I am going to tell a little about the beginnings of the hospital here, you can pass it by if you want to, but I find the whole thing quite amazing and I don't want to forget anything.

In 1954, Dr. Olson and his wife were missionaries and wanted to start a hospital in Haydom, they picked Haydom because of the central location. The Tanzanian government approved, but only if it was written in the hospital mandate they help the surrounding community. At that time there was one family living there, and there is now a community of 20,000 (into in the village next door, but in the general area) and the hospital serves a catchment area that has 250,000. Dr. Olson's son took over eventually, and he just passed away recently and now HIS son, the third Dr. Olson (who was born here, in this very settlement) has now become the new director. The family was originally from Norway, and thus there are a lot of Norwegian ties to Haydom. Mama Kari (the elderly lady we met on arrival, the present Dr Olson's mother) recently received an Order from the King of Norway for her charitable work here.

After breakfast on our first day, we were asked to join the morning devotions, which they do daily and it's a small sermon, then the introduction of any guests and then any pertinent announcements are made. This morning there was a member of parliament, 4 members of the Norwegian Embassy and us. Plus about 150 "regulars", staff and employees and anyone else who wished to join.

The hospital is a training school for nurses and they (the student nurses) also sing each morning and I cannot tell you how amazing their voices are, they sing only accompanied by the beat of a drum, and it gave me goosebumps to listen to their voices soar. The Member of Parliament was visibly moved as well, as was wiping tears from his eyes. I have always loved the sounds of African music, and to be actually in Africa, hearing it, well, it was quite overwhelming. I could not believe that these were not professionals. Everyone sings here as they work and walk around and every single one of them has an incredible voice.

Then Dr Olson gave us a very complete tour of the hospital and the grounds and I have to say, I have never seen a more astounding and inspiring place in my life. The hospital is actually a collection of buildings all in one compound, it's walled and gated (the walls have broken glass bottles embedded all around, just as a precaution, there isn't much crime, but it does happen sometimes. I will describe it all tomorrow as my fingers are falling off just now.