Day 11 - Flex day

Hello everyone,

It's Manny coming through with the last input of the first cycle of posts. Today is Saturday, January 24, 2026, and day 11 in Tanzania (my day 7). I am excited for the day, not only because I finally gave my talk on toxic alcohols yesterday at the medical conference, but because of all the opportunities to do things without the pressure of having to. Some background of me, I am a first-year pharmacy resident at Woodwinds Hospital in Minnesota, and got my PharmD degree from Rutgers University in New Jersey.

 Our morning started with a typical breakfast from our amazing cook, which included sweet yams, eggs, bananas, meat pies, and more! This was a refreshing meal after a cool shower. Although I have the luxury of having the second room in the guest house to myself, I still struggle with getting hot water haha. 

The first journey of the day took us to the lab in Ilula where Emmanuel, the head of department, showed us his facility as well as new testing he is able to do. He was very excited to tell us about his Genesight machine. At the lab, we also had the opportunity to look at peripheral blood smears provided by Randy and learned of the 7 infectious diseases discoverable on peripheral smears. 

After leaving the lab, we took a walk over to Ilula Orphanage Program (IOP), where we were warmly welcomed and greeted by all the children in song and dance. This day we learned about how the program started, how sponsorship occurs, and how the facilities are run. Although this was a short tour, it was very informative and inspiring, as some of the graduates go on to do great things.

From the IOP, a few of us continued the journey on foot to the Ilula health center. This is a government-run facility that has an outpatient department as well as a maternity ward. We went to meet up with an old friend, Adilly, and go on a tour of the place. This day I learned that I actually may like hiking and that Air Force 1’s are NOT the shoes for it 🤣.

At the end of the IOP tour, our group was cut in half again, down to ⅓ , with the others headed back to Ilula with bajaji’s. This quest was for Yusra’s water bottle. It has been two days since Yusra has had happiness, and retrieving this water bottle might have been the highlight of her day. On the way to Adilly’s, we heard some thunder and saw dark clouds and we ended up in a Bajaji. At first, we were doubtful of the pending downpour, but as I like to say, the locals know best. A few moments later, we had a downpour of rain, which Cole, Yusra, Adilly, and I enjoyed from the front porch of the house. I thought this was much needed for Adilly’s home garden, which has avocados, mangoes, guava, beans, papaya, and more! 

During the rain, Adilly called what we THOUGHT was a bajaji, but shortly after the rain and a short walk, we met a hospital ambulance on the side of the road. So Cole, Yusra, and I took a bumpy, tight, ambulance ride home to Ilula hospital just in time for lunch (I definitely went airborne a couple of times lol). After lunch was chill time, where we sat together and shared stories from the day.

The last and final journey took us downtown to find a place to find a cool drink. This place was called the “Peace garden,” and we got local beer, soda, and their famous ginger drink. After hearing medical stories from everyone the midnight crew (Dr. Cole, Yusra, Tawa, and myself) went on our typical walk. Our walk lasted about an hour and we talked about THC and CBD. We must’ve dove too deep into the conversation because we ended up deep in the village/farmland with no way out. We ended up needing the help of a local to get back home and needed flashlights because of how dark it had gotten. That experience kind of summarizes the culture here of kindness and helpfulness.

Saturday was a great day.

Yours,

Manny