Flying to Tanzania tomorrow.
I am looking forward to this trip with more insight than the last but with just as much excitement.

I just packed my melarone, so it reminded me to look up how very common Malaria is in Tanzania. Ukewere is right in the middle of red zone. Kilema is in the yellow because of its height on kilimanjaro. The predominant species is Plasmodium falciparum, the most dangerous of the four species of human malaria. Malaria causes an estimated 2.7 million deaths per year, most occurring in Africa. Ninety percent of the world's malaria cases occur in Africa. Chloroquine resistance is widespread. Outbreaks are being reported in locations thought to be at elevations too high for transmission. This may be due to climatic change or human migration. Also, malaria has resurged in certain locations that had previously had effective control programs, such as Zanzibar. Malaria occurs in more in poor districts but itself causes a major burden on health and economic resources impoverishing further the community. This truly vicous cycle must be broken.
Tanzania Population:40.2 million

Life expectancy at birth:50 years(male), 53 (female)

Population at risk of malaria 93%

Under-5 mortality rate:112/1000, or approximately 1 in 6 children
This disease is responsible for more than one-third of deaths among children under age 5

In 2000, 55 percent of hospital admissions in under-five children were due to malaria.

Up to 80 percent of Tanzania's malaria deaths occur among these children.

http://www.malarianomore.org/about/index.php

The Net NeedLong-lasting insecticide-treated nets (LLINs)
Total Nets Needed to Reach Universal Coverage Before the End of 2010 21,434,584
Total Nets Needing to Be Replaced Before the End of 2010 93,000
Total Nets Pledged (not necessarily delivered)to End of 2010 19,608,199
Net Gap 1,919,385

note sister clarrissa has my hand in hers and her cell (ring tone "red red wine") in the other.

United Republic of Tanzania Facts from BBC web page
Population: 41.5 million (UN, 2008)
Capital: Dodoma (official), Dar es Salaam (commercial)
Area: 945,087 sq km (364,900 sq miles)
Major languages: English, Swahili
Major religions: Christianity, Islam
Life expectancy: 51 years (men), 54 years (women) (UN)
Monetary unit: 1 Tanzanian shilling = 100 cents
Main exports: Sisal, cloves, coffee, cotton, cashew nuts, minerals, tobacco
GNI per capita: US $400 (World Bank, 2007)
Internet domain: .tz
International dialling code: +255

HISTORY>
1498 - Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama visits Tanzanian coast.
1506 - Portuguese succeed in controlling most of the East African coast.
1699 - Portuguese ousted from Zanzibar by Omani Arabs.
1884 - German Colonisation Society begins to acquire territory on the mainland.
1886 - Britain and Germany sign an agreement allowing Germany to set up a sphere of influence over mainland Tanzania, except for a narrow piece of territory along the coast which stays under the authority of the sultan of Zanzibar, while Britain enjoys a protectorate over Zanzibar.
1905-06 - Indigenous Maji Maji revolt suppressed by German troops.
1916 - British, Belgian and South African troops occupy most of German East Africa.
1919 - League of Nations gives Britain a mandate over Tanganyika - today's mainland Tanzania.
1929 - Tanganyika African Association founded.
1946 - United Nations converts British mandate over Tanganyika into a trusteeship.
1954 - Julius Nyerere and Oscar Kambona transform the Tanganyika African Association into the Tanganyika African National Union.
1961 - Tanganyika becomes independent with Julius Nyerere as prime minister.
1962 - Tanganyika becomes a republic with Nyerere as president.
1963 - Zanzibar becomes independent.
1964 - Sultanate of Zanzibar overthrown by Afro-Shirazi Party in a violent, left-wing revolution; Tanganyika and Zanzibar merge to become Tanzania.
1967 - Nyerere issues the Arusha Declaration, which calls for egalitarianism, socialism and self-reliance.
Present President: Jakaya Kikwete

Time is speeding by andI am leaving Calgary on 21st january (Rosie's birthday! she is such a sport). I am not travelling with the group because I can get a direct flight from Calgary to heathrow and so just 2 flights to tanzania and also allows me to stop in on my parents in England on the way back without extra cost. The rest of the group including Michelle , Chris and others leave Montreal on the 22nd I believe. I will miss some of the camaraderie that travelling together brings.

Kristina and the next kilema mission leave Montreal 2 weeks later.I will be at kilema for the first week of that caravan.

My plans for future caravans at the moment are to go again in October. However there may be more need for a surgeon on the fall trip to Uganda. I will have to see how the wind blows when I am back. As I found out when you think of plans to suit yourself they can fall through. But somehow everything does work out for the best.

Happy New Year