Mud hut medicine

SWMBO has the sound of Swahili about it don't you think?

You may be wondering that is a strange phase with which to open a blog post, however, when you appreciate that SWMBO has just returned from two weeks in Tanzania working for the relief organisation, Bridge2Aid, you will begin to see the relevance.

Twenty two dentists and support staff left London  on a torturous journey to Mwanza via Dar Es Salaam. There they stayed in a very pleasant hotel on the banks of Lake Victoria, much like the contestants do before entering the campsite on I'm a Celebrity. The next morning it was off in a truck for three hours to Gita which was to be their home for the next ten days.

Each morning they would get bused to their place of work, and there supervise the extraction of teeth from Tanzanian residents, be they business people, Masi tribesmen or villagers, some of whom had travelled on foot, over 100 kilometres to see the white doctor.

Poverty was endemic, and with Tanzania being one of the poorest African nations, the chances of regular dental treatment rest with the Bridge2 Aid teams providing not only a service, but on the job training for the nationals. Over 800 people were treated while the team was there, all under local anesthetic, on a dining room chair in a mud hut. Some dedication.

The hotel ran out of toilet paper, the power failed regularly and the water supply was intermittent, but the job got done and the volunteers were able to face the return trip, via Kilimanjaro in good spirits knowing that treacle toffee was back on the menu in Tanzania.