Lung of Darkness: a tale of tuberculosis
in tanzania

Sent Tom off to the airport this afternoon. Finished work yesterday after collecting the last of the 700 surveys and conducting our 33rd interview. The wick to departure is burning, so I’m focusing in on the the environment and chopping at the buddings of laziness before they can bloom into regrets.

Day 38.
Interviews. I’d elaborate on these, but the film will capture everything much better than I can here.

Day 39.
Tea and cereal, Walden and pool-lounging, bit of computer work, Broken Social Scene nap on the balcony (and I’m Feeling Good Lost), local pub, dinner. Then followed some bongo flava cutting through the night shrubs to a park of a pub, complete with plastic tables dotting a big field, a palm-covered bar, and a swingset. Sat under the stars and watched a huge bar fight and a blazing trash fire. Headed to the beach to soak in the shadow-casting moonlight and get some good trip reflection in under the stars. There really is something to being outdoors for the better part of the day.

Day 40.
Shot out of bed, showered, and put on my Sunday best for church with Tom. A crazy time, complete with a woman crying out, falling to the floor, and being saved. Met the congregation post-service and were invited to a man’s house for lunch. Met his wife and sons and heard their stories. The man, Dr. Wilfred, has been a doctor for 20 years now and works 7 days a week, yet he shares a 4-bedroom house with 2 other families. It has no electricity and it’s about to be torn down by the government to make way for coastal tourism/business development. After filling us up with coke and rice, he and his son walked us home. Good people. Spent the rest of the day hitchhiking south on lumber trucks to see the countryside. Soaked it all in.

Day 41.
A night with our Tanzanian friend, hitting a Chinese restaurant and learning about Tanzanian politics. The father of the country, Mwalimu (teacher) Julius Nyerere, wasn’t even literate, and the country is still feeling his lack of support for formal education. Even most college professors here don’t know correct English, and many of them try to teach in it. Spent the better part of the night’s end on a cruise around Kariakoo, the city’s center of homelessness and drug addiction, to take it all in.

Day 42.
A day of work. A mellow night. Not much to report.

Day 43.
Up at 5:15 and cooked a big breakfast to fire our spirits up. A daladala-exhaust-gulp drive to the countryside to finish up work there. Ended the day with our final meeting with the doctors at PATH and a night of pizza and Tanzania-rules caps back at the house.

Day 44.
Breakfast back at the health ministry for new stress-free times sake and our final interview at a private Muslim hospital. Got busted for filming the lobby by a rogue Tanzanian-shiite-born, Israeli-jew-converted security guard who threatened to take our tape of interviews before asking if I was Jewish, then shaking my hand and saying Shalom and letting us off the hook. A real power-tripping nut. Later received apologies from the hospital authorities and the head of security, who had no idea who this guy was. Back across the ferry for a waterfront dinner, where we had a theft scare and bailed.

Day 45.
Went to town this morning to send Tom off. Came home and I took a walk around the neighborhood. I hadn’t thought to go down the back road before, which opened up into a huge farmscape. A big surprise and a lot of great people. Got invited into two homes, but passed; just in the mood to walk, which I did. One of those days that I wish I had more time to spend here. Still looking forward to being home though.