Tanzania - Wiki Saba

Mama Paskwalina (Tukwamuane's chairperson) and I.

The sun has returned to Mwanza in week seven! I think the weeks of rain served to make me appreciate the blazing heat of sunny days in Mwanza. The week began with a very busy Monday (the 17th)… first, I finished up my blog and composed an English lesson for the mamas at home. Alison and I then walked into town to run a long list of errands – picking up produce from the market, waiting in a long line at the ATM (withdrawing cash is not an easy task in Mwanza!), obtaining bank account information to send home to Canada to facilitate a wire transfer, stopping by the “fast” internet café that we stumbled across in town a couple weeks ago, printing a number of documents that Maimuna requested from us, and picking up prints at the photo centre (for the Mamas, the photo board at Tunza, and bedroom wall collages for ourselves).

We went up to Mabatini to teach the English lesson. The mamas trickled in slowly so we taught and retaught the concepts until we were sure everyone understood. After discussing a couple project-related issues, Alison and I left and rushed to the CRS office in Isamilo where we met Claire and drove to yoga together. After our class, we came back to our apartment for another adventure in the kitchen – this time we made use of the dried seaweed that Alison brought from home and made a huge spread of sushi (yes! sushi in Africa!) using tuna and hot dogs (yes… sushi in Africa…). The sushi actually worked out really well, considering our limitations! We enjoyed our last real ‘girls night’ before Ruben’s arrival - dinner and a movie - and went to bed early.

Alison with our spread of sushi!

On Tuesday (the 18th), I woke up and went down to the internet café to download minutes from the most recent Western Heads East steering committee meeting at Western. Alison and I reviewed them and started planning to accomplish the tasks set out for us by the Canadian contingency of WHE. I went over to Kivulini to meet briefly with Maimuna to pass on messages from home, and to pick up a copy of the Kivulini 5-Year Strategic Plan that I had promised to edit for her. Later, I met with Beatrice on our balcony to work through some of her objectives for her new project (forming a group that will assist disabled members of the community). She’s been communicating with my mom, who teaches children with special needs… it’s always exciting to see how resources can be shared across continents. Once our meetings and work at home was finished, Alison and I went into town to a local travel agency to get quotes for some touristy trips that we’re hoping to take during the next couple of months. We stopped for a very light lunch and a Kiswahili study session to prepare for our afternoon test. From lunch, we dropped by the “fast” internet café in town to send project updates home, and then went on to our Swahili lesson.

After class, we rushed to catch a daladala out to the airport to pick up Ruben, our new roommate! Ruben is a medical student from the Netherlands who is living in Mwanza for approximately 10 months while he conducts a clinical trial with Dr. Butamanya at Sekou Toure Hospital. The study is examining the effect of probiotic treatment on bacterial vaginosis (BV). BV is very prevalent among African women. Women with BV have an increased risk of acquiring HIV, and an increased risk of transmitting the disease during intercourse and childbirth due to increased HIV shedding. Ruben’s study aims to examine whether probiotic treatment can reduce HIV shedding by curing BV, as well as to compare the incidence of diarrhea and the CD4 count between the group receiving probiotic treatment and the placebo group.

We found Ruben at the airport, brought him home (where he was warmly welcomed by locals who remembered him from his month in Mwanza last summer), and took him for dinner at Tilapia to celebrate his arrival and catch him up on the goings-on of the project this summer. I tucked myself in with Maimuna’s 28-page report in hopes of getting it finished by the morning.

We were thrilled to wake up to sun again on Wednesday (the 19th). I spent the early part of the morning finishing Maimuna’s report, while Alison prepared the English lesson. We walked into town with Ruben so that he could purchase a Tanzanian SIM-card for his phone and various supplies for his study. We ate lunch with Beatrice and set off together for the kitchen. It’s always helpful to have her along with us to assist with translating some of the bigger issues to the mamas. We re-addressed the issue of a container deposit system and set up the necessary paperwork to implement it, and then breached the subject of prices changes. We decided that the best option would be to post all of the information (individual size prices, conversions to the price of one litre of yogurt, projected monthly revenue, information about bills etc.) on the blackboard in the kitchen and leave it with the mamas to decide on. We followed up on their TASAF application and other issues such as the salary of the night guard – continuing to stress that decisions surrounding these issues are theirs to make and that sustainability of the project should be at the front of their minds when they make financial decisions.

Beatrice, examining the pricing schemes we provided for the mamas.

We got home from Mabatini and set out immediately with Jodie to walk up Bugando Hill near our house. Jodie was going to meet with the youth group of boys (the “popcorn boys”, who we discovered are actually not responsible for selling the popcorn outside of our apartment!) to discuss the need to prepare a proposal for financial support to submit to the planning committee of the upcoming Mwanza Charity Ball (something we will also be looking into for Tukwamuane). The walk up the hill was exciting for me as I have been really curious to see what life is like amidst the elevated rock formations that surround the city. Unfortunately, I often feel like I see more of the grime on the roads than the scenery as I try my best not to stumble on the uneven ground! It was good to see the progress that these boys are making, interesting to find out about their challenges and inspiring to see their drive to make positive changes in their lives and the lives of others in their community. We came home to cook dinner with Ruben and settle in for the night.

On Thursday (the 20th) I confirmed a noon-time meeting at City Council with Mama Binamungu, who is the city’s expert on SACCOs. I prepared Friday’s English test for the mamas and drafted a couple emails home before Alison and I walked into town to meet Joseph Mlinzi. We were ‘assigned’ to Hussein, the cameraman we hired for the Minister’s visit, who took us to the Nyakahoja Conference Centre where we were to meet Mama Binamungu. We arrived and found that she had already gone back to City Council… hamna shida, nice to get some exercise under the African sun! We had a brief meeting with her where we essentially uncovered the reasons why Tukwamuane currently doesn’t qualify to be registered as a SACCOs (i.e. too few members) but we arranged for a future information meeting to be set up with the mamas. We ran into Ruben on the street, who was very excited after having just purchased a bicycle. We went with him to a small local restaurant serving traditional food that was recommended to him last summer. Alison and I have been anxious to try the smaller food establishments in town but are nervous about eating food that hasn’t been prepared properly. This place was delicious, cheap, and agreed with our stomachs - I’m sure we’ll be back there soon! We hurried to the post office before our Swahili lesson and after went to Tunza from Swahili for yoga, dinner and puppies.

I spent Friday morning (the 21st) with Beatrice, translating amendments to the educational material we are distributing to the community about probiotics. I went down to the internet café briefly to unload a very full inbox onto my USB key to read later – received lots of news, both good and bad… sometimes updates from home remind me of how very far away I am from friends and family (i.e. finding out that I’m missing funerals). That’s all part of the challenge of traveling, though, and I’m lucky to be as connected with home as I can be through the magic of the phone and internet!

Alison and I walked up to Mabatini to review Wednesday’s English lesson and provide the mamas with their weekend test. We picked up the orphanage’s weekly 6-litre order of yogurt and after a few brief instructions from the mamas, set off for home with the tub of yogurt perched on our heads like true African mamas (except we alternated… our necks aren’t that strong yet!).

Shocking the wabongo (Tanzanians) by carrying the yogurt on my head.

We met Claire who managed to get the afternoon off from work to come and join us in Bwiru at Forever Angels. We spent a hot afternoon outside with the toddlers before coming home for a quiet night in. Ruben (with a lot of help from Pendo, our housekeeper) prepared us dinner – ndizi na wali (cooking bananas and rice). Pendo stayed for the meal and regaled us with a symphony of burps. Though we all tried to understand that there was a cultural divide that hadn’t quite been filled, Claire has made it her goal to learn enough Swahili in order to tell Pendo that she doesn’t like the burping. Ruben taught us how to play “Koe-Handel”, a cow-trading card game that he brought from home as a welcome gift. He neglected to tell us all the rules needed to strategically play the game, however, so the three of us lost badly and are determined to redeem ourselves the next time we play. We started watching “Darwin’s Nightmare”, a documentary about the fish and weapons trade in Mwanza. It’s interesting to watch our city on film, but the quality of the documentary wasn’t good enough to keep the attention of our sleepy eyes and we decided to call it a night and finish the movie another time.

Claire, Alison and I hard at work giving Tunza Lodge a facelift!

On Saturday morning (the 23rd), Alison and I met Claire in town to go shopping at the city market. We came home with our purchases and very stripe-y sunburns. We were so excited to finally have a very sunny weekend and thought it best that we capitalize on the weather on the beach at Tunza (pole sana Ruben, who stayed home due to a sore stomach). We stayed there for a BBQ at night and slept on the beach under the stars. We woke up on Sunday morning (the 24th) hoping to go out in the boat with the boys, but the lake was extremely choppy. We decided instead to make ourselves useful by painting a traditional Sukuma tribal design on the front of Tunza’s gatehouse. Shortly after we began, we were called down to the beach to witness a massive funnel cloud that was descending from the skies and traveling towards land on the lake, sweeping up massive amounts of water into its main column. As the cloud started along the corner, we sprinted to Major and Danny’s house (next door to Tunza) so we could view the tornado as it moved into the bay by Bwiru. Thankfully, the cloud started retreating into the sky before it hit land, where it would have caused extensive damage. We spent the rest of the day at Tunza, finishing the gatehouse project and hiking out to the peninsula to watch waves crash against the rocks. We came home and made dinner with Claire before heading to bed.

Watching a tornado blow past the beach at Tunza Lodge.

I’m learning a lot about flexibility on this trip. Most of my preconceptions about the project regarding its functioning, my role as an intern, and the prospects for the future have been turned on their head since I arrived in Tanzania. As someone who measures productivity by the number of daily tasks I can check off as accomplished, I am finding the pace of work in Africa to be very challenging. I am learning to adapt, though, and am realizing that the most important measure of a successful day often lies in your ability to positively interact with others. My parents’ mantra – ‘balance is the key to all things’ – is becoming increasingly poignant in my life as I’m learning more about myself in this new place.

“The proofreader nodded, ‘You see, you cannot draw lines and compartments, and refuse to budge beyond them. Sometimes you have to use your failures as stepping-stones to success. You have to maintain a fine balance between hope and despair.’ He paused, considering what he had just said. ‘Yes,’ he repeated. ‘In the end, it’s all a question of balance.’” - Rohinton Mistry, A Fine Balance

Claire and Mwita playing with masks at Forever Angels.

Tanzania - Wiki Sita

Kicking back in Claire's hammock at the CRS Guest House.

On Monday morning (the 10th), I woke up and prepared an English lesson for the Mamas while Alison worked with Jimmy from Kivulini to prepare some statements to be released to the local media on behalf of the project. We walked into town to run a handful of project errands and ran into a Spanish couple on our way – they were very lost and seemed very unsure of themselves. We were able to bring them to the city market where they met up with the rest of their group. We felt very proud of ourselves that we were no longer the new girls in town and could pass on some of our new knowledge to others. We had a meeting with some of the Kivulini Legal Aid team in the afternoon to discuss some project-related issues – we’re lucky to be able to draw on Kivulini’s resources when we need to! After walking up to Mabatini to teach our English lesson, I got a call from my mom who was over the moon about the Toronto International Film Festival Gala my parents had attended the night before. The night had been Africa-themed and was full of celebrities who support aid efforts overseas. She was excited to tell me that Matt Damon was flying out to Tanzania for a visit… I promised to keep my eye out for him on the streets of Mwanza. We had a restful night in watching "The Constant Gardener" (I had only read the book before) and were delighted to see how accurately the streets of Africa were portrayed in the movie (it was filmed in the slums of Nairobi). It was refreshing to be reminded of what a rich experience we are having here in Mwanza. I went to sleep to the sounds of someone’s new goat that has been bleating non-stop for the last few days.

On Tuesday (the 11th) we met with Mama Paskwalina (Tukwamuane’s chairperson) and members of Kivulini to discuss some more project issues. We spent the afternoon in town running errands as a follow-up to our morning meeting before going to our Swahili lesson. We brought a large quantity of yogurt with us to Swahili to pass on to Claire and our new friend Lauren – we’ve discovered that many Westerners in Mwanza are desperate to find a place to buy yogurt and hope to capitalize on this demand for the betterment of the project! After our lesson, we walked to the International School to swim laps. On our way home, we were let in on the latest Mwanza gossip – Matt Damon and Ben Affleck were actually in Mwanza visiting development projects! Through the grapevine, we discovered that they were staying at Tilapia Hotel. We felt very conflicted but decided to be classy and stay at Claire’s for dinner with Lauren and Debbie (a colleague of Claire’s, in town from Nairobi). The power went out midway through our cooking, but turned back on after 20 minutes or so and we managed to salvage the meal.

After returning home, Alison was getting ready for an early bedtime and I was drafting a letter of support for a grant proposal being submitted by UWO… then Janine texted me saying "Ben Affleck is on his way to Tunza" (Matt Damon had already gone to bed for the night). I called her to confirm and we decided that we couldn’t miss the opportunity to mingle with celebrities on our ‘home turf’ at Tunza! Major picked us and Claire up and we drove out to the lodge. Sure enough, there was Ben Affleck, chatting with our friends at the bar! His entourage bought us a couple rounds of drinks and we kept our distance for a while. Later in the night, Janine introduced me… though my memory has been clouded by my own swooning, I’m quite sure our conversation was brilliant and that I was eloquent, intelligent and witty. A girl can dream! We got home quite late (obviously we had to wait for Ben’s party to leave before we could)… just another typical day in Mwanza.

Ben Affleck and Janine! Celebs in Mwanza!

Wednesday (the 12th) began on the street – Jimmy orally translated a letter of support that I had drafted for Mama Paskwalina to sign so that we could fax it to UWO to affix to a grant proposal. We then set off with Mama Paskwalina to the Mwanza Labour Office to be advised on some of the legalities involved with being designated as a Community Based Organization, as Tukwamuane is. After the Labour Office, Alison and I split up to run a few errands in town before meeting for lunch. We walked to Sekou Toure Hospital to meet with the director, Dr. Mgango, and present him with another letter of support for the grant proposal. After he read and approved it, we discussed the recent celebrity visit (apparently word spreads like wildfire even in Mwanza!). I walked with Alison to the Nyakahoja Dispensary to get a check-up as she was feeling a bit under the weather, and went home as she waited for her results so that I could prepare an English lesson for the Mamas. Unfortunately, I received a text a short while later that she had been diagnosed with malaria – "2 rings" (measured on the diagnostic scale). We walked up to Mabatini to teach English to a full class of Mamas and came home for a quiet night of recuperation.

On Thursday morning (the 13th), I woke up early to write an English test to give to the Mamas on Friday morning and adjust a support letter that I had provided to Kivulini the day before, as per Maimuna’s (the executive director) proposed changes. We had to wait around the apartment for a bit until Maimuna returned from the airport, where she was picking up a group of Irish visitors in town to consult with Kivulini. Once we received her signed copy, we walked into town to fax off the letters of support to Dr. Isaac Luginaah at UWO. Of course, this is Africa (T.I.A.!!) and the faxing proved to be the most challenging part of the whole process. First, we were quoted the equivalent of $20 CDN to fax a 6-page document. Once we found a cheaper place to send the material off, we discovered that the fax numbers we had been provided were not working, and the power grid went out as we tried to sign online to double check the numbers. We were forced into a lunch break in the middle of a rainstorm (welcome again to the slow pace of life in Africa) until the power came back up. At the internet café, we ran into our friend Stephanie who recommended a new clinic for me to go to that afternoon. For the past 5 days, I had been battling with a very strange sensation in my throat… not a sore throat, but rather a sense of constriction and severe pain deep in my chest every time I tried to swallow. Since it wasn’t clearing up on its own, I thought it best to go to the doctor to ensure I hadn’t fallen victim to some exotic disease. As I expected, the doctor didn’t really know what to do with me, but gave me some strong anti-inflammatories that did the trick and cleared up the situation. While I was at the clinic, Alison had started to work on our "plan B" and located an internet café with a scanner, and we successfully sent off the material to Dr. Luginaah. Funny how something as simple as sending a fax can take almost a whole day in Mwanza!


We attended our Swahili lesson in the afternoon, and then drove out to Tunza with Claire for yoga. After class, we played with the puppies (they’re getting SO big!) and Alison shot archery with the Maasai. We stayed at Tunza for dinner and a movie… came home and fell asleep to a storm.

Archery lessons on the beach.

Both Alison and I were woken up at 6am on Friday morning (the 14th) to a raging thunderstorm that flooded the streets in the early hours of the morning. A couple hours later, the surging water was gone from the streets and business resumed as usual in the city. We worked from home for a couple hours in the morning, as I started to piece together a cost/benefit report regarding the expansion of the Tukwamuane business. We walked through the rain to Mabatini to drop off the English tests, chat with the Mamas and buy a large quantity of yogurt for the orphanage and a growing network of Americans and Europeans who we’ve discovered are desperate to purchase yogurt, which apparently isn’t available anywhere in town except our kitchen. We’re capitalizing on this opportunity to increase sales and are spreading the word as best we can! The mamas got a good laugh (as usual) from my attempts to explain myself in Swahili to them… in the absence of a translator, both groups are forced to work on the other’s language in order to communicate. I know that they appreciate my trying and I think I’m getting better… hopefully, anyways. After walking back to the apartment in the rain (Alison walked half of the way with the 5L tub of yogurt on her head like a true African mama!), we spent the afternoon at Forever Angels. On Friday night, Claire invited us to the roof of the CRS guest house (aka the Sunset Terrace) for dinner and a movie projected onto the big screen.

On Saturday (the 15th) Alison and I did a big stock-up run at the U-Turn grocery store (a "mzungu" store with lots of imported, and therefore expensive, food) and invited Claire for lunch. In the afternoon, we packed up and drove to Tunza where we met Major and Jan for a camping trip at a historical site in Igombe, on the shores of Lake Victoria. We set up camp on the beach, bought Tilapia fish and firewood from the family who maintains the site, and settled in for the night. We helped Jan to prepare his Pojke meal, and Major taught Claire and I how to gut fish while Alison tended to the fire. Later in the evening, we all fell asleep around the fire for a couple hours (accompanied by our "guards" who I think were mostly interested in our meal and the warmth of our fire!) before being forced to relocate to the tent once the rain began.

Gutting Tilapia with Claire on the shore of Lake Victoria!

On Sunday morning (the 16th), we packed up camp, washed the dishes in the aggressive waves of a choppy Lake Victoria (challenging to keep hold of the dishes as they were very easily swept out with the waves!), and drove back through Igombe. I loved sitting in the back of the pickup truck, watching rural Africa unfold behind us – the rolling hills, scattered mud-brick homes, cassava fields, rice paddies etc. It continues to amaze me how everything seems to freeze as the "wazungu" vehicle drives past. Reactions are mixed – children summon all their energy to scream, wave, and run after us; some adults smile and wave; others seem to be issuing almost scathing looks; and rowdy groups of young men choose to heckle in both English and Swahili. It’s going to be strange to come home and no longer have celebrity status!

Jan sitting in his car-top tent - safety is #1 in the wilds of Africa!

We got back to Tunza, played with the puppies on the beach, gave them their first bath, and then had a hot shower of our own. We stayed for a light lunch and a terrible made-for-TV movie before coming home to make dinner and apple crisp with Claire. We had visits from both Beatrice (back from school for a couple of weeks to our great excitement!) and the "popcorn boys" (the street boys’ youth group) before tucking ourselves in early.

Bathing the pups - couldn't be more in love with these little guys!

I am feeling increasingly settled in Mwanza and am trying my best to keep my eyes wide open to the hardships of the people who make this place their home. I was in the internet café the other day and watched a crippled man hobble in with his red flip-flops on his hands, dragging his legs behind him… he hoisted himself up into the chair and went about his business online. After buying a loaf of bread one day, we were approached by a street boy asking for food… he was delighted when we offered him some of our purchase. Even something as simple as teaching English to the mamas uncovers the neediness of this place – Mama Leah Mpangala always needs to sit by the door because she’s becoming very short-sighted with age. Unfortunately, she won’t be able to remedy this on her own because she doesn’t have the funds to do so. I still am having difficulty working out the divide between the "haves" and "have-nots" in this town (and this world!) and finding my place in the middle.

As always, Stephen Lewis has an uncanny way of putting my thoughts into words: "Time stopped. I looked at those lovely [orphans], in their tattered uniforms, faces shining through the greys of malnutrition, every one of them seeking an adult touch or hug, and I thought about the often unbearable lottery of life. Has their ever been greater injustice in this world?" (closing remarks from his CBC Massey Lectures – Race Against Time).

Tanzania - Wiki Tano

Monday (the 3rd) of week five began in Mabatini where we had a three hour meeting with the mamas, translated by Beatrice. We touched on many topics, uncovered some new information/challenges to address, and came to a much better understanding of the Tukwamuane operations from the mamas’ perspective. Some of the issues we discussed included the need to establish a deposit system for the containers that the yogurt is sold in to prevent theft and minimize the mamas’ losses; the mamas’ participation in the SIDO-sponsored Mwanza trade fair at the beginning of October; new training in food preservation that Mama Joyce will be participating in during this upcoming week; a new delivery scheme to get milk to NIMR weekly & ensure that production of probiotic cultures is maintained on a constant basis; the mamas’ financial relationship with TACAIDS (a Tanzanian organization); and information that we required to better understand both the Tukwamuane banking practices and the free distribution of probiotic yogurt to HIV+ individuals in various Mwanza communities. We then accompanied the mamas to the bank to withdraw funds to cover their bills for August. On our way home, we stopped at the internet café to send update emails back to Canada.

The bumper sticker on Major's 4x4 - the reality of life in Mwanza!

On Monday night, we went to Tunza for a traditional South African meal prepared for us on the beach by Jan. The “pojke” meal is similar to crock-pot recipes from home where meat and vegetables are simmered together for hours before serving. Jan also made a pot of “beer bread” that was cooked over embers near the campfire. I spent the night under very clear Southern Hemisphere skies (with unfamiliar constellations!) chatting with an older South African man named Paddy who wants to retire and become an AIDS activist because of all the devastation he’s seen the virus cause over the years.

On Tuesday (the 4^th) I woke up early to organize all the information from Monday’s meeting into a coherent report to send home at the internet café. Mama Yusta from Kivulini stopped by and requested that I type up a 19-page document so that she could have a soft copy of it. After spending a couple hours working on it, Jodie (a Canadian Kivulini employee) dropped in and told me she had a soft copy version of it on her computer… hamna shida (no problem)… I took her copy and made the necessary adjustments for Kivulini. We went to Swahili class in the afternoon (we’re finally starting into sentence structure! Very exciting!) and walked into town afterwards to meet Joseph Mlinzi (the Mayor’s assistant) to recap details from the Minister’s visit. Unfortunately, we received a text from him en route stating that he had to attend a funeral and would stop by our place later in the evening.

Upon our return home, we got a visit from Mercy, a local girl who befriended Missy during her last weeks in Mwanza. I asked her how her weekend was and was upset to hear that she hadn’t eaten in three days. She lives with her aunt as she has been orphaned by AIDS. Her aunt accused her of stealing, which she denied doing, but her aunt has since refused to provide her food. We made her dinner and sent her home with extra food. She claims to be moving in with her grandmother within the next few days which should make things easier. Situations like this certainly put our problems into perspective! After Mercy left, Joseph Mlinzi arrived and promised to arrange meetings for us with various members of City Council later in the week.

The hillside inhabitants of Mwanza.

On Wednesday (the 5^th) Alison spent a considerable amount of time on the phone with Simon (the microbiologist at NIMR) and Mama Joyce trying to orchestrate the delivery of milk and containers to the lab. It’s generally extremely difficult to communicate via cell phone when you have bad reception and a language barrier to deal with. A massive thunderstorm forced us to rework our plans, so we spent an hour at the internet café doing research and sending project updates home. In the afternoon, we walked into town once we thought the rain was over (we were wrong) and ran our errands (post office, bookshop for a dictionary) completely soaked! We walked from the lake up to Mabatini to teach the mamas their English lesson – got a little lost on the way but managed to work everything out with a little help from the locals. We had visits from both Mama Joyce and Mercy in the evening. As other interns have found in the past, members of the community seems to view our apartment as having an open-door policy and frequently invite themselves over for visits. This is positive in terms of meeting people and developing personal relationships but can certainly be challenging when you just want a little space at the end of a long day!

Holding a sleeping Michael at Forever Angels (with a photo of the president in the background, present in every office in Tanzania!)

Early on Thursday morning (the 6^th), we traveled out to Forever Angels in Bwiru. Alison brought a sample of the yogurt for the toddlers in hopes that they would like it enough to facilitate a personal interest study she’s initiating. We spent a lovely rainy morning inside with the toddlers. It’s great to see the developmental progress that the children are making at the orphanage. For example, one of my favourite toddlers is a big burly boy named Mwita. When he arrived at Forever Angels earlier this year, he weighed only 16 pounds, had been cruelly abused and had to be resuscitated at the hospital because he was so severely malnourished. Not more than 6 months later, he’s almost too heavy to sit on my lap. Forever Angels takes children in who have been abandoned, whose parents are dying in local hospitals, or those whose parents are unable to care for them for one reason or another. After a while, the kids go back to their families (if possible), are adopted by local families, or are graduated to orphanages that house older children. In the afternoon, we delivered containers to NIMR on our way to Swahili lessons and then drove out to Tunza for our yoga class.

My big, burly Mwita at Forever Angels.

We woken up very early on Friday morning (the 7^th) by Mama Joyce banging on our windows, yelling “Hello! Meggie!”. We let her in and discovered that she was just interested in getting our phone numbers (which she already had) and telling us her plans for the day. We provided her with money for the new training that she is participating in and an English review test for the mamas to complete (in an attempt to help them cement their knowledge!). I quickly edited another report for Kivulini and then we went into town to meet Joseph Mlinzi at the City Council offices. We first met with Mr. Haindo Ngowi who is the Coordinator of TASAF (Tanzanian Social Action Fund), a fund that provides grants to various vulnerable groups. We discussed our eligibility and obtained application material to pass on to the mamas. We then met with Mr. Tofiki (the Community Development Officer) who was in training at the Nyakahoja Conference Centre… he directed us to his subordinate, Mrs. Illuminata Mwita, who coordinates WEF (the Women’s Empowerment Fund) which provides loans and various types of training to local women’s organizations. We discussed our options with her and obtained information to pass on to the mamas and the Canadian contingency of WHE. We will go back to City Council this week to meet with Mama Binamungu who is apparently Mwanza’s resident expert on SACCOs (Savings and Credit Co-operatives), a group designation that the Deputy Minister suggested that we explore during her visit to Mwanza.

Later that afternoon, we ran some errands in town before meeting Claire (a good friend of ours from Swahili class – she’s a British girl who arrived in August and is working at Catholic Relief Services (CRS) for a year) at the International School to swim some laps in the pool. We went back to Claire’s to make dinner before driving to Tilapia Hotel to meet with friends.

On Saturday morning (the 8^th), we met Claire at the “little market” on our street that we discovered after taking a wrong turn to Swahili lessons a few weeks ago. We picked up some produce and spent the afternoon making a wicked guacamole with homemade chapati tortilla chips. (note: this was our third attempt at homemade chapati… the first time we made it with maize flour and ended up with “ugali pancakes”, the second time we made it with wheat flour and ended up with regular pancakes… finally we discovered chapati flour at the grocery store and are now chapati experts.) We brought our food with us to Tunza to share with everyone before taking the boat out with Janine, Major and Danny. The lake was really rough and we ended up soaked on the way to Tilapia (about a 45 min ride). Claire and Major wakeboarded in the bay while we watched from the restaurant. Since there’s a huge crocodile that lives near Tilapia, I decided it wouldn’t be the best location to learn to wakeboard… another day! We enjoyed a girls’ night at Tunza and stayed over with Janine (one of Tunza’s managers).

Claire, myself, Alison and Janine - road-tripping!

I woke up on Sunday (the 9^th) and had my first hot shower since I’ve been in Africa… amazing! We ate breakfast and set off to Bunda, near Kijereshi Lodge, outside of the Serengeti. There was a huge thunderstorm in Mwanza, so we had to fashion a makeshift window for Major’s car with a beach towel to stay dry. We stopped at Speke Lodge while Major continued on to pick up a welding machine for work, then continued on for lunch at Serengeti Stopover (another lodge) before going for a puddle-filled game drive at Kijereshi. No road trip is without “bumps”… Major was fined at a roadblock as he forgot his driver’s license, and we blew a tire along the way. All part of the adventure! We drove back to Mwanza into the setting sun – a great end to the weekend.

Another stunning African sunset over the Serengeti at Kijereshi.

It appears that the rainy season may be beginning earlier than usual this year. We didn’t expect it to come until November, but there are some fairly obvious signs that suggest otherwise… namely, the overcast skies that we wake up to most days, the huge storms that have been blowing through the area, and the CLOUDS of tiny lakeflies that come in off the lake at night – this only happens during the rainy season. Unfortunately, that doesn’t bode well for my suntan, but I’m thankful to have my antibacterial Mary-Jane Crocs with me to keep my feet safe in the floods! Keep your fingers crossed for me that the sun reappears for a while over the next few weeks. Tutaonana… hope all is well at home!

Covering my mouth and nose from lakeflies at Tunza.

Tanzania - Wiki Nne

August has flown by… it’s hard to believe it’s already September! This past week has been really busy with project work and the big transition of the last of the summer interns flying home, leaving Alison and I here on our own.

Having a laugh with children in Mabatini.

Last Sunday (the 26th) Alison and I decided to get a leg up on project work in anticipation of Tuesday’s event – our project was to host Tanzania’s Deputy Minister of Community Development of Women and Children, Salome Mbatia (Kim had traveled to Dar es Salaam earlier this summer to help arrange the visit). We called Beatrice to come over and help us translate a pamphlet entitled “Probiotics and Your Health” that Missy prepared. It took us over an hour and a half to translate the one-page document! Kiswahili isn’t as broad a language as English so it was challenging to work through the scientific jargon. Thank goodness for Beatrice… she has been such an invaluable resource to us this past month! We finished and sent the material off to Jackie in Canada to work her Photoshop magic.

In the afternoon, Alison and I decided it was time to satisfy our cravings for fresh produce and adventure, so we set off for a market that we pass on our way to the International Language Training Centre for our Kiswahili lessons. We bought sweet potatoes, a papaya, tomatoes, cucumbers, bananas and oranges for under $4.00 CDN… amazing! While we were out, we ran into McZedec from Kivulini who joined us for a walk. He educated us about the problem of street children in Mwanza. Though many shelters exist in the city, children often need a connection to get in, and many choose not to stay because they can make more money living on the street. He showed us the open field where many of them sleep at night, covered with cardboard boxes. There are many more boys on the street than girls – probably because many girls get swept into prostitution or don’t have the courage to leave dangerous domestic situations as quickly as boys do. It’s a huge problem, but it is encouraging to see that efforts are being made to improve the situation… for example, there is a youth group of teenage boys who Missy and Jackie worked with this summer who sell popcorn to raise money for school fees for themselves and other children. Every small step makes a difference!

A mud-brick home under construction in Bwiru.

On Monday morning (the 27th), we woke up and met with members of Kivulini to discuss the Deputy Minister’s visit. We were presented with invoices for the catering/tents/chairs/PA system that added up to quite a sum of money… one that Alison and I didn’t feel we could afford, living on limited project funds. We agreed that we would spend the day problem solving and coming up with alternative solutions for some of the pricier items. Kim was feeling quite ill and took off for the clinic (where she received a diagnosis of malaria and an amoeba… pole sana!) while Missy, Alison and I traveled up to Mabatini with Omari from Kivulini to scope out the grounds. We met with the headmistress of the school that is situated just beyond the kitchen and got her permission to set up tents and chairs in the schoolyard. From Mabatini, we drove into the city for a meeting at the City Council offices where we collaborated with the Mayor’s office, the Regional Coordinator’s office, members of Kivulini and Tukwamuane to finalize the schedule for the following day. During the meeting, the Mayor’s assistant confirmed that the Deputy Minister would be our sole responsibility for all of Tuesday… unfortunately we had only planned events to occupy her for the morning. From City Council, we went to Kivulini Kitchen (KK) (a restaurant that is run through Kivulini) to present our plans and problems to Maimuna, Kivulini’s Director.

When we met with Maimuna, it was agreed that we would host a lunch discussion at KK and then send the Deputy Minister to visit some other small community projects/NGOs in the late afternoon. When we returned home at 4.00pm, Alison and I met with Hellen and Jimmy from Kivulini to discuss further budget issues (i.e. no one had considered paying for the entertainment… etc.). We were adamant that we stick to our budget, which we had already stretched to accommodate necessities, so we worked together to cut down the guest list for lunch, cancelled one of the entertainment groups, and negotiated the use of the Kivulini PA system so we wouldn’t have to rent one. Hellen accompanied Alison and I to a local cook who agreed to provide lunch for us (chicken, cooking bananas and potatoes), then to Zagaluu’s (a shop across the street from the apartment) where we prepaid for crates of drinks that would be taken from the Pepsi delivery truck the next morning. After that, I walked over to the internet café where I downloaded the finished probiotic pamphlet that Jackie sent. I was so happy to come home at the end of an extremely chaotic day… I had a craving for my mom’s cooking so I made the girls a version of my favourite tomato sauce – delicious! I spent the evening preparing a formal proposal for the Deputy Minister and getting rested up for the next day.

Tuesday’s event (the 28th) was a great success. We met the Deputy Minister at the kitchen where she was given a tour, a sample of Fiti, and had a discussion with the mamas about their work. We walked as a group up to the schoolyard where it appeared that all of Mabatini had shown up to watch. The mood was very positive – lots of cheering (“vigele vigele” which sounds like a gurgly yell… made by quickly wiggling your tongue around in your mouth… very funny), singing, dancing and drumming. We heard speeches from the Mamas, Kim (on behalf of WHE), the Mayor of Mwanza, the Regional Coordinator, and the Deputy Minister herself. It was wonderful to see the community and local media participating in an event that celebrated the amazing work of our mamas… they deserved all the attention they got! From Mabatini, we came back to Kivulini to check on loose ends, and then drove to KK to start our lunch discussion. The meeting was challenging as a lot of it was in Kiswahili. I believe that it was very positive but am waiting on some details to be explained/translated for me by Joseph Mlinzi (the Mayor’s assistant) so I will wait to comment on specifics. We all said our goodbyes and somehow managed to make it to the school in time for our Kiswahili lessons. All in all, the day was a very positive step forward for the project!

A group picture with the Deputy Minister (in red) outside the community kitchen.

Wednesday (the 29th) was a much slower day after a frantic start to the week. Missy, Alison and I took a cab up to Mabatini in the middle of a downpour so that she could say goodbye to the mamas. From there, we traveled into town to meet her friend Letitia for lunch (a fellow Canadian who has recently married a Tanzanian and is returning home shortly to write her RNs), and then to Forever Angels Orphanage in Bwiru to spend a refreshing afternoon with the kids. In the evening, we went to Tunza for Kim and Missy’s big bittersweet send-off.

Chasing Joseph in the toddler’s play-yard at Forever Angels.

On Thursday (the 30th), Kim flew out in the early morning for home. Down to three of us, we decided to make the most of Missy’s final day in Mwanza and ran errands around town so she could take everything in. We stopped by the market on the way back home for lunch and picked up all the ingredients for a wicked homemade guacamole which we enjoyed before Alison and I were due at our Swahili lessons. We finished off the day at yoga class which was very much appreciated by our worn-out bodies!

Friday morning (the 31st) was very emotional as we accompanied Missy to the airport and saw off the last of WHE’s fantastic summer interns. Alison and I took the daladala back to the apartment with Pendo and reflected on the month that has just passed… now we’re here on our own! Exciting and scary! We got home and met with Kivulini to settle up some bills, prepared the mamas’ afternoon English lesson, and spent an hour at the internet café sending project updates and documents home to Canada. We walked up to Mabatini to teach, discussed project needs that must be addressed early next week, and gave a ‘pregnancy bag’ to Mama Sheda (Letitia received funding to prepare these bags for women at the hospital where she volunteers… they’re full of items that would be very helpful to an expectant mother).

We came back to Kivulini and met Beatrice who invited us to join her for dinner at her home in Nyakato (just north of Mabatini). We set off together via daladala and walked through her community to her home. I can’t say enough positive things about Beatrice… she is so warm and is incredibly driven to help others. She is already preparing to write up a constitution for the project she hopes to launch within the next year that will provide support to people with disabilities. We helped her to cook on her front porch – Nile perch (fresh from her trip to Musoma), cooking bananas, rice, and white beans seasoned with tomatoes and onions. It was quite a funny transition from cooking on the floor to eating in the living room with her mother who was watching “Big Brother Africa” on their TV. Strange how these aspects of pop culture can permeate even the most poverty-stricken/remote communities. Beatrice’s mother, Ruth, is also a phenomenal woman. A few years ago, she was forced to sell every belonging she owned in order to pay the fees required for Beatrice to write her final exams in high school. Now, she has taken in her uncle’s daughter who has been orphaned by HIV/AIDS, and has plans to take in two more nephews in 2008 so that they can attend school nearby. The strength of the people we meet here blows me away… it is such an inspiration.

Beatrice preparing Nile perch at her home in Nyakato.

Alison and I have spent a calm weekend in our newly quiet apartment. We cleaned and moved into our new rooms on Saturday before heading out for the night. This morning we woke up and went into town to attend the English service at the Nyakahoja Catholic Church, went grocery shopping and made ‘ugali pancakes’ from maize flour (we were trying to make chapatti but used the wrong flour… oops!). We hope that we will be able to get into more of a routine over the next few weeks now that we’re here on our own. We’re missing the girls already but look forward to enjoying our independence and continuing to accomplish our project goals.

I’m leaving you this week with a brilliant quote by Henry James that I came across in the book I’m currently enjoying ('Reading Lolita in Tehran' by Azar Nafisi):

“We work in the dark – we do what we can – we give what we have. Our doubt is our passion, and our passion is our task.”

A young girl silhouetted by the sunset at Tunza.