On Monday, July 15…
The challenges I faced only one month ago regarding the start of my research feel like a year ago after all of the positive experiences I have had. Tanzanian generosity is contagious, and it shows not only in all of the locals in Arusha, but also in the expats who have moved mountains to help me make my time here productive and insightful. I connected with a doctor here who trained in the US but grew up all over the world in a missionary family. He has now dedicated his time to construct the best NICU in Tanzania and train doctors here in pediatrics, tropical medicine, infectious disease, and everything in between. Shadowing his work in the hospital has been an invaluable supplement to the information I learned in my interviews with locals, as I get to observe his interactions with the Tanzanian doctors first-hand.
Over the next few weeks I hope to interview these local doctors to learn more about their perceptions of working with foreign doctors. As I expected with the nature of anthropological research, I have learned some things about what I specifically came looking for, but I have also learned more about what people in Tanzania are truly passionate about. While this is a difficult adjustment for someone who is very type A, like me, it is an important adjustment to make so that I can learn about the true perceptions of medicine here. I am very thankful people are willing to talk to me and share their stories, which have been very helpful for my research.