality was supporting this group if worthy and needy people who otherwise would really struggle in this society.
Tomorrow, I go to the senior campus.I am hoping for some pictures of Mount Kilimanjaro which is not too far from the school, and mount Meru, closer to Arusha and I think Tanzania’s second highest mountain.
I can’t believe it is 2130 and I am in bed. I guess in “real” time it is pretty close to my bedtime. I will post this in the morning. 

Night everyone!