Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Weeki Kumi na Tano (Week Fifteen)

Monday morning I made may way to the kitchen and the school to help the Mamas make Chapattis. While making the chapattis I tried to encourage (using my half broken Swahili) to continue their efforts at marketing their yogurt product. I told them about the possibility of selling at Isamilo International School and I introduced them to the idea of putting together a marketing pitch. The Mamas seemed keen on the idea and I encouraged them to look at selling to more places in order to expand their market and to expand the project as a whole.
In the afternoon I had to run some errands and had to grab some food from the market so I headed into town. On my way I grabbed some drinks and snack for our weekly meeting with Alex and the Mamas and headed home in time for the meeting. Unfortunately Alex could not make it to the meeting so the Mamas and I talked about what we could and enjoyed some snacks and drinks together.
In the evening I started to organize a task list for myself since there were many things running through my head that I wanted to do and there were some requests from the team at home. It seems to be much busier now without the other interns.
Later on I headed to Tunza Beach Lodge for my friend Kate’s going away dinner.

On Tuesday I did a little bit of work from home and printed all materials for Membership Card System so that I could bind them and give them to the Mamas so that they could implement the new documentation system. Later on in the day I headed off to Isamilo International School to book appointment with the Headmaster, Iain, so that we could talk about the possibility of selling the yogurt at the school canteen.
After I book the appointment I headed home to put together the Mamas marketing ideas into pamphlet form so that they could effectively promote themselves and the probiotic yogurt product. After doing some work at home I headed to the kitchen to get the Mamas to look over the pamphlet that I made and to tell them about our appointment for the next day at Isamilo. I also suggested to them to bring some yogurt so that they could sample it. When I went home I cut up a bunch of different fruits and bought some honey for the next day too to show them all of the different recipes that you can make with the yogurt. The Mamas and I talked about thinking of different ways to market the probiotic yogurt. We also talked about changing their marketing strategies depending on who their target customers are.
After visiting the Mamas I went to the internet café to print the pamphlet to take with us to Isamilo International School.
Later in the evening I worked on editing some more documents for Kivulini.

On Wednesday morning Mama Paskwalina and Mama Elizabeth came over to propose a pricing strategy for the yogurt. We wanted to make sure that if institutions were buying in bulk, they would get a better price for the yogurt. After typing up the cost per litre form we headed off to the International School to meet with Iain and the lady that runs the canteen. Alex met us as the school in case we needed some assistance with translation. The Mamas, Alex, and I explained about Tukwamuane Women’s Group and the benefits of the probiotic yogurt. We then did a little bit of taste testing and both Iain and the Canteen Supervisor loved the yogurt. After a few minutes of negotiations, they decided that 17L of probiotic yogurt would be purchased per week for both the canteen lunches and the students who live in residence. The Mamas and I were pretty happy since increasing their sales puts them closer to their 100L per day production and sales target for sustainability. After the meeting I headed home to work on the Master Plan document. Alex wasn’t feeling well so he headed off to the clinic. He called me later and informed me that he had malaria so there would be no meeting that day with the Mamas. Some of the Mamas ended up coming over anyways since we would be able to discuss a few things.

Thursday I had planned to do a lot of paperwork on the computer, do some photocopying and printing and use the internet but the power was out both at home and throughout town. At the same time, the water was also cut off so I couldn’t shower, couldn’t do the dishes, I couldn’t even wash my hands. It was a little frustrating not being able to get anything that I wanted to do done, but here, you have to be flexible with all of you plans and be able to adapt to and deal with unexpected roadblocks. The electricity and water has been shutting off quite a bit lately, there must be city-wide shortages. Again, it made me think of how lucky I am that I even have access to electricity and water since many people here in Mwanza do not have access to these amenities.
I thought that I may as well make myself useful so I decided to head to Mabatini to help the Mamas cook the yogurt or to maybe help cook chapattis at the school.
Later in the afternoon I walked to Kivulini to see if they had any volunteer work for me to do. I always love going to Kivulini because the staff and volunteers are always so friendly. They are a great bunch of people.
In the evening I studied Swahili again by candlelight.

On Friday I headed to the print shop to bind the membership card documentation books and the attendance log that I had made for the Mamas. It was nice chatting with the ladies who work there again while I waited for them to do the binding. After that I headed to the internet café to send off some emails.
In the afternoon I headed to the kitchen to visit the Mamas and to check if there were any more updates or business matters to deal with.
My friend Jessica had invited me to her brother’s wedding so in the evening her and I headed of to the Wande Hotel to enjoy the wedding celebrations. This was the second wedding that I have attended here in Tanzania and it was very different from the first one. Just like in Canada, I bet all weddings are different. The one thing that was the same though was the constant addition of music and dancing throughout every part of the ceremony…I loved it!

On Saturday I woke up later in the morning and finished editing some documents for Kivulini. I also worked on a few documents that I had to prepare for Tukwamuane. In the evening I went out for dinner with some friends.

On Sunday I decided to go to Church with my friend Salome. Even thought I am not associated with any religion I am very open-minded and eager to learn about any religion. So she came around 8am in the morning to pick me up so that we could walk there together. It took us about an hour to walk there but it was a nice day and we had a good chat on the way there. Salome’s church is a Pentecostal church. It was a large church that was decorated very nicely with Christmas lights and big decorative sheets and awnings. The service was very lively and full of life as the majority of the time people were singing and dancing in celebration. Most of the service was in Swahili but a Pastor and his wife from Oklahoma had been visiting and gave a sermon in English that was translated into Kiswahili. Even though I didn’t understand the majority of the service the music was wonderful and the spirit and energy within the crowd of people was very positive. At one point in time a children’s group came up to the front and performed a song and dance session for about 30 min. It was so cute to see all the little ones dancing. They sure know how to make church fun. Although I had a great time, I don’t think that I will go again since the service was about 5 and a half hours long…it was a little too long and intense for me but I am happy that I went for the experience.
In the afternoon I came home to rest and spent some time on the Kivulini documents.
Later on in the evening I was happy to meet up with my friends Letitia and Joseph for a nice meal. I met Letitia and Joseph the last time that I was in Tanzania and we hadn’t seen each other for about 2 and a half years. Letitia is a Canadian woman from BC. She is a nurse had has worked in Tanzania many times as her husband is from here. She has also worked in Kenya and is now off to Sudan for a year to work with MSF (Doctors Without Borders). They are good friends of mine and it was really nice to catch up with them over a delicious Indian meal!

Weeki Kumi Na Nne (Week Fourteen)

I started off week 14 with a visit (kizuru/ tembalaya) to the new (mpya) kitchen (jiko) site (mahali) with Mama Elizabeth, Mama Paskwalina and Mama Sabina so that we could meet with the Fence Fundi (builder) and feed and check on the cows (n’gombe). Once we arrived (tunafika) we met with the fence fundi and the people (watu) living (ishi) in the small community (jamii) right next to (karibu) the site to discuss some business matters. After talking for about 30 min, the Mamas finalized some documents and we went over to the site to feed the cows. I helped the Mamas unload huge burlap sacs full of grass (majani) and cow feed. It was particularly hot (joto sana) so the Mamas and I decided to take a break (pumziko) in the guardhouse. We sat together on the floor of the small shack (banda) and enjoyed some sugarcane (mua) that we bought from a nearby vendor (mchuuzi). The Mamas bought 3 huge stalks of suguarcane. We had no knife (kisu) so we had to use our teeth (majino) to peel the sugarcane husks off. I don’t know if most of you are familiar with sugarcane husk but its actually a pretty tough substance and it was really difficult to peel off just using my teeth. But the Mamas started munching away so I joined in hoping that I would not chip a tooth or anything. We sat on the floor for about half an hour (nusus saa) just chatting (ongea). About half way through our conversation Mama Paskwalina asked me if we grow sugarcane in Canada. I told her that we don’t and we talked about all of the foods (chakula) that are harvested (mavuno) and grown (makuwa) in Canada. It was funny (chekesha) because (kwa sababu) after (baddo) Mama Paskwalina asked (anauliza) me about the sugar can she said in Swahili, “Ninshangaza, unakula mua kuma Mbongo”, “Oh, I’m surprised, you eat sugarcane like a Tanzanian”. We all had a good chuckle about that. After our little break we headed back to town (mjini) on the daladala.
After my visit with the Mamas I went into town to the Foto King to print some pictures for Buswelu and Mtoni schools as well as for the Mamas. I find that pictures really mean a lot to people here since many of them have no pictures of themselves in their families (famalia) because the cost (bee) of cameras and developing the photos is way to expensive for the average person (watu wastani) here. So every time I take a picture of someone here I try to provide them with a copy.
After taking (chakua) the pictures in I headed to the market (sokoni) to try to take some pictures of the area to use for an upcoming WHE fundraiser that we are doing. I was a little bit weary of walking around snapping pictures at the market because first of all it put me at a bit of a risk for theft (wizi) and secondly (pili), many people (watu wangi) here in Tanzania really don’t like (sipendi) it if you take their picture (piga picha) without asking or paying them (which is understandable). So, I had to think of some creative ways to take the pictures I needed without losing my camera (kamara) or upsetting anyone (yoyote). By the way it is a little bit difficult (mgumu) to sneakily take pictures when you are a young white Mzungu in Tanzania so I ended up chatting to people for a while to convince them to take their pic. I also had to pay a few of the people to take a photo of them, from some vendors I bought some of their produce and some I promised to print their photo and bring it back to them. After a long afternoon (mchana) of attempting to get market photos, I had only succeeded in taking 4 (nne) photos so I decided to call it quits and try to get some more pictures another day (siku nyngine).
On the way home I stopped to run some errands and spent a bit of time at the internet café. When I got home the power (umeme) was out again so used up rest of my computer battery then studied Swahili by candlelight (taa ya msumaa).

On Tuesday morning I headed to Mabatini to the Yogurt Kitchen to pick up the profiles that the Mamas had written about themselves to put on our revamped website (www.wersternheadseast.ca). When I arrived, the mamas were sitting in a small meeting with the fence fundi. I sat quietly (kimia) and listened (skiliza) to the conversation. From what I understood (my Swahili is getting better every day!) I overheard that the budget for the fence was going to be about three times as high as we originally thought because of a mix up in communication. So, I asked the Mamas if what I thought they were saying was right. They let me know that I was right and that they were trying to negotiate the budget. Since many things are arranged verbally in Tanzania, I sat back and waited as the Mamas discussed the new budget with the fundi. After everyone had come to a consensus on the various prices of the fence materials, labour and transportation for the materials, I suggested that we formally write out the budget so that no one would get confused. Everyone agreed that that was a good idea so I assisted them in writing out a budget.
After my visit at the kitchen I came home and translated and typed put the Mamas profiles to send back home.
Later on that evening (jioni), Hassan, our housekeeper’s son came over for another computer lesson. This time I used word to help teach him some more English as well since he asked for my help with reading (soma) and writing (andika) English.

On Wednesday morning I headed to the kitchen to pick up the finalized fence budget and to meet the Mamas so that we could go to Saint Augustine University (SAUT) together. It was funny (chekesha) because when I walked into the kitchen, a man that had never seen me before asked, “mgeni ni nani?” “who’s the visitor?” and Mama Paskwalina said “Melissa siomgeni, wewe binti wangu na anafanya kazi hapo” “Melissa is not a visitor, she is our daughter and she works here”. It was really nice to hear that the Mamas think of me as their daughter…pretty cute!
After some of the Mamas (Mama Elizabeth, Mama Paskwalinia, Mama Leah and Mama Sabina) finished up some of their duties, the five of us headed off to SAUT to meet with George, Alex and one of the vendors at the canteen (cafeteria). The Mamas wanted to inquire about expanding their market to include a probiotic yogurt dispensary/ shop at the university campus and I had to visit the accountant to deal with some account business. On the way to SAUT on the daladala the conductor tried to rip me off (charge me extra) for the ride because he thought that I didn’t know the price of the trip. I knew that he was trying to do that and I was going to wait until I got off to ask for my change back but one of the Mamas noticed that he didn’t give me any change and boy did they give it to him. As pleasant (kufarahaisha) as the Mamas are, you don’t want to anger (hasira)four (nne) very strong African Mamas. It was kind of funny because the conductor was really embarrassed and I don’t think that he will ever try to rip off another mzungu again.
While George and I were at the accounts office, the Mamas started to discuss the options for opening up a kiosk at the canteen with one of the shop owners. Although sometimes the Canadian team initiates or proposes ideas or plans of actions to Tukwamuane, we like to make sure that the Mamas are fully involved in all the processes and activities associated with their project so that they can learn more skills and be fully sustainable on their own. After about thirty minutes of discussion, the kiosk owner expressed his interest in having the Mamas sell the probiotic yogurt at SAUT and said that he would look into the formal procedures for them.
After our meeting the Mamas and I headed back into town. I got dropped of at the big market so that I could head into town to get the membership cards for the people living with HIV/AIDS laminated. Although the lady who was working there instisted that I wait there until they were done because it would only take half an hour, it took 2 and a half hours for them to finish. I wasn’t worried or frustrated though because I have really got accustomed to the pole pole (slow) way of life here. Instead, I just chatted with the employees, other customers and studies the Swahili handbook that was in my purse. After my long visit at the printing ship I spent 3 hours catching up at the internet café. I had a ton of documents and pictures to send back to WHE Canada.
Later on in the evening after dinner, Miraji from Kivulini stopped by to make sure I was ok. It is funny, now that I am living alone in the apartment I have so many visitors. People around here hate the idea of anyone being lonely. I must be honest, although I miss them like crazy, I sure haven’t felt lonely since Ashley and Jon left. Soon after Miraji arrived, my friend Musiba (who runs the WW Talent Camp) came over to show me the ‘documentary’ that he and his team made about street children in Mwanza. Musiba explained to me that his team was acting in the movie but that the entire video was based on real life happenings, that is why he calls it a documentary. I was really impressed with the concept of the documentary as well as the acting involved in it. He told me that his next project is going to focus on explaining the issue of domestic violence in his community. I am always amazed when I meet with Musiba about how enthusiastic and driven he is to make a difference in his community.

On Thursday morning I headed off to Buswelu School once again to go with Headmaster Chinyele to pick up and paying the remaining balance on the desks that were donated by
Tecumseh Elementary School. I decided to go by daladala and pikipiki (motorbike) to save some money. It is always an adventure to get to Buswelu because it is a little far away and it is a very rural area. The daladala ride wasn’t bad at all, I actually got a swat the whole way there. Once I reached the main intersection (stand) I was dropped off and hopped on a pikipiki. It was a pretty hilarious ride because we ended up driving through a herd of cows that were blocking the road, dodging some goats that were in the way and at one point we had a swarm of children chasing us yelling Mzungu and waving at me. I’m pretty sure that these random, hilarious adventures around the Mwanza area are one of my favorite things about living in Tanzania!
Once I arrived at Buswelu school I met with Headmaster Chinyele for a little while and then we headed to the desk fundi to pick up and pay the remainder of the balance for the desks. On our way to the fundi we ran into the retired school teacher that I saw the last time I was at Buswelu. She was coming from the market and was very happy to see us. We stopped and chatted with her for a bit and she ended up giving a bunch of carrots as a gift and invited me to come to her house another day. I thanked her for the delicious looking carrots and off we went. Again I am always so impressed and touched by the generosity of people here. Like many other people who have given me small gifts, I know that the teacher has very little money but people here are always wanting to share and make you feel welcome.
When we arrived at the fundi he showed us the 13 desks that we were able to purchase from the Tecumseh Donation which will seat 26-30 students. The desks were handcrafted (as most things are here) and were beautiful!
After picking up the desks with Mr. Chinyele I headed back into town via daladala. I went to pick up some clothes that I had gotten made from the clothing fundi and later came home to edit some documents for Kivulini. I really enjoy assisting Kivulini (Women’s and Chidlren’s Rights Organization) with editing their documents because their documents are very informative and provide me with a better understanding of the local context in which in live. I really learn a lot when I help them out.
In the evening I decided to go for another hardcore aerobics workout with my friend Liz. Afterwards her and I went out for a delicious samaki (fish) dinner to refuel ourselves.

Friday morning I went to see the Mamas again and helped them make some chappatis for the breakfast program. Later on in the day I finalized the Charity Ball Application for funding and made a trip to the post office to send it off.

On Saturday I made another trip to the market to see if a few more people would let me take pictures of their shops/ stands. For some reason this time it was a bit easier to convince people to let me take some pictures…maybe because it was the weekend or maybe my negotiations skills in Swahili had improved. In the evening I went to a birthday party as 3 of my friends were turning 40 within the same week.

On Sunday I headed to Nygezzi Beach with some of my friends. Later on in the evening I went to a BBQ and met some more teachers from Isamilo International School. Some of the teachers are on the Mwanza Grand Charity Ball Committee so I managed to put in a good word so that we can hopefully get funding again this year. I also managed to talk to the Headmaster of the school (Iain) and his wife (kate) about setting up a meeting to possibly sell probiotic yogurt at the school cafeteria.

All in all, it was a good, productive week!