An adventure awaits...

Dear family, friends, fellow adventurers and other interested readers: Thank you for visiting my travel blog and hopefully following my Tanzania adventure during the next three months.

My adventure started when I contacted a friend in February 2018. She had previously spent her summer at the Chronic Disease Clinic (CDCI) in Ifakara, Tanzania, the destination of my medical internship. The CDCI is a part of the St. Francis Referral Hospital and delivers care to HIV patients in three districts surrounding Ifakara. Care for comorbidities in HIV and tuberculosis are also part of CDCI.

Where is Ifakara?

What sparked my interest to work and live in a third world country was mainly my love for the exploring of new cultures, peoples and nature. Medically speaking I was always fascinated by infectious diseases, more specifically by tropical diseases. Another point of interest for me is the lack of some and therefore very rare use of technologically advanced medical equipment. I was always intrigued by the thought of diagnosing and examining a patient by relying on medical knowledge and experience in contrast to a full-body scan or expensive testing.

I applied directly to the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute which supports and funds the Project in Ifakara. I had the pleasure to meet with the Director of the Institute, Prof. Jürg Utzinger, Head of the Departement of Medicine, Prof. Daniel Paris, and the Senior Project Leader, PD Dr. Maja Weisser, who introduced me to the German doctor in Ifakara, Dr. Anna Eichenberger.

As they recommended to stay at least for 3 months, I set my internship from the 11th of May to the 6th of August. Anna helped me organize accommodation, explained visa requirements and provided me with all-round tips for an "Africa-beginner" like myself.

After finishing my last internship in the capital of Switzerland, I am now preparing for this exciting new chapter for the coming days. My day of departure will be the 8th of May and I will spend my first two days in Dar es Salaam, the biggest city in Tanzania, before catching the express train to Ifakara on the 10th of May.

Although naturally some nervousness keeps creeping in the back of my mind, I can hardly contain my enthusiasm to be living and working in Tanzania soon and I am positive that I will make experiences for a lifetime.