We spent all day today working in the Kisarawe District Hospital, fixing up two oxygen concentrators. It took the majority of the morning, but the hospital was so grateful to have them up and running as they were really needed in the maternity ward and the Women's Ward 4.
We took an unexpected break in the afternoon due to a power outage throughout the village, but luckily for us it only lasted about an hour. Wilson explained that the power outages come randomly, and they can last anywhere from 2-5 hours, to a whole day.
In the afternoon, the hospital had asked us to look at the mortuary refrigerator, as five out of six body sections were out of order. (Yes, this freaked me out, and yes, I did ask multiple times to make sure there were no bodies in the fridge before we went in the mortuary!!) We just got a peek though, because the hospital director found the operating manual and wanted us to wait on that before attempting any repairs. Apparently some engineering technician had tried to work on it before and only made it worse...
We had another power outage later afternoon around 4PM, this one for about an hour and a half. Even the hospital apparently has no backup generator or other power source in case of emergency. We had a light dinner as well since no power also means no food, so we supplemented with fresh fruit from the village market! It was a beautiful night, and you can see so many stars when then night is clear. Also, fun fact, since we're below the equator, the moon looks different. It's flipped, and tonight looked exactly like a smiley face!
The plan for tomorrow is to head to another regional hospital, but everything here is depending on the weather, since we're still at the end of the rainy season and unexpected showers can make it hard to drive on the clay roads.
But, all in all, we had a really successful day and were so glad that we were able to fix both the oxygen concentrators!!
Cheers from TZ,
~Irene
