Last Day at KCMC

   Well, sadly, today was my last day. It's been an incredible experience and it's hard for me to believe it's over. The physicians and nurses here are dedicated, caring and a pleasure to work with- I hope I have a chance to come back in the near future. While I have seen and heard about unbelievably sad events (most significantly, women and babies who died of preventable causes), working here has made me hopeful that changes can and will be made to improve this. Yesterday, we attended a maternal mortality conference where all of the maternal deaths from the past 3 months were presented. While several patients were late referrals from outlying areas, they reported 11 over this short time period. While the only discussed 5 cases, it was heartbreaking to hear about the 20 year old who had died of eclampsia after she spent 7 hours having seizures at another hospital, among others- all young women and some of which would leave orphaned children behind. Hassan, the resident who presented the cases left with a quote at the end from an OB/GYN who worked for many years in Egypt; "This will never get better unless we decide that these women are lives worth saving." I know that the people I've worked with here believe this, now we just have to work on the rest of Tanzania (and much of the rest of the world).

I've included some of my favorite pictures from the month, but I'm excited for my next adventure... safari and Kilimanjaro with Jon. I'll post on this later... I hope you all listen to this song while you look at pictures (link). Yes, I'm aware that I'm nerdy.