LIONS AND ZEBRAS AND ELEPHANTS OH MY!

The sun is beginning to set. The ten foot grass reaches above the car as it whips into my face. The bright clay has begun to plaster on my arm. The car jumps up and down, up and down, as we go through the rough terrain. Then suddenly, as if out of midair, a lion crosses the Safari car. We stop dead in our tracks and watch as it disappears into the grass.

This weekend I went on a 3 day safari to the Mikumi national Park along with 9 other volunteers. It was a 5 hour drive from Dar to Mikumi and well worth every penny. The first day we went on a game drive and saw Zebras, Giraffes, Elephants, Impala, Wildebeest, and Hippos. The best was when were about five feet from a group of elephants.

Elephants in Mikumi National Park

After a five hour drive through the park, the sun began to set and we drove a few miles down the road to our hotel. Woke up early and returned to the park, this time with our hearts set on seeing a lion. However, this is very hard since they are probably one of the most stealth animals and blend in perfectly with the African grass. After driving for another five hours around the park looking at everything, we had given up. When all of a sudden, like I described above, a lion crossed the road! After this one we saw 3 more, getting within 10 feet of them!

We left and drove 2 hours to Udzungu national park. We checked in to our hotel and met our guide from the park, he took us to a small waterfall about 1/4 of a mile into the park. Then we walked 20 minutes down the road from the park entrance to visit the local village. This was so different from Dar. The people saw us and stared but no one tried to sell us anything or put us into their taxi. Instead the locals shouted "Mumbo!" and smiled as we toured. Small children ran through the streets behind us and the smell of roasting chicken filled the air. Now this is the Africa I envisioned. We returned to the hotel to have dinner. Our guide bought us a round of wine and Konyagi, a locally stilled gin that is very inexpensive but pleasant to drink. The wine was also from a local winery called Dudoma. It was nice treat to sit and enjoy the company of the 9 other volunteers. Our conversation always turns into comparing the different countries we represent, on this trip we had Denmark, United States, United Kingdom, Sweden, and Australia. We laughed and talked until we were all too exhausted.
The next morning we woke up early again to begin our day of hiking. We climbed 3.2 km to the top of the 500 foot Sanje Waterfall inside the national park. It felt truly amazing to stand and look out on the beauty of this country. I loved this hike especially because after spending the last three weeks feeling fairly distant and lost in the crowd, it was so amazing to feel at one with God and his beautiful creation.

We then hiked back down to the base of the waterfall and did some swimming and jumping off rocks. It was absolutely the best weekend of the summer so far.

I have experienced so much at the hospital these last two weeks as well. I wish everyday was spent as happy as I was standing on top of that waterfall but the reality is, work the last week was especially saddening. I was scheduled to work in the labor ward this past week. On monday I reported to the ward and dawned on my scrubs to prepare to help with the miracle of birth. My expectations were soon crushed when I realized the majority of the time in labor is spent sitting around waiting for the women to be ready. You would be sitting or checking dilation stages, feeling somewhat bored, and then the next five or six woman would all have their babies at once! But the standards of the hospital don't allow for all the woman to have ultrasounds, as they pay for them out of pocket. In the five hours I was in the labor ward, two babies were born with their cords wrapped around their head and were unable to breathe for too long. I have never been so sad so quickly. In america, they would have had an emergency Cesarian section birth and the babies would have been born completely health. As well another baby was born a month premature and his lungs were not developed enough. He entered the world only for a few moments before returning to our creator. As if this was heartbreaking enough, after the babies passed away, they were wrapped in their blankets and simply placed in a container that was kept under the weight station while their mothers recovered. I couldn't stand working there knowing this. I left the ward and excused myself to an early lunch. The next day was a lot of the same. By Wednesday I was too sad and couldn't face another day of labor. So I returned to the major theatre, surgical ward. I watched and helped assist in six surgeries. Right before we left for lunch though, a pregnant woman came to the surgical ward to have a Cesarian section birth after being in labor for 3 days.When the baby was pulled out, it was wrapped in its cord as well. After 2 of the longest moments of my life I watched as he took his first breathes and began to breathe on his own. I realized that this was something I could not run from or hide. Death is a natural part of this world and it hurts us who remain here after. But laying in bed that night I realized how amazing it was that these babies would never known the pain, sin, and evil that is in this world, they will only know the glory of God and the beauty of heaven.

To contrast all of this, I had the great pleasure to miss work on thursday to do a volunteer outreach day with the other Projects Abroad volunteers. One of the girls, Kiera, works at an orphanage about 30 minutes outside of Dar. We took her orphanage to the beach and it was the most rewarding experience I have had thus far. The kids didn't want anything from us other than our attention. They clung to me and were happy just being held. So we swam, ran, jumped, ate lunch, and basked in the sun. No language barrier could keep us from sharing joy together. This was the perfect way to start my long weekend on Safari and a great reminder as to why I came to here.