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.