Meeting our Host Families
Last Wednesday was the first day we met our host families. These families, like the rest of the Zanzibari people, are very welcoming and want us to feel like Zanzibar is our home. We shared Iftar with them and are treated as their own children. Maya happens to have the same host mother as Jasmine, our guide, had the previous summer. Sara is now part of a very large, multigenerational family who live in a three-story home. Maya and Sara live very close to one another in the Vuga section of Stone Town. About ten minutes away, Jared lives in the Kikwajuni region. His host mother is a midwife and works for JHPIEGO, so hopefully she will continue to help us as we learn more about maternal health.
Thus far, she has told us about some of the problems that prevalent in the local health system. She recalled a story where she was taking care of a woman who came in for an emergency, and in order to treat the woman she had to run to the store and purchase razors with her own money. She also has noticed that some Zanzibari doctors who are trained very well will leave and practice in a country that pays doctors better. This is an unfortunate trend referred to as “Brain Drain” and takes place in many developing countries. The most shocking story was about the major referral hospital, Mnazi Mmoja. She told us that people would come into the hospital and steal babies until security guards were hired. We are excited to spend more time with our families and become more in touch with the local culture.
