Return to a Dream

 Tanzania has a peice of my heart.

It has been more than a decade since I have been on African soil. The first time I came to Tanzania, I was fresh out of undergraduate school, and undecided on life direction. This trip, I am established in my career as a certified orthotist prosthetist, and am arriving with new eyes.

The last week here in Tanzania, I have relished existing in a learning mindset, following along with Tanzanian medical professionals and my peer professionals from the United States.

Yesterday felt like a day curated for me. I and several others visited the Regional Hospital in Iringa. I and Cait splintered off from the group to tour the rehabilitation unit and orthotic and prosthetics lab!

It was such a distinct shift of energy, for me.

I got to "talk shop" with the Tanzanians for the first time. I got to talk to African peers who invest in the same profession as me, strive to provide the same patient experience as me, celebrate the same patient successes as me and struggle with the same patient care struggles as me.
We discussed clinical strategies for specific diagnoses, material preferences for different devices, troubleshooting for poor compliance.
Stark difference came only in the form quantity, ease of access to supplies facility conditions.

Instantly, I could newly relate to my fellow professional travelers. There is something truly ineffable in sharing time and space, in a foreign land, collaborating about something you are passionate about.

It is such fun to share the spark of shared interest. The spark has more energy when you find it across the world.

Ideas, goals, visions and hopes began to grow in that moment. Contact information was shared.

Engaging with the welcoming community in and around the Illula Hospital has been magic. More adventures to come.

Lala salama,
Katelyn