Busy, busy, busy...

OK, so I know it's been forever since I last blogged, and I apologize for the long hiatus. I had a few extra minutes after I was finished my placement this morning, so I thought I would take advantage of it and update you all on my first 2 weeks in Tanzania...Warning: please allow yourself some extra time to get through this one, as it's kinda long...

Home Base
I mentioned before that my new home is like a walled and gated compound, located in Tengeru, about 10 minutes from Arusha town center, and a short walk to the village center of Tengeru. The compound consists of the main house, an eating area under a lofty thatched roof structure connected to the kitchen, and then a 3-story building with 3 rooms on each floor, with all rooms opening out onto an open-air landing on each floor. Every room is able to house 4 people, and each has its own bathroom. The bathrooms have western-style facilities (toilets seats too!), however due to the frequent power cuts and water shortages, the water is usually cold and I have learned the art of the "bucket bath," which involves filling up a bucket and using that to wash yourself with. With the regularity of the power cuts, we usually have to run on generator in the home base about every other day for a couple of hours. I myself have 3 other roommates, and am currently residing on the top bunk, and let me tell you, I am the picture of grace trying to get in and out of my bed while maneuvering around the mosquito net...oh well, a couple more bruises never hurt anyone right? Home base sits in the foothills of Mount Meru, Kilimanjaro's sister mountain, and the views are incredible!! We're basically settled right in the middle of a tropical rain forest, everything is so lush and green. I've been told you can see Kili from the compound on really clear days, but I haven't spotted it yet from our compound. Sunsets and sunrises are absolutely amazing, which I'm up for every morning as I've been walking/running at 6 AM sharp with a few of the other volunteers! It's taken 2 weeks, but I'm able to keep up now without huffing and puffing too much, as the altitude is a little bit more here than it was in Nairobi. I'm still getting used to having my bed made every morning, buffet for each meal, and just the incredible staff that can't do enough for you. There are about 3-4 people working in the kitchen, 2 housekeepers, 2 drivers, and 3 office staff plus our project coordinator, but everyone can do and will do anything that needs to be done--truly the hardest working group of people I've ever met. I've never had so many "mamas" in my life either! Any sign of illness, they're on top of it, bringing food or just being present to hold a hand (hakuna matata--I haven't been sick yet, these are only observations). Although with 30+ people living in community, any cold or virus spreads like wildfire, as I did pick up a cold when I first got here. The staff are also so patient with us as we struggle to learn Swahili, so I'm learning more every day! Meals...let's just say my jaw drops three times a day!! The amount of food they set out, the variety...incredible after the last 7 weeks! Rice, potatoes, lots of vegetables, fish and chicken (no meat with the threat of Rift Valley Fever still in this area), fresh-squeezed juices, even salads because they have a sterilizer(!!), and the best part--baked goods because they have an oven...rolls, cobblers, just amazingly good eats all around! There is a 24-hour guard, and despite how it sounds, I feel completely safe, they just take every precaution. We started out at 36 volunteers by the time all of the new group arrived, maximum occupancy of the home base is 40, so it was pretty full. We currently have 33 volunteers now, with 3 more departing over the weekend, so we'll be down to 30 by Sunday. It has been a little difficult to find a quiet spot to myself, and it was a little overwhelming trying to get to know everyone the first 2 weeks, but I think I've settled into a routine. The other volunteers are from all over, Switzerland, Greece, Australia, UK, but mostly the U.S. and Canada. The oldest is in his 60's and the youngest just graduated from high school, so there's quite a range of ages as well as backgrounds...in my group alone we have a dog trainer that was a kickboxing world champion, all the way to a forensic art therapist, and a couple that's interested in starting a microfinancing agency in the area (giving loans out to people for independent small business development)! The shortest stay in our new group is 3 weeks, and the longest is 10 weeks. I'm considered one of the newbies, but I've been in Africa the same amount of time as the volunteers that have been here the longest, which took a little bit of time to adjust to, as the other members of my group were still getting accustomed to the "culture shock" when I have had 7 weeks to get used to the lifestyle here. Don't worry, for those of you that know the game...Nutsy has already been introduced and they absolutely love it here (and given the frequency and duration of the power cuts here, card games are a popular pasttime, just played by headlamp and flashlight)!! We even have 4 resident turtles roaming the compound...only one has a name, Eleanor, and she is the largest. The weather has fluctuated so much in the past 2 weeks that it's hard to identify a pattern...usually mostly cloudy at some point in the day with a shower or downpour in the late afternoon, nights are pretty clear and the stars are amazing...I didn't know they sat that far down on the horizon!! The rainy season is officially here, and it's been in the 80's pretty much every day, cooling down at night after the rain. I have also seen my first rainbow since arriving in Tanzania!! It was huge! The biggest I have ever seen--it didn't even fit in my camera lens!!

My Project
Cross Cultural Solutions, which is the company I'm volunteering with for the 6 weeks I'm here, is absolutely amazing!! They are the epitome of organization compared to what I came from in Nairobi. Our first 3 weeks are so scheduled that there's barely enough time to go to the bathroom (hence the long hiatus between blogs)! Every morning is spent on project, which we are transported to first thing in the morning, and then picked up and brought back to home base for lunch. The afternoons these first 3 weeks are then focused on some sort of orientation activity, which could be Swahili lessons, a lecture on medical issues and symptoms of malaria, traveller's diarrhea, etc., community discovery (where we're dropped off in the village and have to find different things like the post office or how to get a bus), team building and/or cultural learning activities. After these first 3 weeks are over, we'll have free time in the afternoon, which most people use to go back to work on various projects, usually at one of the orphanages, which I can't wait to visit. My particular project that I've been placed at is an absolutely incredible organization called Kitumusote, which means "we have discovered" in Maa, the language of the Maasai tribe. The Maasai culture is probably the most misunderstood in all Africa, but yet in Tanzania, is used the most often as an iconographical image for the country. The director and co-founder of the organization is a 26-year old Maasai warrior, a leader of his village, is trilingual, speaking English, Swahili, and obviously Maasai fluently, and is the only one in his village that speaks English fluently. Kitumusote was started in 2004 by him and a few other Maasai youths, and was just registered with the Tanzanian government as a non-governmental organization this February. Their main goal is to ensure the sustainability of the Maasai culture in Tanzania (as the Maasai tribe can only be found in Ethiopia, Kenya, and Tanzania) through teaching conservation of indigenous resources and enviromental awareness, as well as facilitating women's empowerment through skill-building for income earning, as women are the main work force in the Maasai boma/village. Kitumusote has started the Maasai Women's Cooperative Society (MWCS), does a number of things...one of which is to hold classes for Swahili currently and hopefully English in the future. They also have classes to educate villagers on health issues such as female genital mutilation and HIV/AIDS. 97% of Maasai women and 75% of Maasai men are illiterate, so the fact that they are learning to read and write one of the national languages of the country means a lot to their survival as a tribe. Maasai have historically been herders of cattle, but recent years has brought disease and herd numbers had decreased, which means depleted food and income. As a result, women had been cutting down trees and burning them to make charcoal and sell it at market for money. Tanzanian forests have been depleted by 30% in the last ten years. So Kitumusote and the MWCS have started a general goods store as well as a vegetable garden in the village not only to provide food for the community but also to raise money and teach business knowledge and simple agricultural techniques to the women for skill-building. Kitumusote has also started a reforestation program, to replenish the trees lost to the above mentioned practice. And last but not least, a previous CCS volunteer with a business background was key in developing the Maasai cultural safari, in order to increase awareness of the Maasai culture (huge tourism demand), but also to provide a source of income for the entire village. So this is an incredible organization, and I am placed there with one other volunteer, and we are only the second round of volunteers the organization has received from CCS, so it's a relatively brand new project. The Kitumusote office is just outside of Arusha town, and is basically a rented one-floor house. There is a small office with a computer which we spend most of the morning on. This week and last were spent working on the January-February newsletter, both an English and a Swahili version, and we have also started working on updating the brochure and business cards for the organization, now that they have attained NGO status. Next week we'll hopefully get to go to the actual villages of Lesoit and Eluai, to attend a Kitumusote general meeting as well as the first MWCS class to be held in the Lesoit village. Just to give an idea of how involved this is, both villages are about a 2-hour bus ride followed by a 2-hour hike just to get to them. On a lighter note, I'd just like to share how hilarious it is that I came into this placement with the predisposed notion that Maasai were mainly villagers out in the vast fields of Africa, far removed from all modernities, and how now I do a double take every time I see a Maasai warrior (easy to spot as they're dressed in customary red plaid robes, with the traditional earlobe holes and multiple beaded jewels) sitting at a computer in an internet cafe in town emailing, then fumbling in the folds of his robes, next to his machete and spear, for a ringing cell phone! Still getting used to that! I'd also like to note how proud I am of myself for learning some Maa, as with the frequent power cuts, we sometimes have a little time on our hands, and venture outside to hang with the guards (also Maasai), and any other tribe members that have stopped by on their way to town for a visit, so we have nothing else to do but learn their language in order to communicate. How funny it is now to walk down the street, greet a Maasai, and then watch their jaw drop and then break into a huge smile as they hear their mother tongue coming out from a white person...I love it!! There are so many projects the director has listed he wants to accomplish, so I will have my work cut out for me the next 4 weeks. If you would like to check out the website and within the next few weeks, my efforts on the January-February newsletter, feel free to do so at www.kitumusote.org

Extracurricular Activities
So a lot of the things I've been up to in the afternoons has been organized as part of our orientation, but have been soooo interesting and worthwhile. They have also been very humbling as well...one of our fieldtrips was to a "nursing home" that is another project that CCS places volunteers at. St. Lucia's was started as a home-visit program for those infected with the virus, and in 2004, the current facility was built to take in orphans and women afflicted with the disease. The home currently cares for about 14 orphans and 3 women with HIV/AIDS, one of which had just been taken to the hospital the night before so there were only 2 women there when we visited. I had to bite the inside of my cheek to keep the tears from spilling over as we walked into the women's room, to see one of them on a mattress on the floor, because she would roll out of an actual bed, and one of the caregivers sitting her up in bed so she could see us, as she was physically unable to, her body had been so ravaged by the disease, she was no longer able to feed herself or even speak, completely incontinent and unable to move. The other woman was bedridden as well, her legs so swollen she was no longer able to walk on them...the pain so bad she cannot sleep at night. The "tour" of the home continued to the girls' room, and then the boys' room, where as many as 4 children share a bunk. Then to see the shelves of plastic bins with a child's name on each one, that in a normal day care would hold toys or games or crafts, but in this case, were full of anti-retroviral drugs and other treatments the children were taking for the immunosuppressed disease of the month. All 14 have full-blown AIDS, but the only visual evidence you can find of the disease are what their bodies couldn't fight off...the scars of ulcers covering their backs, arms, faces, and legs, otherwise, they ran around, wanted to be held, loved to have their picture taken, and were just normal kids. Several fell asleep in our arms as we sat and talked about the cultural causes of AIDS, like the continued practice of polygamy, and how a woman will be beaten if she even suggests her husband use a condom, and how poverty is killing many more than the actual disease. Whether it's because those with the disease can't afford proper nutrition, or the woman who has to prostitute herself in order to make money after market day because she didn't sell enough wares to buy food for her children, or the young girl that is preyed on by the "pimps" in the village when she doesn't have enough money to buy lunch at school. We also discussed the stigma, and how important it is that the country's leaders not shy away from talking about the disease. As in Uganda, it was no secret what the last president died of, but the country decided to make it front page news and take the opportunity to educate its citizens about the disease. We finished by talking about the need for empowerment, and continued education. I was struck by the volunteers from the community at the facility...those people that worked a full-time job, earning so little and having a family to support at home, but were there regardless, spending a few hours doing whatever was necessary, whether it was to wash out a load of cloth diapers and clothes saturated with diarrhea, or holding a child down while his/her medication was given to her, or making a small purse out of banana leaves to sell and earn money for the facility. So honorable and I learned so much about service from them in just the few hours I was there. Good news though, a new facility is being built with funds that a previous volunteer had raised, and the new home will be much larger, with a field to grow vegetables to provide income and proper nutrition for those the home cares for. So several of our volunteers have been working hard to get the place ready so they can move into their new facility.
Last week we had a rather exciting thing happen...we actually got to go see the President of Tanzania address a crowd of several thousand at a nearby park. Word was that he was coming on Wednesday, but that got cancelled due to "national matters," but then on Friday morning, the community was buzzing with the news that he was coming that afternoon. He first stopped at a local hospital that was being built to lay some bricks down, then on to the park. After waiting for about 2 hours in the blistering hot sun, it was an amazing thing to watch hundreds of people lining the streets to wave at him as the motorcade of SUVs passed, then run across the field to get a good spot to see him deliver his message. I thought of the fact that if this were a presidential speech back home, it would definitely not be held in such a vulnerable location, there would be secret service all over the place, only supporters would be allowed in to the event, and there would be a line several hours long waiting to get through the metal detectors. No metal detectors here (the sound system was even housed on the back of a pick-up truck), and probably plenty of people in the crowd that disagreed with him and didn't vote for him, but everyone was so respectful and there was not one incident of disarray. One of the CCS office staff translated the whole speech for us, and as his excellency made his way back to his motorcade from the platform where he gave his speech, I almost got to shake hands with him I was so close!!
Not so exciting, but still has kept me busy, is exploring the town of Arusha, which in comparison to Nairobi, is like comparing Wilmington to Philadelphia. I have even found my oasis...a hotel lodge not far from the home base with an outdoor pool, with lounge chairs that look out at Mount Meru, and if you walk around the lodge to the other side, holds a spectacular view of Kilimanjaro on a clear day!! Kicking myself for not packing a swimsuit, but have improvised! This past Tuesday I participated in a football (soccer) game: CCS versus TUPO, another project that utilizes CCS volunteers. TUPO stands for Tumaini Positive Test Club, and is a support program for those that are HIV positive. There is quite a history I've been told with this rivalry, as TUPO has always cleaned the floor with the CCS team in the past, so we were headed into the game with the mantra of "Let's just have fun." Well, we beat them, 3-1, with the help of a few ringers, but all involved had a blast and in the end the score didn't matter so much, compared to the message they sent just by being out there and playing 110%...having AIDS doesn't mean you have to stop living and being active. The Arusha Times even covered the game, so we should be in tomorrow's (Saturday) paper!! Wednesday was an organized field trip to Moshi, and started with a beautiful hike to Ndogo waterfalls, in the heart of the Chagga tribe's land. The Chagga believe in what's called "zero-grazing" which involves keeping the livestock in pens all day to keep them from eating important crops that the Chagga use for food, so they will actually go out and cut grass and other plants and bring them back to the cows and goats to eat! We also visited a traditional Chagga house, where the livestock share sleeping areas with their owners, to protect them from raiding parties from other tribes. Can't imagine this happening in the farming communities of my hometown! The Chagga cows have it made!! We did get to see the Chagga tunnels, which were created years ago to hide out in when other tribes would conduct raids on them. I even got to crawl through one, and let me tell you, imagining 50 people plus all their livestock crowded into a space that I had to crawl through on my hands and knees at some points was pretty unbelieveable! Had a close encounter with a bat that promptly made us turn around and head out the way we came, and at a much faster pace, despite the fact that I couldn't see 2 inches in front of me it was so dark!! We did some shopping in the afternoon, and visited an actual batik artist's studio...fascinating how they're made by waxing the cloth and dying it in stages, starting with the lightest color. Driving home, the clouds that had been hanging around all day finally cleared just enough for us to see Kilimanjaro!! In a way, I'm kind of glad I didn't pick a placement in Moshi, because I wouldn't want the mystique and thrill I get every time I see that mountain to wear off due to familiarity. And I will close with what we did just yesterday, which was attempt to get in to the International Criminal Tribunals of the Rwandan genocide. The Tanzanian government specifically built a conference center to house these hearings that are expected to go on for years, and will later use as a convention center. Kind of sad to think that development like this has to come as a result of an atrocity committed against thousands of people. We were unable to get in to the hearings due to the fact that they had closed both sessions, which is what happens when the witness wants to maintain some shred of anonymity for fear of community or government rebuttal, and opts to close the hearing to the public. From what I hear, this happens pretty regularly and it is very difficult to get into a session, but we'll probably try again next week, as I think this is an important part of history that I have the chance to witness. I can only imagine how hard it is for these individuals to experience what they have, then get up the courage to do what they're doing in a system that doesn't protect them as well as what we're used to back home.
OK, I thank those of you that have stuck it out this far and have read my entire entry...sorry again for the hiatus and the length, but want to keep all of you updated on my latest Tanzanian experiences!!