I'm becoming Maasai!! This past weekend, I went on safari to a remote Maasai village, perched right on the Kenyan border of Tanzania, called Lesoiti...and I had an amazing experience!! Especially after Friday, when we didn't have water at the home base for a 24-hour period, it was so good to get away...but it sure makes you appreciate turning the handle on the faucet and have water come out of it all the more! Again I say, the staff here is amazing, carrying water in for us and doing 110% above the norm. But I digress...the safari began on Saturday, and was led by the Maasai warrior I work with at Kitumusote, as this safari is one of the small business projects he has started to bring income into the village and share Maasai culture at the same time. It took about 2 1/2 hours to reach the village, with a stop at a Maasai market along the way. We arrived to children running to greet us, and the women of the village singing and dancing, which we joined in with and boy, did they showed us how it's done, I'm here to tell ya! If you've ever seen pictures of Maasai women with the large beaded collars around their necks, and the way they dance sends the collars bouncing up and down...well, I learned how to do that, and the secret...it's all in the shoulders! So then we got a chance to sing and explain to them the significance of the songs in Western cultures...there has never been a better rendition of the first verse of "Amazing Grace" and "Happy Birthday" in the history of Maasai, I'm sure of it!! We also went on a hike with several Maasai warriors, got to try our hand at spear throwing, and tasted the most amazing berries...it was like fruit roll-ups growing on a bush! We came back to the village just as the sun was starting to go down, and the warriors prepared the highlight of the weekend...the ceremonial goat slaughter!! Yes, that's right, I witnessed a traditional goat slaughter (although I've never seen one before, so it's my best guess that this one was traditional). The goat is suffocated, then skinned, then the insides were taken out, leaving all the blood in the carcass, which acts as a bowl, from which the warriors dip into and partake of the blood, inviting us to do the same...only one in our group did so, and it was not me, let me assure all of you. I did opt for the goat skin bracelet, made for me by one of the warriors, which I'm still wearing as I type this. It's blessed and is supposed to bring good fortune...we'll see. After the sun set, we got to dance again, only this time with the warriors! I have never experienced anything like it in my life...the sound that all of them made, and seeing 21 silhouettes around the fire, under the clearest night sky and the brightest half moon...chanting and jumping, it was incredible, and they go until 2-3 in the morning!! (I only lasted until 10 mind you, when I crawled into my tent between the cow dung enkajis/houses). Sunday we got to go inside one of the enkajis, and once our eyes adjusted to the darkness inside, I was surprised how roomy they are! Right before we left, I got a chance to learn how to make a bracelet with beads Maasai style, and what each of the colors means in their culture, i.e. white symbolizes clouds and they wear mostly white ornamnentation during the dry season to bring on the rains. As we rolled away from the village on a dirt path only a Maasai could find, I was thrilled to be able to see and be a part of, if only for a weekend, the culture that I am working so closely with on my project.
So by now you're probably wondering when Black Panthers are going to come into the mix...Monday I got to hang with one of the prominent former leaders of the Black Panther Party. After being charged with the offense of carrying a shotgun across state lines in the U.S. in the late 60's, Pete O'Neal and his wife Charlotte fled the country, ending up in Arusha, Tanzania. They have continued the work they started in Kansas City (minus the gun-toting) by founding the United African Alliance Community Center, which teaches classes, sports, and arts, emphasizing free expression, to local students. The compound is absolutely beautiful, and we had a down-home cooked meal (BBQ chicken and the works)! It was almost surreal hearing him speak one minute in his southern drawl and the next speaking Swahili to the students. I don't necessarily agree with him politically or philosophically, but it was an amazing opportunity to meet him and discuss current affairs with him, one of the last leaders of the Party still alive, living in self-imposed exile for the last 32 years in Arusha. Even his dog "Blackie" has dredlocks (a sign of revolution)!!
OK, now for the mud...Tuesday I went on a fieldtrip!! Every week, Kitumusote has a general committee meeting in Eluai, which is the home village of the organization's director, located in Monduli District, about a 2-hour drive west-ish of Arusha. The village is nestled right into the hillside of Monduli mountain, and it was absolutely breathtaking, both the drive into the village and the views from the village itself looking down into the valley, which is basically Ngorongoro Crater on the other side of the mountain!! I got to see the store and classroom that has been built for the Maasai Women's Cooperative Society, as well as the vegetable garden and the 40-some new trees that have been planted as a result of the reforestation project. I also got to meet those in charge of the store, the garden, the tree-planting, and the teachers of the English, Swahili, and math classes. The meeting was well-attended, and the director translated/paraphrased everything for me. But the best moment was hearing all of the women in attendance introduce themselves in fluent Swahili, (and participate in the meeting in fluent Swahili), and then see 2 of the women absolutely beaming with pride as they introduced themselves in English!! I was happy to assume the role of photographer, snapping away like crazy to get pictures for the brochures, newsletter, and then came the identification card pictures. Kitumusote has agreed to produce ID cards for all members, which everyone was buzzing about as soon as that particular agenda item was introduced. To watch these women primp and pass around different pieces of jewelry, or get their large dangling beaded earrings just so, in order to have their picture taken, was absolutely wonderful, and I couldn't help but smile at their excitement! The pride that all of the members of the organization take in themselves and their community, wanting to learn and become educated, but maintaining their culture at the same time, is something I'm so grateful to witness and share with them. So the dirt road to the village is quite bumpy, but navigable, unless it rains, which it did during the meeting. We made it back down the mountain, getting about halfway to the main village of Monduli Juu, when we got hopelessly stuck in the mud. We did give a valiant effort to push the car along, for which I got sprayed with mud from the spinning tires, but it proved to be too much for us in the end. We had to abandon the car, and walk about an hour and a half to the village center, in mud the consistency of clay, having to stop and kick it off my shoes every 5 steps because it looked like I had platform or high-heeled shoes on. Once there, we hitchhiked a ride on the back of a pick-up truck, travelling at an alarmingly fast speed, weaving in and out of livestock being brought in from grazing for the day, gratefully disembarking at the depot where we could get a daladala (small bus) back to Arusha. The stares I encountered from nearly every person we drove past, with a white girl, a Maasai warrior, and 2 other Africans dressed in executive attire, riding in the back of this pickup into town, brought my experience as a minority in a foreign country to a whole new level, and was quite hysterical! I hope to return for the weekly meetings, as the women have guaranteed that under their tutelage, I'll be fluent in Maa by the time I leave next month. However, with the rainy season upon us, I think I'll also be the best mud hiker this side of the Great Rift Valley and will have a host of other tales to share with each trek to the village!!
So there you have it...my adventures thus far...can't believe I'm almost finished with my 3-week orientation period...my free afternoons are looking very good right now!!
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Friday, March 23, 2007
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!!
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!!
Saturday, March 10, 2007
I'm Back!!
I'm back in Tanzania, and it's more beautiful than I remembered it!! My morning started early in Nairobi, still dark out, but made it to the airport, got through customs, security, and to the gate in less than 45 minutes. Amazing...wow how complicated we've made things in the rest of the world! So my flight was about 50 minutes, on a twin engine craft, only about 30 passengers, and no, I didn't have to hold a goat on my lap surprisingly! The highlight of the trip was descending into Kilimanjaro International Airport, still well above the clouds, with Mount Meru to my right, and Mount Kilimanjaro to my left. And we were only flying at about 17000 feet, 2000 below where I was standing on the roof of Africa almost 3 years ago now!! It was absolutely incredible to see the glacier fields glistening in the sun again on the highest mountain of the African continent just 5 degrees south of the equator...breathtaking!!
Got through customs after picking up my bag, which was not soaked in detergent this time, and was met by the CCS rep right outside the arrivals terminal...how wonderful it was not to have to spend 2 hours washing out my bag, and actually being picked up by the company I'm volunteering with...so far so good I'm thinking! Both the CCS rep and the driver were very impressed with my Kiswahili, and had a great time chatting with them on the 30 minute drive to the CCS home base in Arusha...they're the first Africans I've met from the Chaga tribe!! Kili has been shrouded in clouds all day, as it's pretty overcast, but the countryside surrounding Arusha is more beautiful than I remembered it.
Home base is amazing...I feel like I'm at the Ritz Carlton compared to the house I stayed at in Nairobi. Breakfast was waiting for me when I arrived this morning, and lunch was spectacular...chicken with rice, beans, guacamole, vegetables, and fresh juice. There will be a total of 36 volunteers by the time tomorrow rolls around, with new volunteers arriving every month. So it's basically like a compound you could say. The main city center of Arusha is about a 10 minute dale dale ride, which is comparative to the matatu of Nairobi, and I'm just here in the internet cafe with a few other volunteers who are showing me around town. Am sooo excited about getting started at my project the more I talk to the volunteers who have been here awhile, as it's a newer project and I will be one of the first placed there. Most of all I'm excited to experience Tanzania as a volunteer rather than a tourist here to climb the mountain and go on safari...the community here is just so amazing and I can't wait to get more into it!
Got through customs after picking up my bag, which was not soaked in detergent this time, and was met by the CCS rep right outside the arrivals terminal...how wonderful it was not to have to spend 2 hours washing out my bag, and actually being picked up by the company I'm volunteering with...so far so good I'm thinking! Both the CCS rep and the driver were very impressed with my Kiswahili, and had a great time chatting with them on the 30 minute drive to the CCS home base in Arusha...they're the first Africans I've met from the Chaga tribe!! Kili has been shrouded in clouds all day, as it's pretty overcast, but the countryside surrounding Arusha is more beautiful than I remembered it.
Home base is amazing...I feel like I'm at the Ritz Carlton compared to the house I stayed at in Nairobi. Breakfast was waiting for me when I arrived this morning, and lunch was spectacular...chicken with rice, beans, guacamole, vegetables, and fresh juice. There will be a total of 36 volunteers by the time tomorrow rolls around, with new volunteers arriving every month. So it's basically like a compound you could say. The main city center of Arusha is about a 10 minute dale dale ride, which is comparative to the matatu of Nairobi, and I'm just here in the internet cafe with a few other volunteers who are showing me around town. Am sooo excited about getting started at my project the more I talk to the volunteers who have been here awhile, as it's a newer project and I will be one of the first placed there. Most of all I'm excited to experience Tanzania as a volunteer rather than a tourist here to climb the mountain and go on safari...the community here is just so amazing and I can't wait to get more into it!
Friday, March 9, 2007
Last week in Kenya...
Can't believe that this is my last day in Kenya...(this trip). I can remember back to the first 2 weeks here, and how 7 weeks seemed like forever!! So an update on my last week here goes a little something like this...
Saturday was the first time I really got to play tourist. A few of the other volunteers and myself went to Karen, the posh suburb of Nairobi named after the famous author who wrote Out of Africa, and my goodness it was beautiful. Just imagine the most beautiful garden you've ever seen, then triple the size of all the plants, flowers, and trees, and then multiply it until you have one after the other, after the other, lining the quietest streets of Nairobi, and you've got it. Our goal of going to Karen was the Kazuri bead shop, which is the most wonderful place ever. It's a whole compound of clay pots, beads, and jewelry-making, from the processing of the clay that comes from the heart of Kenya, to the giant kiln rooms, to the glazing factory, to the jewelry making workshops. All employees are single mothers, and the working conditions were just amazing--so clean and well ventilated, lots of light, and everyone was more than happy to let us watch over their shoulders as they painted beads or threw a pot on the wheel (I was unsuccessful in getting them to let me try it--bummer). It was the best morning ever though!! I'm so glad I got to see it! That afternoon, we delivered the shoes to the orphanage that one of the other volunteers had raised the money for and we purchased from the Kawangware market. I have never seen children so happy to get new shoes before! They were absolutely ecstatic!! Their smiles went ear to ear, and they mobbed us trying to show off how smart they looked in their new shoes!
Sunday two of the other volunteers and I took the older kids at the orphanage out for a treat at the local restaurant. It was great fun and we taught them how to play some card games. I got most of my souvenir shopping done over the weekend as well...whew! Monday was community football at the orphanage, and we actually had 4 new people from the community there--the kids loved it!! Monday night was my first experience at the cinema here in Kenya: went to go see "The Last King of Scotland," which was about the corrupt and brutal presidency of Amin in the neighboring country of Uganda back in the 1970's. Very heavy film, but did an excellent job of portraying his rise and reign at the helm of the country. And it was only $5 (US) for the ticket, popcorn, soda, and a candy bar...unreal I know!!
Tuesday I got to teach English at Hidden Talents!! And it was the same class I had last week, so they shouted my name as soon as I walked in the door!! The lesson was on adjectives, so I started out by describing someone famous from the US, and they got it after the third adjective...Arnold Schwarzenegger!! It went sooo well, and gave me some much needed confidence about teaching, for which I have no real training, as I'm sure the bulk of the projects in Peru will involve some aspect of teaching English.
Wednesday was siku ya sharehe at the orphanage!!! Oh, that's "party day" for all those non-Swahili speakers out there :) All of the goodies I have received thus far via care packages were put to good use, as we did face painting, played with Play-Doh, had a sports day (three-legged races, sack races, every kind of relay imaginable), and two rounds of water balloon fights!! Filling 144 water balloons, and then gone in under 5 minutes, twice, was quite the experience! I was soaked by the end of the day, and it was awesome!! I have never heard these kids laugh like this before, and when we handed out candy and a prize to each one of them, you would have thought we gave them the world! It was the best day ever!! Boy was I tired that night...I think I was in bed mentally by 8 PM.
Yesterday, Thursday, was my final showdown with FedEx...I had placed numerous phone calls to them over the past few weeks and even made several trips into the city to their main office, as the package containing my INR self-test machine, which I will need for the rest of the year to keep track of my own blood levels since I don't know what the medical conditions will be in all of the places I am going this year, has been stuck in customs at Nairobi airport since February 18th. Long story short, after over an hour at their main office, a major breakdown complete with tears on my part, and basically demanding that I get the machine that night or else, it was delivered to me at 8 pm at the very nice Italian restaurant where the other volunteers and I went to celebrate my last week here. Again, I have a new appreciation for the United States Postal Service and the fact that pretty much any building in the US has an actual address to deliver things to, as the houses here have no physical address. I don't really lose my patience too often, but I think I definitely had God covering his ears and eyes yesterday...hopefully he was busy elsewhere at the time...
So last night I spent cramming on how to work my new blood machine, and after cringing the whole time I read the chapter on how to fingerstick yourself, and almost upchucking as I practiced operating the automatic lancer that has the most sickening clicking sound ever (for those of you not familiar with my absolute dread of needles going anywhere near my veins, now you know), I was 75% confident that I could do it! Today I got to try it out for real at the doctor's office, who said my hands weren't shaking too bad, as I had my follow-up appointment today. My numbers are good, and the ones the lab got matched the ones on my machine, and after picking up enough warfarin to last me for the next 6 weeks, I'm all set to go!! Tonight will be a packing frenzy, and tomorrow morning at 8 AM I will fly out of Nairobi, arriving in Arusha, Tanzania at 8:50 AM. I will keep you all posted once I get settled there, and hopefully I will write my next blog from an internet cafe that has a window with a direct view of Mount Kilimanjaro!!
Saturday was the first time I really got to play tourist. A few of the other volunteers and myself went to Karen, the posh suburb of Nairobi named after the famous author who wrote Out of Africa, and my goodness it was beautiful. Just imagine the most beautiful garden you've ever seen, then triple the size of all the plants, flowers, and trees, and then multiply it until you have one after the other, after the other, lining the quietest streets of Nairobi, and you've got it. Our goal of going to Karen was the Kazuri bead shop, which is the most wonderful place ever. It's a whole compound of clay pots, beads, and jewelry-making, from the processing of the clay that comes from the heart of Kenya, to the giant kiln rooms, to the glazing factory, to the jewelry making workshops. All employees are single mothers, and the working conditions were just amazing--so clean and well ventilated, lots of light, and everyone was more than happy to let us watch over their shoulders as they painted beads or threw a pot on the wheel (I was unsuccessful in getting them to let me try it--bummer). It was the best morning ever though!! I'm so glad I got to see it! That afternoon, we delivered the shoes to the orphanage that one of the other volunteers had raised the money for and we purchased from the Kawangware market. I have never seen children so happy to get new shoes before! They were absolutely ecstatic!! Their smiles went ear to ear, and they mobbed us trying to show off how smart they looked in their new shoes!
Sunday two of the other volunteers and I took the older kids at the orphanage out for a treat at the local restaurant. It was great fun and we taught them how to play some card games. I got most of my souvenir shopping done over the weekend as well...whew! Monday was community football at the orphanage, and we actually had 4 new people from the community there--the kids loved it!! Monday night was my first experience at the cinema here in Kenya: went to go see "The Last King of Scotland," which was about the corrupt and brutal presidency of Amin in the neighboring country of Uganda back in the 1970's. Very heavy film, but did an excellent job of portraying his rise and reign at the helm of the country. And it was only $5 (US) for the ticket, popcorn, soda, and a candy bar...unreal I know!!
Tuesday I got to teach English at Hidden Talents!! And it was the same class I had last week, so they shouted my name as soon as I walked in the door!! The lesson was on adjectives, so I started out by describing someone famous from the US, and they got it after the third adjective...Arnold Schwarzenegger!! It went sooo well, and gave me some much needed confidence about teaching, for which I have no real training, as I'm sure the bulk of the projects in Peru will involve some aspect of teaching English.
Wednesday was siku ya sharehe at the orphanage!!! Oh, that's "party day" for all those non-Swahili speakers out there :) All of the goodies I have received thus far via care packages were put to good use, as we did face painting, played with Play-Doh, had a sports day (three-legged races, sack races, every kind of relay imaginable), and two rounds of water balloon fights!! Filling 144 water balloons, and then gone in under 5 minutes, twice, was quite the experience! I was soaked by the end of the day, and it was awesome!! I have never heard these kids laugh like this before, and when we handed out candy and a prize to each one of them, you would have thought we gave them the world! It was the best day ever!! Boy was I tired that night...I think I was in bed mentally by 8 PM.
Yesterday, Thursday, was my final showdown with FedEx...I had placed numerous phone calls to them over the past few weeks and even made several trips into the city to their main office, as the package containing my INR self-test machine, which I will need for the rest of the year to keep track of my own blood levels since I don't know what the medical conditions will be in all of the places I am going this year, has been stuck in customs at Nairobi airport since February 18th. Long story short, after over an hour at their main office, a major breakdown complete with tears on my part, and basically demanding that I get the machine that night or else, it was delivered to me at 8 pm at the very nice Italian restaurant where the other volunteers and I went to celebrate my last week here. Again, I have a new appreciation for the United States Postal Service and the fact that pretty much any building in the US has an actual address to deliver things to, as the houses here have no physical address. I don't really lose my patience too often, but I think I definitely had God covering his ears and eyes yesterday...hopefully he was busy elsewhere at the time...
So last night I spent cramming on how to work my new blood machine, and after cringing the whole time I read the chapter on how to fingerstick yourself, and almost upchucking as I practiced operating the automatic lancer that has the most sickening clicking sound ever (for those of you not familiar with my absolute dread of needles going anywhere near my veins, now you know), I was 75% confident that I could do it! Today I got to try it out for real at the doctor's office, who said my hands weren't shaking too bad, as I had my follow-up appointment today. My numbers are good, and the ones the lab got matched the ones on my machine, and after picking up enough warfarin to last me for the next 6 weeks, I'm all set to go!! Tonight will be a packing frenzy, and tomorrow morning at 8 AM I will fly out of Nairobi, arriving in Arusha, Tanzania at 8:50 AM. I will keep you all posted once I get settled there, and hopefully I will write my next blog from an internet cafe that has a window with a direct view of Mount Kilimanjaro!!
Friday, March 2, 2007
Week #6...learn something new every day
Six down, one more to go and I can't even believe that I move on to Tanzania a week from Saturday!! Time is really flying, but I just wanted to update you all on my past week and how much I learned these past couple of days...Community football (soccer) at the orphanage and swimming were both cancelled on Monday due to rain...football was instead held on Wednesday--had a blast...those kids really give you a run for your money!! The GI system is back to normal, thank goodness. Tuesday was the day I learned how grateful I am for the American postal service...picking up 2 packages in the city took pretty much all day, between customs, the bank, and waiting in several lines at the actual post office and getting numerous stamps on various forms and paperwork...aye caramba!! But the contents were well worth it...my housemates are loving American junk food between the Girl Scout cookies and Hershey's chocolate (as the packages were for Valentine's Day), and we're planning a whole carnival/party day at the orphanage for next week with the other goodies!! Wednesday I got my blood drawn at the hospital, and my levels are right where they should be...just have to keep plugging away with the daily warfarin, and I return to the doctor on Friday the 9th, right before I fly out to Tanzania, with a 6-week supply of blood thinners and hopefully an INR machine (which is still stuck at customs). Thursday I returned to Hidden Talents, the school I've been visiting once a week, and learned that I should stick to teaching science, as the art lesson we tried to teach did not go so well. Portraits can be a tricky thing sometimes...
Today was simply fantastic, wonderful, awesome, one of my best days here so far! I started the day at Dagoretti Youth Center, a school where one of our volunteers is currently teaching. On Friday mornings, they have what's called PPI, or pastoral programming initiative. Basically, each class has it's own praise and worship hour!! Picture 30 kids crammed into a 12 foot by 12 foot classroom, multiplied by 8, one room right after the other, singing "Awesome God" with African chanting, drumming, and dancing and you've got it!! We could hear the kids from the main street and as we walked the quarter mile to the school! It was awesome!! I have some great video I can't wait to share when I get home! We then met with one of the women from the community that lives not too far from the school, and it was just amazing to sit and have fresh mango juice with this woman who was so generous, gracious, and welcoming, teaching us some Kiswahili, and sharing her experiences and life story. She reminded me that even though not every African has AIDS, every African is affected by it. Both her sister and brother have died from the disease, and her sister's two children are both infected. She was so inspiring as she relayed to us her faith in God, and the fact that she has seen conditions improve as the media, schools, and churches all come together to educate society about the disease. I then went with another volunteer to the Bridgeway Centre, also in Dagoretti, which is a community-based organization whose main objective is to empower adults, orphans, and vulnerable children in the surrounding slum of Kawangware, through education on basic life skills, vocational training, income generating activities training, and HIV/AIDS education, focusing on behavior modification and capacity building. It was absolutely amazing to talk with the people in charge of this program, who have taken over at the grassroots level where the non-governmental organizations have failed to reach the communities most affected by poverty and AIDS. And then as we were leaving, we met one of the "beneficiaries" of the center, who started coming to the center as a teen-age orphan, and is now completing her degree in business management and administration with the help of a community sponsor, and hopes to land a good job with a bank, and then become a sponsor herself to another vulnerable child. The positive cycles created by this one young woman are incredible when I consider what I have seen here...the environment that she has come from where poverty and a viscious disease eat away at the souls, hopes and dreams of most of the people I pass by walking the streets of the slums each and every day. She is just one of many shining lights in this community as a result of this incredible center and I was blessed to have met her and the people at the center, even just briefly.
I finished the day by trying my hand at bargaining at the huge market in Kawangware, which is held every Tuesday and Friday. You name it, it's probably for sale...reminded me a great deal of Cowtown, for those folks at home, except for the huge tables piled high with sardines...? Another volunteer had raised funds from her coworkers back home, and had decided to purchase shoes for all the kids at the orphanage. Bartering for about 30 pairs of shoes was quite exhausting! Key points I learned: never appear too interested, always mention you don't want the "mzungu" or white person's price, as it's usually double, and finally, walking always helps to bring the price down by at least 200 shillings. But after 2 1/2 hours, we walked out of there Kikuyu style with the bags containing 30 pairs of shoes slung over our shoulders! It was great!!
And the big news of the week...I have received my placement for Arusha, Tanzania, where I will be going next, switching programs and going from i-to-i to Cross Cultural Solutions. I have been placed with an NGO (non-governmental organization) called Kitumosote, which means "we have discovered" in Kiswahili. I will be working with the Maasai people of Tanzania, the main objectives of the program being to facilitate women's empowerment and educational opportunities, as well as strengthening the Maasai people's capacity for self-determination through education and training, in the main tenets of their existing culture, which involve conserving indigenous resources and creating environmental awareness. Sounds like a lot, but I'm really excited to get started and learn more about this culture of tribal warriors!! This was also my first choice, and I will be among the first CCS volunteers at this placement!
Today was simply fantastic, wonderful, awesome, one of my best days here so far! I started the day at Dagoretti Youth Center, a school where one of our volunteers is currently teaching. On Friday mornings, they have what's called PPI, or pastoral programming initiative. Basically, each class has it's own praise and worship hour!! Picture 30 kids crammed into a 12 foot by 12 foot classroom, multiplied by 8, one room right after the other, singing "Awesome God" with African chanting, drumming, and dancing and you've got it!! We could hear the kids from the main street and as we walked the quarter mile to the school! It was awesome!! I have some great video I can't wait to share when I get home! We then met with one of the women from the community that lives not too far from the school, and it was just amazing to sit and have fresh mango juice with this woman who was so generous, gracious, and welcoming, teaching us some Kiswahili, and sharing her experiences and life story. She reminded me that even though not every African has AIDS, every African is affected by it. Both her sister and brother have died from the disease, and her sister's two children are both infected. She was so inspiring as she relayed to us her faith in God, and the fact that she has seen conditions improve as the media, schools, and churches all come together to educate society about the disease. I then went with another volunteer to the Bridgeway Centre, also in Dagoretti, which is a community-based organization whose main objective is to empower adults, orphans, and vulnerable children in the surrounding slum of Kawangware, through education on basic life skills, vocational training, income generating activities training, and HIV/AIDS education, focusing on behavior modification and capacity building. It was absolutely amazing to talk with the people in charge of this program, who have taken over at the grassroots level where the non-governmental organizations have failed to reach the communities most affected by poverty and AIDS. And then as we were leaving, we met one of the "beneficiaries" of the center, who started coming to the center as a teen-age orphan, and is now completing her degree in business management and administration with the help of a community sponsor, and hopes to land a good job with a bank, and then become a sponsor herself to another vulnerable child. The positive cycles created by this one young woman are incredible when I consider what I have seen here...the environment that she has come from where poverty and a viscious disease eat away at the souls, hopes and dreams of most of the people I pass by walking the streets of the slums each and every day. She is just one of many shining lights in this community as a result of this incredible center and I was blessed to have met her and the people at the center, even just briefly.
I finished the day by trying my hand at bargaining at the huge market in Kawangware, which is held every Tuesday and Friday. You name it, it's probably for sale...reminded me a great deal of Cowtown, for those folks at home, except for the huge tables piled high with sardines...? Another volunteer had raised funds from her coworkers back home, and had decided to purchase shoes for all the kids at the orphanage. Bartering for about 30 pairs of shoes was quite exhausting! Key points I learned: never appear too interested, always mention you don't want the "mzungu" or white person's price, as it's usually double, and finally, walking always helps to bring the price down by at least 200 shillings. But after 2 1/2 hours, we walked out of there Kikuyu style with the bags containing 30 pairs of shoes slung over our shoulders! It was great!!
And the big news of the week...I have received my placement for Arusha, Tanzania, where I will be going next, switching programs and going from i-to-i to Cross Cultural Solutions. I have been placed with an NGO (non-governmental organization) called Kitumosote, which means "we have discovered" in Kiswahili. I will be working with the Maasai people of Tanzania, the main objectives of the program being to facilitate women's empowerment and educational opportunities, as well as strengthening the Maasai people's capacity for self-determination through education and training, in the main tenets of their existing culture, which involve conserving indigenous resources and creating environmental awareness. Sounds like a lot, but I'm really excited to get started and learn more about this culture of tribal warriors!! This was also my first choice, and I will be among the first CCS volunteers at this placement!
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