The power still hasn’t come on as we expected it to last night. Paula thinks that a transformer or something broke and of course in Tanzania it would be completely taboo to work on a Sunday so hopefully they are getting us back online now. Without power there really isn’t a whole lot I can do. I’m supposed to build a grill for our 4th of July party this weekend with all the other American missions in around Mwanza so there’s a chance I’ll be getting my hands dirty.
Three more medical students are leaving today and three others are coming back from Zanzibar so a trip to town is going to be necessary. I think I’ll ride along since I read in my last newspaper that there would be an article about the Mwanzan economy in the Sunday paper (It takes a day for the paper to reach Mwanza from Dar es Salaam). Later on in the day…
I went to town around 10:00 and dropped off the three med students at the airport. They are flying 540 Airline which is supposed to be a bit risky since they are planes assembled from the scraps of fuselages that no longer meet European and FAA standards. Can’t say I’d risk that for the $30 savings. The airline industry here is dominated by Precision Air and Kenya Airways for nice, safe travel and then there are a few “discount airlines.” There is one particular airline that only has two planes now, down from the 26 it had four years ago as a result of their addiction to crashes. We picked up the three from Zanzibar and had lunch at the same place I went when I arrived in Mwanza. 
After lunch we went to the U-Turn convenience store to stock up on supplies since the owners will be gone for a religious festival in Dar next week. I was able to get my paper and our new friend Titu (we met him at the Hotel Tilapia) came over to say hello. Our next errand was the central market. Unfortunately my stomach was feeling a little heavy after lunch and I’m afraid I might be getting sick.
At the market a rude little kid kept following us around. My Swahili is still not good but I knew enough to hear the boy say, “Give me money now!” I told him no. So for the rest of the time in the market he followed us and kept looking in our baskets. Unlike the other boys there that would ask to carry our bags for money this little brat just kept on demanding we pay him. He followed us out to the car where the others were waiting. The boy asked them and I told them not to give him anything since he was so rude. We loaded up the groceries, got in the car, and drove away to a 7 year old bot giving us the Beverly Hillbillies’ Californian Howdy. The evening was rather uneventful. I was still feeling sick so I took a nap, woke up for dinner where I was able to eat a few pieces of toast, and then we had hot chocolate for desert. Time for bed.
I don't have any cool pictures from the day but I wanted to show you all these two of our milkman and the way we get our milk in Tanzania. Definitely not like going to Wal-Mart. Also there are a couple of pictures from around the clinic.
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