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.