I am back in Dar es Salaam and have already spent a couple of hours in traffic jams. The reward for this is the time I can spend in the National Archives. I found some new documentes on the government support to Capuchin medical work in the 1950s. These documents prove the case that - especially if compared to the other mission societies - the Capuchins were, at that time, really a small outfit in the medical dimension. Furthermore their services were not considered to be of a particularly high quality by the administration - rather the contrary. For example this document shows that the old Ifakara hospital in 1953 "was not a good unit as regards building and accommodation". At that time, Ifakara hospital really was more like an old stable than like a modern hospital building.
Among other things I found this interesting map from the end of the 1920s (which includes leprosy care centres in the area - click the image to enlarge).
