Did The DAR ES SALAAM SERENA HOTEL Staff Just SAVE My Life?

Picture me going caveman on a traditional plateful of freshly cooked spinach, onion and tomatoes relish, to be chased down my throat by a steaming hot handful of Ugali (pap, shima, sadza) and a succulent delicate piece of soft white meat coming from the footlong freshwater Tilapia fish ?? stew ?? having dinner with a business associate this week in Nairobi, #Kenya ???? AND YES its perfectly ?? OK to have a business dinner meet where you eat with your washed ???? #I ??Africa

This dinner takes place as I am living that #LinkedInLife and as life has brought to a screeching holt my overly ambitious six weeks, six countries cross Africa business trip! That darned Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) ?? has shown it's bad manners and disrupted everything for everyone. God save us!

#ThanksMom #ThanksDad @BigUpYourSelf

Its important that you understand that there are three location timelines in this short narrative, and that the present Nairobi, Kenya ???? timeline context of this post is that I not yet at home (home being Dublin, Ireland ???? these days), reminiscing about a time when I worked our of Dares Salaam, Tanzania ???? ... did I lose you there?

But be before we get into that - co-contributors to my moment of epiphany and self awareness would be my parents who raised us to respectfully call our domestic house-help/maid either Auntie or Sisi (short for Sister) ...you will see why this shout-out matters later

So picture a younger, dapper, veraciously inquisitive Stewart working out of Dar es Salaam (BTW host to some of the nicest people in Africa), which is fondly associated with heaven and is known as the "Place of Peace" but in Dec/Jan/Feb its temperatures can sure give Hell a run for its money ??luckily this story takes place in a cool temperature month.

So the "business trip" took me several times between Dar es Salaam and Zanzibar ?????????♂? (true story, why lie... you jealous?) and once upon returning from a working weekend in Stone Town (add that to your bucket list), I arrived in Dar es Salaam by the speedy ferry ??service off the coast of East Africa not feeling like myself. I was picked up by the hotel taxi and whisked to the hotel in record time as I was already leaking bucket loads of sweat on a, not so, hot day. The strange thing is, I could only ZERO IN in the pain to what I thought felt was in my tooth ... ??

How Comes? How Now? How Far? Mara Why? Ag, man!

Anyway I digress, the long and short of it is that I asked the affable Concierge if I could go and see a local Dentist and get my tooth taken care of. He took one long tinder-like-look at me, looking deep into my eyes, my drooping lips, flustered and deflated cheeks, the sweat springing from my forehead, licked his lips and said emphatically ... "YOU HAVE MALARIA!"

I M P O S S I B L E

I am African, Son of The Soil, OG with no GMO, I protested; I have lived in 6 African countries, and was born malaria free I said to deaf ears.

Damn those Mosquitoes ??

We argued about it as I was adamant that it was a toothache ?? and he insisted that it was Malaria. Anyway he arranged a hotel car ?? ??to take me to the local hospital, which turned to be swift, professional, and pleasant experience as the lady doctor ?? confirmed that I had malaria from the blood tests! I was to be hospitalised and medicated (injected by what looked more like a plunger-with-a-needle, the kind they would use for injecting rhinos ?? or whales ??) three times a day!

After a few moment's of using the last remaining ebbs my powers of persuasion I opted out of being hospitalised choosing to return to the hotel (duh no brainer) and promising to come for the jabs three times a day.

Back at the Dar es Salaam Serena Hotel word soon spread that there was a pleasant mannered, ill but stubborn frequent guest in the hotel who would trudge through reception unashamedly three times a day in a morning gown and slippers and go out for the prodding injection and wincingly waddle past reception again a couple of minutes later...much to the awe of other business guests and surprisingly with no applause ?????♂?.

Now I don't know if you have ever had malaria, I am no drama queen BUT ........all I can tell you is that my healing process was excruciatingly painful with bouts of lucid hallucinations, cold sweats, delirium dreams, thirst, cramps, and other unpleasantness ????

#RelationshipsMatter

The Housekeepers adopted me as one of their own brother, child, father, uncle, cousin ... I don't know but all I know is that that treated me like family. Checking in on me, changing sheets multiple times (from the sweat ?? ??... not what you are thinking ???? ) , making sure that I ate, recommending healthy meals, shakes, smoothies and vegetables that the kitchen could make for me to get my strength back. #ShutOut to the kitchen staff! And so it was in unison that this collective mass of strangers came together to look after me in those six days, from the doorman, to the room service staff, and especially the house-keepers who event went to the extent of getting me a beautiful white quilted and embossed blanket from the Presidential Suite so that I could be comfortable (hope I did not get anyone in trouble with that bit).

That quilted blanket was so beautiful, soft, gentle and precious that I can feel its texture right now as I type this story... aaaah! Its a good thing that I had the moral compass not to pack the quilt into my bag as the zip on my ?? bag would not close ??

I mentioned my parents and upbringing earlier because I believe that before I got sick, ?? ... I treated the doorman, waiters, front office, housekeeping staff with dignity and respect as I was raised and instilled with the values of #respect as a child and that through my tiny/natural instinctive moments of finding a common denominator with these people of service, that are otherwise ignored by others, that I endeared myself to them. Hence the shout-out to my mom's and pop's ??

To cut an already long story a bit shorter I survived the ordeal and lived to tell the tale. BUT it would be remise of me not to call out and shout out my manager at the time, #Andreas ?? ???????? who managed for 6 days my raging clan that consisted of a concerned wife (who was 2,955 kms away), remote controlling father (who was 7744.19 kms away), a panicked sister (who was 2274.4 kms away), and a horde of medically-opinionated-back-seat-driving-internet-educated-concerned-cousins-uncles-pals-nephews and goats with opinions ?? ?? ... Poor Andreas kept everyone clam at bay and still managed to check (BTW ...he was 817kms from me in Nairobi) consistently til' I had healed...

#UBANTU - Lessons learnt

1) Look beyond the uniform there’s a human being inside

2) How we treat each other today impacts out tomorrow

3) Having good leadership that can interact with family in times of medical emergencies matters makes all the difference and will show itself as a true reflection of your culture, values, ethos

4) What we teach our children carries them through life as guidelines of how we treat others

5) We shall overcome - With COVID-19 in mind, the viral disease shall come and shall come to pass, how we treat each other during this time defines how much we care about each other. Thank you to all medical and emergency services and people who are responding to the current crisis - God bless and strengthen you ????

As for the rest of us - Forget about yourself. If you can forget about yourself and put yourself in the position of the person you are talking to, helping and listening to .... after all it’s just a uniform, inside there is a human being, who thinks, feels and dreams like you - find that common denominator!

THERE ARE MANY LEVELS IN LIFE - WHY COMPETE - FIND A COMMON DENOMINATOR AND WALK YOUR OWN JOURNEY WITH OTHERS.

Thank you Dar es Salaam Serena Hotel staff & to the Tanzania medical fraternity.

#ItsTime2Shine #Respect #Diversity #Values #ThanksGiving #Health #Africa #Resilience