Monday we spent the day (siku) preparing the agenda for the upcoming Steering Committee Meeting (mkutano). There were a number of key items that were to be discussed and the meeting and we wanted to prioritize our key discussion items so that we could address all the immediate project concerns (uhusiano) and goals (mwisho). We prepared the agenda using the information we have gathered in the last few months (mwezi) and from our communication (taarifa) with the Canadian team. We also wanted to make sure that we prepared the agenda based on the needs and wants of the Tukwamuane Yogurt group. It was essential for us address the Mamas concerns and to make sure that their concerns and goals were vocalized. We decided to focus our weekly meeting on explaining the Steering Committee agenda to the mamas so that we could get their full input and make any necessary changes (mabadaliko) to the agenda based on our discussion. As we went through the agenda, the mamas informed us that we had covered most of what needed to be discussed at the meeting. There were a few new updates and changes to be made to the agenda, but in general, they were pleased with the first draft. After our meeting with the Mamas and Alex, Jon spent some time saying goodbye (kwa heri) to them since he was leaving early the next morning (asubuhi) to head to Ireland and then back home to Canada. Jon thanked the Mamas for everything (kila kitu) and the Mamas wished him a safe and pleasant journey (safari njema). After our meeting with the Mamas we decided to take Jon to his favorite local eatery for his goodbye dinner. I can’t remember the name of the place but we call it the Samaki Place (Fish Place) because they have the best grilled fish in town (mji). It was nice to enjoy some delicious food (chakula) while in the company of our good friends (rafiki).
We also spoke to one of our friends who had taken care of very young kittens before and she informed us how to care for the Littlest Hobo so we bought some Nido (formula) and continued to feed him using a syringe. At first Hobo was very squirmy and reluctant during feeding time but once he tasted the formula he seemed to enjoy it quite a bit. I have never cared for such a tiny, fragile creature before so I was a little nervous but I was determined to do all that I could do to keep this cute little guy alive. For the rest of the week we continued feeding Hobo as often as possible and also assisted him with his toilet time. We made him a comfy bed (kitanda) out of a box (kasha) and some blankets (blangeti). I even used one of my scarves (skafu) as a mosquito (mbu) net for the little guy….so cute! Even though I would love to keep Hobo, I was quite realistic about not having him as a pet since I am leaving in December (mwezi wa kumi na mbili) so I talked to one of my friends who lives here and made sure that once Hobo was a little bigger and stronger he would have a safe, loving home. My friend agreed to take him once he was able to eat on his own.
Jon left very early on Tuesday morning to head to the Mwanza airport so Ashley and I woke up to say goodbye and see him off. We were sad to see our roomie go but since Jon was so sick the whole time, it was probably in his best interests to leave early. Later on in the morning I headed over to the kitchen (jiko) and Mtoni High School to assist the mamas with cooking chipatis, mandazis and chai for the breakfast program. Because the Mamas were short on help, I stayed until about 1pm rolling chapattis. I was exhausted after making so many chapattis and my arms really hurt from all of the doe rolling I did. It made me think about how hard the Mamas all work each and everyday (kila siku). The Mamas open the yogurt kitchen everyday at 7:30pm and start working straight away until about 7:30 or 8:00pm. Not only do they work hard at the yogurt kitchen and at home with their families but they work so hard to keep the breakfast program up and running. It is amazing how much of a difference 10 driven women can make within a community. I constantly admire these women who can work so hard to benefit their families and communities while at the same time never losing their positive spirit and nurturing attitudes.
When we were finished with the breakfast program I went home for lunch and then headed to the internet café to work on some project emails. Later on that day Alex came by to work on our Master Plan document and to translate the Steering Committee Meeting Agenda into Kiswahili. In the evening the other Students for Development Intern (SFD), Geoff, returned from his trip to Kenya so he came to stay with us for a night before he returned to Sengarema. That evening I started to feel quite tired and ill so I decided to go to the clinic and get checked out. It turns out I had malaria…3 rings. I spent the rest of the evening resting and drinking lots of water as the doctor advised.
Even thought I was not feeling the best from the malaria, I spent Wednesday working on the Steering Committee Meeting preparations since there were only a few days before our big meeting. I spent most of the day organizing (panga) and printing documents for the meeting and making confirmation calls to the members of the Mwanza Steering Committee. Just the photocopying and printing that I did took about 2-3 hours because I had to print and photocopy about 100 pages and things work a little slower here than at home sometimes. In the late afternoon we had another meeting with the Mamas to prepare for our big Steering Committee meeting on Friday. Although I participated in the meeting I started to feel quite ill again and had to rest for the remainder of the evening.
On Thursday I was feeling a bit better because the malaria medication that I had taken was finally kicking in. In the morning I finished calling the remainder of the Steering Committee Members while Ashley picked up all of the drinks, snacks, and supplies for our meeting the next day. Just after lunchtime Ashley and I headed to Mabatini to meet the Mamas. The Mamas were very excited because they were to receive their cows that they had purchased for the new kitchen site in Nyamhongoro that afternoon. The Mamas had received some funding from the Tanzanian Social Action Fund (TASAF) for the purchase of the cows so that they could start producing their own milk (maziwa) supply.
The Mamas asked us to accompany them to Nyamhongoro to celebrate the arrival of their cows so off we went on the daladala to the new kitchen site. Once we arrived at the Nyamhongoro site we realized that the Mamas had had a new structure built on the property. The Mamas informed us that they had 50, 000TSH (~$50.00 CAN) left over from the purchase of each cow because they had overestimated the cost of the cattle so they used the extra money to build the storage(uwekaji) and guard (askari) house (nyumbani) that they needed for the site. It was nice to see the Mamas taking such initiative in spearheading their project. Once we arrived at the site we relaxed for a little while and then started to work a little on the new site preparations. Mama Elizabeth, Mama Leah and Mama Cecilia started loading stones and rocks to finish the floor (sakafu) of the store/ guard house so Ashley and I decided to join in and help them out. Even though I had malaria I thought that I would help out because I know that when the Mamas are sick, they still come to work and work very hard at that. Besides, I was feeling much better. We began by loading larger sized rocks into the hut using an old steel pan and our hands. Then we added a layer of smaller sized rocks to the base. Lastly we added a layer of sandy gravel to complete the floor of the structure. A lot of time and sweat went into finishing that floor and we were happy to finish after about an our and a half. I thought that it was pretty neat that we finished (tulimaliza) building a floor to a structure using such simple materials. I total we used rocks, sand, a steel pan, a burlap sac and a small shovel to complete the construction of the store/guard house…pretty sweet. At least now I know how to construct a proper house if I am ever stranded in the middle of nowhere or on a deserted island somewhere.
After about an hour of rest time (pumzika) we saw the truck with the cows in it in the near distance. As soon as the Mamas spotted the truck they began singing and cheering and we all ran to the road to greet Mama Paskwalina, Mama Sabina and the newly purchased cows. When the truck arrived the Mamas continued to sing and dance and we all celebrated for a little while. I though it was really hilarious and quite random that the truck was painted white with black spots and had the phrase MMMMMMHHHHHHH? written across the back of the vehicle. Ashley and I could not stop laughing. The unloading of the cows from the truck was also quite amusing because one by one the cows leaped off of the truck (it looked like they were jumping hurdles or something) onto the grassy area beside the road. The cows immediately started munching on the grass and we not hesitant to belt out a good solid ‘moooooooo’ every once in a while. Since we were a short distance from the cow banda we had to herd the cows to their new home at the kitchen site. The men who delivered the cows as well as the Mamas, Ashley and I surrounded the cows and all held sticks in our hands to shoo them into their new home. After some really hilarious shenanigans chasing the cows all over the field, we finally rounded them up and got them into the banda. I never could have predicted that I would become a construction worker and a rancher all in one day…but that’s how things work here in Tanzania, there are surprises around every corner and you find yourself learning so much while participating in the strangest activities.
Once the cows were secured in their new home, we all sat for a while watching them. Mama Paskwalina explained to us that there was one male and four female and she suggested that Ashley and I name them. After about 30 minutes of throwing around names for the cows we finally decided on a name for each cow that perfectly suited their personality. The final names for the cows were Bruno, Sally, Alice, Beti, and Lolita! The mamas told us that they loved the names and made us write them down so that they wouldn’t forget them and so that they would know who was who. After hanging out with the cows for a little while we decided to return home since it was going to get dark soon. We spent the rest of the evening preparing for our big meeting the next day.
Early Friday morning I woke up feeling quite sick again from the malaria. I am pretty sure that the malaria medication made me feel even worse than the actual malaria itself. I felt really strange. The medication combined with the symptoms of the malaria made me feel very groggy, tired and dizzy. It wasn’t the best day to be feeling so awful since we had our big Steering Committee Meeting but regardless of how I felt, I had to be there and I had to pull myself together. Alex came over before the meeting so that we could print out a Swahili version of the meeting agenda to accompany the English version. Ashley was nice enough to take over the task of printing out the agendas and gathering the supplies for the meeting so that I could rest a little bit before the meeting. Soon after we were on our way to NIMR to set up for the meeting.
When we arrived at NIMR the room that we had booked for our meeting was still being cleaned by the cleaning staff so we waited outside for them to finish. As usual things were running a little late and we did not quite start our meeting on time. We had to wait about 30 minutes after our meeting was supposed to start for the staff to finish cleaning the room and on top of that over half of the Steering Committee Members arrived late. Finally about an hour (saa moja) after we were supposed to start our meeting we commenced our discussions. Unfortunately the Deputy Mayor and The Women’s Rights counselor from Mwanza City Council called earlier on that morning to inform us that they would not be able to attend the meeting since they had to attend a very important meeting to elect the new Mayor for next year. We were a little disappointed that they could not make it since we were counting on them to be a main resource to find avenues for local funding for the project but there reason for not being able to attend was understandable. The meeting lasted about 2.5 hours and all the agenda items were discussed. Some of the topics that were discussed included quality control of the probiotic yogurt, funding, packaging, marketing, networking with other community groups and women’s collectives as well as research initiatives.
After the Steering Committee Meeting I went directly home to rest since I was feeling very dizzy and ill. I spent the rest of the day and evening in bed.
On Saturday I woke up feeling almost 100% better. It must have been all the rest that I got. I wasn’t planning on it because of the malaria but because I felt so much better I decided to join about 25 of my friends on a trip to Kijereshi Lodge, just outside of the Serengeti. We stayed until Sunday evening and we all had a blast! It was neat too because we got to see some cool wildlife. We saw ostriches and baboons and some buffalo…very cool. We returned home late Sunday evening so that we could rest up for another workweek.
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Weeki Nane (Week Eight)
Week eight started off with a visit to the Mwanza City Council (MCC) building so that we could talk with the Deputy Mayor about attending our Steering Committee Meeting that we were planning for later on in the week. The Mwanza Steering Committee steering committee was initiated in November 2008 and the purpose of this committee is 1) to formulate and advance the vision for the probiotic yogurt program in Tanzania including providing advise on: mechanisms for identification and recruitment of stakeholders and actors 2) to assist with the mobilization of capital and non capital resources for the program including those for capacity building; providing guidance related to local compliance matters including legislation; advocating for the program at all levels of government and other agencies; providing advice on the nature of involvement desired of the Canadian WHE team including the interns and 3) act as the primary troubleshooting team for the project in Tanzania; meaning that solutions to any project hitches should be provided by them first and at their request, the Canadian WHE team. So far there has been one Steering Committee Meeting in April and we were in the midst of planning the second meeting that was to occur at the end of July. As we suspected, although Mr. Minja (The Deputy Mayor) is quite accessible at the local level, he was too busy to meet with us that day. So instead we visited Mr. Ngowi at the TASAF office to ask for the Deputy Mayor’s phone number to set up an appointment at a later date. After our short meeting with the always so helpful Mr. Ngowi, we headed home to prepare for our first formal weekly meeting with the Mamas. We decided to invite the Mamas over after the meeting so that they could enjoy some ‘Western’ cooking. We decided to make pasta and garlic bread since it is a quick meal and can be made in large quantities.
Our first meeting went really well and we were all very pleased that we decided to arrange these weekly meetings. Through our discussions we were all able to get a better understanding of project updates and issues coming from both the Tanzanian side and the Canadian side. After a long (3 hour) meeting, Ashley, Jon and I finally prepared dinner for the mamas. It was unfortunate because a few of the Mamas had to leave early. We didn’t expect the meeting to go on for so long and didn’t think that some of the women were expected to be home before dark for various reasons. This was another one of those moments when our cultural differences were quite apparent. Some of the women explained to us that they had to leave so that their husbands would not be upset with them or because they had to cook for their children. We were sad to see some of them go but we totally understood why they had to leave. We would definitely keep this in mind for next time. The good thing was, was that 5 of the Mamas, along with Alex were able to stay for dinner. They all seemed to enjoy their pasta with garlic bread quite a bit. It was neat because I noticed that the Mamas ate the pasta like they would eat a meal here… African style…sauce on the side and eat with your hands…I had never seen pasta eaten that way. It thought that that was a creative and different way to eat pasta so I decided to join in and eat it that way too.
On Tuesday Ashley and I spent the day at Tilapia Hotel so that we could get our work done and use the internet. Later on in the afternoon we decided to take a little break and go fishing with our friend Jon…It had been a really long time since I had fished so I was really excited. None of us caught anything but we did end up having quite a good time!
On Wednesday, Ashley, Jon and I headed to Saint Augustine University (SAUT) to meet with our project coordinator George. George had been very busy with exam period and faculty seminars and was not able to meet with us much as we had planned so we all set aside a day for us to visit SAUT and to chat with George about our project work. When we first arrived at the school George met us at one of the many entrances. When we arrived we chatted with George for a few minutes and then proceeded on to go and meet a ‘few’ of George’ colleagues who were having a meeting. We walked into a huge school building filled with professors and administrative staff and all eyes turned on us as the new visitors. Unfortunately, George failed to mention that the ‘few’ colleagues that he wanted to introduce us to consisted of a room full of 150 SAUT faculty and staff… Because of my experiences in leadership and teaching I am usually comfortable in front of large crowds but today was a different story. I was really nervous introducing myself (in Swahili by the way) to a room full of SAUT faculty and staff but I worked through the nervousness and thankfully remembered all the correct words to use in Swahili. Not that my Swahili is bad or anything but it is hard being put on the spot like that in front of 150 people. Jon and Ashley introduced themselves next and then the crowed welcomed us all very warmly. It was a good experience for me to practice my Swahili in front of a crowd like that but it was funny because later on George told us that we could have introduced ourselves in English because all of the faculty and staff speak English and all the lessons are taught in English….thanks for telling us that afterwards George!
After attending the meeting for a short while, George excused us and we went off to eat lunch and take a tour of the SAUT campus. We ate lunch before we went on our tour since the cafeteria was located near the meeting room. The cafeteria was a really nice place to be. It was an outdoor seating area with small vendors and restaurants surrounding it. The atmosphere was very studentesque, just like a university cafeteria at home would be. My favorite thing about the cafeteria was a tiny garden fence that lined the area that was made solely from used plastic water bottles. It was actually quite beautiful looking and quite resourceful!...yes I know I am an enviro-nerd cause I get excited about these kinds of things but if you think about it, it’s pretty cool! It always surprises me how resourceful people are here in Tanzania with there material goods. Things like the bottle fence make me think about my own use of material resources and makes me think about how much people tend to waste in other parts of the world (i.e. in Canada)….Anyways, just some food for thought…
Our lunch was very delicious. George treated us to chicken, spaghetti and beans. Although this sounds like a meal that one would eat in Canada, it was actually prepared quite differently than it would be at home. The beans were prepared in a tasty sauce, my piece of chicken was a neck and part of a wing and the spaghetti noodles were chopped up and mixed with sugar and fried in oil…very different but actually quite tasty.
During lunch (and throughout the rest of the day) we discussed many things with George including cultural differences between Canada and Tanzania, differences in our Universities, our partnership with SAUT and plans for further collaboration as well as some of the history of the university itself. We even discussed the possibility of the Yogurt Mamas selling some of the yogurt at the SAUT cafeteria. George informed us that he would look into securing a spot for the Mamas since selling at the university could increase their market quite a bit. I am sure the students would also love to have access to the delicious ‘Fiti’ probiotic yogurt.
After lunch George took us to his office and showed us around the rest of the campus. SAUT is actually quite an impressive school with a beautiful campus that is approximately 600 acres in area. As George told us, the school itself is actually only 10 years old and services over 10, 000 students. The school used to be funded by the government of Tanzania but is now funded by the Catholic Church. Although most of the buildings were very simple, there was a lot of construction going on throughout the campus and new buildings were popping up everywhere. We ventured off to the new library which was actually quite stunning, it was a newer building, about 6 stories high and it reminded me a lot of the Weldon library at Western at home in London. There was even a floor that had numerous computers that looked quite new. The only difference was in their book collection. Many of the shelves were only a half or a quarter full. George informed us that they were looking for sponsors to expand their collection.
After our long and peaceful tour of the beautiful SAUT campus, George invited us to his home that was just a short walk away to meet his family. Although his wife was out of town on business we got to meet George’s two beautiful daughters, Georgette (4) and Georgia (2). At first the girls were very shy to meet us but after a little coaxing with some gum I had in my purse and some conversation in Swahili, the girls were talking non-stop. The visit to George’s house was a peaceful end to a long day.
On Thursday Jon and Ashley prepared their studies in the morning and I decided to start organizing for our upcoming Steering Committee Meeting. I began with making a list of the people that we had to call and invite and then the items that we needed to purchase for the meeting (i.e. soda (not pop…lol!), water, pens, snacks). After Jon was finished preparing his study, the two of us began calling the long list of people who we hoped would be able to attend our meeting. The MSC is made up of people from all different organizations and communities such as the Mwanza City Council, Tanzanian Social Action Fund (TASAF), Catholic Relief Services (CRS), scientists, technicians and directors from the National Institute of Medical Research, doctors from supporting clinics and hospitals, various members from community and women’s groups and any other individuals who can share in interest of the of the probiotic yogurt project. After calling as many people as we could from the committee list, we decided to visit the yogurt Mamas at the kitchen to let them know who we invited and to ask them if there was anyone else that they would like to invite or anyone else that should be invited. I am glad we asked because the women suggested that we invite a women’s rights leader from their community who we were not familiar with. After our visit to the kitchen we came home and enjoyed some much needed downtime.
On Friday morning we finished calling the members of the MSC and made a list of the members that needed to be called by Alex (i.e. the ones who wouldn’t understand our broken Kiswahili). Later on in the afternoon, Alex came to meet with us. We had decided that the interns would meet with Alex every Friday before our meetings with the Mamas on Mondays so that we could prepare a meeting agenda and have time over the weekend to collect any needed information for our meetings. We spent about 2 hours with Alex discussing various project issues and goals. In the evening we went out to enjoy some live music and dancing.
Our Saturday started off very slowly since we were out late the night before but later on in the day I decided to get a little bit of work done. I spent some of the day working on my expenses and updating my picture gallery on my computer. Saturday evening we ended up going to a party at one of our friend’s houses.
On Sunday morning my neighbor Nyasa and I went across the street to Zagaluu shop to buy some snacks and water and on the way we stumbled upon a tiny little kitten who only looked a few days old. It was about the size of half of my hand and fit nicely into my palm. The poor thing was meowing and struggling in the hot sun so we scooped him up and tried to help him out. We looked all around the area for its mother or any other cats but saw none in sight. Being the animal lover that I am I couldn’t just leave the poor little thing there to die so we took him up to our apartment. I had no idea how to care for a cat that small but I knew that it would need to stay warm and would need to be fed by hand. We found a box to put the cat in and used some fuzzy blankets to make a little bed for the cat while we figured out what to do. We figured that the cat would need milk of some sort so we bought some milk from across the street and a syringe from the pharmacy and started feeding the kitty by hand. The milk would have to do until the next day when we could find out some more information on how to take care of this fragile little fuzz ball. The kitty, or The Littlest Hobo as we decided to call him, slept right through until the next morning in his newly furnished box.
Later on in the day we invited Pendo, our Tanzanian House Mama, and her family over for some soda’s, snacks and dancing. It seems to be tradition that the interns periodically throw mini parties for Pendo and her family so that we can all get to know each other better and so that the interns can show their appreciation for all that this family does for us. In total, I believe that there were 8 members of Pendo’s family and 3 of us. Pendo explained to us that not all of her family could come because some were busy or out of town. I don’t know how that woman manages a household that includes 8 of her own children, extended family as well as a few grandchildren. For the rest of the evening we chatted, took pictures and played games with Pendo and her family.
Our first meeting went really well and we were all very pleased that we decided to arrange these weekly meetings. Through our discussions we were all able to get a better understanding of project updates and issues coming from both the Tanzanian side and the Canadian side. After a long (3 hour) meeting, Ashley, Jon and I finally prepared dinner for the mamas. It was unfortunate because a few of the Mamas had to leave early. We didn’t expect the meeting to go on for so long and didn’t think that some of the women were expected to be home before dark for various reasons. This was another one of those moments when our cultural differences were quite apparent. Some of the women explained to us that they had to leave so that their husbands would not be upset with them or because they had to cook for their children. We were sad to see some of them go but we totally understood why they had to leave. We would definitely keep this in mind for next time. The good thing was, was that 5 of the Mamas, along with Alex were able to stay for dinner. They all seemed to enjoy their pasta with garlic bread quite a bit. It was neat because I noticed that the Mamas ate the pasta like they would eat a meal here… African style…sauce on the side and eat with your hands…I had never seen pasta eaten that way. It thought that that was a creative and different way to eat pasta so I decided to join in and eat it that way too.
On Tuesday Ashley and I spent the day at Tilapia Hotel so that we could get our work done and use the internet. Later on in the afternoon we decided to take a little break and go fishing with our friend Jon…It had been a really long time since I had fished so I was really excited. None of us caught anything but we did end up having quite a good time!
On Wednesday, Ashley, Jon and I headed to Saint Augustine University (SAUT) to meet with our project coordinator George. George had been very busy with exam period and faculty seminars and was not able to meet with us much as we had planned so we all set aside a day for us to visit SAUT and to chat with George about our project work. When we first arrived at the school George met us at one of the many entrances. When we arrived we chatted with George for a few minutes and then proceeded on to go and meet a ‘few’ of George’ colleagues who were having a meeting. We walked into a huge school building filled with professors and administrative staff and all eyes turned on us as the new visitors. Unfortunately, George failed to mention that the ‘few’ colleagues that he wanted to introduce us to consisted of a room full of 150 SAUT faculty and staff… Because of my experiences in leadership and teaching I am usually comfortable in front of large crowds but today was a different story. I was really nervous introducing myself (in Swahili by the way) to a room full of SAUT faculty and staff but I worked through the nervousness and thankfully remembered all the correct words to use in Swahili. Not that my Swahili is bad or anything but it is hard being put on the spot like that in front of 150 people. Jon and Ashley introduced themselves next and then the crowed welcomed us all very warmly. It was a good experience for me to practice my Swahili in front of a crowd like that but it was funny because later on George told us that we could have introduced ourselves in English because all of the faculty and staff speak English and all the lessons are taught in English….thanks for telling us that afterwards George!
After attending the meeting for a short while, George excused us and we went off to eat lunch and take a tour of the SAUT campus. We ate lunch before we went on our tour since the cafeteria was located near the meeting room. The cafeteria was a really nice place to be. It was an outdoor seating area with small vendors and restaurants surrounding it. The atmosphere was very studentesque, just like a university cafeteria at home would be. My favorite thing about the cafeteria was a tiny garden fence that lined the area that was made solely from used plastic water bottles. It was actually quite beautiful looking and quite resourceful!...yes I know I am an enviro-nerd cause I get excited about these kinds of things but if you think about it, it’s pretty cool! It always surprises me how resourceful people are here in Tanzania with there material goods. Things like the bottle fence make me think about my own use of material resources and makes me think about how much people tend to waste in other parts of the world (i.e. in Canada)….Anyways, just some food for thought…
Our lunch was very delicious. George treated us to chicken, spaghetti and beans. Although this sounds like a meal that one would eat in Canada, it was actually prepared quite differently than it would be at home. The beans were prepared in a tasty sauce, my piece of chicken was a neck and part of a wing and the spaghetti noodles were chopped up and mixed with sugar and fried in oil…very different but actually quite tasty.
During lunch (and throughout the rest of the day) we discussed many things with George including cultural differences between Canada and Tanzania, differences in our Universities, our partnership with SAUT and plans for further collaboration as well as some of the history of the university itself. We even discussed the possibility of the Yogurt Mamas selling some of the yogurt at the SAUT cafeteria. George informed us that he would look into securing a spot for the Mamas since selling at the university could increase their market quite a bit. I am sure the students would also love to have access to the delicious ‘Fiti’ probiotic yogurt.
After lunch George took us to his office and showed us around the rest of the campus. SAUT is actually quite an impressive school with a beautiful campus that is approximately 600 acres in area. As George told us, the school itself is actually only 10 years old and services over 10, 000 students. The school used to be funded by the government of Tanzania but is now funded by the Catholic Church. Although most of the buildings were very simple, there was a lot of construction going on throughout the campus and new buildings were popping up everywhere. We ventured off to the new library which was actually quite stunning, it was a newer building, about 6 stories high and it reminded me a lot of the Weldon library at Western at home in London. There was even a floor that had numerous computers that looked quite new. The only difference was in their book collection. Many of the shelves were only a half or a quarter full. George informed us that they were looking for sponsors to expand their collection.
After our long and peaceful tour of the beautiful SAUT campus, George invited us to his home that was just a short walk away to meet his family. Although his wife was out of town on business we got to meet George’s two beautiful daughters, Georgette (4) and Georgia (2). At first the girls were very shy to meet us but after a little coaxing with some gum I had in my purse and some conversation in Swahili, the girls were talking non-stop. The visit to George’s house was a peaceful end to a long day.
On Thursday Jon and Ashley prepared their studies in the morning and I decided to start organizing for our upcoming Steering Committee Meeting. I began with making a list of the people that we had to call and invite and then the items that we needed to purchase for the meeting (i.e. soda (not pop…lol!), water, pens, snacks). After Jon was finished preparing his study, the two of us began calling the long list of people who we hoped would be able to attend our meeting. The MSC is made up of people from all different organizations and communities such as the Mwanza City Council, Tanzanian Social Action Fund (TASAF), Catholic Relief Services (CRS), scientists, technicians and directors from the National Institute of Medical Research, doctors from supporting clinics and hospitals, various members from community and women’s groups and any other individuals who can share in interest of the of the probiotic yogurt project. After calling as many people as we could from the committee list, we decided to visit the yogurt Mamas at the kitchen to let them know who we invited and to ask them if there was anyone else that they would like to invite or anyone else that should be invited. I am glad we asked because the women suggested that we invite a women’s rights leader from their community who we were not familiar with. After our visit to the kitchen we came home and enjoyed some much needed downtime.
On Friday morning we finished calling the members of the MSC and made a list of the members that needed to be called by Alex (i.e. the ones who wouldn’t understand our broken Kiswahili). Later on in the afternoon, Alex came to meet with us. We had decided that the interns would meet with Alex every Friday before our meetings with the Mamas on Mondays so that we could prepare a meeting agenda and have time over the weekend to collect any needed information for our meetings. We spent about 2 hours with Alex discussing various project issues and goals. In the evening we went out to enjoy some live music and dancing.
Our Saturday started off very slowly since we were out late the night before but later on in the day I decided to get a little bit of work done. I spent some of the day working on my expenses and updating my picture gallery on my computer. Saturday evening we ended up going to a party at one of our friend’s houses.
On Sunday morning my neighbor Nyasa and I went across the street to Zagaluu shop to buy some snacks and water and on the way we stumbled upon a tiny little kitten who only looked a few days old. It was about the size of half of my hand and fit nicely into my palm. The poor thing was meowing and struggling in the hot sun so we scooped him up and tried to help him out. We looked all around the area for its mother or any other cats but saw none in sight. Being the animal lover that I am I couldn’t just leave the poor little thing there to die so we took him up to our apartment. I had no idea how to care for a cat that small but I knew that it would need to stay warm and would need to be fed by hand. We found a box to put the cat in and used some fuzzy blankets to make a little bed for the cat while we figured out what to do. We figured that the cat would need milk of some sort so we bought some milk from across the street and a syringe from the pharmacy and started feeding the kitty by hand. The milk would have to do until the next day when we could find out some more information on how to take care of this fragile little fuzz ball. The kitty, or The Littlest Hobo as we decided to call him, slept right through until the next morning in his newly furnished box.
Later on in the day we invited Pendo, our Tanzanian House Mama, and her family over for some soda’s, snacks and dancing. It seems to be tradition that the interns periodically throw mini parties for Pendo and her family so that we can all get to know each other better and so that the interns can show their appreciation for all that this family does for us. In total, I believe that there were 8 members of Pendo’s family and 3 of us. Pendo explained to us that not all of her family could come because some were busy or out of town. I don’t know how that woman manages a household that includes 8 of her own children, extended family as well as a few grandchildren. For the rest of the evening we chatted, took pictures and played games with Pendo and her family.
Weeki Saba (Week Seven)
Weeki Saba (Week Seven)
The week started off well, with us having a productive meeting with the coordinator of Tanzania’s Social Action Fund (TASAF), which has been supporting the Tukwamuane Probiotic Yogurt Project for quite a while now. We explored together the possibilities of further funding and community collaborations for the group as the women are in a new phase of expansion which will require some additional guidance and capital resources. The Coordinator, Mr. Ngowi, seemed very dedicated to his job and was full of great ideas to advance the project. We will continue to work with TASAF and to pursue other forms of support from both the local and international community.
Ashley was supposed to return home on Monday and we were eagerly waiter her arrival but I got a message from her in the afternoon saying that there had been a slight delay in her travels. Turns out that while switching buses in Kenya, a thief stole about $150.00 worth of packaging that the Mamas purchased for the project and they had to turn around and backtrack about an hour and a half, chasing the thief in a taxi. Once they caught up to the thieves, the thieves denied taking the package until Ashley and the Mamas released such a verbal furry on the men that that fearfully and shamefully gave back to package. Apparently the Mamas and Ashley were so stern while yelling at the thief that they scared him into returning the package. The Mamas and Ashley are some of the nicest people I know but I wouldn’t like to see them angry like that…way to go ladies! Because they had to backtrack for about an hour and a half, the ladies missed their bus from the Kenyan boarder to Mwanza so they had to stay in a guest house for another night.
On Tuesday Jon headed off to the clinic cause he was feeling unwell again... turns out he had a bad case of malaria, so bad that he had to be hooked up at the hospital for a while to clear his system. Pole sana Jonny ! I was very worried about Jon so I spent most of the day checking up on him via text message as I waited for the Mamas to come over to work out some of the project finances. Ashley returned around 3pm and we were able to chat for a while about her adventures in Kenya and the new updates with the new probiotic yogurt kitchen in Oyugis. It has been really nice to be involved with the project for so long (3 years now) because I get to see so many changes and the enormous progress that has taken place over the years. It is very exciting that the project has expanded to Kenya and soon to other East African countries. Later in the afternoon Jon returned from the hospital feeling very ill from the malaria and all of the meds. We decided to all take it easy for the rest of the night so that we could make sure that Jon was alright.
On Wednesday I stayed in the apartment in the morning to work on parts of the big master plan document for WHE and Tukwamuane. In the afternoon the Mamas and Alex came over for a meeting so that we could discuss project updates. Alex brought along with him one of his colleagues, Mussa who would be helping Jon with his study. Mussa would be translating the interviews that Jon was conducting on intercultural communication within the project and would be advising him on cultural differences and understandings so that he would get a more full understanding of the intercultural dynamics. We proceeded with our meeting with the Mamas and later Jon met with Mussa to discuss his sub-project. Since Alex could translate for us, our meeting was much more productive and informative than our previous meetings had been since language is often a barrier. We decided to propose weekly meetings for the entire group so that we could all stay informed, voice our ideas and organize ourselves a bit better on a more consistent basis. The Mamas loved the idea and we (The Interns, Alex and the Mamas) agreed to meet every Monday at our place.
On Thursday morning Jon, Ashley and I went to Mabatini to visit the Mamas at the yogurt kitchen. We stayed a little while, chatted a bit back and forth, ate some mandazis and drank some chai. Later on in the afternoon we returned home so that Jon could work on his study design, so that Ashley could meet with another one of Alex’s colleagues, Esther, for her study and so that I could continue to work on the Master Plan document. On Thursday evening our friend Danny took us all to one of my favorite places in Mwanza called Dancing Rocks so that our friend Pamie could see the area before she left to go back home to Canada. About 6 of us headed up the big, rocky hill in Bwiru to see one of the best view’s in Mwanza. On the way up to Dancing Rocks, we passed some of the local hillside neighborhoods and had numerous people greet us along the way. We had people waving to us yelling ‘Mzungu’ as usual but we also stopped to play a little football with some boys and to have a small conversation with a little girl who looked like she was about 6 years old…and we of course stopped to ‘piga tano’ (high-five) all the little children who came running out of their houses. We continued our hike up the rocky hill and eventually made it to the top where we were able to relax and enjoy the view. It was so peaceful sitting on top of Dancing Rocks, looking over a large part of the city, watching the most beautiful sunset. At this moment there was no other place I would have rather been.
On Friday morning I headed to Mabatini and Jon and Ashley stayed at home to work on their studies. I decided to join the Mamas at the local Mtoni Highschool so that I could help with the breakfast program that they run every weekday morning. Every morning the Tukwamuane women go to the school around 7 or 8 in the morning to cook about 200 chapati and 200 mandaziis as well as chai for the high school students. They sell the food and tea at a low cost to make sure that the students all have access to an affordable breakfast. Since the ingredients in the food are inexpensive the Mamas actually make a profit off of the program as well and it benefits everyone. My friend Joke and I spent all morning making and rolling out chapatti with the Mamas. It was nice to spend a little more quality time with the Mamas. We ended up having some really interesting conversations in broken English and Swahili. It was also nice to learn how to make chappati, I had no idea tat it was so easy. Although my arms really hurt the next day from all the rolling, I am happy that I have now become an expert chappati maker! Later in the day I returned home once again to work on the Master Plan once again.
On Saturday Ashley, Pamie, Nyasa and I went to Tilapia Hotel to use the internet all day and to work on the various documents that we were preparing for the project.
Sunday, we returned to Tilapia to do some more work on our computers. In the evening we made a special Italian dinner for our neighbor and good friend Pamie since she was leaving the next day to go back to Canada. She was really craving Italian food so we all splurged and bought some cheese (which is quite rare and expensive here) and made pasta and garlic bread with cheese. As most of you know, I have a unhealthy relationship with cheese and I have been missing it SO much so it was really nice to eat it for once.
The week started off well, with us having a productive meeting with the coordinator of Tanzania’s Social Action Fund (TASAF), which has been supporting the Tukwamuane Probiotic Yogurt Project for quite a while now. We explored together the possibilities of further funding and community collaborations for the group as the women are in a new phase of expansion which will require some additional guidance and capital resources. The Coordinator, Mr. Ngowi, seemed very dedicated to his job and was full of great ideas to advance the project. We will continue to work with TASAF and to pursue other forms of support from both the local and international community.
Ashley was supposed to return home on Monday and we were eagerly waiter her arrival but I got a message from her in the afternoon saying that there had been a slight delay in her travels. Turns out that while switching buses in Kenya, a thief stole about $150.00 worth of packaging that the Mamas purchased for the project and they had to turn around and backtrack about an hour and a half, chasing the thief in a taxi. Once they caught up to the thieves, the thieves denied taking the package until Ashley and the Mamas released such a verbal furry on the men that that fearfully and shamefully gave back to package. Apparently the Mamas and Ashley were so stern while yelling at the thief that they scared him into returning the package. The Mamas and Ashley are some of the nicest people I know but I wouldn’t like to see them angry like that…way to go ladies! Because they had to backtrack for about an hour and a half, the ladies missed their bus from the Kenyan boarder to Mwanza so they had to stay in a guest house for another night.
On Tuesday Jon headed off to the clinic cause he was feeling unwell again... turns out he had a bad case of malaria, so bad that he had to be hooked up at the hospital for a while to clear his system. Pole sana Jonny ! I was very worried about Jon so I spent most of the day checking up on him via text message as I waited for the Mamas to come over to work out some of the project finances. Ashley returned around 3pm and we were able to chat for a while about her adventures in Kenya and the new updates with the new probiotic yogurt kitchen in Oyugis. It has been really nice to be involved with the project for so long (3 years now) because I get to see so many changes and the enormous progress that has taken place over the years. It is very exciting that the project has expanded to Kenya and soon to other East African countries. Later in the afternoon Jon returned from the hospital feeling very ill from the malaria and all of the meds. We decided to all take it easy for the rest of the night so that we could make sure that Jon was alright.
On Wednesday I stayed in the apartment in the morning to work on parts of the big master plan document for WHE and Tukwamuane. In the afternoon the Mamas and Alex came over for a meeting so that we could discuss project updates. Alex brought along with him one of his colleagues, Mussa who would be helping Jon with his study. Mussa would be translating the interviews that Jon was conducting on intercultural communication within the project and would be advising him on cultural differences and understandings so that he would get a more full understanding of the intercultural dynamics. We proceeded with our meeting with the Mamas and later Jon met with Mussa to discuss his sub-project. Since Alex could translate for us, our meeting was much more productive and informative than our previous meetings had been since language is often a barrier. We decided to propose weekly meetings for the entire group so that we could all stay informed, voice our ideas and organize ourselves a bit better on a more consistent basis. The Mamas loved the idea and we (The Interns, Alex and the Mamas) agreed to meet every Monday at our place.
On Thursday morning Jon, Ashley and I went to Mabatini to visit the Mamas at the yogurt kitchen. We stayed a little while, chatted a bit back and forth, ate some mandazis and drank some chai. Later on in the afternoon we returned home so that Jon could work on his study design, so that Ashley could meet with another one of Alex’s colleagues, Esther, for her study and so that I could continue to work on the Master Plan document. On Thursday evening our friend Danny took us all to one of my favorite places in Mwanza called Dancing Rocks so that our friend Pamie could see the area before she left to go back home to Canada. About 6 of us headed up the big, rocky hill in Bwiru to see one of the best view’s in Mwanza. On the way up to Dancing Rocks, we passed some of the local hillside neighborhoods and had numerous people greet us along the way. We had people waving to us yelling ‘Mzungu’ as usual but we also stopped to play a little football with some boys and to have a small conversation with a little girl who looked like she was about 6 years old…and we of course stopped to ‘piga tano’ (high-five) all the little children who came running out of their houses. We continued our hike up the rocky hill and eventually made it to the top where we were able to relax and enjoy the view. It was so peaceful sitting on top of Dancing Rocks, looking over a large part of the city, watching the most beautiful sunset. At this moment there was no other place I would have rather been.
On Friday morning I headed to Mabatini and Jon and Ashley stayed at home to work on their studies. I decided to join the Mamas at the local Mtoni Highschool so that I could help with the breakfast program that they run every weekday morning. Every morning the Tukwamuane women go to the school around 7 or 8 in the morning to cook about 200 chapati and 200 mandaziis as well as chai for the high school students. They sell the food and tea at a low cost to make sure that the students all have access to an affordable breakfast. Since the ingredients in the food are inexpensive the Mamas actually make a profit off of the program as well and it benefits everyone. My friend Joke and I spent all morning making and rolling out chapatti with the Mamas. It was nice to spend a little more quality time with the Mamas. We ended up having some really interesting conversations in broken English and Swahili. It was also nice to learn how to make chappati, I had no idea tat it was so easy. Although my arms really hurt the next day from all the rolling, I am happy that I have now become an expert chappati maker! Later in the day I returned home once again to work on the Master Plan once again.
On Saturday Ashley, Pamie, Nyasa and I went to Tilapia Hotel to use the internet all day and to work on the various documents that we were preparing for the project.
Sunday, we returned to Tilapia to do some more work on our computers. In the evening we made a special Italian dinner for our neighbor and good friend Pamie since she was leaving the next day to go back to Canada. She was really craving Italian food so we all splurged and bought some cheese (which is quite rare and expensive here) and made pasta and garlic bread with cheese. As most of you know, I have a unhealthy relationship with cheese and I have been missing it SO much so it was really nice to eat it for once.
Monday, August 10, 2009
Weeki Saba (Week Seven)
Weeki Saba (Week Seven)
The week started off well, with us having a productive meeting with the coordinator of Tanzania’s Social Action Fund (TASAF), which has been supporting the Tukwamuane Probiotic Yogurt Project for quite a while now. We explored together the possibilities of further funding and community collaborations for the group as the women are in a new phase of expansion which will require some additional guidance and capital resources. The Coordinator, Mr. Ngowi, seemed very dedicated to his job and was full of great ideas to advance the project. We will continue to work with TASAF and to pursue other forms of support from both the local and international community.
Ashley was supposed to return home on Monday and we were eagerly waiter her arrival but I got a message from her in the afternoon saying that there had been a slight delay in her travels. Turns out that while switching buses in Kenya, a thief stole about $150.00 worth of packaging that the Mamas purchased for the project and they had to turn around and backtrack about an hour and a half, chasing the thief in a taxi. Once they caught up to the thieves, the thieves denied taking the package until Ashley and the Mamas released such a verbal furry on the men that that fearfully and shamefully gave back to package. Apparently the Mamas and Ashley were so stern while yelling at the thief that they scared him into returning the package. The Mamas and Ashley are some of the nicest people I know but I wouldn’t like to see them angry like that…way to go ladies! Because they had to backtrack for about an hour and a half, the ladies missed their bus from the Kenyan boarder to Mwanza so they had to stay in a guest house for another night.
On Tuesday Jon headed off to the clinic cause he was feeling unwell again... turns out he had a bad case of malaria, so bad that he had to be hooked up at the hospital for a while to clear his system. Pole sana Jonny ! I was very worried about Jon so I spent most of the day checking up on him via text message as I waited for the Mamas to come over to work out some of the project finances. Ashley returned around 3pm and we were able to chat for a while about her adventures in Kenya and the new updates with the new probiotic yogurt kitchen in Oyugis. It has been really nice to be involved with the project for so long (3 years now) because I get to see so many changes and the enormous progress that has taken place over the years. It is very exciting that the project has expanded to Kenya and soon to other East African countries. Later in the afternoon Jon returned from the hospital feeling very ill from the malaria and all of the meds. We decided to all take it easy for the rest of the night so that we could make sure that Jon was alright.
On Wednesday I stayed in the apartment in the morning to work on parts of the big master plan document for WHE and Tukwamuane. In the afternoon the Mamas and Alex came over for a meeting so that we could discuss project updates. Alex brought along with him one of his colleagues, Mussa who would be helping Jon with his study. Mussa would be translating the interviews that Jon was conducting on intercultural communication within the project and would be advising him on cultural differences and understandings so that he would get a more full understanding of the intercultural dynamics. We proceeded with our meeting with the Mamas and later Jon met with Mussa to discuss his sub-project. Since Alex could translate for us, our meeting was much more productive and informative than our previous meetings had been since language is often a barrier. We decided to propose weekly meetings for the entire group so that we could all stay informed, voice our ideas and organize ourselves a bit better on a more consistent basis. The Mamas loved the idea and we (The Interns, Alex and the Mamas) agreed to meet every Monday at our place.
On Thursday morning Jon, Ashley and I went to Mabatini to visit the Mamas at the yogurt kitchen. We stayed a little while, chatted a bit back and forth, ate some Mandazis and drank some chai. Later on in the afternoon we returned home so that Jon could work on his study design, so that Ashley could meet with another one of Alex’s colleagues, Esther, for her study and so that I could continue to work on the Master Plan document. On Thursday evening our friend Danny took us all to one of my favorite places in Mwanza called Dancing Rocks so that our friend Pamie could see the area before she left to go back home to Canada. About 6 of us headed up the big, rocky hill in Bwiru to see one of the best view’s in Mwanza. On the way up to Dancing Rocks, we passed some of the local hillside neighborhoods and had numerous people greet us along the way. We had people waving to us yelling ‘Mzungu’ as usual but we also stopped to play a little football with some boys and to have a small conversation with a little girl who looked like she was about 6 years old…and we of course stopped to ‘piga tano’ (high-five) all the little children who came running out of their houses. We continued our hike up the rocky hill and eventually made it to the top where we were able to relax and enjoy the view. It was so peaceful sitting on top of Dancing Rocks, looking over a large part of the city, watching the most beautiful sunset. At this moment there was no other place I would have rather been.
On Friday morning I headed to Mabatini and Jon and Ashley stayed at home to work on their studies. I decided to join the Mamas at the local Mtoni Highschool so that I could help with the breakfast program that they run every weekday morning. Every morning the Tukwamuane women go to the school around 7 or 8 in the morning to cook about 200 chapati and 200 mandaziis as well as chai for the high school students. They sell the food and tea at a low cost to make sure that the students all have access to an affordable breakfast. Since the ingredients in the food are inexpensive the Mamas actually make a profit off of the program as well and it benefits everyone. My friend Joke and I spent all morning making and rolling out chapatti with the Mamas. It was nice to spend a little more quality time with the Mamas. We ended up having some really interesting conversations in broken English and Swahili. It was also nice to learn how to make chappati, I had no idea tat it was so easy. Although my arms really hurt the next day from all the rolling, I am happy that I have now become an expert chappati maker! Later in the day I returned home once again to work on the Master Plan once again.
On Saturday Ashley, Pamie, Nyasa and I went to Tilapia Hotel to use the internet all day and to work on the various documents that we were preparing for the project.
Sunday, we returned to Tilapia to do some more work on our computers. In the evening we made a special Italian dinner for our neighbor and good friend Pamie since she was leaving the next day to go back to Canada. She was really craving Italian food so we all splurged and bought some cheese (which is quite rare and expensive here) and made pasta and garlic bread with cheese. As most of you know, I have a unhealthy relationship with cheese and I have been missing it SO much so it was really nice to eat it for once.
The week started off well, with us having a productive meeting with the coordinator of Tanzania’s Social Action Fund (TASAF), which has been supporting the Tukwamuane Probiotic Yogurt Project for quite a while now. We explored together the possibilities of further funding and community collaborations for the group as the women are in a new phase of expansion which will require some additional guidance and capital resources. The Coordinator, Mr. Ngowi, seemed very dedicated to his job and was full of great ideas to advance the project. We will continue to work with TASAF and to pursue other forms of support from both the local and international community.
Ashley was supposed to return home on Monday and we were eagerly waiter her arrival but I got a message from her in the afternoon saying that there had been a slight delay in her travels. Turns out that while switching buses in Kenya, a thief stole about $150.00 worth of packaging that the Mamas purchased for the project and they had to turn around and backtrack about an hour and a half, chasing the thief in a taxi. Once they caught up to the thieves, the thieves denied taking the package until Ashley and the Mamas released such a verbal furry on the men that that fearfully and shamefully gave back to package. Apparently the Mamas and Ashley were so stern while yelling at the thief that they scared him into returning the package. The Mamas and Ashley are some of the nicest people I know but I wouldn’t like to see them angry like that…way to go ladies! Because they had to backtrack for about an hour and a half, the ladies missed their bus from the Kenyan boarder to Mwanza so they had to stay in a guest house for another night.
On Tuesday Jon headed off to the clinic cause he was feeling unwell again... turns out he had a bad case of malaria, so bad that he had to be hooked up at the hospital for a while to clear his system. Pole sana Jonny ! I was very worried about Jon so I spent most of the day checking up on him via text message as I waited for the Mamas to come over to work out some of the project finances. Ashley returned around 3pm and we were able to chat for a while about her adventures in Kenya and the new updates with the new probiotic yogurt kitchen in Oyugis. It has been really nice to be involved with the project for so long (3 years now) because I get to see so many changes and the enormous progress that has taken place over the years. It is very exciting that the project has expanded to Kenya and soon to other East African countries. Later in the afternoon Jon returned from the hospital feeling very ill from the malaria and all of the meds. We decided to all take it easy for the rest of the night so that we could make sure that Jon was alright.
On Wednesday I stayed in the apartment in the morning to work on parts of the big master plan document for WHE and Tukwamuane. In the afternoon the Mamas and Alex came over for a meeting so that we could discuss project updates. Alex brought along with him one of his colleagues, Mussa who would be helping Jon with his study. Mussa would be translating the interviews that Jon was conducting on intercultural communication within the project and would be advising him on cultural differences and understandings so that he would get a more full understanding of the intercultural dynamics. We proceeded with our meeting with the Mamas and later Jon met with Mussa to discuss his sub-project. Since Alex could translate for us, our meeting was much more productive and informative than our previous meetings had been since language is often a barrier. We decided to propose weekly meetings for the entire group so that we could all stay informed, voice our ideas and organize ourselves a bit better on a more consistent basis. The Mamas loved the idea and we (The Interns, Alex and the Mamas) agreed to meet every Monday at our place.
On Thursday morning Jon, Ashley and I went to Mabatini to visit the Mamas at the yogurt kitchen. We stayed a little while, chatted a bit back and forth, ate some Mandazis and drank some chai. Later on in the afternoon we returned home so that Jon could work on his study design, so that Ashley could meet with another one of Alex’s colleagues, Esther, for her study and so that I could continue to work on the Master Plan document. On Thursday evening our friend Danny took us all to one of my favorite places in Mwanza called Dancing Rocks so that our friend Pamie could see the area before she left to go back home to Canada. About 6 of us headed up the big, rocky hill in Bwiru to see one of the best view’s in Mwanza. On the way up to Dancing Rocks, we passed some of the local hillside neighborhoods and had numerous people greet us along the way. We had people waving to us yelling ‘Mzungu’ as usual but we also stopped to play a little football with some boys and to have a small conversation with a little girl who looked like she was about 6 years old…and we of course stopped to ‘piga tano’ (high-five) all the little children who came running out of their houses. We continued our hike up the rocky hill and eventually made it to the top where we were able to relax and enjoy the view. It was so peaceful sitting on top of Dancing Rocks, looking over a large part of the city, watching the most beautiful sunset. At this moment there was no other place I would have rather been.
On Friday morning I headed to Mabatini and Jon and Ashley stayed at home to work on their studies. I decided to join the Mamas at the local Mtoni Highschool so that I could help with the breakfast program that they run every weekday morning. Every morning the Tukwamuane women go to the school around 7 or 8 in the morning to cook about 200 chapati and 200 mandaziis as well as chai for the high school students. They sell the food and tea at a low cost to make sure that the students all have access to an affordable breakfast. Since the ingredients in the food are inexpensive the Mamas actually make a profit off of the program as well and it benefits everyone. My friend Joke and I spent all morning making and rolling out chapatti with the Mamas. It was nice to spend a little more quality time with the Mamas. We ended up having some really interesting conversations in broken English and Swahili. It was also nice to learn how to make chappati, I had no idea tat it was so easy. Although my arms really hurt the next day from all the rolling, I am happy that I have now become an expert chappati maker! Later in the day I returned home once again to work on the Master Plan once again.
On Saturday Ashley, Pamie, Nyasa and I went to Tilapia Hotel to use the internet all day and to work on the various documents that we were preparing for the project.
Sunday, we returned to Tilapia to do some more work on our computers. In the evening we made a special Italian dinner for our neighbor and good friend Pamie since she was leaving the next day to go back to Canada. She was really craving Italian food so we all splurged and bought some cheese (which is quite rare and expensive here) and made pasta and garlic bread with cheese. As most of you know, I have a unhealthy relationship with cheese and I have been missing it SO much so it was really nice to eat it for once.
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Weeki Sita (Week Six)
On Monday Jon and I went to the yogurt kitchen to pick up the estimate for the fencing and store house. It was weird starting the week off without Ashley there. We really missed her. We spent about an hour with the Mamas, talking to them and discussing the plans for the new kitchen. After the kitchen we went home and called Dr. Butamanya from Sekoutoure Hospital and Mr. Ngowi from TASAF to set up appointments to discuss project funding, probiotic cultivation and project updates. I spent the evening working on the new registration system for PLAWs. fft
On Tuesday Jon and I went to the yogurt kitchen to help out the Mamas and to return their cost estimate sheets that we had copied the day before. After the kitchen we went to the internet café to create a list of priority tasks to tackle for the next little while. In the evening I joined Joke (a Dutch intern from the Netherlands) and Sophie (one of my local friends) went to the Family Fitness Centre for the most hard core aerobics session I have ever participated in. I was amazed that they even have a gym here in Mwanza but it was actually really nice. The class was led by a beefed up drill sergeant type man who was really nice but really tough on us. The composition of the class was quite different from classes at home. There were about 20 men and 4 or 5 women (including the 3 of us). The room looked quite similar to a workout room at home with mirrors encasing the room. Unlike gyms at home though, there was no air conditioning…it was pretty hot. The music was also a bit different, the African beats were much more fun to work out too but they were a little fast for my uncoordinated self. The class lasted about an hour and a half and I worked so hard that my face turned purple and I was sweating like crazy. I literally have never worked out that hard and I used to train at a gym at home. After our exhausting workout I headed home so that I could get ready to go out for dinner with one of our good friends, Ingerd, who was leaving the next day to go back to Norway. We decided to eat dinner at Ingerd’s favorite place to eat. She chose to go to a place called Diners that serves delicious Indian cuisine.
On Wednesday we visited the yogurt kitchen to buy some yogurt and to help the Mamas for a little while. We returned home for lunch and stayed at the apartment so that I could work some more on creating the 125 membership cards for PLWAs. Later on that day we paid a visit to Dr. Butamanya at Sekoutoure Hospital to (re)introduce ourselves and to discuss with him Ashley’s health benefits study, probiotic research as well as some ideas for project financing. We had a nice conversation with him outside under a tree while enjoying sodas and water (maji). Dr. Butamanya gave us some good suggestions and informed us that he would make some inquiries into local funding for us and report back to us at the July Steering Committee Meeting. After visiting Dr. Butamanya I decided to go to the clinic because I had been feeling ill since the morning. About an hour into waiting for my test results I had to leave to go home because I was violently ill. My amazing roommates were nice enough to pick up my test results for me. Turns out, I had an amoeba. I haven’t been that sick in a long time, I couldn’t even drink water without being sick and I didn’t eat for three days. But once I got my meds and they started to kick in I felt much better.
So Wednesday evening to Friday night were write-off days since I was confined to my bed. All I did was sleep. This was a nasty Amoeba…worse than the one I had the last time I was here. Its nickname was Pablo…
Pablo died on Saturday and I was feeling much better. Jon and I planned a meeting with Alex (our project coordinator) to brainstorm ideas for the Master Plan for the project. We spent about 4 hours drafting up a task chart and discussing the necessary components of the Master Plan. Since we were in need of some relaxation time we decided to head to Tunza to Relax. Because we were so relaxed we decided to sleep on the beach with a number of our friends. Tunza is one of my favorite places to relax…it was amazing seeing the sunrise in the morning.
As we were leaving Tunza on Sunday morning, walking down the long, bumpy dirt road we got a call from our friend Danny to come over to his house for breakfast. He just lived around the way so off we went. Danny has a really nice place about 5 minutes away from Tunza. He made us French toast (YUM!) and tea (chai). After our large and delicious breakfast we sat outside on Danny’s porch and watched the moneys (yea, I said monkeys) that live in the trees in his yard. As most people know, I absolutely LOVE monkeys so I was really happy to be sitting there. We sat and relaxed for a long while and then went home so we could go to the Sunday market to buy our weekly round of produce. In the evening I relaxed with the girls next door. We made a delicious dinner with fruits and vegetables and home made hummus…YUM! Later on that night Jon met up with another Canadian SFD (Students For Development) intern named Geoff. He was only in Mwanza for a few days so he stayed at our apartment on Sunday night before his bus ride to Kenya in the Morning. It was nice hanging out with another Canadian around our age. Geoff will be back in Mwanza in a few weeks for one night as he continues on to Sengerema. It will be nice to see him again.
On Tuesday Jon and I went to the yogurt kitchen to help out the Mamas and to return their cost estimate sheets that we had copied the day before. After the kitchen we went to the internet café to create a list of priority tasks to tackle for the next little while. In the evening I joined Joke (a Dutch intern from the Netherlands) and Sophie (one of my local friends) went to the Family Fitness Centre for the most hard core aerobics session I have ever participated in. I was amazed that they even have a gym here in Mwanza but it was actually really nice. The class was led by a beefed up drill sergeant type man who was really nice but really tough on us. The composition of the class was quite different from classes at home. There were about 20 men and 4 or 5 women (including the 3 of us). The room looked quite similar to a workout room at home with mirrors encasing the room. Unlike gyms at home though, there was no air conditioning…it was pretty hot. The music was also a bit different, the African beats were much more fun to work out too but they were a little fast for my uncoordinated self. The class lasted about an hour and a half and I worked so hard that my face turned purple and I was sweating like crazy. I literally have never worked out that hard and I used to train at a gym at home. After our exhausting workout I headed home so that I could get ready to go out for dinner with one of our good friends, Ingerd, who was leaving the next day to go back to Norway. We decided to eat dinner at Ingerd’s favorite place to eat. She chose to go to a place called Diners that serves delicious Indian cuisine.
On Wednesday we visited the yogurt kitchen to buy some yogurt and to help the Mamas for a little while. We returned home for lunch and stayed at the apartment so that I could work some more on creating the 125 membership cards for PLWAs. Later on that day we paid a visit to Dr. Butamanya at Sekoutoure Hospital to (re)introduce ourselves and to discuss with him Ashley’s health benefits study, probiotic research as well as some ideas for project financing. We had a nice conversation with him outside under a tree while enjoying sodas and water (maji). Dr. Butamanya gave us some good suggestions and informed us that he would make some inquiries into local funding for us and report back to us at the July Steering Committee Meeting. After visiting Dr. Butamanya I decided to go to the clinic because I had been feeling ill since the morning. About an hour into waiting for my test results I had to leave to go home because I was violently ill. My amazing roommates were nice enough to pick up my test results for me. Turns out, I had an amoeba. I haven’t been that sick in a long time, I couldn’t even drink water without being sick and I didn’t eat for three days. But once I got my meds and they started to kick in I felt much better.
So Wednesday evening to Friday night were write-off days since I was confined to my bed. All I did was sleep. This was a nasty Amoeba…worse than the one I had the last time I was here. Its nickname was Pablo…
Pablo died on Saturday and I was feeling much better. Jon and I planned a meeting with Alex (our project coordinator) to brainstorm ideas for the Master Plan for the project. We spent about 4 hours drafting up a task chart and discussing the necessary components of the Master Plan. Since we were in need of some relaxation time we decided to head to Tunza to Relax. Because we were so relaxed we decided to sleep on the beach with a number of our friends. Tunza is one of my favorite places to relax…it was amazing seeing the sunrise in the morning.
As we were leaving Tunza on Sunday morning, walking down the long, bumpy dirt road we got a call from our friend Danny to come over to his house for breakfast. He just lived around the way so off we went. Danny has a really nice place about 5 minutes away from Tunza. He made us French toast (YUM!) and tea (chai). After our large and delicious breakfast we sat outside on Danny’s porch and watched the moneys (yea, I said monkeys) that live in the trees in his yard. As most people know, I absolutely LOVE monkeys so I was really happy to be sitting there. We sat and relaxed for a long while and then went home so we could go to the Sunday market to buy our weekly round of produce. In the evening I relaxed with the girls next door. We made a delicious dinner with fruits and vegetables and home made hummus…YUM! Later on that night Jon met up with another Canadian SFD (Students For Development) intern named Geoff. He was only in Mwanza for a few days so he stayed at our apartment on Sunday night before his bus ride to Kenya in the Morning. It was nice hanging out with another Canadian around our age. Geoff will be back in Mwanza in a few weeks for one night as he continues on to Sengerema. It will be nice to see him again.
Monday, July 6, 2009
Weeki Tano (Week Five)
Week five started out very different then we all thought it would. The Mamas and Ashley were supposed to go to Kenya to start training with the Kenyan women’s group on kitchen health and safety and probiotic yogurt production but, as usual, plans changed. Turns out, the Mamas had to start their cow husbandry training this week through TASAF (Tanzanian Social Action Fund) and had to stay in Mwanza. Since the Mamas will be purchasing their own cows for the new kitchen to produce their own milk, they need to be trained in the area of cow husbandry. So their trip to Kenya was moved to the following week.
When we arrived at the yogurt kitchen on Monday morning the Mamas were anxiously waiting for the TASAF teacher (mwalimu) to arrive. The mamas gathered their notebooks (kitabu) , pens (kalamu) and chart paper in preparation for their lesson (somo) and we all sat and enjoyed some chai masala (milky tea) and andazi (fried biscuit things) while we waited for the teacher to arrive. Ashley, Jon and I were unsure whether or not we were supposed to attend the lessons so we waited for further indication from the mamas. When the teacher arrived the Mamas gathered up their belongings and said ‘tuwende’ (let’s go!). So we followed the teacher and the Mamas to Mtoni High School just around the corner. We entered into a completely empty brick building with dirt (uchafu) floors. I wondered how the lesson was going to take place without any furniture (fanicha) or blackboard (ubao). Just as this thought crossed through my mind, a number of Mtoni students (wanafunzi) came strolling down the hill carrying desks (deski) and chairs (kiti) for our lesson. Two students were even carrying a blackboard. The Mamas instantly rushed over to help the students and Ashley, Jon and I followed. It was neat to see some of the students and the Mamas balancing the desks and chairs on their heads. Women here often carry many things on their heads. It is a true talent. I was tempted to try this myself but I decided against it…maybe I would try some smaller items first. I did help carry the desks by hand though.
Once the lesson begun, the teacher asked whether the lesson should be taught in Kiswahili or in English. We all stressed that the lesson should be in Kiswahili since the training was for the Mamas and they are not fluent in English. So, the 5 hour lesson begun and we all sat quietly as the teacher explained the schedule for the week and delved into the subject of cow husbandry. Even though the lesson was in Kiswahili I was shocked at the amount of material I actually understood. Boy, did I learn a lot about cows that day! The lessons wrapped up at about 1:30pm (saa saba nanusu) and we headed back to the kitchen for some yogurt and buns.
The next day we decided not to attend the cow husbandry lessons since we could not understand all of the lesson and since the Mamas were the ones who were to be purchasing and caring for the cows. Instead, we thought that we would make better use of our time by filling in the shifts at the yogurt kitchen so that all the Mamas would be able to attend their lessons. The Mamas were pretty happy (furaha) and thankful (shukrani) that Ashley and I were taking over their positions for the week so that they could attend their classes. Jon was busy at home working on his research design and running errands in town. Mama Elizabeth’s granddaughter (Dorisi) who is sixteen years old, also helped us out at the kitchen. The first day was a little scary since we had never run the kitchen by ourselves. I also wondered how local community members would react to Mzungus running the kitchen since they were so used to the Mamas being there. The first morning running the kitchen actually ran pretty smoothly. I was surprised how well things worked out. Although we did get a few strange looks from people, everyone was very friendly and we were able to communicate quite effectively using the Swahili that we have already learned. So Ashley, Dori and I spent all morning cooking (kupika) and serving (hudumia) yogurt (maziwa). The Mamas returned from their lesson around 1:00pm and thanked us for manning the fort while they enjoyed their lessons.
On Wednesday Ashley and I went to the kitchen again to help out. This time we had the routine down pat and the yogurt customers recognized us from the day before. Ashley, Dori and I actually had a lot of fun all morning getting to know each other and teaching each other Kiwsahili and English. While we were at the kitchen we also obtained the list of the registered people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWAs) from the Mamas so that we could start to create a new documentation system for the people who are receiving subsidized yogurt. We are creating a new documentation system so that the subsidized yogurt is accurately recorded on a regular basis both for financial record keeping and consistent operational record keeping. After the Mama’s lesson we also spoke to the TASAF teacher about applying for other grants through his organization as the mamas are in need of other sources of local funding. The teacher referred us to the director of TASAF, Mr. Ngowi and gave us his phone number (simu numba).
On Wednesday afternoon Jon, Ashley, Joke (a Dutch medical student) and Myself visited the National Institute of Medical Research (NIMR) to meet with Dr. Changalucha (the director) and Simon (the lab technician who makes the probiotics) to take care of some matters concerning the probiotics supply for the yogurt. We found out that Simon, the lab technician, is currently training a student on how to produce the probiotic culture for instances when he is away or unable to make it himself. He also mentioned that another student is coming in July and will be trained in probiotic cultivation as well. The training of other interns who know how to cultivate probiotics is very important to the success of the project to ensure that there are consistent supplies of probiotics. We also spoke with Dr. Changalucha to say hello and to inquire about a good time to have the next Mwanza Steering Committee meeting.
On Thursday Ashley, Jon and I headed to the kitchen again to relieve the Mamas of their yogurt shifts so that they could attend their ‘cow classes’. Since there were four of us Jon decided to go run some errands in town and to touch up some stuff for his research proposal. Ashley, Dori and I had another fun morning together cooking yogurt, serving customers and hanging out. At one point I reached into my purse to get something out and I realized that I had my ipod with me. I took it out and shared one of the headphones with Dori. Like any sixteen-year-old, she loved listening to the music while she worked. I showed her how to use it and let her borrow it for the rest of the shift. It was nice to see Dori dancing around the kitchen while she washed the floor, stirred the yogurt and tidied up.
After our shift at the kitchen we made some food and headed off to yoga. Later on in the evening I worked on typing out the list of PLWAs so that I could start making the membership cards for our new documentation system.
On Friday morning Ashley left for a safari in the Serengeti. She met up with some of Sabrina’s (a past intern) friends who were living in Uganda for the last little while. Jon and I went to the kitchen again to relieve the Mamas. This was the first day that Jon helped out in the kitchen. Since it is traditionally the women who do the cooking in Tanzania and since it is a women’s group that runs the kitchen, Jon made sure to ask if it was alright that he participate in cooking and serving at the kitchen that day. It was funny because the Mamas really encouraged Jon to help out. Some of them giggled and expressed that it was nice to see a man cooking for once. All the Mamas laughed when I said ‘Jon ana Mama ya Maziwe’ (Jon is a yogurt Mama!). I guess it was quite a sight to see. Although it was different for a man to be in the kitchen making and serving yogurt, the yogurt customers seemed quite comfortable with it and everyone greeted him the same as they greeted the rest of us. It was nice for Jon to get to know Dori better as well.
On Saturday Jon and I went with the Mamas to the new kitchen site in Nyamhongoro to get some cost estimates for the building of a fence around the new site as well as to inquire about getting a store house built for the cow feed and supplies. As usual we took about a 20 minute daladala ride to the site. Riding on the daladala is always an adventure cause you never know what position you’ll end up in. This time Jon and I were stuck standing up, smooshed near the door that flies open every time someone get on or off. We were relieved to get off as our backs and legs were hurting. It’s a good thing that it is a beautiful, relaxing walk in to the site area. We arrived to the site area and sat with the local family(ies) (about 20 people) and waited for the builder to come. In the meantime we checked out the newly finished banda (cow house) on the new plot of land. When the builder arrived Mama Sabina and Mama Asha had a long conversation with him. The Mamas relayed to us that the cost estimates would not be ready until Monday since he would be spending a good portion of the day measuring the prospective fence diameter and securing an area for a store house. In the meantime Mama Asha was teaching me some more Swahili. I learned the words for fence (wia) and post (nguzo). The rest of the day we spent hanging out with friends.
On Sunday Jon stayed at home to rest and relax and I went with some friends to a beautiful beach in Nyamgezi district. We spent the day hanging out, lazing around and eating delicious food cooked on the BBQ. In the evening I went with some of my friends to an Indian wedding reception ceremony. It was really neat to see a wedding celebration in another cultural context. Again, it was another great end to the week.
When we arrived at the yogurt kitchen on Monday morning the Mamas were anxiously waiting for the TASAF teacher (mwalimu) to arrive. The mamas gathered their notebooks (kitabu) , pens (kalamu) and chart paper in preparation for their lesson (somo) and we all sat and enjoyed some chai masala (milky tea) and andazi (fried biscuit things) while we waited for the teacher to arrive. Ashley, Jon and I were unsure whether or not we were supposed to attend the lessons so we waited for further indication from the mamas. When the teacher arrived the Mamas gathered up their belongings and said ‘tuwende’ (let’s go!). So we followed the teacher and the Mamas to Mtoni High School just around the corner. We entered into a completely empty brick building with dirt (uchafu) floors. I wondered how the lesson was going to take place without any furniture (fanicha) or blackboard (ubao). Just as this thought crossed through my mind, a number of Mtoni students (wanafunzi) came strolling down the hill carrying desks (deski) and chairs (kiti) for our lesson. Two students were even carrying a blackboard. The Mamas instantly rushed over to help the students and Ashley, Jon and I followed. It was neat to see some of the students and the Mamas balancing the desks and chairs on their heads. Women here often carry many things on their heads. It is a true talent. I was tempted to try this myself but I decided against it…maybe I would try some smaller items first. I did help carry the desks by hand though.
Once the lesson begun, the teacher asked whether the lesson should be taught in Kiswahili or in English. We all stressed that the lesson should be in Kiswahili since the training was for the Mamas and they are not fluent in English. So, the 5 hour lesson begun and we all sat quietly as the teacher explained the schedule for the week and delved into the subject of cow husbandry. Even though the lesson was in Kiswahili I was shocked at the amount of material I actually understood. Boy, did I learn a lot about cows that day! The lessons wrapped up at about 1:30pm (saa saba nanusu) and we headed back to the kitchen for some yogurt and buns.
The next day we decided not to attend the cow husbandry lessons since we could not understand all of the lesson and since the Mamas were the ones who were to be purchasing and caring for the cows. Instead, we thought that we would make better use of our time by filling in the shifts at the yogurt kitchen so that all the Mamas would be able to attend their lessons. The Mamas were pretty happy (furaha) and thankful (shukrani) that Ashley and I were taking over their positions for the week so that they could attend their classes. Jon was busy at home working on his research design and running errands in town. Mama Elizabeth’s granddaughter (Dorisi) who is sixteen years old, also helped us out at the kitchen. The first day was a little scary since we had never run the kitchen by ourselves. I also wondered how local community members would react to Mzungus running the kitchen since they were so used to the Mamas being there. The first morning running the kitchen actually ran pretty smoothly. I was surprised how well things worked out. Although we did get a few strange looks from people, everyone was very friendly and we were able to communicate quite effectively using the Swahili that we have already learned. So Ashley, Dori and I spent all morning cooking (kupika) and serving (hudumia) yogurt (maziwa). The Mamas returned from their lesson around 1:00pm and thanked us for manning the fort while they enjoyed their lessons.
On Wednesday Ashley and I went to the kitchen again to help out. This time we had the routine down pat and the yogurt customers recognized us from the day before. Ashley, Dori and I actually had a lot of fun all morning getting to know each other and teaching each other Kiwsahili and English. While we were at the kitchen we also obtained the list of the registered people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWAs) from the Mamas so that we could start to create a new documentation system for the people who are receiving subsidized yogurt. We are creating a new documentation system so that the subsidized yogurt is accurately recorded on a regular basis both for financial record keeping and consistent operational record keeping. After the Mama’s lesson we also spoke to the TASAF teacher about applying for other grants through his organization as the mamas are in need of other sources of local funding. The teacher referred us to the director of TASAF, Mr. Ngowi and gave us his phone number (simu numba).
On Wednesday afternoon Jon, Ashley, Joke (a Dutch medical student) and Myself visited the National Institute of Medical Research (NIMR) to meet with Dr. Changalucha (the director) and Simon (the lab technician who makes the probiotics) to take care of some matters concerning the probiotics supply for the yogurt. We found out that Simon, the lab technician, is currently training a student on how to produce the probiotic culture for instances when he is away or unable to make it himself. He also mentioned that another student is coming in July and will be trained in probiotic cultivation as well. The training of other interns who know how to cultivate probiotics is very important to the success of the project to ensure that there are consistent supplies of probiotics. We also spoke with Dr. Changalucha to say hello and to inquire about a good time to have the next Mwanza Steering Committee meeting.
On Thursday Ashley, Jon and I headed to the kitchen again to relieve the Mamas of their yogurt shifts so that they could attend their ‘cow classes’. Since there were four of us Jon decided to go run some errands in town and to touch up some stuff for his research proposal. Ashley, Dori and I had another fun morning together cooking yogurt, serving customers and hanging out. At one point I reached into my purse to get something out and I realized that I had my ipod with me. I took it out and shared one of the headphones with Dori. Like any sixteen-year-old, she loved listening to the music while she worked. I showed her how to use it and let her borrow it for the rest of the shift. It was nice to see Dori dancing around the kitchen while she washed the floor, stirred the yogurt and tidied up.
After our shift at the kitchen we made some food and headed off to yoga. Later on in the evening I worked on typing out the list of PLWAs so that I could start making the membership cards for our new documentation system.
On Friday morning Ashley left for a safari in the Serengeti. She met up with some of Sabrina’s (a past intern) friends who were living in Uganda for the last little while. Jon and I went to the kitchen again to relieve the Mamas. This was the first day that Jon helped out in the kitchen. Since it is traditionally the women who do the cooking in Tanzania and since it is a women’s group that runs the kitchen, Jon made sure to ask if it was alright that he participate in cooking and serving at the kitchen that day. It was funny because the Mamas really encouraged Jon to help out. Some of them giggled and expressed that it was nice to see a man cooking for once. All the Mamas laughed when I said ‘Jon ana Mama ya Maziwe’ (Jon is a yogurt Mama!). I guess it was quite a sight to see. Although it was different for a man to be in the kitchen making and serving yogurt, the yogurt customers seemed quite comfortable with it and everyone greeted him the same as they greeted the rest of us. It was nice for Jon to get to know Dori better as well.
On Saturday Jon and I went with the Mamas to the new kitchen site in Nyamhongoro to get some cost estimates for the building of a fence around the new site as well as to inquire about getting a store house built for the cow feed and supplies. As usual we took about a 20 minute daladala ride to the site. Riding on the daladala is always an adventure cause you never know what position you’ll end up in. This time Jon and I were stuck standing up, smooshed near the door that flies open every time someone get on or off. We were relieved to get off as our backs and legs were hurting. It’s a good thing that it is a beautiful, relaxing walk in to the site area. We arrived to the site area and sat with the local family(ies) (about 20 people) and waited for the builder to come. In the meantime we checked out the newly finished banda (cow house) on the new plot of land. When the builder arrived Mama Sabina and Mama Asha had a long conversation with him. The Mamas relayed to us that the cost estimates would not be ready until Monday since he would be spending a good portion of the day measuring the prospective fence diameter and securing an area for a store house. In the meantime Mama Asha was teaching me some more Swahili. I learned the words for fence (wia) and post (nguzo). The rest of the day we spent hanging out with friends.
On Sunday Jon stayed at home to rest and relax and I went with some friends to a beautiful beach in Nyamgezi district. We spent the day hanging out, lazing around and eating delicious food cooked on the BBQ. In the evening I went with some of my friends to an Indian wedding reception ceremony. It was really neat to see a wedding celebration in another cultural context. Again, it was another great end to the week.
Weeki Tano (Week Five)
Week five started out very different then we all thought it would. The Mamas and Ashley were supposed to go to Kenya to start training with the Kenyan women’s group on kitchen health and safety and probiotic yogurt production but, as usual, plans changed. Turns out, the Mamas had to start their cow husbandry training this week through TASAF (Tanzanian Social Action Fund) and had to stay in Mwanza. Since the Mamas will be purchasing their own cows for the new kitchen to produce their own milk, they need to be trained in the area of cow husbandry. So their trip to Kenya was moved to the following week.
When we arrived at the yogurt kitchen on Monday morning the Mamas were anxiously waiting for the TASAF teacher (mwalimu) to arrive. The mamas gathered their notebooks (kitabu) , pens (kalamu) and chart paper in preparation for their lesson (somo) and we all sat and enjoyed some chai masala (milky tea) and andazi (fried biscuit things) while we waited for the teacher to arrive. Ashley, Jon and I were unsure whether or not we were supposed to attend the lessons so we waited for further indication from the mamas. When the teacher arrived the Mamas gathered up their belongings and said ‘tuwende’ (let’s go!). So we followed the teacher and the Mamas to Mtoni High School just around the corner. We entered into a completely empty brick building with dirt (uchafu) floors. I wondered how the lesson was going to take place without any furniture (fanicha) or blackboard (ubao). Just as this thought crossed through my mind, a number of Mtoni students (wanafunzi) came strolling down the hill carrying desks (deski) and chairs (kiti) for our lesson. Two students were even carrying a blackboard. The Mamas instantly rushed over to help the students and Ashley, Jon and I followed. It was neat to see some of the students and the Mamas balancing the desks and chairs on their heads. Women here often carry many things on their heads. It is a true talent. I was tempted to try this myself but I decided against it…maybe I would try some smaller items first. I did help carry the desks by hand though.
Once the lesson begun, the teacher asked whether the lesson should be taught in Kiswahili or in English. We all stressed that the lesson should be in Kiswahili since the training was for the Mamas and they are not fluent in English. So, the 5 hour lesson begun and we all sat quietly as the teacher explained the schedule for the week and delved into the subject of cow husbandry. Even though the lesson was in Kiswahili I was shocked at the amount of material I actually understood. Boy, did I learn a lot about cows that day! The lessons wrapped up at about 1:30pm (saa saba nanusu) and we headed back to the kitchen for some yogurt and buns.
The next day we decided not to attend the cow husbandry lessons since we could not understand all of the lesson and since the Mamas were the ones who were to be purchasing and caring for the cows. Instead, we thought that we would make better use of our time by filling in the shifts at the yogurt kitchen so that all the Mamas would be able to attend their lessons. The Mamas were pretty happy (furaha) and thankful (shukrani) that Ashley and I were taking over their positions for the week so that they could attend their classes. Jon was busy at home working on his research design and running errands in town. Mama Elizabeth’s granddaughter (Dorisi) who is sixteen years old, also helped us out at the kitchen. The first day was a little scary since we had never run the kitchen by ourselves. I also wondered how local community members would react to Mzungus running the kitchen since they were so used to the Mamas being there. The first morning running the kitchen actually ran pretty smoothly. I was surprised how well things worked out. Although we did get a few strange looks from people, everyone was very friendly and we were able to communicate quite effectively using the Swahili that we have already learned. So Ashley, Dori and I spent all morning cooking (kupika) and serving (hudumia) yogurt (maziwa). The Mamas returned from their lesson around 1:00pm and thanked us for manning the fort while they enjoyed their lessons.
On Wednesday Ashley and I went to the kitchen again to help out. This time we had the routine down pat and the yogurt customers recognized us from the day before. Ashley, Dori and I actually had a lot of fun all morning getting to know each other and teaching each other Kiwsahili and English. While we were at the kitchen we also obtained the list of the registered people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWAs) from the Mamas so that we could start to create a new documentation system for the people who are receiving subsidized yogurt. We are creating a new documentation system so that the subsidized yogurt is accurately recorded on a regular basis both for financial record keeping and consistent operational record keeping. After the Mama’s lesson we also spoke to the TASAF teacher about applying for other grants through his organization as the mamas are in need of other sources of local funding. The teacher referred us to the director of TASAF, Mr. Ngowi and gave us his phone number (simu numba).
On Wednesday afternoon Jon, Ashley, Joke (a Dutch medical student) and Myself visited the National Institute of Medical Research (NIMR) to meet with Dr. Changalucha (the director) and Simon (the lab technician who makes the probiotics) to take care of some matters concerning the probiotics supply for the yogurt. We found out that Simon, the lab technician, is currently training a student on how to produce the probiotic culture for instances when he is away or unable to make it himself. He also mentioned that another student is coming in July and will be trained in probiotic cultivation as well. The training of other interns who know how to cultivate probiotics is very important to the success of the project to ensure that there are consistent supplies of probiotics. We also spoke with Dr. Changalucha to say hello and to inquire about a good time to have the next Mwanza Steering Committee meeting.
On Thursday Ashley, Jon and I headed to the kitchen again to relieve the Mamas of their yogurt shifts so that they could attend their ‘cow classes’. Since there were four of us Jon decided to go run some errands in town and to touch up some stuff for his research proposal. Ashley, Dori and I had another fun morning together cooking yogurt, serving customers and hanging out. At one point I reached into my purse to get something out and I realized that I had my ipod with me. I took it out and shared one of the headphones with Dori. Like any sixteen-year-old, she loved listening to the music while she worked. I showed her how to use it and let her borrow it for the rest of the shift. It was nice to see Dori dancing around the kitchen while she washed the floor, stirred the yogurt and tidied up.
After our shift at the kitchen we made some food and headed off to yoga. Later on in the evening I worked on typing out the list of PLWAs so that I could start making the membership cards for our new documentation system.
On Friday morning Ashley left for a safari in the Serengeti. She met up with some of Sabrina’s (a past intern) friends who were living in Uganda for the last little while. Jon and I went to the kitchen again to relieve the Mamas. This was the first day that Jon helped out in the kitchen. Since it is traditionally the women who do the cooking in Tanzania and since it is a women’s group that runs the kitchen, Jon made sure to ask if it was alright that he participate in cooking and serving at the kitchen that day. It was funny because the Mamas really encouraged Jon to help out. Some of them giggled and expressed that it was nice to see a man cooking for once. All the Mamas laughed when I said ‘Jon ana Mama ya Maziwe’ (Jon is a yogurt Mama!). I guess it was quite a sight to see. Although it was different for a man to be in the kitchen making and serving yogurt, the yogurt customers seemed quite comfortable with it and everyone greeted him the same as they greeted the rest of us. It was nice for Jon to get to know Dori better as well.
On Saturday Jon and I went with the Mamas to the new kitchen site in Nyamhongoro to get some cost estimates for the building of a fence around the new site as well as to inquire about getting a store house built for the cow feed and supplies. As usual we took about a 20 minute daladala ride to the site. Riding on the daladala is always an adventure cause you never know what position you’ll end up in. This time Jon and I were stuck standing up, smooshed near the door that flies open every time someone get on or off. We were relieved to get off as our backs and legs were hurting. It’s a good thing that it is a beautiful, relaxing walk in to the site area. We arrived to the site area and sat with the local family(ies) (about 20 people) and waited for the builder to come. In the meantime we checked out the newly finished banda (cow house) on the new plot of land. When the builder arrived Mama Sabina and Mama Asha had a long conversation with him. The Mamas relayed to us that the cost estimates would not be ready until Monday since he would be spending a good portion of the day measuring the prospective fence diameter and securing an area for a store house. In the meantime Mama Asha was teaching me some more Swahili. I learned the words for fence (wia) and post (nguzo). The rest of the day we spent hanging out with friends.
On Sunday Jon stayed at home to rest and relax and I went with some friends to a beautiful beach in Nyamgezi district. We spent the day hanging out, lazing around and eating delicious food cooked on the BBQ. In the evening I went with some of my friends to an Indian wedding reception ceremony. It was really neat to see a wedding celebration in another cultural context. Again, it was another great end to the week.
When we arrived at the yogurt kitchen on Monday morning the Mamas were anxiously waiting for the TASAF teacher (mwalimu) to arrive. The mamas gathered their notebooks (kitabu) , pens (kalamu) and chart paper in preparation for their lesson (somo) and we all sat and enjoyed some chai masala (milky tea) and andazi (fried biscuit things) while we waited for the teacher to arrive. Ashley, Jon and I were unsure whether or not we were supposed to attend the lessons so we waited for further indication from the mamas. When the teacher arrived the Mamas gathered up their belongings and said ‘tuwende’ (let’s go!). So we followed the teacher and the Mamas to Mtoni High School just around the corner. We entered into a completely empty brick building with dirt (uchafu) floors. I wondered how the lesson was going to take place without any furniture (fanicha) or blackboard (ubao). Just as this thought crossed through my mind, a number of Mtoni students (wanafunzi) came strolling down the hill carrying desks (deski) and chairs (kiti) for our lesson. Two students were even carrying a blackboard. The Mamas instantly rushed over to help the students and Ashley, Jon and I followed. It was neat to see some of the students and the Mamas balancing the desks and chairs on their heads. Women here often carry many things on their heads. It is a true talent. I was tempted to try this myself but I decided against it…maybe I would try some smaller items first. I did help carry the desks by hand though.
Once the lesson begun, the teacher asked whether the lesson should be taught in Kiswahili or in English. We all stressed that the lesson should be in Kiswahili since the training was for the Mamas and they are not fluent in English. So, the 5 hour lesson begun and we all sat quietly as the teacher explained the schedule for the week and delved into the subject of cow husbandry. Even though the lesson was in Kiswahili I was shocked at the amount of material I actually understood. Boy, did I learn a lot about cows that day! The lessons wrapped up at about 1:30pm (saa saba nanusu) and we headed back to the kitchen for some yogurt and buns.
The next day we decided not to attend the cow husbandry lessons since we could not understand all of the lesson and since the Mamas were the ones who were to be purchasing and caring for the cows. Instead, we thought that we would make better use of our time by filling in the shifts at the yogurt kitchen so that all the Mamas would be able to attend their lessons. The Mamas were pretty happy (furaha) and thankful (shukrani) that Ashley and I were taking over their positions for the week so that they could attend their classes. Jon was busy at home working on his research design and running errands in town. Mama Elizabeth’s granddaughter (Dorisi) who is sixteen years old, also helped us out at the kitchen. The first day was a little scary since we had never run the kitchen by ourselves. I also wondered how local community members would react to Mzungus running the kitchen since they were so used to the Mamas being there. The first morning running the kitchen actually ran pretty smoothly. I was surprised how well things worked out. Although we did get a few strange looks from people, everyone was very friendly and we were able to communicate quite effectively using the Swahili that we have already learned. So Ashley, Dori and I spent all morning cooking (kupika) and serving (hudumia) yogurt (maziwa). The Mamas returned from their lesson around 1:00pm and thanked us for manning the fort while they enjoyed their lessons.
On Wednesday Ashley and I went to the kitchen again to help out. This time we had the routine down pat and the yogurt customers recognized us from the day before. Ashley, Dori and I actually had a lot of fun all morning getting to know each other and teaching each other Kiwsahili and English. While we were at the kitchen we also obtained the list of the registered people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWAs) from the Mamas so that we could start to create a new documentation system for the people who are receiving subsidized yogurt. We are creating a new documentation system so that the subsidized yogurt is accurately recorded on a regular basis both for financial record keeping and consistent operational record keeping. After the Mama’s lesson we also spoke to the TASAF teacher about applying for other grants through his organization as the mamas are in need of other sources of local funding. The teacher referred us to the director of TASAF, Mr. Ngowi and gave us his phone number (simu numba).
On Wednesday afternoon Jon, Ashley, Joke (a Dutch medical student) and Myself visited the National Institute of Medical Research (NIMR) to meet with Dr. Changalucha (the director) and Simon (the lab technician who makes the probiotics) to take care of some matters concerning the probiotics supply for the yogurt. We found out that Simon, the lab technician, is currently training a student on how to produce the probiotic culture for instances when he is away or unable to make it himself. He also mentioned that another student is coming in July and will be trained in probiotic cultivation as well. The training of other interns who know how to cultivate probiotics is very important to the success of the project to ensure that there are consistent supplies of probiotics. We also spoke with Dr. Changalucha to say hello and to inquire about a good time to have the next Mwanza Steering Committee meeting.
On Thursday Ashley, Jon and I headed to the kitchen again to relieve the Mamas of their yogurt shifts so that they could attend their ‘cow classes’. Since there were four of us Jon decided to go run some errands in town and to touch up some stuff for his research proposal. Ashley, Dori and I had another fun morning together cooking yogurt, serving customers and hanging out. At one point I reached into my purse to get something out and I realized that I had my ipod with me. I took it out and shared one of the headphones with Dori. Like any sixteen-year-old, she loved listening to the music while she worked. I showed her how to use it and let her borrow it for the rest of the shift. It was nice to see Dori dancing around the kitchen while she washed the floor, stirred the yogurt and tidied up.
After our shift at the kitchen we made some food and headed off to yoga. Later on in the evening I worked on typing out the list of PLWAs so that I could start making the membership cards for our new documentation system.
On Friday morning Ashley left for a safari in the Serengeti. She met up with some of Sabrina’s (a past intern) friends who were living in Uganda for the last little while. Jon and I went to the kitchen again to relieve the Mamas. This was the first day that Jon helped out in the kitchen. Since it is traditionally the women who do the cooking in Tanzania and since it is a women’s group that runs the kitchen, Jon made sure to ask if it was alright that he participate in cooking and serving at the kitchen that day. It was funny because the Mamas really encouraged Jon to help out. Some of them giggled and expressed that it was nice to see a man cooking for once. All the Mamas laughed when I said ‘Jon ana Mama ya Maziwe’ (Jon is a yogurt Mama!). I guess it was quite a sight to see. Although it was different for a man to be in the kitchen making and serving yogurt, the yogurt customers seemed quite comfortable with it and everyone greeted him the same as they greeted the rest of us. It was nice for Jon to get to know Dori better as well.
On Saturday Jon and I went with the Mamas to the new kitchen site in Nyamhongoro to get some cost estimates for the building of a fence around the new site as well as to inquire about getting a store house built for the cow feed and supplies. As usual we took about a 20 minute daladala ride to the site. Riding on the daladala is always an adventure cause you never know what position you’ll end up in. This time Jon and I were stuck standing up, smooshed near the door that flies open every time someone get on or off. We were relieved to get off as our backs and legs were hurting. It’s a good thing that it is a beautiful, relaxing walk in to the site area. We arrived to the site area and sat with the local family(ies) (about 20 people) and waited for the builder to come. In the meantime we checked out the newly finished banda (cow house) on the new plot of land. When the builder arrived Mama Sabina and Mama Asha had a long conversation with him. The Mamas relayed to us that the cost estimates would not be ready until Monday since he would be spending a good portion of the day measuring the prospective fence diameter and securing an area for a store house. In the meantime Mama Asha was teaching me some more Swahili. I learned the words for fence (wia) and post (nguzo). The rest of the day we spent hanging out with friends.
On Sunday Jon stayed at home to rest and relax and I went with some friends to a beautiful beach in Nyamgezi district. We spent the day hanging out, lazing around and eating delicious food cooked on the BBQ. In the evening I went with some of my friends to an Indian wedding reception ceremony. It was really neat to see a wedding celebration in another cultural context. Again, it was another great end to the week.
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