June 16, 2010

Greetings from Africa. Roz and I spent 4 days in Moshi, Tanzania about 10 days ago. There are 2 wheel-chair projects there funded by the LDS Church. The three photographs are from Moshi.
Moshi, Tanzania is at the foot of Mount Kilimanjaro (photograph), the highest mountain in Africa (5,895 m or 19,341 ft). The mountain is among the tallest freestanding mountains in the world. Ernest Hemingway's short story,"The Snows of Kilimanjaro" was first copyrighted in 1936. I am reading it now.
Roz and I toured the TATCOT center (Tanzania Training Centre for Orthopaedic Technologists) where they make wheelchairs and prosthetic devices. The center is associated with Tumaini University, Kilimanjaro Christian Medical College. I am seen in the picture along with Elder and Sister Dow (Elder Dow is a retired Dentist from California). You can see the prosthetic legs that are being manufactured. A portion of Dean Shangali is shown. He is head of Prosthetics and Orthotics at the University.
We made a visit with CCBRT (Comprehensive Community Based Rehabilitation of Tanzania) and Motivation, Inc. to the home of a wheelchair recipient. The organization (CCBRT) working with Motivation, Inc. helps children with cerebral palsy (CP), spina bifida and spinal cord injuries. This picture shows the young boy with CP, his mother on the far right and two wheel-chair experts who are measuring the boy and his wheel-chair. The home is well off the beaten-path, back in the bush. I don't think I have ever seen a boy smile as much as he did. He was overjoyed for the entire 30 minutes of our visit. Hope all is well.
Regards,
John
P.S. I hope you all appreciate what you have in the U.S. and Europe.