I can’t believe that it has already been three months since I’ve been here…time sure does fly by…
Monday morning Ashley and I headed over to the yogurt kitchen to see the Mamas. Ashley also had to put up posters for her health benefits study that she was finishing that week. When we got to the kitchen only Mama Sabina was working in the kitchen and she said that 5 of the Mamas were sick with malaria, typhoid, amoebas, etc. and they really needed our help with the breakfast program and making yogurt. After hearing the news that the Mamas were really short on help, Ashley went straight to Mtoni to help make chapattis for the breakfast program and I stayed at the yogurt to help Mama Sabina make yogurt. For some reason this year it seems that everyone has been more sick than usual, even the local people. No wonder Ashley, Jon and I had been sick so much.
Ashley and I spent the rest of the morning and part of the early afternoon helping out until the Mamas caught up on their work schedule. It was really nice to spend time in the kitchen just Mama Sabina and I. She is often very quiet and shy and I was able to spend some time getting to know her. Turns out she is really quite funny once she opens up. We spent a lot of time conversing and laughing while making yummy yogurt!
Once the Mamas were all caught up with their work Ashley and I headed over to the Mtoni High School as we had planed to visit the Headmaster earlier that morning. We brought with us some more sports equipment (soccer balls) that were donated by Clarke Road High School in London, Ontario and were able to give them to the students. We also talked to the Headmaster about the Mtoni School Sign that the Clarke Road students fundraised money for. We wanted to see if it the sign been made yet and if they were finished constructing it. The Headmaster told us that it was not quite finished yet and that he would let us know when it was finished. We also discussed the possibility of heading into town to purchase school supplies, books and science equipment with the remainder of the funds raised by the students at Clarke Road. The Headmaster informed us that he was very busy but would give us a call when he had the time to go and purchase supplies. Ashley spent some time talking with the Headmaster since it was most likely the last time she would see him before going home to Canada.
After our visit to Mtoni we went back to the kitchen to meet Mama Elizabeth so that we could all go to the bank together to work out a small financial matter that had come up. It was great because Mama Elizabeth packed a bucket full of 1L yogurt containers to sell to the workers at the bank. She told us that every time she goes to the bank she tires to bring some yogurt to sell…what a good way to market the yogurt! The bucket was pretty heavy so Ashley and I took turns carrying it for Mama Elizabeth. When Mama Elizabeth was carrying the bucket she was carrying it on her head which actually makes the load feel quite a bit lighter so Ash and I each took turns trying to carry it on our heads. Of course, we on’t have the skill and balance quite like the ladies here so we had to hold it on our heads but we walked the whole 20 minute walk like that.
Later on in the afternoon we returned went to meet up with our friend Geoff (the other SDF intern who was working in Sengerema) since he was spending his last night in Mwanza before he headed off to Zanzibar and then home to Edmonton. Geoff and Ashley wanted to go and get some souvenirs and gifts for friends and family before they went home so we all went to the market in search of local art, crafts, scarves and Masai blankets. I also had to pick up some groceries so it was the perfect time to all take a trip to the market…As I’ve said before, going to the market is always quite an adventure. This time Geoff showed us a place hidden away in the centre of the market where you can buy really cheap and good quality souvenir items. We spent a while bargaining with the local vendors and conversing about this, that and everything. We then went on a search for scarves for Ashley to buy her friends and family. I know a special little place that sells scarves in this small nook down this tiny ally in the market so I took both of them there. It was quite unfortunate because on our journey through the small ally way a man was coming though with a shipment of goods and I tried to move out of the way and didn’t make it in time and I got wailed in the face with a box. It really hurt but it didn’t end up leaving a mark. I find that the way movement and transportation works here is quite interesting…when people are working they tend to never stop for anything. And the rule is, whether you are a pedestrian or traveling in/ on some sort of vehicle, the rule tends to be whoever is bigger wins and you better watch out…I guess I was in the way..lol!
That evening we all went to one of our favorite Indian restaurants in town, Diners. It was our friend Eyla’s last night in town as well so Eyla, Geoff, Ashley, Kate and I all went to have a delicious meal.
That evening Dr. David Cechetto from the university of Western Ontario also called me to inform me that he had made it to Mwanza to come and visit the yogurt project. David has been working on and off in Kigali, Rwanda for the past 10 years in the health sector and was coming to view the project so that he could possibly assist us with setting up a project in Rwanda. I actually get to travel to Kigali, Rwanda with three other interns in October to start to set up contacts so that we can see if a probiotic yogurt project will be feasible. I am very excited to go since I have always been fascinated with the history of Rwanda. It will be nice to visit another country in East Africa.
In the morning Ashley headed off to Nyakato to continue her health benefits study and I headed to Tilapia Hotel to meet Dr. Cecetto. David and I sat down for a while and got to know each other a little bit and then we made a plan for the day so that he could see as much of the project as possible. We planned to visit the yogurt kitchen, the National Institute of Medical Research (NIMR) and Saint Augustine University (SAUT).
When we got to the yogurt kitchen, Mama Joyce was working away all on her own as some of the mamas were still very sick. I explained to David that there are usually at least two of the Mamas working at one time but many of the Mamas had been ill that week. It was great that Mama Joyce was working though because she knows how to speak quite a bit of English and since Dr. Cecetto only knows a few words in Swahili, this was perfect. Mama Joyce and I showed him the facilities and explained to him the procedure for making the probiotic yogurt. We also explained what equipment and supplies were needed for the kitchen and what some of the daily and monthly expenses were. We also talked about the plans for the new kitchen site at Nyamhongoro and our plans for dairy production with the cows that had recently been purchases. After tasting some of the yogurt and spending about an hour discussing the yogurt project as a whole, David and I decided to go and visit the rest of the Mamas around the corner at Mtoni High School. I wanted David to be able to see some of the spin-off community outreach programs that are also run through the program.
The rest of the Mamas greeted David very warmly and served us some chai and mandazies. I explained how the breakfast program worked and told David about how WHE interns are often the liaisons between schools at home (Tecumseh and Clarke Road) who fundraise for schools in the Mwanza community. I also explained a bit about the Mamas training in community counseling, especially related to women’s rights and HIV/AIDS. David seemed to be quite pleased with the project as a whole.
Our next stop was NIMR so that I could show David where the probiotic culture is cultivated and stored. David wanted to see what equipment and training would be needed to facilitate probiotic production in Kigali. We met up with Simon, the main lab technician at NIMR and he showed us around the lad. Simon was very good at explaining the entire procedure for probiotic yogurt cultivation and he was able to show us all of the equipment that is utilized during this process. David was able to take some pictures and to videotape some of the procedures which was great.
After visiting NIMR we decided to take a short break for lunch. I offered to take David out for lunch since I know many good local spots but he had to get back to Tilapia to work on his motorbike (piki piki). Dr. Cecetto and his son Luke flew into Arusha and travelled all over Tanzanian on motorbikes. The next day they would be leaving for Kigali, then Nairobi, some other places and back to Arusha so they had to get their bikes in good shape to go...what an adventure!
David and I met up again later on in the afternoon so that we could head to SAUT and meet with our project director, George Mutalemwa. It was really nice because David got to see a bit more of the Mwanza area since SAUT is a little bit of a drive out of town. When we got to SAUT we met George at the school canteen (cafeteria). Over sodas and water we talked about the role of SAUT in the probiotic project. George explained his position at the University and explained about the different programs that arer offered at the University. George explained that part of his position is to act as a liaison for Western students. He also talked about the administrative role that SAUT has taken on and their future plans for student exchanges and course credit acquisition. Other topics that we discussed were SAUT student internships and research opportunities for the University. After talking for about an hour David and I headed back to Tilapia to meet his son Luke.
We decided that we would all (Dr. Cecetto, Luke, Myself, Ashley and Esther (the SAUT student that was helping her with her study)) go out for dinner at Isamilo Lodge. We had a great dinner and had great conversations about our experiences and knowledge of Rwanda and Tanzania. We also talked about possible partnership opportunities in Rwanda. David and Luke had made quite a few connections in Rwanda and were very willing to set up appointments for us. It was great because Luke explained how is is working with the Minister of Gender and Children and that he would set us up with an appointment with her. Turns out that Luke and I actually went to the same high school as well back in Canada but we didn’t go there at the same time because he is a few years older than me. It’s funny though because we found out that we actually have some of the same friends….what a small world! After dinner we said goodbye and wished David and Luke safari njema (good travels) since they were leaving early the next morning for Kigali.
On Wednesday morning Ashley and I headed back to the kitchen and Mtoni to help out again. It was nice for both Ashley and I to spend so much time with the Mamas this week since Ashley was leaving on Friday…She is really going to miss the Mamas…who wouldn’t, they are such lovely ladies! We made chapattis all morning and for part of the afternoon and then headed to the clinic since I still felt tired and a little malarius. Ashley also wanted to get a checkup before she went home to make sure that she was malaria, worms, typhoid and amoeba free.
Luckily neither one of us had anything! The doctor just told me that since I had malaria for 3 weeks and that I was on 2 different medications that my body was still recovering.
In the evening we headed back to the apartment to have our weekly meeting with the Mamas. We had rescheduled from the usual Monday time slot since so many of the Mamas were sick.
Thursday was Ashley’s last full day in Mwanza so I decided to dedicate my day to her to do whatever she needed to do and to go wherever she wanted to go. I told her that I would be her personal assistant for the day because I knew that there was so much she wanted to do. In the morning we went to the market to buy some last minute gifts and items. Later on in the morning we met up with our friend Mussa who is a tailor (fundi) to retrieve the 20 (ishirini) or so bags (pouchi/ mfuko) he had made for Ashley to take home and sell for our WHE fundraisers. Next we went to Kivulini’s new office (now located at Kivulini Kitchen in Isamilo) so that Ash could say bye to Maimuna (the director/ our neighbor) and the rest of the Kivulini staff who are always very helpful and friendly. Next we went to Ashley’s other fundi to pick up some clothes (nguo) that he made her and to say goodbye to him and all of the other fundis who work in the shop with him. Next we hit up the internet café so that Ashley could confirm her flights and make sure that she would be at the airport at the right time the next morning (not that she would mind if she missed her flight cause she didn’t want to leave but she was on her way to Egypt to visit family and then off to Canada to finish school). Ashley still hadn’t packed anything up yet so she went home to pack while I went to Tunza to do some yoga and relax a bit.
Later on I came home so that Ashley and I could meet up with all of our friends for her goodbye dinner and party. When I got home Ashley was all flustered because she still hadn’t packed anything and the power went out so she couldn’t see anything. So I helped her for a bit and then we went out. Ash still hadn’t packed much but we planned on staying up all night packing. Our friend Kate stayed over at our place so we all stayed up to help her pack.
Friday morning was kind of hectic since Kate and I had only slept for a few hours and Ash had only slept for about 20 minutes. I was really sad to see Ashley go and I knew that she was very sad too. But we both knew that just like me, she’ll be back to Mwanza again sometime soon. I helped Ashley gather the rest of her things and carry her suitcases out the door. Mama Joyce came to see her off too so we all headed to the airport. Ashley got all checked in and Mama Joyce and I returned to Mlango Moja (my neighborhood).
I came home and ate some breakfast and headed out the door again to go to SAUT to meet George about the project bank account.
Later on in the day I headed down to the immigration office since my visa was going to expire in a few days.
I spent the rest of the weekend relaxing and hanging out with friends since the week was so hectic and crazy. On Sunday I even went tubing in Lake Victoria…so much fun!
Friday, September 11, 2009
Monday, September 7, 2009
Weeki Kumi na Moja (Week Eleven)
Monday morning I was still feeling pretty tired (choka) and icky from the Malaria so I took it easy for the first part of the morning (asubuhi). Later on in the morning Ashley and I headed off to the yogurt kitchen to see the Mamas and to see if there was anything (kitu chochote) that they needed. Later Ashley and I came home for lunch. We ate tomatoes (nyanya) and avocado (parachichi) with lentils (dengu) and balsamic vinegar (siki)…one of our frequent favorites! After lunch I worked on finishing the packaging label (kitambulisho) by adding the suggestions from the Mamas. Later on in the afternoon (mchana) Ashley and I headed to Tilapia Hotel to use the internet to send project emails. We were supposed to have our weekly meeting (mkutano) in the morning but we had to cancel it because Alex unfortunately had to attend the funeral (mazishi) of one of his colleagues. I really can’t believe the number of funerals that I have had to go to here and all the ones I have heard about. They are definitely way more frequent than at home. It’s quite depressing to compare and contrast the causes of death and the amount of people who die here from preventable causes. For me, thinking about these differences really clarifies the quite obvious inequities (kutokuwana sawa) between the ‘Western World’ and a country such as Tanzania in health care, food availability and safety standards.
After plunkin around on the internet for a while, Ashley and I returned home to do some organizing (mpanga) and household chores (kazi ya chosha)…it was that time of the week again where we had to wash our underwear using laundry soap (sabuni) and a bucket (ndoo)! So much fun…NOT…lol!
On Tuesday I stayed home and worked on the membership card documentation system. Later in the morning Ashley and I headed to the kitchen to see the Mamas. Most of the Mamas were at the kitchen when we arrived so we all sat down (kaa) and chatted for a while. We had some very funny conversations (mazungumzo) with the Mamas as Ashley and the Mama’s retold the story (hadithi) of when the thieves (mwizi) stole their packaging in Kenya. We sat and chatted for about an hour (saa moja) and near the end (mwisho) of our conversation I realized just how much mine and Ashley’s Swahili had improved…We were able to carry out a full hour long conversation all in Swahili! It was awesome! Ashley has seemed to catch on pretty quickly with the Swahili, she almost knows as much as I do. I think that she is a very fast learner when it comes to languages and I think it helps that she knows a bit of Arabic because many Swahili words are derived from that language (lugha). We headed back home later on in the afternoon. The malaria still seemed to be dragging me down so I had to rest (pumzika) a little bit. In the evening Pendo’s (our housekeeper) son Hassan came over for some computer lessons (msomo ya Computa). I spent a long while with him teaching him how to use Mircosoft Word. We started with just the basics like centering, bold, italics, underlying, using tabs etc. While I was teaching Hassan, I tried to remember (kumbuka) the first time that I used Microsoft Word or a program like it…it really was so long ago that I literally could not remember. It made me really realize how sometimes I take the many skills (ustandi) I have learned and the open access that I have had to many forms of technology for granted.
On Wednesday I was feeling quite dizzy and blah. When you have malaria it is not the best idea to be walking all over the place in the blistering heat so I decided to stay home and work on some documents (hati) for our master plan. Later in the afternoon I felt a bit better so I headed out to buy a bulk load of stationary supplies for the Buswelu Elementary School that we would be visiting the next day. I had about 200, 000TSH (~$180.00 CAN) to spend on these supplies (vifaa). Since items are so cheap to buy here I was able to purchase about 400 notebooks, 50 pens, 50 pencils and some sharpeners with the fundraised money. What a deal! Since there were so many supplies I had to take a couple of trips to the stationary stores in town. By the end of the day I was pooped!
Thankfully, I felt much better on Thursday so Ashley and I headed off to Buswelu Elementary School that is a little ways outside of town to bring the stationary supplies that the Tecumseh Public School Students fundraised for the teachers and students. When we arrived we went to the ‘teachers lounge’ and said hello to all of the teachers. Then we headed off to Leonard Chinyele’s (the headmaster’s) office to greet him and drop off the supplies. I was surprised because Mr. Chinyele actually remembered me from two years before. He greeted us very warmly and we sat down and chatted for a while. Soon after, Hellena, one of the head teachers (mwalinu) came in and greeted us as well. Both Hellena and the Healdmaster were so thankful and pleased that we brought the huge box of school supplies that were donated by the Tecumseh Elementary School in Canada. Leornard and Hellena explained that they were in dire need of such supplies since they were receiving very little funding from the government and their students were unable to purchase notebooks and writing supplies for themselves. We chatted for a while about the school, the students and the teachers. Apparently there are over 1300 students at the small school and only 28 teachers! There is quite a shortage on space, furniture and supplies but the teachers seem to make due with what they have. Leonard explained to us that they have a plan to build another school to house half of the students because they are currently way over capacitated. The only problem is funding….so they will wait until 2010 or 2011 so that they have enough time to come up with the funds. After our long chat we took a tour of the school so that Ashley could see the school for the first time and so that I could see the few changes that have been made at the school. We visited a few classrooms and when we walked in the students greeted us (in sync) saying “Good morning teacher. How are you? I am fine thank you”. Afterwards Ashley and I spoke to them in Swahili a bit, asking them how their studies were going. They seemed a little surprised that the Mzungus could speak Swahili but they seemed to enjoy it. Next, we headed to the Memkwa class building. The Memkwa program is a program that is run by the Tanzanian government to try to get children back in school who have not yet completed their primary studies. These children are between the ages of 11-18 and are encouraged to return to school to finish their primary education. We were told that some children are not able to/ do not finish their studies because they are forced to work at an early age to support themselves or their families or because they do not have the funds for school books and uniforms. Therefore the Tanzanian government has created a special program that sponsors these children to return to school. Just like the regular classes though, the Memkwa classes are quite over capacitated and lack many of the necessary learning and teaching supplies.
After visiting most of the classrooms, Leonard took us to visit one of the retired teachers who lives on the school grounds at Buswelu. He told me that I would probably remember her since she was still working the last time that I visited Buswelu a few years back. As soon as I saw the teacher (I still can’t remember her name) I instantly remembered her. She is a very kind and loving individual although at first glance she appears quite burly and tough. We then returned to the school office to plan our next meeting where we would go and order some desks to be made by the local carpenter for the school. The students at Tecumseh Elementary School in Canada had worked extra hard all year to fundraise a large some of money to be put towards buying desks for Buselweu. We set up our appointment, said goodbye to all of the teachers and students and were off to Mabatini to visit the Mamas.
Ashley and I headed to the kitchen to give the Mamas their new kengas (skirt wraps) that Ashley had purchased for them as compensation for participating in her sensory evaluation study. Since the Mamas were in need of matching uniforms anyways, Ashley decided to buy them all kengas that matched their work t-shirts. The Mamas were so happy to receive their gift and of course they sang and danced to celebrate and to thank Ashley for her generosity. While we were there I handed over a printed copy of the membership cards to the Mamas to see if they approved the writing on the cards and design of the cards. After looking them over the Mamas told me that they were quite pleased with the cards. We stayed at the kitchen for a little while longer and then headed home to have dinner and work on some project documents.
On Friday my friend Elya who was doing work at one of the orphanages in Buswelu decided to join me for the day to see the yogurt project and to see what kind of work I do on a daily basis. I thought that it would be good to expose as many people as possible to our project and it was nice to have her along for some company. Ashley was meeting with Esther to work on her study so it was just Elya and I for the day. Elya and I first visited the Jiko La Jamii (community kitchen) to see the project and to taste some of the yummy yogurt and then we headed off to Mtoni High School to visit the rest of the Mamas who were running the breakfast program. While I was there I was able to chat with some of the Mamas about some project matters. The Mamas were very welcoming and hospitable (as usual) and served us some chai (tea), chapattis and mandazis (donut type things). In the afternoon we headed home to see what Ashley was up to. Later on in the evening Ashley, Elya and I went out for dinner to the delicious Samaki Place and later joined some of our friends at Tilaipa Hotel for so relaxation time.
Elya decided to stay with us for the weekend so that she could run some errands and tour around town a bit. So on Saturday Ashley and I spend a good part of the day showing Elya around and taking her to the market. That evening we (Ashley, Elya and I) were all in the kitchen making dinner together and we heard a knock at the door. It was Teddy, one of the Kivulini Ladies who works downstairs. Teddy was all dressed up in a beautiful dress and was asking us what we were doing. Turns out that that the Kivulini ladies had invited us to a wedding about a month before and we had forgotten about it….whoopsie! Since Ashley and I were in our pajamas we had to quickly get ready and meet the ladies down the street at the hotel. We asked Elya if she wanted to join us but she did not want to come so we threw on our dresses and headed out the door. We were laughing because neither of us had ever had to get ready that fast before for a wedding and we managed to be out the door within fifteen minutes. It was nice because I had an occasion to wear my new African dress that I had purchased.
The wedding was very beautiful and lively. It was really nice to see a local wedding. I really liked how everyone sang and danced the entire time and how the bride, groom and rest of the wedding party danced down the isle. Although it was very neat to see a Tanzanian wedding, it was a little strange because we did not know the couple getting married, we only knew about 3 of the ladies from Kivulini. It was also strange because the MC for the wedding kept mentioning ‘the mzungus’ and Ashley and I were clearly the only Mzungus there. I also was still not feeling 100% from the malaria so we ended up leaving early.
We spent most of Sunday resting and did a little bit of work on the internet.
After plunkin around on the internet for a while, Ashley and I returned home to do some organizing (mpanga) and household chores (kazi ya chosha)…it was that time of the week again where we had to wash our underwear using laundry soap (sabuni) and a bucket (ndoo)! So much fun…NOT…lol!
On Tuesday I stayed home and worked on the membership card documentation system. Later in the morning Ashley and I headed to the kitchen to see the Mamas. Most of the Mamas were at the kitchen when we arrived so we all sat down (kaa) and chatted for a while. We had some very funny conversations (mazungumzo) with the Mamas as Ashley and the Mama’s retold the story (hadithi) of when the thieves (mwizi) stole their packaging in Kenya. We sat and chatted for about an hour (saa moja) and near the end (mwisho) of our conversation I realized just how much mine and Ashley’s Swahili had improved…We were able to carry out a full hour long conversation all in Swahili! It was awesome! Ashley has seemed to catch on pretty quickly with the Swahili, she almost knows as much as I do. I think that she is a very fast learner when it comes to languages and I think it helps that she knows a bit of Arabic because many Swahili words are derived from that language (lugha). We headed back home later on in the afternoon. The malaria still seemed to be dragging me down so I had to rest (pumzika) a little bit. In the evening Pendo’s (our housekeeper) son Hassan came over for some computer lessons (msomo ya Computa). I spent a long while with him teaching him how to use Mircosoft Word. We started with just the basics like centering, bold, italics, underlying, using tabs etc. While I was teaching Hassan, I tried to remember (kumbuka) the first time that I used Microsoft Word or a program like it…it really was so long ago that I literally could not remember. It made me really realize how sometimes I take the many skills (ustandi) I have learned and the open access that I have had to many forms of technology for granted.
On Wednesday I was feeling quite dizzy and blah. When you have malaria it is not the best idea to be walking all over the place in the blistering heat so I decided to stay home and work on some documents (hati) for our master plan. Later in the afternoon I felt a bit better so I headed out to buy a bulk load of stationary supplies for the Buswelu Elementary School that we would be visiting the next day. I had about 200, 000TSH (~$180.00 CAN) to spend on these supplies (vifaa). Since items are so cheap to buy here I was able to purchase about 400 notebooks, 50 pens, 50 pencils and some sharpeners with the fundraised money. What a deal! Since there were so many supplies I had to take a couple of trips to the stationary stores in town. By the end of the day I was pooped!
Thankfully, I felt much better on Thursday so Ashley and I headed off to Buswelu Elementary School that is a little ways outside of town to bring the stationary supplies that the Tecumseh Public School Students fundraised for the teachers and students. When we arrived we went to the ‘teachers lounge’ and said hello to all of the teachers. Then we headed off to Leonard Chinyele’s (the headmaster’s) office to greet him and drop off the supplies. I was surprised because Mr. Chinyele actually remembered me from two years before. He greeted us very warmly and we sat down and chatted for a while. Soon after, Hellena, one of the head teachers (mwalinu) came in and greeted us as well. Both Hellena and the Healdmaster were so thankful and pleased that we brought the huge box of school supplies that were donated by the Tecumseh Elementary School in Canada. Leornard and Hellena explained that they were in dire need of such supplies since they were receiving very little funding from the government and their students were unable to purchase notebooks and writing supplies for themselves. We chatted for a while about the school, the students and the teachers. Apparently there are over 1300 students at the small school and only 28 teachers! There is quite a shortage on space, furniture and supplies but the teachers seem to make due with what they have. Leonard explained to us that they have a plan to build another school to house half of the students because they are currently way over capacitated. The only problem is funding….so they will wait until 2010 or 2011 so that they have enough time to come up with the funds. After our long chat we took a tour of the school so that Ashley could see the school for the first time and so that I could see the few changes that have been made at the school. We visited a few classrooms and when we walked in the students greeted us (in sync) saying “Good morning teacher. How are you? I am fine thank you”. Afterwards Ashley and I spoke to them in Swahili a bit, asking them how their studies were going. They seemed a little surprised that the Mzungus could speak Swahili but they seemed to enjoy it. Next, we headed to the Memkwa class building. The Memkwa program is a program that is run by the Tanzanian government to try to get children back in school who have not yet completed their primary studies. These children are between the ages of 11-18 and are encouraged to return to school to finish their primary education. We were told that some children are not able to/ do not finish their studies because they are forced to work at an early age to support themselves or their families or because they do not have the funds for school books and uniforms. Therefore the Tanzanian government has created a special program that sponsors these children to return to school. Just like the regular classes though, the Memkwa classes are quite over capacitated and lack many of the necessary learning and teaching supplies.
After visiting most of the classrooms, Leonard took us to visit one of the retired teachers who lives on the school grounds at Buswelu. He told me that I would probably remember her since she was still working the last time that I visited Buswelu a few years back. As soon as I saw the teacher (I still can’t remember her name) I instantly remembered her. She is a very kind and loving individual although at first glance she appears quite burly and tough. We then returned to the school office to plan our next meeting where we would go and order some desks to be made by the local carpenter for the school. The students at Tecumseh Elementary School in Canada had worked extra hard all year to fundraise a large some of money to be put towards buying desks for Buselweu. We set up our appointment, said goodbye to all of the teachers and students and were off to Mabatini to visit the Mamas.
Ashley and I headed to the kitchen to give the Mamas their new kengas (skirt wraps) that Ashley had purchased for them as compensation for participating in her sensory evaluation study. Since the Mamas were in need of matching uniforms anyways, Ashley decided to buy them all kengas that matched their work t-shirts. The Mamas were so happy to receive their gift and of course they sang and danced to celebrate and to thank Ashley for her generosity. While we were there I handed over a printed copy of the membership cards to the Mamas to see if they approved the writing on the cards and design of the cards. After looking them over the Mamas told me that they were quite pleased with the cards. We stayed at the kitchen for a little while longer and then headed home to have dinner and work on some project documents.
On Friday my friend Elya who was doing work at one of the orphanages in Buswelu decided to join me for the day to see the yogurt project and to see what kind of work I do on a daily basis. I thought that it would be good to expose as many people as possible to our project and it was nice to have her along for some company. Ashley was meeting with Esther to work on her study so it was just Elya and I for the day. Elya and I first visited the Jiko La Jamii (community kitchen) to see the project and to taste some of the yummy yogurt and then we headed off to Mtoni High School to visit the rest of the Mamas who were running the breakfast program. While I was there I was able to chat with some of the Mamas about some project matters. The Mamas were very welcoming and hospitable (as usual) and served us some chai (tea), chapattis and mandazis (donut type things). In the afternoon we headed home to see what Ashley was up to. Later on in the evening Ashley, Elya and I went out for dinner to the delicious Samaki Place and later joined some of our friends at Tilaipa Hotel for so relaxation time.
Elya decided to stay with us for the weekend so that she could run some errands and tour around town a bit. So on Saturday Ashley and I spend a good part of the day showing Elya around and taking her to the market. That evening we (Ashley, Elya and I) were all in the kitchen making dinner together and we heard a knock at the door. It was Teddy, one of the Kivulini Ladies who works downstairs. Teddy was all dressed up in a beautiful dress and was asking us what we were doing. Turns out that that the Kivulini ladies had invited us to a wedding about a month before and we had forgotten about it….whoopsie! Since Ashley and I were in our pajamas we had to quickly get ready and meet the ladies down the street at the hotel. We asked Elya if she wanted to join us but she did not want to come so we threw on our dresses and headed out the door. We were laughing because neither of us had ever had to get ready that fast before for a wedding and we managed to be out the door within fifteen minutes. It was nice because I had an occasion to wear my new African dress that I had purchased.
The wedding was very beautiful and lively. It was really nice to see a local wedding. I really liked how everyone sang and danced the entire time and how the bride, groom and rest of the wedding party danced down the isle. Although it was very neat to see a Tanzanian wedding, it was a little strange because we did not know the couple getting married, we only knew about 3 of the ladies from Kivulini. It was also strange because the MC for the wedding kept mentioning ‘the mzungus’ and Ashley and I were clearly the only Mzungus there. I also was still not feeling 100% from the malaria so we ended up leaving early.
We spent most of Sunday resting and did a little bit of work on the internet.
Friday, August 28, 2009
Weeki Kumi (Week Ten)
On Monday I spent the morning at the apartment working on creating a label that would fit the new packaging. Even though I’m not the most artistic person (as most people know), I was pleased with the outcome of the 3 samples of labeling that I created. I made 3 different designs so that the Mamas could choose which one they liked best. Later on in the day Alex and the Mamas came over for our weekly meeting. We spent the majority of the meeting debriefing about the big Steering Committee Meeting on Friday since only 2 of the Mamas attended the meeting. Later on in the evening I spent some time with my neighbor Nyasa and her boyfriend who had just flown in from New York City to come and visit her.
On Tuesday I headed off to the yogurt kitchen and Mtoni High School to visit the Mamas and to help them make chapattis again for the breakfast program. Helping the Mamas with the breakfast program is one of my favorite things to do since it gives me time to hang out with the Mamas and just chat. It is nice because I am able to catch up with the Mamas on their personal lives as well as project matters while helping them out a little.
Later on I came home to the apartment to print out the label samples to bring to the Mamas the next day and I spent a little while finalizing and fine-tuning the membership cards for the new documentation system for the subsidized yogurt that is given to people living with HIV/AIDS.
In the late afternoon my friend Nyasa invited me to go with her, some of the other kivulini volunteers and her boyfriend Scott to visit one of the local organizations that our friend Musiba runs. The organization is called WW Talent Camp, which stands for Wote Wanaweza Talent Camp. Wote Wanaweza means ‘Everyone Can’ which suits the name of the organization since they promote self confidence, cooperation, learning, and growth through various artistic means. Our friend Musiba is just 27 years old and is a local artist who started WW Talent Camp last year. He told us that he recognized a need for extracurricular activities for the youth in his community to keep kids out of trouble and off of the streets. He thought that the best way to do that would to start a local community club where youth could come together to guide, teach and learn from one another. Since music, art and drama are his passion he decided to create WW talent camp where youth could focus on building their skills and confidence through signing, dancing, arts and crafts as well as martial arts and drama. Currently there are 52 members of WW talent camp and they meet every weekday from 3-6pm to learn, share and practice. Musiba directs the camp everyday and makes sure that he takes time out of every day to talk about local community issues and to provide advice and guidance to the rest of the group. He told us that many of their performances are centered around local community issues which include topics such as HIV/AIDS, youth pregnancies, and domestic violence. samaki place for dinner for Nyasa’s going away dinner. The WW Talent Camp currently pays for their supplies, production costs and equipment (stereos, radios, CDs, movie budgets etc.) out of their own pockets since they do not have a sponsor. Musiba expressed to us all that he would like to eventually find a sponsor so that they can expand the camp and possibly have enough funds to produce a full feature film that they can sell on the local market.
When we arrived at the camp we were warmly welcomed by about 15 of the WW Talent Camp members who were waiting to perform for us. They had 5 chairs set up for us and were all ready to present the various art forms that they had put together. The performance lasted about an hour and a half as the members showed us samples of all of the pieces that they have put together. It was amazing because we got to watch them do traditional Sukuma dances, Tarabu dances, martial arts, different drama skts and we got to hear them sing various styles of music including local Bongo Flava, Gospel, Reggae, Tarabu and Hip Hop….What a talented group! It was neat too because our friend Musiba even performed a few reggae songs for us. He was amazing! Musiba explained after that he has actually recorded some of his music in a studio and has produced a CD. He ended up giving me a copy of his CD and it is absolutely brilliant! I listen to it almost every day. In the evening we all went out for dinner at the good old samaki place so that Scott could get a taste of some local food. He seemed to really enjoy the fresh grilled tilapia with rice just as much as we did.
On Wednesday I took Scott, Nyasa’s boyfriend, to the yogurt kitchen, Mtoni high school and all around town so that he could have a tour of Mwanza. While I was at the kitchen I brought the print outs of the labels that I had made and asked them to choose which one they liked best. Four of the Mamas liked one design and six of them liked the other. I decided to go with the majority vote since that’s the one that Ashley and I liked best as well.
Since it was Nyasa’s last night, we all went to Tilapia Hotel for dinner and met up with all of our friends to say goodbye. I was really sad to see Nyasa go as she had become one of my best friends here in Mwanza. Her and her housemate Pamie had become my close friends and it was sad to see all my girls slowly leaving but I knew that I would see them again soon since we are all planning to have a reunion in New York City (where Nyasa lives) sometime next year.
On Thursday morning Ashley and I woke up extra early to say bye to Scott and Nyasa before they left on their safari to the Serengeti, Arusha, Zanzibar, and then off to New York. Later on in the morning Ashley and I headed to the yogurt kitchen to see the Mamas and to buy some of their yummy yogurt. In the afternoon Ashley and I headed to the market to buy some food for the apartment since we were getting very low on groceries. The market is always an adventure…we spent about an hour weaving in and out of the busy crowds with people hollering at us trying to get us to buy their produce. I must say that are bargaining skills have improved quite a bit…they seem to get better and better as time goes on. Later on in the evening Ashley and I met up with our friend Liz who is volunteering at Bugando Hospital for some delicious local chicken and ugali. After dinner I was not feeling so well so Ashley and I went home to rest.
When I woke up in the morning on Friday I still felt very aweful. It felt like I have malaria again but this time it felt much worse. I was very dizzy, had a cold and was extremely exhausted. Because I felt so awful I decided to go to the clinic to check for malaria. I thought that since I had just had malaria that it would be unlikely but I wanted to see what was wrong. After seeing the doctor and waiting a short time for my results the doctor explained to me that the malaria strain that I had the week before had gone out of my bloodstream and hid in my liver, which is why I thought that I was better. While the malaria parasite was hiding out in my liver, the cells probably spit and multiplied and the strain returned to my bloodstream with an even greater potency….sneaky, sneaky malaria. The doctor gave me a 2 week dose of medicine to ensure that the malaria would not reoccur. The medicine was pretty harsh and ended up making me feel worse again…a necessary evil though. I spent the rest of the day in bed.
On Saturday I was still feeling very sick from the malaria so I took it easy and watched a movie in the morning. Later on in the day I was getting very stir crazy and had to get out of the apartment so I decided to go to Tunza to relax and use the new wireless internet that they set up. It was a good time to catch up on some of my blog writing since I had fallen behind.
I spent the rest of the weekend lazing around, drinking fluids and doing small bits of paperwork…malaria is NOT cool!
On Tuesday I headed off to the yogurt kitchen and Mtoni High School to visit the Mamas and to help them make chapattis again for the breakfast program. Helping the Mamas with the breakfast program is one of my favorite things to do since it gives me time to hang out with the Mamas and just chat. It is nice because I am able to catch up with the Mamas on their personal lives as well as project matters while helping them out a little.
Later on I came home to the apartment to print out the label samples to bring to the Mamas the next day and I spent a little while finalizing and fine-tuning the membership cards for the new documentation system for the subsidized yogurt that is given to people living with HIV/AIDS.
In the late afternoon my friend Nyasa invited me to go with her, some of the other kivulini volunteers and her boyfriend Scott to visit one of the local organizations that our friend Musiba runs. The organization is called WW Talent Camp, which stands for Wote Wanaweza Talent Camp. Wote Wanaweza means ‘Everyone Can’ which suits the name of the organization since they promote self confidence, cooperation, learning, and growth through various artistic means. Our friend Musiba is just 27 years old and is a local artist who started WW Talent Camp last year. He told us that he recognized a need for extracurricular activities for the youth in his community to keep kids out of trouble and off of the streets. He thought that the best way to do that would to start a local community club where youth could come together to guide, teach and learn from one another. Since music, art and drama are his passion he decided to create WW talent camp where youth could focus on building their skills and confidence through signing, dancing, arts and crafts as well as martial arts and drama. Currently there are 52 members of WW talent camp and they meet every weekday from 3-6pm to learn, share and practice. Musiba directs the camp everyday and makes sure that he takes time out of every day to talk about local community issues and to provide advice and guidance to the rest of the group. He told us that many of their performances are centered around local community issues which include topics such as HIV/AIDS, youth pregnancies, and domestic violence. samaki place for dinner for Nyasa’s going away dinner. The WW Talent Camp currently pays for their supplies, production costs and equipment (stereos, radios, CDs, movie budgets etc.) out of their own pockets since they do not have a sponsor. Musiba expressed to us all that he would like to eventually find a sponsor so that they can expand the camp and possibly have enough funds to produce a full feature film that they can sell on the local market.
When we arrived at the camp we were warmly welcomed by about 15 of the WW Talent Camp members who were waiting to perform for us. They had 5 chairs set up for us and were all ready to present the various art forms that they had put together. The performance lasted about an hour and a half as the members showed us samples of all of the pieces that they have put together. It was amazing because we got to watch them do traditional Sukuma dances, Tarabu dances, martial arts, different drama skts and we got to hear them sing various styles of music including local Bongo Flava, Gospel, Reggae, Tarabu and Hip Hop….What a talented group! It was neat too because our friend Musiba even performed a few reggae songs for us. He was amazing! Musiba explained after that he has actually recorded some of his music in a studio and has produced a CD. He ended up giving me a copy of his CD and it is absolutely brilliant! I listen to it almost every day. In the evening we all went out for dinner at the good old samaki place so that Scott could get a taste of some local food. He seemed to really enjoy the fresh grilled tilapia with rice just as much as we did.
On Wednesday I took Scott, Nyasa’s boyfriend, to the yogurt kitchen, Mtoni high school and all around town so that he could have a tour of Mwanza. While I was at the kitchen I brought the print outs of the labels that I had made and asked them to choose which one they liked best. Four of the Mamas liked one design and six of them liked the other. I decided to go with the majority vote since that’s the one that Ashley and I liked best as well.
Since it was Nyasa’s last night, we all went to Tilapia Hotel for dinner and met up with all of our friends to say goodbye. I was really sad to see Nyasa go as she had become one of my best friends here in Mwanza. Her and her housemate Pamie had become my close friends and it was sad to see all my girls slowly leaving but I knew that I would see them again soon since we are all planning to have a reunion in New York City (where Nyasa lives) sometime next year.
On Thursday morning Ashley and I woke up extra early to say bye to Scott and Nyasa before they left on their safari to the Serengeti, Arusha, Zanzibar, and then off to New York. Later on in the morning Ashley and I headed to the yogurt kitchen to see the Mamas and to buy some of their yummy yogurt. In the afternoon Ashley and I headed to the market to buy some food for the apartment since we were getting very low on groceries. The market is always an adventure…we spent about an hour weaving in and out of the busy crowds with people hollering at us trying to get us to buy their produce. I must say that are bargaining skills have improved quite a bit…they seem to get better and better as time goes on. Later on in the evening Ashley and I met up with our friend Liz who is volunteering at Bugando Hospital for some delicious local chicken and ugali. After dinner I was not feeling so well so Ashley and I went home to rest.
When I woke up in the morning on Friday I still felt very aweful. It felt like I have malaria again but this time it felt much worse. I was very dizzy, had a cold and was extremely exhausted. Because I felt so awful I decided to go to the clinic to check for malaria. I thought that since I had just had malaria that it would be unlikely but I wanted to see what was wrong. After seeing the doctor and waiting a short time for my results the doctor explained to me that the malaria strain that I had the week before had gone out of my bloodstream and hid in my liver, which is why I thought that I was better. While the malaria parasite was hiding out in my liver, the cells probably spit and multiplied and the strain returned to my bloodstream with an even greater potency….sneaky, sneaky malaria. The doctor gave me a 2 week dose of medicine to ensure that the malaria would not reoccur. The medicine was pretty harsh and ended up making me feel worse again…a necessary evil though. I spent the rest of the day in bed.
On Saturday I was still feeling very sick from the malaria so I took it easy and watched a movie in the morning. Later on in the day I was getting very stir crazy and had to get out of the apartment so I decided to go to Tunza to relax and use the new wireless internet that they set up. It was a good time to catch up on some of my blog writing since I had fallen behind.
I spent the rest of the weekend lazing around, drinking fluids and doing small bits of paperwork…malaria is NOT cool!
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Weeki Tisa (Week Nine)
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.
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.
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.
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