Car of Team Tana Netting breaks down in Tanzania

May 21, the day after they visited the project in Kakamega, Team Tana Netting Against Malaria drove off to Musoma, at lake Victoria. They passed the border of Tanzania and entered the beautiful green mountains of the Swahili people. On their way to the camp site one of the cars broke down. On a steep hill they waited until the boys fixed the car, which had problems with the differential. As the sun goes down, soldiers arrive to protect the convoi because apparently local tribes and rebels have had some problems in the past. Young men pass the teams to go home after school or work. As Laura is sitting on a chair she held a young girl who was shivering all over, but the night was warm. She appears to have malaria, her father told me, and is supposed to go to the doctor the next day. Laura gives her bananas and water and realizes that there is nothing you can do, apart from prevent this stage by distributing the nets we carry. It motivates Team Tana Netting to explain as many people possible how to use the net. They give the little girl’s father one malaria net and tell him how to maintain and use it.

The next day they drove towards the Serengeti park with all the cars. The next coming days everyone is amazed by all the beautiful wild animals. After some hours of hippo hunting, they arrive in the southern part of the park. Apparently Liz and Laura bought an old map of the park, with loads of nonexistent roads. Heading back to the campsite driving on one of these roads, they suddenly got 2 flat tires! Panic! After recovering from this shock, Liz and Laura realized that they carried only 1 spare tire and no jack (which was stolen in Nairobi). They did not have signal to call their friends and realized to be out in the wild, not knowing what to do. They decided to sit on the roof to catch some more signal and successfully reached team mini Babybel. After 4 hours of waiting, they suddenly appeared out of nowhere just before dusk. After this adventure, they repaired and replaced the tires the next day. They drove off towards the Ngorongoro crater and had lunch In a beautiful Wildlife lodge, overseeing the crater. That night they camped in Arusha, where Liz and Laura replaced the rest of the tires to be safe and sure we arrive in Cape Town. The rest of the cars were fixed in the local garage on the campsite so we were ready for the rest of the journey. The next day they drove off to Mullers Lodge, close to Mombo high in the Mountains.

The next stop was Mikumi national park, after which they drove to Malawi. On their way there they saw so many health posts, VCT’s and malaria prevention posts. Local people are so interested what projects Liz and Laura do and what Tana Netting is. They demonstrate with a net the use of the malaria nets and tell them about the project in Kakamega. Having arrived in Chitimba, Malawi, Liz and Laura have some days to rest, think and write.