Delivering Miracles Large and Small in Tanzania

What is the number one orthopedic procedure in Tanzania? “Amputation,” says Steve Meyer, M.D., an orthopedic spine surgeon in Sioux City, Iowa, and founder of the Siouxland Tanzania Educational Medical Ministries (STEMM).

And that, says Dr. Meyer, is a death sentence. “If a mother or father loses a limb and cannot work, then everyone in the family goes hungry…and the children drop out of school.”

Unacceptable.

For 25 years, Dr. Meyer and his wife Dana, along with Lazaro Nyalandu, a member of the Tanzanian parliament, Pastor Jon Gerdts, and Dr. Meyer’s friend, Mike Boose, have delivered miracles large and small and built an organization that lifts children and families out of disability and poverty.

From clean water to education, STEMM has reached the point of having nearly 400 children in the latter stages of high school and university—some of whom will go on to become physicians.

And the need could hardly be greater.

According to a 2015 article published in Global Surgery Open Access Text, “The burden of orthopaedic disease presenting to a referral hospital in northern Tanzania,” there are roughly 50 million people in the country, but only 15 practicing consultant orthopedic surgeons.

Mud Hut to White Coat

“Turning this around will take years,” admits Dr. Meyer, “but we are on our way and have housed and fed and schooled hundreds of children, some of whom have their hearts set on becoming surgeons. They are going from living in a mud hut and having a bleak future to wearing a white coat and giving others a future.”

And while you might say Dr. Meyer has 350 kids in high school at the same time (!), the cumulative numbers are even more impressive: approximately 10,000 students have graduated from a STEMM-related school over the last quarter century.

Dr. Meyer: “Our program has spread to 25 communities, essentially the entire northern half of Tanzania. The communities refer children to us, most of whom cannot even afford a uniform. We make a commitment to support them all the way through university as long as they maintain a B+ average. In addition, our program includes a strong leadership/mentorship program where we assist them with resume writing and life skills.”

But in 2017 they had to back up. Learning that in one community 600 grade school children were going to school with no breakfast, they were shocked when they learned the full picture. “These kids were leaving home at 7:30am with no breakfast, going to class all day—all without food or water. Not surprisingly, theirs was the worst performing school in the country. We started a school child feeding program by partnering with local villagers who provide corn and rice for only three cents per child. Not only has the school rocketed to number one in the country, but the grade school pass rate has gone from 38% to 83%. At this point, we are providing lunch to over 5,000 kids every day.”

Tanzanian Triumph

Describing one major success, Dr. Meyer told OTW, “We used to partner with a great Lutheran hospital here, but we eventually worked ourselves out of a job because as they continued to get more American and European surgeons coming there, the Tanzanian staff started training their own orthopedic surgeons.”

But there are many other locales in need. Dr. Meyer explained, “My good friend, Dr. Neil Sheth from Penn, has a long-term dream of building a multispecialty orthopedic center of excellence in Tanzania that includes faculty, fellows, and residents from 26 U.S. residency programs. We plan to have a trauma wing, a joint reconstruction unit, and a pediatrics wing. We would send specialists from each university for a two-week stint, essentially making it a mini fellowship. The plans were put on hold due to the pandemic but will soon be revived.”

In the meantime, says Dr. Meyer, STEMM will continue to identify and build up regional hospitals to become centers of primary orthopedic care. “The reality is that there are still places in Tanzania where the length time from an open fracture to a first appointment with an orthopedic surgeon is 10 days.”

Thinking Big

“My dream is that at the next ten-year mark, there will be rudimentary orthopedic care within 100 miles of every Tanzanian household,” says Dr. Meyer. “Dr. Sheth and I are envisioning an ecotourism funding situation where people come to do medical mission work and/or learn about the Maasai culture.”

A grand endeavor for 2022, explains Dr. Meyer, is a 100-acre farm at the orphanage. “The average U.S. corn yield in 2020 was just under 200 bushels per acre; in Tanzania it was 20 bushels. We want to become a model agricultural training center so that local people can bolster their income, become self-sufficient, and afford to keep their children in school.”

Two Inundations

Not only did COVID-19 hit the Tanzanian villages, says Dr. Meyer, but it was accompanied by a devastating flood that wiped out many homes and destroyed numerous crops, much of which were going to fund their activities. “Because of this tumult, the 11 mission trips we had planned for 2020 had to be canceled. We did manage to do a massive medical outreach clinic this year with Hand of Hope, where we saw 4,000 patients in 6 days. Many of those individuals are scheduled to undergo surgery when I return to Tanzania in September 2021.”

And the educational visits will go in the other direction as well. Dr. Meyer: “In 2017, STEMM medical staff were on safari when they came upon a busload of children who had gone into a ravine. The only three survivors were badly injured. Fortunately, we were able to bring these children back to Sioux City for treatment. It was an extremely difficult and emotional experience for all…and now those children have graduated from high school in Tanzania. And thanks to an anonymous wealthy donor, they will be attending college in the U.S.”

With 2022 being the year-year anniversary of the bus crash, says Dr. Meyer, it is time that the full story be told. “We have a writer who has just begun on the screenplay for a full-length feature. It is a powerful story of hope and two faiths—Christianity and Islam—coming together to take care of future generations.”

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