Meaghan Heads East

Tanzania - Wiki Kumi na Tisa

2007-12-19T08:52:00.000-05:00

Bismarck Rock - one of the most famous sights in Mwanza.

The streetscape at the bottom of the hill at Mabatini.

I'm writing this blog entry from the comfort and warmth of my den back home in Newmarket - reflecting on my last week in Tanzania with a blustery, snowy Canadian day outside the window, bundled in more layers than I thought possible as my body SLOWLY adjusts to the cold!

Alison and I at the airport in Mwanza - our last picture together in TZ!

On Monday morning (the 10th), I woke up to a cold, drizzly day in Mwanza. I bundled up (well, it's all relative...) and spent a couple hours at my laptop preparing an English lesson, a blog entry, and organizing my files. Alison and I had plans to run our normal Monday errands in town, but knowing that the connection would almost certainly be down because of the rain, we stayed home. We worked on our internship reports and spoke with members of the Kivulini staff before walking to town to meet Claire and Yemane for a goodbye lunch at Kuleana's. From lunch, we managed to find a working connection in town and ran into Jodie who was frantically trying to get everything finished before her evening flight to Dar. Luckily, we were able to take on some of her errands to help her out and later met her at our apartment for a proper goodbye and exchange of belongings! Afterwards, we rushed to Mabatini to teach English and spend the afternoon with the mamas. Mama Paskwalina was acting a bit off - I wasn't sure if it was because of her recent bout of malaria or what, until she came over to me and told me that we needed to talk. Apparently her aunt passed away and she had to take the bus to Dodoma the following morning, so she told me we'd have to say our goodbyes then and there. I was taken aback because I had not prepared myself for goodbyes, and was even more shocked when she went out on the front steps of the kitchen to cry. I'm a sucker for crying and eventually joined her, our hot tears falling on the dusty ground. We made our promises to write and to never forget each other... she was very maternal and comforting and I was extremely touched to see that I was able to establish such close and personal relationships with the people of Tanzania. After the kitchen, we grabbed a ride with Claire to yoga and spent a relaxing evening with the girls watching the sun set at Tunza.

Mama Paskwalina and I, saying our goodbyes.

On Tuesday morning (the 11th) I noticed that my henna was starting to peel off... kind of symbolic of my time ending in Mwanza! Alison and I travelled together up to Buswelu Primary School to pick up responses from the Tanzanian students to bring to London with me when I go in January for my debriefing. When we returned to Mlango Mmoja, we booked a room Alison's mom at the New Park Hotel next door and set off into the city. We ran a long list of errands - tailor, passport photos, photo printing, internet, immigration (poor Alison has to renew her visa again to accommodate for her extra weeks of travel), the Regional Commissioner's office etc. The exciting news of the day was finding out that we had funding approved in Canada for the purchase of the land at Nyamhongolo (OOPS... found out that I've been spelling it wrong this whole time!)... great to see that we can move forward on this before heading home. We had to skip our Swahili lesson to attend a conference call at Kivulini with Maimuna, Grace (the potential candidate for the translator position) and Mel Katsivo from UWO. The call went well… we were able to establish an agreement for funds for the land to be transferred to a Kivulini account and worked out the basics for a contract for Grace between Kivulini/WHE/Tukwamuane. Unfortunately, we found ourselves locked in the office after the call was finished – the Kivulini staff had to break down the door to get us out. Life in Tanzania is always exciting!! On Tuesday night, we joined Claire at Tilapia for a goodbye dinner along with Major and Manuela. It was really sad to say goodbye to her as we’ve been able to grow so close over the last 4 months, but I’m confident we’ll stay in touch in the future.

Alison, Claire and I - inseparable!

On Wednesday morning (the 12th), I prepared an English lesson and we met with Maimuna to get details about the Kivulini bank account, then hurried to City Council to meet with Mr. Luanda in the Urban Planning Department to get an invoice for the Nyamhongolo plot… we waited pressed up against a throng of people all pushing to get into the office – not really something you’d experience in municipal offices in Canada! After getting the invoice in hand, we met with Mr. Ngowi in the TASAF office and left to pass the news on to Canada at the internet café. We unsuccessfully attempted the bank on the way home and gave ourselves a quiet hour lunch at home, knowing that we were in for a busy evening. In the afternoon, we went to Mabatini to teach English and then came back home to cook a massive meal for the mamas – bananas, rice and fish. We were ready to go for 7pm, but we didn’t have any guests until 8.30pm and then only 5 of the 10 mamas arrived!! Needless to say, we had LOTS of leftovers but they were happy to take them home wrapped in foil for their families. I gave each of them all a goodbye letter and photos (they love to have photos of people who they meet). The goodbye dinner was lovely… we had lots of good laughs with the mamas and were able to reflect together on our progress over the last 4 ½ months.

Alison & I & Mamas Elisabeth, Leah, Joyce, Sabina, Asha in our apartment.

On Thursday morning (the 13th), we organized ourselves at home before heading to the city market with Ruben so that he could show us the curios section (which we had been unable to find after months of searching!). We were all able to complete some shopping for people at home and then went our separate ways. Alison and I trekked up to the Dubai Bazaar to investigate the details of making a purchase of a new refrigerator, spent some time online and then split up – Alison going to immigration and me making a trip to the bank and to a lab equipment store to purchase plastic Petri dishes to boost NIMR’s supply. In the afternoon, I had a meeting with Dan from Kivulini who was interested in speaking with me about what I had discovered about Tukwamuane’s business model. I had a very interesting talk with him which motivated me to move forward with the preparation of a research paper… I feel like I have a lot of things to say about the structure of the project and recommendations to offer for the creation of similar initiatives. After my meeting, Alison and I drove out to Dubai Bazaar to give them the payment for the fridge (from donor funds) and then went on to Tunza for our final yoga class. We had dinner after class and came home early for a good night’s sleep.

I prepared the day’s English test (my last one!) on Friday morning (the 14th) before running into town to do last-minute banking and internet. We rushed from town to Mabatini to ensure that I would be able to maximize my last day with the mamas. I was able to present the mamas with the bill for the fridge and give them pick-up instructions, shared a final chai with them and then set off to Forever Angels. I dropped Alison off on the main road en route so that she could grab a dala-dala to the airport to pick up her mom… so exciting!! I loved every minute of my final afternoon with the babies (even though I witnessed some of the most colossal tantrums of the year)… spending time with them really enriched my experience in Tanzania. I stayed later than normal and then returned home to welcome Mrs. Chen to Mwanza. We went out for dinner with Ruben and Ania to the Teppanyaki restaurant at Tilapia – a very big indulgence to celebrate Mrs. Chen’s safe arrival!

Watching my last African sunset with Manuela at Tunza Lodge.

Saturday (the 15th) was my last day in Tanzania so I wanted to soak up every last drop of the tropics. Alison, Mrs. Chen and I went for a last lunch at Kuleana’s in town before heading out to Tunza Lodge for a relaxing day on the beach – funny to be laying on the white sand beach listening to Christmas carols… tis the season! We were joined by many of our friends who wanted to say goodbyes… to our surprise, “Tiny” and Chris from the Buhimba gold mine also showed up. It was great to be able to see them again before I left! In the evening, we enjoyed a campfire and BBQ on the beach (thank you Jan!), I had a drink watching my last African sunset, a champagne toast courtesy of Alison, and a final night of dancing with friends. It was a perfect final night and so wonderful to be able to say a proper goodbye to the people who made my time in Tanzania so much richer.

A champage goodbye toast - Ross, Mrs. Chen, Major, Jan, Alison and I.

On Sunday morning (the 16th), Alison helped me to calm down and jam every last belonging into my very full & heavy suitcases. Ruben took me out on the back of his bike for a ride through town, fulfilling my dream since my trip to Amsterdam to ride on the back of a bike with a Dutch boy. I left for the airport with the Chens and managed to get through security paying only a relatively minor fee for my extremely heavy baggage. I got all the way back to Toronto without delays (what a miracle!) and spent my layovers in VIP lounges (I paid my way into the one in Nairobi and was thrilled to be able to use a pass from my Dad to get into the Heathrow Maple Leaf Lounge)… I was focused on getting through the trip home as painlessly as possible! I was ecstatic to be able to walk through the arrivals door at Toronto Pearson to be greeted by my family and Adam… the whole moment was over so much faster than I had expected but it was amazing to come home to my loved ones.

Taking a final spin around Mwanza with Ruben.

I still can’t really believe that I’m home. I’ve arrived home to the coldest Canadian winter in 20 years… my body doesn’t really know what to do with itself! Overall, my trip to Africa was more than I could have ever imagined it would be. I’m completely satisfied with my progress in terms of project work, the relationships I was able to establish with others, and my personal development. I look forward to working closely with the project in the future and can’t wait to see the progress that is made by future interns. I will never forget the time I spent in Tanzania.

Watu wa Tanzania, nitakukosa, nitakukumbuka, nakupenda sana! Nataka kurudi Tanzania baadaye… mpaka lini!

A group of Maasai walking along the main road in Mwanza.

Stirring the milk in the community kitchen.

Tanzania – Wiki Kumi na Nane

2007-12-10T06:01:00.000-05:00

A "rugged" bridge over a creek in Mwanza.

Alison and I spent Monday morning (the 3^rd) at our computers – blogging, preparing English lessons, and writing up a contract for the translator. When we finished, we walked into town to run errands via the Maasai Market. Our Maasai lady (Anna) has been inundated with requests as we commission jewellery to be made by her to give to people at home… we’re giving her lots of business! After a couple unsuccessful attempts to get online, we grabbed lunch and managed to get online for 20 minutes before the connection cut out completely. We did a grocery shop and splurged on some vegetables from the “Veggie Boys” who sell plastic-wrapped produce across from the “mzungu” supermarket, because we didn’t have time to go to the city market. From town, we hurried to Mabatini to meet with the mamas & teach our English lesson, then hurried to Tunza to make it to our yoga class. After yoga, we drove out to Capri Point to have a sushi dinner with Jodie, Ania, Lyndsey and Nina… Ania had brought all the necessities for sushi from

Canada

(including bamboo mats and wasabi!), so we enjoyed a fairly authentic meal – delicious!

I started my day off on Tuesday (the 4^th) at the internet café, trying to finish up the tasks that the connection wouldn’t let me finish the day before. I came back upstairs for an arranged meeting with Mama Joyce, who brought several hand-written letters/spreadsheets/meeting minutes (in Swahili) for the TASAF and NGO applications which we typed up together while Alison prepared an English lesson for later in the week. After a brief meeting at Kivulini, we headed to town. We had another unsuccessful internet attempt, ate a quick lunch, and walked to the Regional Commissioner’s office to drop off our documents for the NGO application. We waited for a while for the Community Development Officer to finish up his other tasks before he was ready for us… he then proceeded to take us through the application process (which we are familiar with from a previous meeting with him) painstakingly slowly, step by step… and later informed us that our application couldn’t be completed as we’d need to hand the material in ourselves in Dar es Salaam. Needless to say, we were feeling very frustrated with him and pushed him to try and come up with a solution for us within the RC’s office in Mwanza, promising to return the following week for an update. We managed to get online before rushing to our Swahili lesson and then returning home. We had a visit from the Tuelimishane boys before we left for Tilapia for a celebratory “just the two of us” dinner, giving us a chance to reflect on our time here as we near the end of our internship.

Neighbours - a mansion and a shack near the orphanage in Bwiru. Classic example of the divide between rich and poor in Mwanza.

On Wednesday (the 5^th) morning, we had a 9am meeting at City Council with Mr. Luanda, the Project Manager for the new plots of land at Nyamongoro. After waiting for a typical hour or so for him to be ready, we drove up to the site together (picking up Mama Elisabeth along the way). We were able to see the plot plans and survey the land ourselves to get an idea for position and size. It turns out that the plots which are ideal for our project (bigger, close to the main road etc.) are significantly more expensive than what we were first quoted, but I still think it’s a very worthwhile investment for the project to make as we look to the future of Tukwamuane. We returned to City Council to get some supporting documents and to meet briefly with Mr. Ngowi, the TASAF coordinator. After our morning meetings, we ran a bunch of errands (internet, travel agency, Maasai Market – to pick up a gift for us made by Anna, tailors etc.) and then walked to Mabatini to teach. I went over the kitchen’s November bills with the mamas… unfortunately, their costs are still soaring high above their sales figures… this is the result of the large quantities of yogurt which they give away to the HIV+ population. It’s difficult for me to see how this gap will be filled in the future, but increasing sales is certainly the first step to take towards making profit. It is a bit frustrating to see that this discrepancy is still so significant after we’ve put in months of effort to mediate the problem, but I suppose that’s typical for aid work in some senses. Even the simplest problems can sometimes seem nearly impossible to solve because of the complications of culture, poverty, lack of infrastructure etc. Although not all of our results are tangible at the moment, I hope that the steps we’ve taken in regards to protocol, education and planning will have laid the groundwork for future success.

On Wednesday evening, we went to Papae’s house in Capri Point for a dinner to celebrate the start of wedding festivities for his sister, Kiran. They were playing host to friends and family who flew in from all over the globe and the celebrations started early and in full force as is typical of Indian weddings. We arrived in his colourful courtyard and were treated to singing and drumming before enjoying a delicious meal. Definitely a taste of things to come with an entire weekend of wedding events ahead!

Kiran (the bride), me, Alison, Papae, Ania, Vandy and Jodie.

We celebrated Sinter Klaas (Dutch Christmas) on Thursday (the 6^th) with shoes filled with treats… I managed to keep the tradition alive for yet another set of roommates, but unfortunately my Dutch roomie (Ruben) wasn’t in town to enjoy the day. We tackled piles of project emails at the internet café but realized that we’re still essentially at a standstill waiting for answers from Canadian and Tanzanian partners on several pressing project issues. We came back to the apartment and I worked for a few hours on my internship debriefing report, which I had started earlier in the week – basically a breakdown of all WHE-related issues pertaining to my involvement with the project both at home and during my time in Africa. In the afternoon, we met Jo at our tailor’s to pick up a bag of Indian clothing which was being passed around the volunteers in town so that we could all dress ourselves appropriately for the weekend’s events. We walked on to Swahili lessons, where I’m sad to be realizing that my Swahili efforts are coming to an end – I hope that I won’t lose it all completely when I get home but I know that’s the likely outcome without somewhere to practice! After class, we went to Tunza for yoga and dinner with friends.

Pascal, hiding in the trees at Forever Angels.

On Friday morning (the 7^th), I went down to the internet café to check for progress on the WHE front and came back up to work on my internship report as Alison wrote the day’s English test. We walked up to Mabatini and made it to the kitchen just before a rainstorm hit. We were a bit surprised to find Mr. Ndassa (the Community Development Officer) sitting in the kitchen, talking with the mamas – although we met with him earlier in the month to get his approval of our constitution and other material related to our NGO application, after receiving 5 bound copies of our documents (not cheap to do in Mwanza!), he found some minor changes that he wanted us to implement. We had another painstakingly slow discussion with him to review the changes and promised to return with the updated material before our departure. After the meeting, we travelled to NIMR to drop off Mama Elisabeth (who went to pick up another batch of probiotic milk since the Wednesday batch was spoiled) and went on to the orphanage for the afternoon. I was happy to find out that Forever Angels has received more funding for construction and are now able to start building a pre-school adjacent to the main building. After returning home, I met with Jovita (from Kivulini’s Legal Aid) to discuss some logistical matters about the potential purchase of the Nyamongoro land. We’ve been so lucky to have had access to Kivulini’s staff… they’ve been invaluable in terms of the advice and support they’ve given us since August.

Getting my henna done at Friday night's party.

On Friday evening, we were invited to Tilapia for a Henna/Mendhi party for Kiran’s wedding. We joined the other women sitting on mattresses to get the intricate designs drawn onto the backs and palms of our hands, and watched as the older women sang and danced to the beat of drums. Later in the evening, Kiran and her ‘ladies-in-waiting’ joined us. Kiran’s mendhi designs were amazing… it took five hours to complete the designs on her hands, forearms, feet and calves, and the result was nothing less than a work of art. We spent the rest of the evening waiting for our hands to dry, watching dance performances, and indulging in a delicious dinner.

Kiran's (the bride) intricate mendhi designs.

Alison and I had a delightfully quiet day on Saturday (the 8^th). I enjoyed breakfast while watching “A Muppets’ Family Christmas” which is still one of the greatest holiday films of all time, in my opinion. I spent some time online before we walked to town to run errands and then returned home to relax. We had visits from friends and were happy to greet Claire and Ruben when they finally returned home from their travels. Claire had been in Ghana all week at a CRS conference, and Ruben in Dar to settle immigration issues – both had their planes delayed/cancelled and had a disastrous trip back to Mwanza. Here’s hoping I don’t have the same luck on my way back home! (knock wood!) We were happy to extend an invitation to them to come with us to Stephanie and Riaan’s house for a BBQ to celebrate Riaan’s birthday and enjoyed hearing stories about their week away.

Alison, me, Ania, Claire and Jodie outside of the temple.

We woke up early on Sunday morning (the 9^th) to get ready to attend our first Sikh/Hindu wedding ceremony. Uncle Sira (a jovial older man who has taken us under his wing during our time in Mwanza) picked us up at 9am and we drove together to the temple in town for the wedding ceremony. We joined the women waiting in a hallway looking onto the courtyard and made our first social faux-pas as we neglected to remove our shoes… luckily that was as bad as it got for us. Kiran and her ladies arrived soon after and she was escorted up to a waiting room away from the crowd. Shalin (the groom) came in later with an elaborate headdress on, complete with tassels covering his face. We watched as the two families arrived and greeted each other, exchanging garlands and hugs. Finally, the bride descended from her room and met her groom… they were hoisted up in the air in celebration and then she returned to her room again to prepare for the ceremony. After an interlude for refreshments, we all went to the temple (with shoes off and heads covered) to watch the ceremony. The bride and groom must make 4 circles together (the bride is ‘supported’ around the circle by brothers and close male friends) to complete the service. Afterwards, we stayed for lunch (where the men and women ate separately) and then returned home.

The bride and groom receiving blessings in the garden.

I spent part of the afternoon at Jodie’s fundi (tailor) getting alterations done on a dress so that I’d have something to wear to the reception, and then met Claire and Alison at a salon below our apartment. We decided to splurge and spend 1,500 Tsh (about a dollar) to get our hair curled for the evening… a very funny experience to share together! We set off to Tilapia for the wedding reception and finished off a beautifully traditional weekend celebrating the union of the bride and groom. I was so happy to have the opportunity to be involved in the wedding… it was a perfect way to spend one of our last weekends in Mwanza!

Hennaed and in traditional Indian attire.

The next time I write will be from Canada (I depart Mwanza on the 16^th and arrive in Toronto midday on the 17^th)… it’s incredible that my time in Africa has come and gone already! I have been avoiding thinking about the goodbyes that I will have to say next week as I prepare to leave for home. Though I’m excited to return home, I’m sure that within a few weeks, everything will have returned to ‘normal’ and I will be pining for the adventure of my time in Africa again. This experience has given me such an incredible opportunity to develop and challenge myself… I know I will treasure the memories of my time spent in Tanzania for the rest of my life.

“You get a strange feeling when you’re about to leave a place, I told him, like you’ll not only miss the people you love but you’ll miss the person you are now at this time and this place, because you’ll never be this way ever again.” - Azar Nafisi, Reading Lolita in Tehran

Tanzania – Wiki Kumi na Saba

2007-12-03T05:44:00.000-05:00

Walking through Mabatini with some local boys.

I woke up early on Monday morning (the 26th) and finished all of my computer work (blog entry, English lesson and an amended visa application for Stephanie, WHE’s new student intern) much earlier than expected. I attempted to put some things into suitcases to get an idea of how much space I have available for my trip home and then went into the city without Alison, who decided to go get checked out at the clinic (and tested negative for malaria, thank goodness!). I did some administrative errands at a secretarial shop, went to the bank, and then spent a productive hour online at the internet café. I met Alison and Claire for a quick lunch before Alison and I were expected at NIMR for a meeting with Mr. Temu (the chairman of the microbiology department), Simon & George (the lab technicians) and one of the mamas. Our discussion was very productive – we established everyone’s role and commitment to the project and identified the gaps where communication has failed… hopefully this will allow the production of probiotic milk to run more smoothly in the future. After the meeting, we travelled up to Mabatini with Mama Elisabeth to meet with the mamas and teach English. We stayed late with them to trade stories and laughter over ugali and dagaa (very small fish that you eat whole… not my favourite Tanzanian dish). I am very proud of the progress that we have made as a group – our communication is strong and our ability to transcend the cultural barriers between us continues to amaze me. I never thought we’d be able to share this kind of a relationship with the mamas in the absence of a translator… it’s been a wonderful surprise.

On Tuesday morning (the 27th), I put the finishing touches on a working contact list for Stephanie to use when she arrives in Mwanza and updated the Tukwamuane balance sheet with new financial information from NIMR. We had a quick meeting with Maimuna before heading into town for the day. As we passed the Maasai Market, we spotted a guy looking dreadfully touristy – a backpack on both his front and his back, frantically thumbing through a Lonely Planet travel guide. We decided to stop and give him a hand – I escorted him across town to the dala-dala stand that would take him to a bigger bus station outside of Mwanza. I appreciate the unspoken kinship that exists between travellers who find themselves out of their element on the other side of the world! Alison was busy running errands in my absence, so I met up with her later at the internet café to get some work done.

We grabbed a quick lunch before meeting with Mr. Batenga, who has been promoted to the role of Vice President of the Tanzanian Chamber of Commerce… hongera (congratulations!). Batenga was able to provide us with some information about the capacity for transportation/distribution of dairy products and some names for potential business partners that Danone may use if they decide to establish themselves in Mwanza. From Batenga’s office, we walked to City Council to meet with Mr. Luanda, the City Planner’s project manager. He advised us on our impending purchase of the new plots of land outside of the city – the good news is that we are allowed to raise a small number of cattle on the plot and that we should be able to work through the process by early 2008. We hurried up to Mr. Ngowi’s office (the TASAF coordinator) to tell him the good news. He advised us to postpone our TASAF application until the land purchase has been settled, which would result in the project being initiated in March 2008 if all goes well. After our meeting, we ran to our Swahili lessons before driving out to Nyegezi to Tini’s house to celebrate her birthday over a gourmet dinner (it’s always good when the birthday girl is also a talented chef!).

Me, Tini, Claire and Major at Tini's birthday party.

We spent Wednesday (the 28th) working at the apartment and (accidentally) started to listen to Christmas music – it’s a little bit hard to get in the holiday spirit with palm trees swaying in the breeze outside the window, but we’ll struggle through! Maimuna popped by with a potential translator’s contact info (in preparation for Stephanie’s arrival), which Alison used to book an interview for later in the week. We headed into the city to investigate flight information for Steph and send the details back home. After lunch, we walked to Mkuo Mkoa (the Regional Commissioner’s office) to meet with Mr. Kiamba to follow up on Tukwamuane’s application for NGO status… unfortunately, he informed us upon our arrival that he had retired from the position the week prior. He brought us down to meet with Mr. Ndassa, the Community Development Officer (who we were familiar with due to his involvement in the late Deputy Minister’s visit in August). Together, we reviewed the mamas’ constitution and went over the application requirements. From the city, we stopped at home briefly and walked to Mabatini wearing kangas – Paskwalina requested that I put one on as I never wear them… the concept of layering another piece of material over my capris in this heat isn’t that appealing to me! We shared some pictures from home with the mamas and taught an English lesson before walking to the International School to swim & have dinner with Claire and Lauren.

On Thursday (the 29th), I prepped Friday’s English test and went online to check for Steph’s flight info while Alison had 5 copies of the Tukwamuane constitution made & bound for the NGO application. I interviewed Gracie, the woman who Maimuna recommended we consider hiring as a part-time translator… I was very pleasantly surprised and hope that we can work out the contract details to everyone’s satisfaction. After the interview, Pendo came with us into town to get a new gas canister – they have changed the regulations in Mwanza, forcing us to shell out a lot of money to purchase a new ‘compatible’ container. Later, we walked into the city to the bank and the travel agency, where we officially booked Steph’s flight into Mwanza – she arrives on January 4th and we will be very proud to pass the torch on to her. We completed a typical Thursday with Swahili, yoga, and dinner at Tunza Lodge.

Michael, swinging in the afternoon sun at Forever Angels.

Mamas Paskwalina, Elisabeth and Joyce met us at the apartment on Friday morning (the 30th) where we reviewed the NGO application before heading into town together. We stopped at a number of hotels/restaurants to drop off our marketing package (which should be fully translated to Swahili in future) and have the mamas talk up their product a bit. We stopped at a photo place in town to get passport pictures taken for the NGO application, and then walked to the Dubai Bazaar near the sokoni to shop for a new refrigerator for the kitchen (a necessary purchase as we focus on growth and increasing production!). We headed back to the kitchen to pick up yogurt orders for Kivulini Kitchen and Forever Angels, grabbed lunch at a local place nearby our house, and drove out to the orphanage for the afternoon. We came home minutes before a massive storm blew through the area and perched on our balcony to watch the weather pummel Mlango Mmoja below.

A Land-Rover splashing through the floods in Mlango Mmoja.

We invited Pendo’s entire family (her, her mother, and 11 children when you count extended relatives) for dinner, so Alison and I got started on cooking early. We prepared a traditional meal (rice, bananas, and fish) and spent a very nice but chaotic evening at home with our visitors. Ruben arrived late and riled up the children, initiating singing, dancing, limbo and jumping contests. Needless to say, we were exhausted when they left (but didn’t have any dishes to do as Pendo insisted that her kids clean the dishes and the floors of our apartment after eating).

A tray of food for Pendo's kids to eat (with their hands, as is traditionally African) - bananas, rice and fish.

Ruben, leading (dangerous) jumping contests in our apartment.

I woke up on Saturday morning (December 1st – World AIDS Day) to a sweet surprise – Alison made me an “Advent” calendar counting down the days to my flight home… very thoughtful! We walked into town early to go check out Jenny’s soccer tournament at an old stadium in the city. There were six teams from local youth centres and orphanages, bleachers full of fans, and DJs pumping music that incited dance-offs all around the field. It was a great event… wonderful for the children to get an opportunity to show off their skills and to be celebrated by their community. We grabbed a quick lunch in the city before heading out to the CCM Kirumba Stadium, where there were massive festivities going on for World AIDS Day. There were thousands of people there watching rap performances and speeches, perusing the booths (Kivulini and our mamas had space there), and getting free tests for HIV. It was really powerful to see the city come together to advocate and raise awareness for such an important cause. From the stadium, we took the dala-dala to Tunza to relax on the beach. Later in the evening, we joined our friends at the Yun Long Chinese Restaurant on Rock Beach for dinner and went back to Major’s to watch a movie.

Coach Jenny and her girls team.

On Sunday (the 2nd), Alison and I walked to Mabatini to accompany Mama Paskwalina to church. We arrived at the church a bit late after waiting for her to meet us at the kitchen… although it was standing-room-only for latecomers, the crowd typically managed to find us chairs to sit on. I appreciate the gesture but it makes me feel awkward to always be singled out! I maximized the utility of my chair by having a child sit on my lap for the whole service. The mass was nice, as usual – I’m impressed by the American pastor’s Swahili and was proud of myself for being able to decipher large portions of the homily. I still find it funny to see the little “African” details of life here – for example, the wine is carried to the front of the church in a large Dasani bottle, and the hosts in a plastic bag. After mass, we had chai with the mamas at the kitchen, and then went to Tunza to chill out & read on the beach. I helped Alison to finish up the paint job on the entranceway to the lodge… doing our best to make a permanent mark on Mwanza! We came home to a quiet apartment as Ruben has gone to Dar es Salaam for the week to settle up his research & resident’s permit… we know from experience with immigration in Mwanza that this is not an easy task to accomplish!

Reading in the shade on the beach at Tunza.

I’m getting extremely excited to come home to my family and friends, especially because I’ll be arriving home during the holiday season (apparently to one of the coldest winters that Toronto has seen in the last 15 years… I’m definitely going to have a hard time adjusting!). Saying goodbye to this place won’t be easy, though… I’ve loved so many things about Africa and will be looking forward to returning in the future.

“If I know a song of Africa – I thought – of the giraffe, and the African new moon lying on her back, of the ploughs in the fields, and the sweaty faces of the coffee-pickers, does Africa know a song of me? Would the air over the plain quiver with a colour that I had had on, or the children invent a game in which my name was, or the full moon throw a shadow over the gravel of the drive that was like me, or would the eagles of Ngong look out for me?” -- Karen Blixen.

Tanzania – Wiki Kumi na Sita

2007-11-26T04:17:00.000-05:00

Two sisters in rural Mwanza.

I spent a typical Monday morning (the 19th) working at my laptop and having a couple brief meetings with members of the Kivulini staff. After a couple hours of project work, Alison and I headed out to town to run our routine Monday errands before going to City Council for a 2pm meeting with Mr. Thomas Tukay, the City Urban Planning Officer. We patiently waited outside his office for about 45 minutes before he showed up, and had a brief discussion outlining our desire to obtain a new plot of land for the mamas before he took us to meet the City Director to present our case to him. After awkwardly explaining ourselves in front of a room of City Councillors, we were told to wait outside for a few minutes before Tukay would join us and travel to Mabatini to survey the mamas’ present site. We took our seats in the lobby and watched as the minutes & hours ticked by… finally, at 5pm, Tukay emerged from the office and was ready to go. I was incredulous that he didn’t seem to think it that out of the ordinary to make guests wait for 3 hours for a meeting… AWA (again and again!).

Entertaining ourselves with the self-timer camera feature while waiting at City Council.

We drove to the community kitchen, where Tukay introduced himself to the mamas and heard of their desire to own a piece of land rather than use a plot allocated to them but controlled by City Council. With that in mind, Tukay took Alison, Mama Paskwalina and I for a drive about 6-7km out of town to see a new area of development in Nyamongoro. Mwanza is growing at a very rapid pace (the fastest growing city in East Africa!) and it is not hard to imagine that the Nyamongoro area will be bustling in a few short years. For now, it is an interesting area to consider which may accommodate the mamas’ growing needs. After saying goodbye to Tukay, we returned to Mabatini to teach English and talk with the mamas before walking back through the beginnings of the night market to our apartment (as quickly as possible, trying to get home before the sun disappeared completely). We went to Jenny’s house in Pasiansi for dinner – her friend Matt (here to visit from the US) cooked a massive meal which we enjoyed watching a movie projected onto their living room wall.

After showering on Tuesday morning (the 20th), I realized that the strange burning smell I had been noticing was coming from my hair – no more ironing… beauty is pain! Alison and I busied ourselves around the apartment making calls to arrange and reschedule meetings and running back and forth from Kivulini to wrap up some loose ends. We set off to town to re-activate Alison’s cell phone and grab a quick lunch before doing a huge grocery shop in town. We were happy to see that the mamas’ yogurt is being sold at Lavena Supermarket (one of the biggest grocery stores in town) for 2000 Tsh/litre… very exciting in terms of sales and distribution! After dropping the food off at home, we went back into the city so that Alison could meet Manuela in order to book their Christmastime safari together. I spent an hour reading research papers at the pizzeria over a milky chai… reminiscent of endless days studying in the library at UWO (slightly different due to the tropical climate here). I met the girls at Swahili class & afterwards enjoyed our customary Tuesday evening of swimming and dinner at Claire’s.

On Wednesday morning (the 21st) I prepared an English lesson for the mamas and typed up a copy of Kivulini’s lease to give to Ruben so that he may use it to negotiate with the landlord (I discovered that she is trying to charge us WAY more than Kivulini pays for essentially the same space… unsurprising but still unfair). Alison called Mr. Ngowi, Mwanza’s TASAF (the Tanzania Social Action Fund) coordinator, and we rushed out to meet him after hearing that he was in the office. We first picked up Mama Paskwalina from Mabatini and then drove into the city. Mr. Ngowi was very happy to see us and was glad to receive the group’s TASAF application from Mama Paskwalina (the street leader finally relented and helped them to organize the community meeting required for its completion). Though we had been expected a few weeks earlier, we were happy to hear that we were not too late to be considered for the grant. We were blown away when Mr. Ngowi showed us the extremely detailed three-page budget that he had prepared for us, along with a month-by-month action plan for the project’s implementation, and even a sketch of a ‘banda’ (cow shed) that they intend to construct. The budget missed nothing – it allows for the purchase of four pregnant cows and one bull, all the costs and purchases associated with building a shed, a year’s supply of grass for the cows, a bicycle, medication for the animals, training (the most important component, in my mind – allowing the mamas to choose what they want to be trained in), etc… totalling almost 9 million Tsh (about 7500 CDN) Mr. Ngowi assured us that the application has a very good chance of going through and sent us on our way with further instructions of tasks to be completed. We drove up to Mabatini with an agricultural surveyor who was to assess a potential piece of land where the banda may be built. Unfortunately, he found the space to be too small and too close to family homes. Nevertheless, we were very excited to hear of the potential for support from the Tanzanian government – a very important step towards sustainability.

We returned home and split up – Alison to Nyakato with Omari (from Kivulini) and Mama Paskwalina to meet with an architect to look at designs for a new kitchen, and me to the internet café to send a very exciting update email home and to check for a quote from Tukay for the Nyamongoro site. We had planned to meet our friend Tini in town at 3pm to travel back to Mabatini with representatives from the German Embassy in Dar es Salaam – another opportunity to apply for a grant to support the project’s growth – but found out that the Germans’ plane had been delayed. We ran some errands in town to kill time before meeting with Tini at 5.45pm to show off Tukwamuane’s project to the embassy representatives. They stayed for only a short visit, as they were scheduled to see a couple other projects in Mwanza, but they were very positive about the project and encouraged us to apply for support from them. After a very tiring and productive day, Alison and I went to Kivulini Kitchen (a restaurant in Isamilo) to say goodbye & happy birthday to Ray (Claire’s boss at Catholic Relief Services) as he departs Mwanza for the USA.

We left home on Thursday morning (the 22nd), met Mama Paskwalina at the bottom of the Mabatini hill and grabbed a dala-dala to Nyakato where we walked to the Roman Catholic parish where Nico (Isaac’s friend) is the pastor. Before we left, we saw the AIDS Outreach Centre affiliated with the parish and met some of the staff who work there – they offer mostly counselling and educational support for the community. Together, we left to Mahina to attend their weekly community meeting and pick up the CD4 counts of the members who had agreed to help us with project research. We waited for quite some time for the meeting to begin before they informed us that they didn’t have the numbers ready. I realize that I have become cynical when it comes to promises of productivity in Tanzania, so I wasn’t surprised that nothing had been prepared. Instead, we provided them with a template for the data and gave them our phone numbers to call for pick-up when the information is ready. After meeting in Mahina, Alison and I walked through Nyakato to Heifer International for our rescheduled meeting with Dr. Sokombi. Our discussion was very interesting, allowing us to come to a better understanding of both the challenges presented to NGOs by the changing face of HIV/AIDS and the current state of the dairy industry in Mwanza – a bit strange to focus on these two issues side-by-side. From Nyakato, we took a dala-dala back to Mabatini for chai and yogurt purchasing and then returned home. In the afternoon, we went into town (no chance to get online due to power cuts) and walked to NIMR to meet with Mr. Temu, the chairman of the microbiology department. Unfortunately, what we thought would be a useful discussion about the production and access of probiotic milk actually was just a chance for him to reschedule the meeting to the following week. We trudged back to town under the blazing midday sun for Swahili and then drove to Tunza for a very relaxing yoga class – desperately necessary in the middle of an extremely hectic week! Alison and I returned home after yoga for dinner and a movie… we were exhausted both mentally and physically.

New yoga pictures from a couple weeks ago, courtesy of Tini's camera.

On Friday morning (the 23rd) I pulled together some final thoughts for a research paper proposal to send home to Canada while Alison prepared an English test for the mamas. We met with Maimuna to follow up on several issues and to inform her of the week’s progress. I ran down to the internet after our meeting to work through my inbox, and then walked to Mabatini with Alison. We had chai with the mamas before leaving to the orphanage in Bwiru. En route, we stopped by the Wilson home to pick up the containers we used to give the yogurt to Charity Ball. We spoke to Ian, Andie’s husband, a dentist who manages an NGO called Bridge2Aid, which trains rural practitioners and provides funds to vulnerable rural communities. We heard from him that the ball raised 27 million Tsh… an improvement over last year’s 21 million Tsh and much more than they had anticipated. We spent a pleasant afternoon at the orphanage before returning home to the internet and a trip to Nyakato for kitchen sketches (the mid-week trip was unsuccessful). On Friday evening, we went to Jenny’s again for dinner and a movie with her parents who are in town for a pre-Christmas visit.

Bahati, one of my favourite little munchkins at the orphanage.

Yunisi, looking beautiful in her kitenge.

On Saturday morning (the 24th), I left with Claire, Tini, Major and Ross to Kijereshi for a camping trip. Alison was feeling under the weather and thought it best to stay home for the weekend and recuperate. With all the recent rainstorms, this was probably a wise decision! We drove 45 minutes out of town before the car broke down, forcing us to enjoy our novels under the shade of acacia trees as we waited for a mechanic to arrive. We were joined by dozens of local children who were content to watch us from a distance and were happier still when we brought out our digital cameras and started coming up with games to play together (hopscotch, hat-tossing etc). We managed to get the car repaired and set off again for the campsite. After turning off the main road, we started approaching a menacing storm that painted the sky a deep blue. Eventually we found ourselves in the thick of it, so Tini, Ross and I thought it would be a good idea to run around in it to get the full experience of a Serengeti storm. The rain stung like hail and we were sopping wet within a matter of seconds, but it was worth it. We spent the afternoon drying off in the Kijereshi Lodge before venturing out to our campsite. The open banda where we had planned to sleep was full of puddles and after we still hadn’t produced a good fire with half a box of matches, we decided to opt for Plan B – sleeping in a “family unit” room and ordering dinner from the kitchen. Not exactly the most rugged camping experience, but a reasonable alternative in the height of the rainy season!

Playing a "toss-the-hat" game with Ross and some local children.

We spent Sunday morning (the 25th) reading around the pool, returning back to our room to prep the lunch while the boys headed out to make a new fire at the campsite. When we hadn’t heard from them two hours later, Tini, Claire and I decided to take action ourselves and built a fire on the doorstep of our room. This was probably not ‘safi’ (cool) with the hotel staff, but we produced a delicious pasta and sauce and were very proud of ourselves. Hours later, we heard a few shotguns fire and the boys rolled back to the room, covered from head to toe in mud and carrying their trophy guinea fowl. They had found themselves stuck in the mud after venturing “off-road” and had spent hours getting going again. We enjoyed our meal and the fresh kill from the plains before driving back to Mwanza in the middle of another massive thunderstorm.

Claire and Tini, working hard to prepare our meal on an open fire, steps away from our room.

With three weeks left in Mwanza and so much on the go pertaining to the project, I feel as though these weeks will continue to be frenzied with activity as we wrap up our efforts. It’s a great feeling to be ending our internship on such a positive note, with so much potential for the future growth of the project.

Tanzania – Wiki Kumi na Tano

2007-11-19T04:08:00.000-05:00

Mama Paskwalina filling a big yogurt order at the kitchen.

I spent the morning of Monday the 12th working on my laptop in the apartment – prepping my blog, finishing my editing of Jodie’s report (all 49 pages!), and organizing some information gleaned from the mamas pertaining to the Tukwamuane balance sheet. I went over to Kivulini briefly to speak with Maimuna, and was introduced to an American woman and a Canadian man who are in Mwanza representing a North American foundation. They expressed interest in finding an appropriate group or project to support financially, so I took the opportunity to tell them about the work that the Tukwamuane women are doing. The Kivulini staff offered to bring them to see the kitchen, and they promised to keep in touch with me. In the afternoon, Alison and I ventured to town to run errands – we had a very successful internet session, went to the bank and the post office, and bumped into some volunteers from the baby home for lunch. We hurried back to Mlango Mmoja before travelling up to Mabatini to teach English. We got suckered into staying for rice and beans with the mamas (again!)… we need to start coming up with more creative excuses if we want to avoid having to eat huge portions of starchy food every afternoon! After eating, we came back to Mlango Mmoja with Mamas Cesilia and Asha to start lesson one of Email 101. They were very fast learners, although we had to start from the very beginning (i.e. this is a mouse, this is how you use the mouse). I came home to two exciting postal packages (thank you to everyone who has been sending mail… it’s the best pick-me-up when it arrives!), and Alison and I were very happy to spend our evening indulging in watching the new Sex and the City DVDs sent from Canada.

On Tuesday morning (the 13th), Alison and I did work while waiting for a meeting with Maimuna to discuss several issues. The wait ended up being a lot longer than we expected, so we kept productivity at a high, doing laundry and getting organized for our December travels (Alison – around Tanzania, me – home!). Finally, Maimuna was available and we had a very productive meeting, receiving advice on a number of issues – Mercy’s disappearance (we’re getting Kivulini Legal Aid to try and track her down), allocating donations to the Tuelimishane Youth Group, getting in touch with our landlord to negotiate next year’s lease, requesting mediation services between Tukwamuane and the street leadership, training resources in Mwanza, contacts with Heifer International (to get information about the dairy industry in Mwanza for the Danone consultant), improving communication between WHE interns and Kivulini staff, etc. etc. We later met with Mama Yusta of Legal Aid to follow up on some issues, before heading into town for the afternoon. We arrived at the Regional Commissioner’s office and waited for a while before meeting with Mr. Kiamba, Mwanza’s Principal Planning Officer. We had intended to speak with him about registering Tukwamuane’s business name, but it turns out that he’s the man responsible for registering NGOs. Lucky for us, that’s another procedure that we need to start working on, so we talked it through and will hopefully set that process into motion over the next few weeks. After our meeting, we grabbed a quick lunch and spent a short while online before heading to Swahili class. Later, we swam laps at the pool and returned to Claire’s before meeting Major (& his family), Ross, Papae and some of the Indian boys at the Mwanza Yacht Club for a curry cookout next to the lake.

My favourite sight in Mwanza - "paper birds" (egrets) flying against the hillside homes.

I spent Wednesday morning (the 14th) preparing an English lesson and compiling a list of WHE email addresses for the mamas, so that they are able to communicate with Canada if they wish to. We finally had success in reformatting the ‘new’ educational brochure (as per the faculty’s recommendations), but were out of luck when we attempted to meet with both Maimuna and Mama Yusta. We set off into town to use the internet, and so that Alison could spend some time at the travel agency. I came home alone for a quick bite to eat before running photocopies of the English lessons and the brochures. Alison and I met up again to travel to Nyakato to meet with Dr. Sokombi of Heifer International, in hopes that he might be able to provide us with information about the structure of the Mwanza dairy industry, which we could later pass on to Ivan. We were dropped off at Heifer, and I called Dr. Sokombi to let him know we had arrived. Guiltily, he told me that he was still on the road and asked if we could wait for 1 ½ hours for him to arrive. We decided it would be best to reschedule the meeting and grabbed a dala-dala back to Mabatini. We taught an English lesson and spent a long time chatting with the mamas (with some translation through Asha’s cousin). Fortunately, we managed to sneak away before the inevitable rice and bean afternoon meal. We waited at home until Cesilia and Asha showed up, and went to the internet with again to practice their new emailing skills. Afterwards, Alison and I ran to the tailor to pick up my Charity Ball dress, had dinner with Ruben (with mid-meal visits from Claire, Basi from Tuelimishane, and Jondwa, Ruben’s tailor friend), watched a movie and went to bed early.

On Thursday morning (the 15th), we met with Maimuna and Omari from Kivulini to follow up on a number of issues, and I attempted to get in touch with Dr. Changalucha for our scheduled follow-up meeting, to no avail. We waited around for the landlord to show up, and were able to confirm that the apartment will be available for rent next year (which is great news – first of all, because it’s a great location for interns to work out of, and second of all – Alison and I were not looking forward to apartment hunting during our last weeks here!). We headed into town so that Alison could do some more banking/travel agency errands, and so that I could spend time online researching for a potential paper to submit for publishing upon my return home. I finally decided to count my losses and purchased a new USB key at the internet café (mine mysteriously went missing last Friday)… it’s a very important tool to have when you’re doing work on a new computer every day! I met with Alison for a quick bite to eat before walking with her to Precision Air to have some of her flights changed, and on to the bank where we had no success in withdrawing funds. We hurried to our Swahili lessons, picked up the “wazungu” yogurt order from home, and drove to Tunza for our yoga class. We had dinner with some of the International School teachers, and heard about an opportunity for us to apply for a grant for the project from the German embassy in Dar es Salaam… lots of possibilities for us to pursue in our last month here!

Grace, enjoying a snack of yogurt at Forever Angels.

I woke up on Friday morning (the 16th) and prepared the day’s English test before we set off to Mabatini. We were picked up on the way by a German man who is managing the road construction there… we see him every time we go to the kitchen and he never fails to salute us and wish us good luck with our work. Once we got to Mabatini, we bought several new plastic containers for the yogurt to accommodate our big orders. We gave the mamas the English test, enjoyed chai and chapati for breakfast, and set off to town with 20L of yogurt – 14L for Charity Ball, to be served alongside the curry (our ‘donation’ to the cause), and 6L for the orphanage. We use the same taxi driver to take us to Bwiru every week, and when we got in the car, he presented me with my missing USB key – I suppose it had fallen out of my bag the week before… extremely kind of him to save it for me! We dropped off the Charity Ball order and went to City Council for our 11am meeting with Joseph Mlinzi. While we waited, he sent me a text message requesting that we reschedule for 3pm as he was out of office. Alison and I had had quite enough of waiting and rescheduling, so we talked our way into the Mayor’s office to speak with him about his promise to assist the mamas in obtaining a new plot of land. He immediately got us in touch with the City Planning Officer, Mr. Tukay, who booked a follow-up meeting with us for next Monday afternoon… we will travel with him to Mabatini so he can see the facility that the mamas are currently working out of, and then take us to some new potential plots. From City Council, we went to Forever Angels. The baby home was very crowded as they are conducting interviews for new staff – with new children arriving all the time and some in the hospital in poor health, they are desperate for extra hands. Though I have been mostly been posting pictures of chubby toddlers, it’s important for me to remind you that this baby home also cares for some very sick babies. One tiny little boy, Adamo, was brought to FA last week because his 14-year-old mother is now in the last throes of HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis. He’s extremely malnourished and needs to get growing over the next few weeks to maintain his health. After cuddling the little ones through a huge thunderstorm, we came home for a quiet night in – dinner with Ruben and Tobias (stuffed peppers… we are determined to continue our culinary creativity!) and a movie.

A raging thunderstorm woke me up early on Saturday morning (the 17th)… the rainy season has definitely arrived, but it’s not as bad as I thought it would be. Storms arrive and move on quite quickly, and it seems to rain most frequently at night or in the early morning. No flooding yet (knock wood!), and our mobility around town (on foot!) hasn’t been hindered too much so far. We spent a slow morning primping (painting nails, ironing hair… yes, with a real iron) and then met Claire in town to run some casual errands and to have lunch together. She came back to our house and we got dressed together before setting off with Ruben to the Bank of Tanzania Institute for the Grand Charity Ball. We all took turns volunteering to sell raffle tickets during the evening, enjoyed watching the ‘high rollers’ participate in a live auction (for items such as a piece of unfinished Tanzanite, bars of gold and silver – donated by the mining companies, flights around Tanzania etc… a little out of range for those of us with no income!), and watched presentations of where the grants went from last year’s event. It was a really lovely evening – nice to see that all the volunteers and NGO workers can clean up a bit, and great to celebrate together for a good cause.

Alison, Ruben, Claire and I on the roof of our apartment, pre-ball.

Tini, Matt, me, Claire, Alison, Manuela, Ruben, Lawreen, Lauren, Lindsay, Jenny and Carlos.

Alison and I were picked up on Sunday morning (the 18th) by Mama Asha’s sister, who walked with us to Asha’s house in Mabatini. We met her family and sat in the living room with her as she showed us her photo albums and her ‘guest book’ (with messages written by several former WHE interns), with a kung-fu video playing in the background on the television (??). We enjoyed tea and breakfast with her, and chatted for a while before trying to duck out and return home. Much to our surprise, she and her sister pulled out some black kohl makeup and immediately started drawing Alison’s eyebrows on. They rubbed my eyebrows to see if I already had makeup on them, confirmed that I didn’t, and drew mine on as well. Another sister started painting our nails, while another braided my hair. We were a bit bewildered, unsure why we were suddenly participating in a spa day, but thanked them for their efforts and started our walk home with bushy black eyebrows. I spent a bit of time online (with black eyebrows still intact) before we grabbed a taxi to go to Tunza to spend time with the birthday boy, Ross. As we were driving along Airport Road, a young boy ran out in front of our vehicle and we struck him. It was really terrible… he flew through the air and hit the road, and I thought for sure that we’d be administering first aid to a very serious case. I scanned his limbs to see if there were any breaks, but he seemed to get away with only a tiny bump on his head. We took him in the taxi to the hospital to get him checked out, and then went on to Tunza. Alison and I were both very shaken up, but were very relieved that the boy was okay. We spent the evening playing cards with Ross (Po-ke-no), and having a celebratory group dinner with a wild thunderstorm outside.

At Asha's house with members of her family.

Alison being "beautified" at Asha's house.

I have been desperate to cement the unique details of Mwanza in my mind as I approach my departure. I see the town in snapshots: the night market at the Pasiansi taxi stand, with glowing candles lighting up pineapples, piles of oranges, and other produce; the female civil servants whose job is to sweep the same section of road every day, piling the dust and grime into their wheelbarrows; the kind faces of the elderly people who sit in doorways and are thrilled when you surprise them with a “shikamoo” (the respectful greeting for those older than you); the makeshift toys of children – a plastic bag on a string becomes a kite, drink cartons with water bottle lid wheels for trucks; the upbeat music accompanying men with pushcarts who sell cassette tapes; the reds and blues of the elegant Maasai who suddenly appear together on the city streets, walking with their staffs over their shoulders. Once again, I look to Karen Blixen to accurately put my thoughts into words:

“When I look back upon my last months in Africa, it seems to me that the lifeless things were aware of my departure a long time before I was so myself. The hills, the forests, the plains and rivers, the wind, all knew that we were to part. When I first began to make terms with fate … the attitude of the landscape towards me changed. Till then I had been part of it, and the drought had been to me like a fever, and the flowering of the plain like a new frock. Now the country disengaged itself from me, and stood back a little, in order that I should see it clearly and as a whole.

I have before seen other countries, in the same manner, give themselves to you when you are about to leave them, but I had forgotten what it meant. I only thought that I had never seen the country so lovely, as if the contemplation of it would in itself be enough to make you happy all your life. Light and shade shared the landscape between them; rainbows stood in the sky.”

A stormy-day rainbow across the bay from Tilapia Hotel.

Tanzania – Wiki Kumi na Nne

2007-11-12T04:21:00.000-05:00

Conducting a milk run in Mwanza - this is how the milk is supplied to our kitchen.

Alison and I spent Tuesday morning (the 6th) at our computers in the apartment, preparing update emails for the WHE steering committee and organizing ourselves for the week. After a couple stops in town, we had success in getting online at a new internet café that we discovered during our many trips to immigration. We were able to be quite productive online doing project research and communicating with the WHE leadership in Canada. I ran by the post office to mail some letters home before meeting Alison for lunch. Somehow, we discovered that the day had flown by and we only had time to look around town for a new clock for the community kitchen and grab some groceries before going to the language school for our Swahili lessons. We found out in class that there had been (another!) crocodile attack near Airport Road… a man lost his arm while cutting grasses near the water. It’s easy to forget that the scenic waters of Lake Victoria are home to these predators, however, we are quite vigilant about maintaining caution around the lake, especially because the water is also infested with the bilharzia parasite. After class, we swam laps with Manuela and Claire, ate dinner at Claire’s place, and went into town to meet Major and Ross to recap our adventures in Zanzibar.

Claire, Alison and I with our Swahili instructor, Gaudence.

On Wednesday morning (the 7th), Alison prepared an English lesson while I revamped an informational brochure for Tukwamuane. We arranged meetings with Dr. Changalucha (the director of NIMR) and Nico (Dr. Luginaah’s friend from grade school) for later in the week. Later, we stopped by the internet in town to continue our research (into issues such as registering Tukwamuane as a business, etc) and send more information home. We finished in time to grab a quick bite to eat with Claire in town, grabbed a big load of groceries at U-Turn and walked home.

We organized ourselves for our trip to Mabatini – spice boats for each mama as a zawadi (gift) from Zanzibar, the new wall clock for the kitchen, and the large number of containers needed to fill orders for yogurt from our friends in the area. I carried the spice boats on my head the whole way to Mabatini (without hands, even… like a REAL African mama!)… I’ve discovered that the Africans are really on to something, as long as one can maintain balance and try not to look around too much! We were thrilled to see that Mamas Elisabeth and Leah Mpangala had returned from their safaris to Dar es Salaam (for weddings etc). The mamas were happy to receive their gifts, and we had a productive English lesson. I was able to exchange thoughts with a mwalimu (teacher) from the local secondary school. The mamas have been running into problems with the street leadership in terms of getting their TASAF application completed. The mwalimu explained to me that there is a misconception in Mabatini that the mamas are (personally) receiving a lot of money and other support from the foreigners involved with the project; as such, the street leader is not willing to help them as he did in the past. We hope to get support from Kivulini and City Council to mediate the issue, as this misunderstanding could be very detrimental to the program. We were invited to stay for rice and beans with the mamas before returning home (with 9 ½ litres of yogurt on our heads) to spend a quiet night in.

We woke up to a very cloudy city on Thursday (the 8th). We walked to our 9am meeting with Dr. Changalucha at NIMR to discuss problems with the production and distribution of probiotic milk to the community kitchen. Changalucha promised to speak to the parties involved (the milk supplier and the microbiology department) and to call a meeting later on with everyone to discuss the issue. After NIMR, we walked to the Nyakahoja Dispensary to get Alison checked out – she was feeling quite under the weather. Unfortunately, she was diagnosed with malaria (again! 2 rings!) but was able to start her medication regime right away. I had been in contact with Joseph Mlinzi (the mayor’s assistant) all morning, trying to arrange meetings with the TASAF coordinator (to solicit support for the completion of the mamas’ application) and to get information on BRELA (the organization that facilitates registration of business names), to no avail. Alison and I decided to head to City Council and try to find the appropriate individuals on our own. It turned out that we ran into Mlinzi in the office, and were informed that the TASAF coordinator was in Arusha and that BRELA issues are better handled through the Regional Commissioner’s office. A good try, nevertheless!

We stopped by the internet on the way home so that I could download BRELA forms and information from their website. After a quick lunch at home, we ventured back into town for our Swahili lessons and on to Tunza for yoga on the beach. Jenny (our friend & yoga instructor) brought her entire teenage soccer team along to participate, so we had a very full beach! Jenny has organized a soccer tournament to take place on World AIDS Day (December 1st)… she had orchestrated everything from the formation of the teams to the recruitment of sponsors (from both Tanzania and the US) for jerseys, trophies, shoes etc. A very impressive effort, that’s for sure! After yoga, we went to Claire’s with Jenny, Janine and Henk for dinner and board games.

Charlie, enjoying a snack of yogurt and mango at Forever Angels.

Alison and I were at our computers again on Friday morning (the 9th) inputting medical data from the orphanage and working on the Tukwamuane business balance sheet (which will be used to determine the working cost of a portion of yogurt), respectively. I prepared an English test for the mamas and popped down to the Mlango Mmoja internet café to send some questions home. Later, Alison and I walked up to Mabatini to spend some time at the kitchen. We chatted with the mamas and some Kivulini staff who were there before travelling to Bwiru to deliver yogurt to the orphanage and spend some time with the children.

Another 'Angel'... Michael, with an impressive yogurt mustache.

In the late afternoon, we returned to Mabatini, where we met Mama Paskwalina and Nico (Isaac’s friend). Nico is the pastor of a Roman Catholic Church in Nyakato, and was kind enough to agree to translate for us every once in a while. Together, we travelled to Mahina, where we met with about fifteen HIV+ individuals who receive the yogurt on a regular basis. While the faculty were here, it was suggested that we obtain medical records from the Mahina members so that their CD4 counts could be examined. This may provide a method of measuring the effectiveness of probiotics in treating the effects of HIV/AIDS. The community members agreed to assist us with this investigation, and were able to express some of their concerns and frustrations with the project. They have established a system where one individual travels to Mabatini to pick up the yogurt for everyone else… each member then contributes 100 Tsh (about 8 cents) towards transportation and travel time – the yogurt is otherwise free. Some individuals stated that they sometimes are unable to come up with the money to put towards the yogurt and therefore can’t take it every day as they should. They also complained that they had been promised a kitchen of their own by the Canadians but hadn’t seen anything happen yet. Mama Paskwalina was a great mediator and gently reminded the group that there were individuals in Mwanza who pay a great deal more to access the yogurt each day, and that the Mabatini mamas also had to wait for a long time to have their kitchen developed. She advised them to remain strong and patient, which they agreed to do. We returned home to have dinner with Ruben and Claire before Claire and I went into town to meet some friends and celebrate the arrival of the weekend.

On Saturday morning (the 10th), Alison and I met Lauren and Claire in town to do a bit of fabric/material shopping… we’re trying to make the most of having tailors available before our return home. We experienced our only sketchy market experiences so far as I was held by one man who was demanding money from me, another tried to slip my ring off of my hand, and Alison later discovered that her bag had been slashed by a blade of some kind. Luckily, there was no harm done and no property lost. We attributed the increase in ‘activity’ on the fact that we were travelling in a group of four, making us more conspicuous. We went to Tunza in the afternoon and watched the waves crash against the shore while having a ‘tea party’ on the sand with Didier (our French friend who is building a bank in Mwanza). We stayed at Tunza for a pojke on the beach under the stars, before going into town to dance with friends.

Enjoying freshly harvested coconuts (the 'Tunza Special') courtesy of Jan!

I spent Sunday morning (the 11th) editing Jodie’s evaluation of Kivulini’s activities from 2004-2007 and indulging in a new book which I borrowed from Claire. We were slow to get going but eventually went into town, where I managed to find a pair of cheap black high heels for the Charity Ball (I didn’t think that rubber flip-flops, Birkenstocks or my Crocs would be appropriate for a formal event). Yes, I bought high heels in Africa… unfortunately I had to leave them at the store have the insole glued back in, so I paid for half of the final price and received my receipt on a piece of torn cardboard… AWA! We caught a dala-dala to Saba Saba (the big market fairground where the trade fair was held) to browse the Sunday market, before walking on to Tunza to spend a quiet afternoon reading our novels and playing Scrabble. When a thunderstorm rolled in, we decided to relocate to Major’s place to watch a movie, and drove into town later to meet Ruben for dinner.

I know that I should find another resource to help explain aspects of my time in Africa, but I have found Karen Blixen’s prose to provide a lovely and accurate description of many of the details of life that we have encountered during our time here. This week, I’ll sign off with her interpretation of the slow pace of everything on this continent: “Natives dislike speed, as we dislike noise; it is to them, at the best, hard to bear. They are also on friendly terms with time, and the plan of beguiling or killing it does not come into their heads. In fact the more time you can give them, the happier they are, and if you commission a Kikuyu to hold your horse while you make a visit, you can see by his face that he hopes you will be a long, long time about it. He does not try to pass the time then, but sits down and lives.” This is a philosophy that I have really tried to embrace (though it’s often difficult for me to swallow!) in Tanzania… and an outlook on life that I think all Westerners need to learn from. Within several short weeks, I will be back in the break-neck pace of life in North America… here’s hoping I will still be able to find some ‘slow’ moments to appreciate life and all it has to offer.

Last Thursday's pink sky at Tunza... I will never grow tired of African sunsets!

Tanzania – Wiki Kumi na Tatu

2007-11-06T04:31:00.000-05:00

Two Zanzibari beauties!

Alison and I woke up on Monday morning (the 29^th) to the sun burning down on Mwanza, so we opted to work inside for as long as we could. We spent the morning at our computers, typing out blog entries and English lessons. Eventually, we couldn’t excuse ourselves from the city any longer and headed into town for yet another appointment at “Uhamiaji”… the dreaded immigration office. This time we came armed with all the documents, letters, passport photos and US dollars that we’d been told we’d need. We were advised to return “kesho, kesho” (“tomorrow, tomorrow”, a very typical Tanzanian solution to any problem), and set off on the rest of the day’s errands. We attempted to access the internet (unsuccessfully), stopped by U-Turn to pick up cake mix to celebrate our roommate’s birthday, grabbed a cheap & filling lunch at MDBI (the equivalent of 80 cents for a full plate of food), and onwards to the travel agency to attempt to firm up hotel bookings for our weekend trip… unfortunately our agent wasn’t in, so we moved on. Eventually, we found a working internet connection at a café, so we were able to catch up on some emails before heading to Mabatini to teach. The mamas’ English is progressing quite well and most of our frustration lies in our inability to properly explain the grammatical concepts to them in Swahili so that they understand the nuances of the lessons… it might not be a bad idea for future interns to consider obtaining a TEOSL designation before travelling to Africa in order to better direct the Mamas’ studies.

From Mabatini, Alison and I went to Tunza to deliver another 7 ½ litres of yogurt to our ex-pat customers. In the month of October, we sold over 60 litres of yogurt to “wazungus” at a ‘premium’ price… higher than what the yogurt is sold for in Mabatini because we know that the wazungu market can easily absorb the cost. Alison dropped off the cake mix in Tunza’s kitchen and popped the whole thing in the oven to bake during our yoga class. After class, we went into town with Claire, Major and Tini (a German woman who is here building a preschool) to meet Ruben for his birthday dinner at Isamilo Lodge. We had a lovely evening, and Ruben made his wishes for the new year ahead.

Ruben, Alison and I celebrating his 23rd birthday.

On Tuesday morning (the 30^th), we headed into town early, hoping to get online before the afternoon rush messed up the network. Unfortunately, we had no success. We walked on to the travel agency to meet our agent; however, when she tried to tell us that every hotel on the island was booked up, we decided to take the matter into our own hands. An hour later, we had a place booked on the popular north beach. Score one point for Alison and Meaghan! After further failed attempts to get online at two more internet cafés, we took a deep breath over lunch in town. We stopped by the post office to send some letters home and decided to try the internet café that we always see advertised. Luckily, they had a working connection but a 45 minute wait for a computer. In the meantime, we decided to quickly return to “Uhamiaji” to pick up our renewed volunteer visas. We were given our receipts but were told to return “kesho, kesho” to have our passports stamped. We rolled our eyes (AWA… Africa Wins Again!) and returned to the post office to spend a bit of time online. In the café, Alison met a local banker who promised to help us find a good rate to exchange Tanzanian shillings to US dollars for our trip to Zanzibar… you never have to look far to find someone in this town who is willing to help you in ways that we are unaccustomed to in North America! We rushed to our Swahili lessons on the other side of town, picking up some produce along the way. After class, we swam laps at the International School with Claire and Manuela before preparing a delicious Greek-themed meal (inspired by Manuela’s Grecian backpacking trip last year) at Claire’s place. We returned home to large piles of laundry to hand-wash, and Alison kindly prepared the English lesson for the following day as I could barely keep my eyes open!

We departed early on Wednesday morning (the 31^st) to meet Mama Paskwalina at the bottom of the hill at Mabatini. We took a dala-dala together to the SIDO office to meet with the Regional Manager, Damian Changh’a. Together, we discussed the logistics of getting Tukwamuane’s yogurt certified by TBS (the Tanzanian Bureau of Standards) and by the TFDA (the Tanzanian Food and Drug Administration). He explained to us that a lot of these organizations are quite corrupt and to approach them requires some delicate tip-toeing. We agreed that it might be a good idea to hold off on chasing after these designations until the mamas acquire a larger building where they will have space to refine their production system. Damian gave us a new contact with BRELA (the organization which registers business names in Tanzania)… this effort has been undertaken by previous WHE interns but has not yet been completed. Damian also advised us regarding packaging, labelling, distribution, and obtaining a new translator for the project (Alison and I have found it extremely challenging to not have one, and we anticipate that new interns would be lost without one!). After our discussion, we met with a couple representatives from TFS (Tools for Solidarity), a group out of Belfast which organizes the equipment required for basic trades and sends it to Africa. Currently, TFS is building a new sewing facility for local artisans.

On our way back to the dala-dala, Mama Paskwalina made a contact with some of the tradespeople who work outside of SIDO… they requested that she return in the afternoon with 20 litres of yogurt to sell to them. We hope that opportunities like this will provide the mamas with a steady increase in their sales and help them to expand their business to serve the community. As we walked back to the kitchen, we picked up a small radio as a “zawadi” (gift) for the mamas. We dropped off their English lesson, picked up yogurt for the orphanage and drove to Bwiru to deliver it. We unsuccessfully attempted the internet when we got back into town, then walked to “Uhamiaji”, where we were told to return at 3pm for our stamps. We grabbed a quick lunch, withdrew Tanzanian shillings at the bank, and waited in line to exchange currency. After 25 minutes of waiting, the teller informed us that it was ‘very complicated’ to purchase US dollars (I don’t know how complicated it could possibly be?), so we made use of our banker contact. Giovan showed up after less than 10 minutes and took us to his old place of employment, where we obtained our money within 2 minutes. We returned to “Uhamiaji” and finally (after seven trips) finalized the renewal of our visas, maintaining our legal status in Tanzania! Afterwards, we finally succeeded in getting online… later returned home for a quiet night at the apartment, packing and preparing for our trip to Zanzibar.

On Thursday morning (the 1^stof November), Alison and I flew out of Mwanza to Dar es Salaam en route to Zanzibar. In Dar, we picked up our baggage from a conveyor belt full of plastic buckets tied with twine (most likely containing fish)… nothing but the best for African travellers! After shooing away Maasai porters (I can’t imagine how I would have felt if this had been my first African airport experience… the Nairobi airport isn’t quite so showy in terms of exposing tourists to ‘traditional’ East Africa), we killed some time in the airport’s internet café, then moved on to the international departure Duty Free shops. I spent the better part of an hour perusing the bookstores (making a list of ‘to-reads’ for when I return home) and sniffing perfume (a very foreign concept to me right now). Before we left Dar, we called Missy to wish her a happy birthday… unfortunately, we must have had very bad timing because the call obstructed our ears from the announcement that our plane was boarding. Luckily, an airport attendant recognized us and advised us that our plane was about to leave… cue Meaghan and Alison sprinting across the tarmac, climbing onto the plane just in time for our 15 min flight to the island of Zanzibar. We shuttled into Stonetown, found a room at Jambo Guest House and settled in before leaving to explore the city. Stonetown has a rich historical and cultural history, with major influences from the Portuguese, British, and Arabic settlers who established themselves in the city over the years. The city used to be the main port for the African slave trade, receiving over 60,000 slaves each year from the African mainland and selling them to buyers all over the Indian Ocean. We explored the narrow cobble-stoned streets on our way to Forodhani Gardens, a busy park on the shore where vendors sell skewers of meat and seafood into the night. We ate our first Zanzibari dinner there, slightly put off by the taste of fuel on our food, but enjoying the boisterous atmosphere of the Gardens. Later, we met a pair of travellers (Canadian and British) who were on a several month long Overland-truck tour of Africa. We went to a balconied restaurant to enjoy some of their stories over cups of fragrant spiced tea before returning to our guest house for the night.

Alison bargaining hard at Forodhani Gardens.

On Friday morning (the 2^nd), we embarked on our very-touristy spice tour. Zanzibar is famous for its spices, evident from the ever-present scents wafting through the air. We walked through a spice farm, discovering various production methods of henna, jackfruit, Zanzibari apples, coriander, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, cocoa, lemongrass, vanilla, peppercorn, coffee, turmeric, coriander, ‘lipstick’ trees, ginger, etc. etc. We looked into a Persian bath built for the Sultan’s wife, and ate lunch under the leafy canopies of the fruit trees. We decided to take a dala-dala back into town to avoid a full-day tour, and spent the afternoon wandering through Stonetown’s streets, picking up gifts to bring home with us. Everyone visiting Zanzibar is a tourist and free prey for the locals, but Alison and I were able to avoid most of their attacks by surprising them with our (limited) knowledge of Swahili. We went to Freddy Mercury’s (yes, the Queen frontman was born and raised on spice island!) to watch the sunset
over dinner before tucking ourselves in at the guest house.

A cocoa tree sample - delicious!

We left for Kendwa beach early on Saturday morning (the 3^rd). We decided to avoid the expensive taxi ride by braving the dala-dala with our luggage… unfortunately, through a very heated exchange with locals and the driver, we were overcharged for our trip north (about $2.00 CDN when we should have been charged $1.00) and fumed most of the way to the beach, especially during our 20 min walk to our hotel down a rocky dirt road with our rolling suitcases (!!). Luckily, our frustration dissipated at the sight of the serene Indian Ocean lapping the white sand beach. We spent a very relaxing day on the beach, then watched the sunset silhouette handfuls of dhow boats floating in the sea. We had dinner with some Quebecers who we met in Stonetown… Marie-Yves, Frederic and Max, who are all in the army & air force. Fred (Marie-Yves’ boyfriend) and Max are currently stationed in Afghanistan, taking leave in Tanzania before heading back to the war. It certainly gave us some perspective, especially about how challenging a long-distance relationship can really be!

The idyllic beaches of Zanzibar.

On Sunday morning (the 4^th), we had breakfast on the beach before setting out for a snorkelling trip at a nearby island. On our way, we were excited to come across several pods of dolphins travelling together across the bay. We spent a couple hours gazing down at the abundant sea-life around the coral reefs… amazing! Afterwards, we wasted away the rest of the afternoon in and out of the sand and sea, before joining our Canadian friends for dinner under the stars.

We left the beach for the airport on Monday morning (the 5^th) via taxi this time (we decided that it would be a bit too risky to attempt the dala-dala again when trying to make a flight!).
We were stopped along the way at a police blockade, where our driver was almost given a fine for not being properly licensed as a taxi service. He whispered to us (in Swahili) to tell the cop that we were his friends… after a very sketchy exchange, we were off scot-free and (thankfully) made our flight with no problem. When we arrived in Dar, we found out that our connecting flight to Mwanza was delayed. Luckily, the airline provided us with a delicious lunch at an Indian buffet, allowing us to kill time before travelling back home. We spent a very quiet night at home last night… unpacking, sharing our travel stories with Ruben, and preparing to get back into project work this week.

Enjoying the sun and sand at Kendwa Rocks.

I haven’t been able to put down my latest novel (Middlesex, by Jeffrey Eugenides), and I’ve been just as attached to many others which I’ve read during my time here. Without the “typical” entertainment sources that we have come accustomed to in the Western world (mostly associated with technology), I have fallen even more in love with the literature in my life. I came across a perfect thought in Out of Africa, one of my latest literary partners… “Books in a colony play a different part in your existence from what they do in Europe; there is a whole side of your life which there they alone take charge of; and on this account, according to their quality, you feel more grateful to them, or more indignant with them, than you will ever do in civilized countries.” (Karen Blixen)

The sun setting over the port in Stonetown.

Tanzania – Wiki Kumi na Mbili

2007-10-29T07:28:00.000-04:00

"Downtown" Buswelu.

We were stranded at home for a couple hours on Tuesday morning (the 23^rd) with a raging thunderstorm outside, so Doug and I took the opportunity to get our safari experience on paper so that we wouldn’t forget anything. Mr. Tito (the Batiki art man) stopped by our place to sell us some of his cards and artwork. After he left, we took a cab (arranged through Kivulini) up to the primary school in Buswelu to meet with the headmaster. We had a number of letters and pictures from students at Tecumseh Primary School in London, Ontario, to pass on to their African ‘pen-pals’. We spoke with the headmaster and arranged to return in November to pick up the replies from the students so that we can deliver them upon our return to Canada. We grabbed a quick lunch at Kuleana Pizzeria and spent a bit of time online at the internet café before sending Doug back to the apartment and continuing on to our Swahili lesson. We met Claire (absent from class due to microfinance training) at the International School to swim a few laps, then walked back to Mlango Mmoja together to cook dinner at our apartment. Ruben convinced us to join him in his favourite card game, Cow Trade (or Koe-handel, as the Dutch label reads)… no one but him really understands the appeal of the game, but it was a nice evening anyways.

On Wednesday morning (the 24^th), I woke up and prepared the English lesson for the afternoon while we waited for our friend Lawreen (a Mary-Knoll lay-volunteer) to show up so that we could escort her to our tailor in town. The tailor is in high demand as we approach Mwanza’s annual Charity Ball in mid-November and we all realize that we did not think to pack for a semi-formal event. From the tailor, we stopped by a souvenir shop that sells carvings, as well as the Maasai market so that Doug could pick up some gifts for home. Alison and I had passport photos taken for our visa renewal (“If you actually look like your passport photo, you aren’t well enough to travel.” – Sir Vivian Fuchs), and then for lunch at the MDBI Eating Point, the cheap & traditional restaurant that Alison and I love. We felt energetic enough afterwards to take Doug to the city market to negotiate for the purchase of a few traditional Maasai blankets. We finally returned home in time to do some work on our laptops before walking to Mabatini to teach the day’s English lesson. I carried up several more pairs of reading glasses to the delight of the mamas… they are thrilled with them and wanted me to pass their appreciation on to my mother.

Sabina, myself, Paskwalina, and Alison modelling new reading glasses (tags still attached).

We came home from Mabatini after a couple hours and ran into some commotion in Mlango Mmoja – the police were arresting someone and there was a rowdy crowd watching the action. The police fired a few warning shots from an air gun into the sky… no real danger but still a bit of a surprise to see on the way home. Around the corner, we ran into a street performance from the same theatre group that we had watched with the faculty. They recognized us, and Alison took the full brunt of their excitement as one of the traditional dancers performed his wild dance at her feet. From home, we took a cab to the Tanzania Breweries for a very quick repeat tour – we were trying to ensure that Doug saw as much as possible during his time here! After our tour, we were invited to the company pub with Lucas (a head brewer and one of our industry contacts), where each employee gets a free beer or
two after their shift. From the brewery, we decided to walk to Tunza Lodge for dinner to introduce Doug to some of our friends. Ruben joined us by taking a motorcycle taxi from home – something that Alison and I have not been brave enough to attempt yet. We had a long talk over dinner about being swindled by locals who associate mzungus with money and will not hesitate to triple their prices for you. Jan’s (Tunza’s owner) theory is a good one – don’t put up with dishonesty and be consistent if you want to be respected in the long run. I received a text from Beatrice in Dar during dinner, informing me that the Hon. Salome Mbatia (the Deputy Minister who visited our project in August) had been killed in a road accident when a timber truck hit her vehicle head on. After having been in contact with her office just last week to arrange a meeting with the Danone consultant, it was very hard to see how life can change in an instant. We were very sad to hear the news… she was truly a wonderful woman who worked extremely hard for the betterment of her country.

Sikitu and her grandmother on Bugando Hill.

I spent an early couple of hours on Thursday morning (the 25^th) drafting emails to friends and family to save to my USB disk and send out at the internet café later in the day. Later, Alison and I worked for a while on the marketing package that we will distribute to hotels and restaurants in Mwanza to promote the mamas’ product. We waited for Pendo (our housekeeper) to arrive and take us up Bugando Hill (the unplanned slum near our house) to find the home of a girl named Sikitu. Sikitu was orphaned by HIV/AIDS and contracted the disease while caring for her mother. She and her grandmother (who has lost 3 children to the disease) live together in a house that Kivulini helped them construct. Dallas Curow, a former WHE intern, fundraised at home to support Sikitu’s family and asked that a gift be passed on to them. It was wonderful to be a part of something so life-changing for a struggling family in Mwanza. From Bugando Hill, Alison, Doug and I went to most of the internet cafés in town before finding one that (kind of) worked. Afterwards, we sent Doug home and walked to our Swahili class. On the way, we saw a woman who was half dressed, crying and holding her head as she walked down the street. There were quite a number of people on the street at the time, but she didn’t seem to see any of them. Alison and I felt very torn, as we wanted to help but knew that with our limited grasp of Swahili, we wouldn’t be completely effective. We arrived at class feeling very shaken up and useless… not one of our finer moments in Mwanza. After class, we went to Tunza for yoga, dinner, and a relaxing campfire on the beach.

Sharing a laugh with Gracie at Forever Angels.

On Friday morning (the 26^th), I woke up early to write the day’s English test before we were expected at Sekou Toure hospital (where Ruben is conducting his study) for a tour of the facility by the matron. I had expected the hospital to be a bit more “Race Against Time”-esque, with 3 people to a bed and others on the floor, but that wasn’t the case. We were taken through admissions, the dental and eye clinics, the CTC centre (treatment for those with HIV/AIDS), the pediatric ward, and the operating theatre. Nothing was really functioning as the power was out in the city and the hospital does not have back-up generators (but they do own and use ventilators… not a good investment, if you ask me). It was very interesting to see the reality and challenges of an urban hospital in Africa. Doug, Alison and I stopped at home to do some work before heading to Mabatini, and onwards to the orphanage in Bwiru. On Friday evening, we hosted a couple friends for dinner (finally, a successful attempt at ugali!) before going out to the Tilapia Hotel for an early Halloween party.

Alison, Claire and I in our pirate costumes!

On Saturday morning, Doug, Alison and I met one of Pendo’s daughters and followed her to their family home. We met Pendo’s eight children and sat for a while in their living room/bedroom, reading English workbooks and looking at pictures, while Alison accompanied some of Pendo’s sons to the market to pick up food for lunch. We set off together with the family to the dala-dala station at the market in town to travel to Nyasaka, where Pendo’s mother lives. Doug had a very intense first dala-dala experience as I counted 26 people and 4 chickens squished into a vehicle the size of a VW van. After the 25 minute ride through the area, we got out and walked another 15 minutes – such an abundance of sights and sounds (i.e. almost getting run over by a herd of goats running very fast downhill, boys playing at makeshift pool table using marbles and pencils as cues, and being led through the pathways by Pendo’s daughter who couldn’t be more than 10 years old, toting a massive bag of charcoal on her head). When we arrived, we were greeted by Pendo’s mother (Maimuna), a beautiful woman in black with lots of jewellery on (including a hoop in her nose). We all helped to prepare the meal, were taught how to weave straw to make decorative mats, and enjoyed the rowdy family atmosphere of the house. After we ate, the children helped to clean up both the dinner and the house itself as Pendo had her hair braided by her mother. We set out running for the dala-dala through a rainstorm, with the children stopping along the way to dance to loud music on a basketball court elevated above the grasses… I felt like I was in a movie! It was such a nice experience to be so welcomed into their family – we felt very lucky.

Pendo's family in Nyasaka.

On Saturday evening, we drove out to Igombe to spend a relaxing night camping by the lake. We met a friend of Major’s, Boni, who returned to Mwanza from his studies in the Netherlands for the funeral of his half-brother, who passed away at the age of 31 due to complications from HIV/AIDS. We had a great evening chatting with everyone around the fire with a full moon shining down on us.

On Sunday morning (the 28^th), we packed up camp and drove back to town to drop Doug off at the airport for his flight to Dar es Salaam (and onwards to Zanzibar). We spent a relaxing day at Tunza, learning to wakeboard (so far Alison and I have been unsuccessful in getting up on the board but both feel like we’re just at the cusp of figuring it out!) and enjoying the warm African sun.

This coming week will be a busy one as we reorganize our project efforts before travelling to Zanzibar on Thursday morning (returning next Monday afternoon). Alison and I have been looking forward to this trip for quite some time and can’t wait to share our experience with everyone upon our return.

Tunza's vibrant flora.

Tanzania – Wiki Kumi na Moja

2007-10-23T06:32:00.000-04:00

A dancer from the Upendo performance group.

I was woken up early on Tuesday (the 16th – 2 months pre-departure!) by first a call and then a visit from the car rental company who didn’t really ‘get’ our communication about picking Ivan up at Tilapia and delivering him to the airport, but we managed to get everything straightened out. After a very hectic weekend hosting Ivan, Alison and I took some much-needed time to reorganize ourselves at home in preparation for a busy week ahead. I was able to pass on lots of contact information to Ivan before his flight, including for the Deputy Minister of Community Development, Gender and Children, a representative from Heifer International, and some sources in Dar that would be able to provide some pertinent research studies of relevance to Ivan’s survey of Tanzania. Alison and I later made a second attempt to get answers out of the officers at Immigration regarding our visas but didn’t have much success (again!). We then split up – Alison to the travel agency to try and arrange details of her trips with her mom in December, and me to the bank and to the safari company to finish paying for my trip. After two attempts to find a working internet connection, we finally had success and were able to get some work done online before our Swahili lesson. We have had a new student join our class – a new friend of ours, Manuela, from Germany. We think it’s a bit unfair that her degree is in African Studies and she has 2 years of Swahili behind her… but hopefully that will just force us to study a bit harder. After class, we grocery shopped, decided against a swim due to a poorly timed rain shower, and enjoyed a home-cooked dinner at Claire’s place.

On Wednesday (the 17th), Alison and I prepared a quick English lesson and took a round-about route to Mabatini due to some massive road-work being done in the area… the road is completely un-passable in spots by vehicle, and even motorcycles must be re-routed into and along storefronts. The kitchen was bustling with cooking and customers, so we just left the worksheets with the mamas and got to work helping to prepare the yogurt. In the early afternoon, we drove to the airport to pick up the faculty – Dr. Gregor Reid (my supervisor, a microbiologist), his daughter Jennifer, Dr. Isaac Luginaah (a health geography prof), his Ph.D. student Mary-Anne (also a Kenyan nun), and Mr. Douglas Keddy (who works for both the VP Research and the VP Communication at UWO). We dropped them off at the Hotel Tilapia before heading out with Gregor and Jennifer to Forever Angels to spend some time with the children. After swinging by our apartment to show off our humble home, we returned to Tilapia for dinner with Chairman Batenga of the Mwanza Chamber of Commerce. The dinner had been rearranged due to Maimuna’s travel plans, as the faculty was originally supposed to meet with her to discuss Kivulini’s involvement with the project. Mr. Batenga has continued to show support and interest in the project, and managed to arrange a meeting for us with the under-Secretary to the Regional Commissioner (RC) for the following morning. After dinner, we sat around with the faculty drafting a letter of support to provide to the RC’s office in the morning. One of the most exciting details of the faculty’s arrival was that they brought gifts and supplies from home – from Missy, Jackie and my mom… very exciting to get a little taste of home!

Dr. Reid sharing a smile with Tuliza at Forever Angels.

On Thursday morning (the 18th), I left with the driver to tell the women in Mabatini the day’s itinerary, while Alison printed and photocopied some documents for the day. We then travelled together to Tilapia and played rock-paper-scissors to see who would join the faculty for the visit at the RC’s office (in an attempt to keep the numbers low so that the meeting would be more productive). I lost, and capitalized on the hour I had at Tilapia to make the most of their (relatively) high-speed internet to get some emails out! The faculty returned without Alison, who remained at the office to help compose a letter for the RC’s office to pass on to Ivan with further information about the Mwanza Region. I escorted all of the visitors to Mabatini for a visit to the kitchen and a meeting with the mamas. The faculty were able to pass on details to the mamas about a new UWO/World Bank initiative in Kenya, about new options for packaging (which has been a major challenge at the kitchen over the years), and our hopes to eventually move the mamas to a bigger location. They also focused on the details that need to be straightened out to ensure that the mamas obtain a financially sustainable project on their own… definitely something that has been the main focus of my trip since I arrived! It was great to hear fresh ideas and promises of continued support from the faculty, but I found myself hoping that all parties wouldn’t get too caught up in the excitement of the moment because a lot of the ideas will take a while to implement… all positive steps forward for the project, however, whenever they come to fruition. From Mabatini, we walked to the Orange Tree Hotel nearby to watch a drama group affiliated with the organization “Upendo” (love) perform an awareness-raising production about HIV/AIDS. The recurring themes were infidelity, violence against women, and dishonesty. It was informative but sad to see that these are such major issues in Tanzanian society. From the play, we returned to Tilapia where we had a quick working lunch before Gregor and Ruben were due at NIMR for a meeting regarding Ruben’s study, while Doug and I went into town to finalize all the details of our safari. When we got back to the hotel, Alison had finally returned from the RC’s office after completing the letter and getting the appropriate signatures on it – poor girl, what a bad game of rock-paper-scissors to win! We watched a rainbow grow over the lake before having dinner with Simon and Dr. Joseph Mwanga from NIMR. Alison and I started night one of bunking together in my bed in to prepare for hosting our (temporary) fourth roommate – Doug!

Ruben, Doug, Isaac, Jennifer, Gregor and Mama Joyce sampling yogurt in Mabatini.

We met the faculty in Mabatini on Friday morning (the 19th) to continue our discussion with the mamas – this time we covered the management of bank accounts, the separation of yogurt preparation from other baking in the kitchen (i.e. mandizi buns and chapati). I was also able to give the mamas a gift from my mom – lots and lots of reading glasses to help them with their English lessons. It was wonderful to see their faces light up when they could see clearly – it makes me understand how fulfilled Bre will be as an optometrist, giving the gift of sight! I have many pairs to deliver still, so pictures will follow. From Mabatini, we had the faculty check out of Tilapia and drove onwards to the airport to see off Gregor, Jennifer and Mary-Anne (Isaac couldn’t get a flight out pre-weekend, unfortunately). It was sad to see them go – it had been really nice to host so many Canadians and to receive such great support from WHE’s home front. Alison stopped by the RC office quickly to finish up the previous day’s work before we travelled to Forever Angels to deliver their weekly ration of yogurt and to introduce Doug to the kids. On Friday evening, we ate with Dr. Mwanga from NIMR again at Tilapia, this time with Isaac’s friend Nico who is a Roman Catholic priest in Mwanza now. The two went to boarding school together in Ghana… what a small world! I came home to the apartment with Doug, packed and tucked myself into bed to prepare for an early up and a great adventure.

Twigas in the Serengeti

On Saturday morning (the 20th), Doug and I woke up early and joined our driver (Francis, a friend of Danny’s) and cook (Isaac) to drive to the Serengeti. It was nice to see Doug’s reaction to the surroundings as we left the city behind and ventured into the more rural areas… I have definitely started to take the sights and sounds of Africa for granted! We arrived at the gate to the park at the same time as Claire and some of the staff from CRS… great timing, allowing us to wish each other “safari njema” (have a good trip). As soon as we drove through the gates, the animals started to appear… the ‘usual’ assortment of baboons, Vervet monkeys, zebra, Thompson’s and Grant’s gazelles, impala and wildebeest, and then my first twiga (giraffe)!! I’ve been so looking forward to seeing a twiga since my arrival in Tanzania. From there, we were treated to amazing sights one after the other – a herd of 20+ elephants crossing in front of us, a massive herd of zebra and wildebeest surrounding a lone hippopotamus on land, crocodiles peeking out at us from the Grumeti River, lions laying in wait for their meals not 2 feet from the vehicle, etc. Around a particularly lush area of the Grumeti, Francis told us that the area was quite good for spotting predators, and he was absolutely right. We found an ever-elusive leopard resting in a tree and were patient enough to wait for him to get up, crawl down the tree, and wander off through the grass. After seeing a herd of hundreds and hundreds of Thompson’s gazelle feeding in the grassland, we came across a cheetah with a freshly caught gazelle. We watched her eat the whole animal, all the while fending off vultures who wanted a piece of her kill. Moving on, we found a lioness relaxing by a water hole. To our amazement, we watched a gazelle stumble (literally, I think he must have been sick) across the road and down to the water hole to drink. The lioness got down on her haunches and waited quietly before pouncing and killing the gazelle before our eyes. A male lion and a few other females came to join in the meal, not before a tense standoff between a group of giant water buffalo and the male lion, both trying to stake their claim to the area.

A cheetah scaring away a pack of vultures, who were trying to move in on her kill.

We drove through the Serengeti on to Ngorongoro Crater through breathtaking Maasailand. We watched the arid landscape develop into misty mountains, speckled with Maasai kraals (homesteads) and groups of cattle with their Maasai herders, draped in their traditional brilliant red and blue blankets… the whole landscape was more beautiful than I could ever hope to describe accurately. We arrived at our campsite on the crater’s rim and had to bundle up – it’s “Canada” cold up there, and I have realized how much my body has acclimatized to Sub-Saharan Africa… I was really shivering! The view was amazing… nestled right in what is considered to be the cradle of civilization.

A leopard climbing down from its tree perch in the Serengeti.

On Sunday morning (the 21st) we woke up very early to start on our half-day game drive through the crater. There will be no way for me to describe the beauty of the crater in the morning light – blue/purple hills frame the golden grassland surrounding a blue alkaline lake, and misty clouds seem to pour in over the crater’s edge. The crater’s wildlife is abundant – we came across zebra, gazelle, flamingo, and hippos grazing together right away. We saw hippos mating in hippo pool, home to more than 60 of the massive creatures. Two lion couples sat together nearby, majestically surveying their domain. A lone bull elephant strolled through the area, embodying grace, wisdom and power at once. We completed the “Big Five” safari animals when we came across the very-endangered black rhino feeding a distance away from the car. Our experience in the crater was truly an unforgettable one… a real feast for the senses. We lunched at the campsite and then drove back into the Serengeti, running into herds of giraffe, mating lions, 5 lion cubs napping on their own, and a few herds of elephant. We settled in at our new campsite and watched as the sunset saturated the African sky with colour. I am blown away by this continent every day.

On Monday morning, I forced Doug to get up with me at 5.45am to watch a spectacular sunrise over the plains. We embarked on our final day of game drives, taking lots of pictures of the more “typical” animals that we hadn’t paid enough attention to on the first couple of days. After watching a pair of lionesses and their cubs stalk a herd of zebra, we educated ourselves about the ecology of the area at the visitor’s centre before driving out the Serengeti’s Western Corridor. Francis was determined to get me a good shot of a crocodile, so we drove alongside the Grumeti River for a while, crossing a rope bridge just as a massive croc swam by underneath. Before stopping for lunch, we saw many herds of elephant trekking towards the river, and were amazed to see them advancing towards our picnic area a little while later. We positioned ourselves in the car (with no one else around, thankfully) and watched as over 150 elephant (including some very special babies!) slowly walked past us en route to the river. This was by far the highlight of the trip for me, and was nothing short of magical. After driving down to the river to watch them feed, we set off for home. On our way out of the park, we found a family of giraffe a lot like the Horgans – two parents and three babies who all took off at a gallop when we arrived. Beautiful!

A mama tembo leading her baby to water.

I know that my paltry words have not done my safari justice, but can promise everyone at home that I have more than enough pictures to share! We were extremely lucky to have seen everything that we did… Doug and I both agree that the trip far surpassed our expectations. I came across a quote by Bernhard Grzimek (one of the early champions for conservation in Tanzania) at the visitor’s centre that I thought was very suitable to sum up my safari experience: “But when, fifty years from now, a lion walks into the red dawn and roars resoundingly, it will quicken their hearts whether they are Africans or Europeans, or whether they speak English, German, Russian or Swahili. They will stand in quiet awe as, for the first time in their lives, they watch twenty thousand zebras wander across the endless plains.”

A lion cub napping near the plains.

Tanzania - Wiki Kumi

2007-10-16T07:11:00.007-04:00

Finding beauty everywhere in Tanzania.

Alison and I spent Monday morning (the 8^th) working on our laptops at home – me on the Tukwamuane business analysis, and Alison on an application for a grant from the upcoming Mwanza Charity Ball. We ran errands in town in the early afternoon – to the tailor to pick up our dresses and leave them again for alterations, to officially book my safari (!!), and to the internet to send project emails home and do some research online. We found out that the consultant would arrive in Mwanza on Saturday, which was later than originally planned and gave us a few extra days to get work done before our hosting duties started. Over a quick lunch at home, we heard about Ruben’s weekend in the villages surrounding Bunda. His experiences resonated of the classic AIDS-crisis stories – families headed by children or an elderly grandmother, children playing on their parents’ graves, and unimaginable hunger and poverty. After a thunderstorm passed through the area, Ruben and his friend returned to the small home of a woman who didn’t have proper shelter to see how she was faring. They committed to provide her with a new sheet metal roof and commissioned a local man to build it. Ruben found the whole experience to be very overwhelming but eye-opening, giving him a better appreciation of the struggles that so many people in this country have to deal with every day. On Monday afternoon, Alison and I went to Mabatini to teach English and to start organizing the mamas for the upcoming visitors to the kitchen. After yoga, we came home for a quick dinner and worked on reports until bedtime.

I started Tuesday morning (the 9^th) with a hearty breakfast of eggs… eggs in Tanzania often come still covered in feathers from the chicken, as well as unidentified muck, which makes it necessary to really scrub the shells before the egg is cracked. For some reason, the taste is a bit off from Canadian eggs, and the yolk is a much paler yellow… looking forward to being reunited with ‘normal’ eggs when I get back home. I worked on my report for while before going to the internet with Alison to try and send off the charity ball application. We had planned to be there for 15 min and were still trying to send it off an hour later… we decided to move on and try it again another day. After a handful of errands, we stopped for a “Swahili” lunch so that we could finish our homework. The Tanzanian staff at Kuleana Pizzeria got a real kick out of watching us complete our lessons, a handful of them came up with endless excuses to hover around our table to see the wazungu learn Swahili. We walked to the bank being trailed by several street boys yelling “Jackie! Jackie!” after us (I suppose all of us lanky Canadian brunettes look the same, since Jackie has been at home for almost 2 months). Travelled to Swahili lessons via the Maasai market (where they sell beads and handmade jewellery from little stalls) and the internet café (where we were unsuccessful in sending in the Charity Ball application yet again). Ran into a man on the street who found out that we work alongside Kivulini and told us his story: he used to be a street boy and was provided shelter at the Kuleana facility (where funds are directed from the pizzeria), where Maimuna (Kivulini’s Executive Director) was his teacher. He sees her as his mentor and was very proud to tell us that he now works as a painter and lives on his own. We swam laps at the International School pool after class and went back to Claire’s with Ruben for another culinary adventure – this time chili con carne with chocolate chip cookies.

Claire, Alison and Ruben sampling some sugar cane on the way home from the pool.

I woke up early on Wednesday morning (the 10^th) to finish the business analysis report before Alison and I left to town for the day. We walked to NIMR via a new scenic back route, and were able to help a local guy push his huge wheelbarrow of millet flour out of an irrigation ditch, completing our good deed for the day (just joking!). We met with Simon at NIMR (the microbiologist who maintains the probiotic cultures for the yogurt) to discuss glitches that are making the lab work challenging – not having someone present in the lab at all times who is responsible for the probiotics, and minor problems with pick up and delivery. We spent time again at the internet, where I managed to send off the business analysis file but Alison was still unsuccessful with the Charity Ball application. We received advice on how to alter the file to make it more “sendable” for the next attempt. After teaching English in Mabatini in the afternoon, we joined Claire at her boss’ house – Yemane, the director of Catholic Relief Services in Mwanza. Yemane was just back from Dar, where he picked up ingredients for a traditional Ethiopian meal of shiro – a sauce and meat dish that you eat by dipping/rolling with a very foamy sourdough flat bread. The views of Lake Victoria and the city centre from Yemane’s house in Capri Point (the very swanky area of Mwanza) were breathtaking… not a bad place to go home to every night.

We started Thursday (the 11^th) off with a trip to immigration – our volunteer visas are due to expire very soon and so we need to figure out how to renew as soon as possible. As we should have expected, the staff was unhelpful – after giving me about five different answers and five different quotes for the renewal, we decided to follow up with some of our contacts in town to see if there is an easier way of going about renewing. We finally had success in submitting the Charity Ball application – the third time’s the charm! After picking up a pile of supplies for a dinner party we planned to host on the weekend, we were very happy when a Kivulini vehicle spotted us and gave us a lift back to the apartment. Later in the afternoon, we walked to Swahili with 3L yogurt in hand for our customers (from CRS, Amani Girls’ Home, and Maryknoll) who pick up their order at Tunza during our yoga class. From yoga, we went for dinner with Henk, Janine, Claire, Major and Aaron to say goodbye to Aaron who is travelling for a month or so and exhibiting his photography.

Taking a break from chasing after his tire (a favourite past-time in Africa!).

On Friday morning (the 12^th) we prepared and delivered the English test to the mamas, and stayed for chai masala and chapati. We met Mama Paskwalina and walked to Mlango Mmoja to meet with the man who delivers the milk to the kitchen from the Bwiru supplier. As usual, I toted the 6L of yogurt for the orphanage on my head and was pleased to hear Mama Paskwalina shushing surprised Tanzanians by explaining that it’s not a big deal because I’m an African mama and live here.

Asante

sana, Mama Paskwalina. We took a cab to Illemela first; where we met a woman named Edina who closed her shop down and took us on to Bwiru in her pickup truck to see her cows (Alison and I were initially very confused about where we were headed and who everyone was). We arranged to return to see the cows be milked on Monday morning with the consultant, and walked on to Forever Angels to spend a hot afternoon outside with the children. On Friday evening, we spent a few busy hours in the kitchen preparing for our guests… we hosted some of our friends for a late Thanksgiving celebration, with a Mexican menu of fajitas. It was nice to host for once instead of always being the guests!

Finally meeting the real stars of Western Heads East/Tukwamuane.

Saturday (the 13^th) was a slow day that allowed me to orchestrate some last-minute details for the consultant’s arrival before taking a short trip into town with Claire and Alison to the city market. In the afternoon, Alison and I went to Mabatini to leave final instructions with the mamas before taking the driver to the airport to pick up Ivan le Mintier, a French man who works as a consultant for Nestle, Yoplait, and Danone. Ivan was recently involved in the launch of the first of Danone’s high-social impact communities in Bangladesh. Danone partnered with Grameen Bank (a microcredit initiative founded by Nobel Peace Prize winner Mohammed Yunus) to start a micro-factory that provides jobs for the community and produces a low-cost, highly-fortified yogurt product that is targeted to children to improve their nutritional status. The Bangladesh project continues to grow (to learn more about it, Google “Danone Communities” or “Danone, Grameen Bank”), and Ivan has been sent to Africa to find an appropriate site for project #2. As such, Alison and I found ourselves in a unique position with an opportunity to help sell Mwanza as a site for investment and development. Special thanks must go out first to Ellena Andoniou, a former WHE intern who put in countless hours in Canada to orchestrate both Ivan and the faculty’s visit. After picking Ivan up, we dropped him off at the Hotel Tilapia, and stayed for a conversation over tea and onwards to dinner with Maimuna. We stayed after dinner to keep Ivan company for the England/France rugby (World Cup) semi-final… unfortunately for Ivan, the English prevailed.

Alison, Ivan and I on the steps of the community kitchen with some of the yogurt mamas.

On Sunday morning (the 14^th), we picked Ivan up and took him to Mabatini to accompany the mamas to church. Unfortunately, he was having some problems with his vision and so I set off with him on a bit of a wild goose chase to attempt to find a clinic open on the Sunday morning of a holiday weekend (Eid – to celebrate the end of Ramadan). Luckily, we had some success and later returned to Mabatini to catch the end of the mass and have a long conversation with the Mamas in the kitchen, translated by Jimmy from Kivulini. From Mabatini, we stopped in town for a brief meeting over lunch, and drove onwards to the Kimkumaka Agricultural Training Facility. This project was established by an Australian, on land owned by the White Fathers Missionary group. Kimkumaka provides a place for local farmers to learn skills and network with each other. We received a brief tour from a student and then drove on to an abandoned dairy factory at Nyegezi. Both Jimmy and the driver thought they knew the way there, but we were turned around several times because of bad road conditions. We ended up picking up a boy from the side of the road and asked him to direct us. The Land Cruiser barely made it through the roads strewn with boulders and tree trunks… we were happy to find out that this was the back-road and that there was more clear access directly from town. The factory was running for a year and a half in 2003, but closed down without reason or warning, leaving the workers high and dry. One of the workers still lives on the land with his family, cultivating a very small plot of land, receiving a paltry guard’s salary, patiently waiting for the factory’s owner to return with work for him. It was very sad to see what a difficult turn the family’s life had taken because of the irresponsibility of the business owner. After looking at a few grocery stores in town (to check out pricing, merchandising etc) we dropped Ivan off at his hotel for a dinner meeting with a former manager of the Tanzanian Breweries.

Hanging out in the pig-pen at Kimkumaka.

Early on Monday morning (the 15^th), we left with a full car (Jimmy, Ruben, Alison, Ivan and I) to Bwiru to see the cows be milked. Ivan was very interested to know about the availability of milk in the area, the agricultural environment, and the challenges of distribution. From Bwiru, we went to Mabatini to receive a detailed description of the yogurt-making process from the Mamas working in the kitchen. We were then expected at Mwanza Textiles (Mwatex), where we received a full tour of the factory… it was very interesting and educational to see the detailed production of the colourful kangas and kitenges from a pile of raw cotton! Next, we went to SIDO in Nyakato to meet with the Regional Manager. Ivan was able to hear about the extensive success of small entrepreneurs in the area and about SIDO’s strong support of Tukwamuane women. We briefly stopped by Kivulini on our way back into town to pick up some reports from Maimuna before driving on to Tanzania Breweries by the lake. Again, we received a full tour of the plant from the director. Alison and I were remarking at how lucky we felt to have experienced so much in such a short period of time. We were happy to stop at home for a rest before heading back to Tilapia to review Tukwamuane’s business analysis with Ivan, and to receive advice about how to move forward with the project. We dropped him off at Isamilo Lodge for a dinner meeting with Chairman Batenga of the Mwanza Chamber of Commerce, and then went for a relaxing drink with Claire to talk about all the excitement we’d had over the last three days.

Checking out the first stages of beer-making at Tanzania Breweries.

Week 10 was certainly a very exciting one, and it gave us a great opportunity to learn more about what it takes to implement development projects. As Julius Nyerere (the first president of Tanzania) said, “You can’t address poverty without addressing the poor”. There are many considerations that must be made when undertaking a project in a developing country, but it is important to remember that it is often the simplest solutions that can have the biggest impact.

This coming week, we host faculty, staff and students from the University of Western Ontario. We look forward to discussing the project’s progress with them and hope to come to a better understanding of what needs to be done to improve the women’s business. I’m very excited to report that I will be leaving Mwanza on Saturday morning with one of the UWO staff, Mr. Douglas Keddy, to embark on a 3-day camping safari to the Serengeti and Ngorongoro Crater. I will return on Monday evening (the 22^nd) and look forward to sharing my adventure with everyone at home. Tutaonana (talk to you later)!

Tanzania - Wiki Tisa

2007-10-08T05:16:00.000-04:00

Week nine already… the time is flying here in Tanzania! On Monday (the 1st), Alison and I were very busy running little errands in town for the project after preparing the day’s English lesson and producing a large quantity of pamphlets about probiotics to supplement the supply at the trade fair. We stopped by a travel agency at noon with the intention of booking our flights to Zanzibar, but couldn’t as the agency’s system was down. We aimed to send a pile of project emails home at the internet café, but found that the café’s connection was also down, so we retraced our steps through town to a slower café where we were able to get a bit of work done. We’re learning to get very good at rolling with the punches in Mwanza… definitely one of the most important survival skills here. We spent the afternoon in Mabatini teaching and chatting with the mamas… we were there long enough to be invited to stay for a meal, and then joined the mamas at the schoolyard for a community meeting led by a Mabatini street leader. We were escorted home by members of the Tuelimishane youth group, who always take it upon themselves to teach us more Swahili as we walk (we’re thankful for any extra help we can get!). We had a visit on Monday evening from Mr. Tito the Batiki art man, who wanted to showcase some of his work for us. He arranged the meeting with us as he rode by on his bicycle earlier in the day… typical of TZ business deals. Now that I think of it, I still owe a shopkeeper some change from last week… he knows we’ll be walking by several times during the next week and knows I’m good for it!

A sneaky picture I took of a carrot lady on the street… I didn’t get away with it. A shopkeeper saw me and made a scene to warn the woman, who ran away. Very embarrassing for the tourist-y mzungu…

Early on Tuesday morning (the 2nd) we had a visit from Beatrice, who brought us a gift – sandals decorated with beads and seashells that her mother had purchased for us in Nairobi. I am blown away time and again by the generosity of the people in this country. We have found ourselves a dear friend in Beatrice and are very grateful for her kindness to us. After Beatrice left, Alison and I walked to Mabatini to purchase yogurt for the orphanage as we were unable to deliver last Friday due to project obligations in town. We stayed for a little while and had a very interesting conversation with a local woman named Natalie who works as a clinical pastoral counsellor in Mabatini’s parish. She first studied at the convent to be a nun, was later trained as a nurse, and then travelled to Kingston, Jamaica, and Manhattan for coursework to develop her skills in pastoral counselling. She expressed her desire to return to school to study sociology, but worries that she’s too old now (she’s only in her 40s). I found it very interesting to see such a positive example of a woman who has changed the path of her life several times to remain fulfilled in the work that she does… certainly something that has become more common in today’s society. We set off for Bwiru after a very long wait for a ride (45 minutes), dropped off the yogurt at the orphanage and continued on to the Saba Saba fairgrounds to check in on the mamas working at the trade fair. Afterwards, we took the dala-dala back into town for lunch, groceries and our Swahili class. Post-dinner, Alison and I spent some time excitedly perusing our travel books, planning out the travelling we hope to do before coming home to Canada.

The Tukwamuane women manning their booth at the trade fair.

Wednesday (the 3rd) was a classic example of how difficult it can be to be productive in this city. Alison and I got up early with intentions of beating the line at the ATM in town (no such thing as “fast cash” in Mwanza). A raging thunderstorm forced us to reschedule, so we did some work from home and hosted the usual handful of visitors before setting out to town. We walked to NBC where we usually bank and waited in line for the ATM, only to find that neither of our transactions was going through. Attempts to solicit help from the bank tellers were unsuccessful, so we walked back north to Stanbic Bank, where Ruben and Claire bank. We waited there for another 30 min or so before that ATM broke completely. We walked back into town in search of another bank, and while Alison was making some changes to her cell phone plan, I bumped into our travel agent who informed me that everything was down in the city because of the storm and wouldn’t be back online for at least an hour. Alison and I decided that we would save more time by waiting out the effects of the storm in town, so we sat down for an hour over tea and conversation with some locals at the pizzeria. It’s kind of nice to be forced into these kinds of connections with local culture, as it can be easy to miss when we’re busy and on the go. We ventured back to NBC after a while and waited in what had become a typically long afternoon line, with great hopes that we’d be able to complete our transactions – no such luck! Unfortunately, we had no success at Stanbic when we returned again.

After spending more than half a day attempting to take out money, we moved on to the internet, prepared our English lesson and walked to Mabatini to teach. We stayed after the lesson to work through the monthly bills with the mamas. We tried to advise them about reinvesting some of their profit into the business in various ways, and though they seemed receptive, it’s hard to know what changes will be implemented. The language barrier can be really frustrating when it obstructs us from executing the necessary changes to move the project forward. Though everything will eventually be accomplished, it’s often hard to be patient! On Wednesday night, Alison and I planned to go out for dinner with Beatrice to say goodbye to her as she heads back to Dar es Salaam for school. We headed out 2 ½ hours past the time we had agreed to meet (Beatrice had some last minute errands to run). After an obligatory hour and a half of waiting for food, we received our dinners at 11pm sharp. It was difficult to say goodbye to Beatrice who has been so wonderful to us during our time here, but I’m sure we’ll maintain contact over the months and years to come.

Mamas Joyce and Elisabeth working on their English lessons.

On Thursday (the 4th), we worked from home in the morning before setting out to do a second day of battle with the city’s ATMs. Our first attempt at Stanbic didn’t work out, and we waited (extremely nervously) in line at NBC for our turn. Thankfully, it worked this time - I don’t think I’ve ever been happier to hear the whirring of cash being dispensed! We stopped at the travel agency and officially booked our flights to Zanzibar for early November. I finalized plans at a different agency for my upcoming safari in the Serengeti and Ngorongoro Crater after the faculty visits in mid-October. Lots of exciting things to look forward to! In the afternoon, we spent time updating our finances, working on some WHE reports, and then walked to Isamilo for our Swahili lesson. We’ve progressed to general conversation (about topics as varied as the problem of street children in Mwanza, the pros and cons of consuming carbohydrates, and the roles of men and women in Tanzanian culture), and although our grammar is progressing relatively slowly (2-4 concepts a week), we’re able to keep up in conversation with our teacher, which is very exciting! From class, we went to Tunza for our weekly yoga class and archery lesson with the Maasai.

We had a busy morning on Friday (the 5th) as we tried to fit all our work into a half day to accommodate for our Thanksgiving weekend plans. We prepared the mamas’ English test (Alison’s artistic side is becoming very useful as we have started to give the mamas pictures from which to practice their sentence composition) and delivered it to the kitchen. We took our weekly yogurt delivery to the orphanage in Bwiru and spent a couple hours with the children. These kids really are one of the highlights of my week… I love spending time with them. I can’t say enough positive things about how wonderful the environment of the orphanage is for their development and health.

A swinging Bahati (which translates to “luck” in Swahili).

We came home in the early afternoon and I received a call from Ellena, a former WHE intern who is currently orchestrating the faculty’s visit from UWO. During our conversation, I inquired about the ‘consultant’ who she kept referring to, and found out that the project is hosting an international consultant next week to review the project and survey the area for development. This came as a big surprise to Alison, Ruben and I, but I’m confident that we’ll be able to pull ourselves together in time to be good hosts.

Alison and I packed for the weekend and set off to town to meet Janine, Henk and Claire, who we travelled with to Buhimba, a small town about 3 hours north of Mwanza. We had been invited there to stay at a gold mining camp with some South African miners (Boela aka “Tiny”, Hannes, Roy, Chris and Arthur) who we have befriended in town. As we drove north (past the familiar sign for Kijereshi tented camp), the landscape began to roll into hills and valleys, sparsely populated with mud hut villages. Eventually, we turned onto a road of rich red soil and passed through many small villages with a vibrant magenta sunset at our backs. We arrived at the heavily guarded camp (necessary to protect against occasional ambushes from illegal miners in the area) and were amazed to find a sprawling compound of houses surrounding a swimming pool and central lodge that looked like it belonged in the Swiss Alps. We were set up in one of the empty houses (complete with a full kitchen, hot water and potable cold water straight from the tap!) and joined the miners in the main lodge for dinner.

A farmer driving his herd outside of the Serengeti.

Over the weekend, we learned a lot about the gold mining industry and were able to venture out for a tour of the mining pits and processing plant. The Buhimba mine is no longer in production (as such, the camp is empty aside from the SA men), but it was still very impressive to see the set up and get an idea of the scale of their work – every ton of ore that is processed yields only 3-5 grams of gold. The mining pits remain open as the Tanzanian government does not require them to be refilled after use, which would cost the company millions of dollars to complete. As we peered over the edge of the pit, we watched a massive herd of cattle and goats be driven towards the rain- and ground-water reservoir at the base of the quarry to drink… clearly the locals have found ways around the security and are still able to use the land as a resource. On a hill across the valley, you could clearly see a camp of illegal miners who process ore themselves, working tirelessly for about 2000 TSH a day (about $1.50 CDN). The government knows about these miners but doesn’t do anything about them for one reason or another. We ventured up to the top of the area where waste minerals are dumped and were treated to a magnificent view of the valley below, where we could see a thunderstorm rolling in across the horizon. Thanks to our generous hosts, Alison and I certainly felt like we ate more than enough to celebrate Canadian Thanksgiving. We felt very lucky to be able to spend time with such kind-hearted people while we were missing our family and friends at home!

Looking out on the rolling hills of Africa from Buhimba.

On Sunday morning (the 7th), we joined the men for “church” in the mess hall where Roy read Biblical passages to the group, and a ‘family’ lunch before we hit the road to come back to Mwanza. We arrived in the late afternoon and spent our evening getting ourselves together for the week ahead. Ruben will return home tomorrow from a weekend away from the city, visiting small villages near Bunda with a friend. We look forward to the busy weeks ahead, full of visits from consultants and faculty, before we commence our big travels within Tanzania.

A conundrum in the sky as a storm rolls in to Buhimba.

Tanzania - Wiki Nane

2007-10-01T06:44:00.001-04:00

Urban wildlife on the streets of Mwanza.

On Monday morning (the 24^th), our primary objective was to find a functioning internet connection so that we could get some project work done online. We prepared our files at home, loaded our USB keys and set off for town. At the internet café an hour and a half later, I reminded myself how thankful I will be for high-speed connections when I return to Canada. We decided that we were satisfied with what we had accomplished and stocked up on groceries at U-Turn (unfortunately, something that has to be done a lot more frequently now that we’re living with a boy). We returned home, put the final touches on the day’s English lesson and walked up to Mabatini to teach at the kitchen. We discussed the mamas’ participation in the rapidly upcoming SIDO (Small Industries Development Organization) Trade Fair in Mwanza and surveyed the new price changes that they chose to implement. They opted for the price scheme that increased the price the least – I suppose that says something about their interaction with their community and the financial ability of members to purchase the yogurt. Perhaps by the end of our time here we will be able to demonstrate to the mamas that they have a unique commodity that they would be justified in charging more for; however, these changes need to implemented slowly so as not to damage community relationships. We came home from the kitchen, I had a long chat with Jon (WHE’s Canadian project coordinator), and spent the night at home.

Teaching English lessons at the community kitchen.

I spent early Tuesday morning (the 25^th) editing two reports for Jodie (a Canadian Kivulini employee), and Alison and I brainstormed ideas for a marketing package that we intend to put together in order to promote Tukwamuane to hotels and restaurants in the area. On our way into the city, we stopped by a tailor that was recommended to us for her fair prices (the equivalent of about $6.00 CDN to have a dress made) and skill. We then started our hunt for plastic cups of an appropriate size for the mamas to use for sales at the trade fair… we struck out several times before finding what we were looking for at the last store on our list. Along the way, we stopped by a couple travel agencies in town to get quotes for flights for the UWO faculty visit in October, and studied for our Swahili test over a light lunch. At lunch, we met an elderly American woman named Naomi who is living in Mwanza for 5 years working on a literacy project. Previously, she spent 33 years living in Surinam working on translating a Bible into a local dialect. She has invited us (and previously invited Claire) to her house to play board games… we may take her up on it once the rainy season starts! The rest of the afternoon included a brief stop by the internet café, our Swahili lesson, swimming laps at the International School pool, and dinner at Claire’s – fajitas! We have been enjoying our communal culinary adventures and have almost exhausted the list of things that we were determined to cook in Africa… so now we need to get more creative.

Our threesome - Alison, Claire and I.

On Wednesday morning (the 26^th), I finished editing Jodie’s reports and worked through some numbers for the cost/benefit report that I hope to send the first draft of home before the faculty flies out. After writing the day’s English lesson, Alison and I spent a long time preparing ‘lids’ for the trade fair containers – squares of tin foil… very professional. We ran some quick project errands in town (including lunch, as we were out of food at home) before going to the grocery store again to stock up… our apartment is quickly becoming a black hole for food and household supplies. We traveled up to the kitchen with bags full of trade fair supplies, taught our English lesson, stocked up on our personal supply of yogurt (we can’t get enough of it at the apartment… again, likely due to Ruben’s appetite). On our way home, we bought some plain fabric in Mabatini to use for a trade fair banner. I quickly went to the Mlango Mmoja internet café to download some files for the Tuelimishane Youth Group (aka the popcorn boys) and came home in time to cook dinner with Beatrice. We settled down for a very quiet night in without power. The availability of resources such as electricity and water often dictates the speed of work and household activities, and gives us no choice but to slow down. I don’t sense that my personality has slowed down since I’ve been here, but maybe there are changes happening that I haven’t been able to notice on my own.

We had a very exciting morning on Thursday (the 27^th). The mamas invited us to Mabatini for the ceremonial opening of a new secondary school… we met them at the kitchen and walked together to the festivities, where the mamas (and the mzungus) were given seats of honour with other community VIPs (mostly elders) next to the stage. The celebrations resembled the event that we organized for the Minister… lots of drumming, dancing, and singing from local entertainment troupes and the secondary students themselves. The performances and cheering reached a peak when the guest of honour arrived – none other than the Prime Minister of Tanzania, Edward Lowasa. There was lots of ‘vigele vigele’ and singing of “Baba, baba oh-yo, baba, baba oh-yo” before the speeches commenced. There was a long list of political figures who spoke – ministers of education from various levels of government, community leaders and the like. Finally it was time for the PM to speak… first, he took questions from members of the community who were seeking advice about personal problems. It took us a long time to figure out exactly what was going on, as this is not really a common practice for North American politicians. The crowd really started to get into the discussion – lots of shouting and booing directed at the Mayor of Mwanza. The whole event was very exciting, but both Alison and I wished that we could have followed along with the Swahili – we would have gotten a lot more out of the day! After the speeches, we were very happy to leave our seats in the sun to the shade of the school where the PM officially cut the ribbon.

Myself, the Prime Minister (white hair) and Alison taking pictures in the background!

After the ceremony, we stopped at the kitchen to talk with the mamas and walked back into town for our afternoon Swahili lesson. From class, we went to Tunza for yoga, dinner, and to borrow some supplies for the trade fair banner. We came home and stayed up late painting.

Banner painting in the living room!

On Friday (the 28^th), we met early in the morning with Kivulini staff and members of Tukwamuane to discuss project issues and ran project errands in town until the early afternoon. Later, we provided the mamas with their weekly English test. Alison and I were both feeling quite run down and were happy to spend a quiet afternoon out of the sun (I think I had a mild case of sunstroke after the PM ceremony in Mabatini!) working on our computers at home. We cooked dinner with Ruben, I had a great phone call with Dr. Smeltzer (a UWO professor who has provided me a lot of support over the last year), and then we met friends in town to enjoy some live music.

On Saturday morning (the 29^th), Alison and I dropped off our fabric at the tailor and had measurements done for the clothing that we’re having made. We met Claire outside our apartment and ventured into the Mlango Mmoja (which means one door – you enter and exit from the same point) used clothing market across the street from our house. We scrounged through the clothes for costume supplies for a birthday party we had been invited to attend at the teachers’ flats (a bunch of Brits who work at the International Secondary School in Isamilo) that evening. The party was “J” themed in honour of James’ birthday… all guests were instructed to come in ‘fancy dress’ (how British) as something that started with a “J”. We spent the afternoon crafting our costumes and met our friends at the party in the evening. The night featured Jack Johnson, a few James Deans, June Carter, I Dream of Jeannie, Jennifer Lopez, a handful of junkies, Jackie O, ‘the jungle’, a bag of jellybeans, Jehovah’s witnesses, a journalist, Julius Caesar, a jilted bride, and more.

Lauren the janitor, me as Jane of the jungle, Claire the jellyfish, and Alison as Lil Jon.

On Sunday morning (the 30^th), we walked to the kitchen and met Mama Paskwalina who had invited us to join her at church in Mabatini. The church was fairly crowded when we arrived and was packed by the time the service started. The ambiance was quite nice with a breeze blowing through the screened windows, through which you could watch goats grazing on the hills and watch the smoke from cooking fires at nearby homes. We had been told that the music at the service was amazing, so we were a bit disappointed initially when the percussion demo from an old-school electric keyboard filled the room. Luckily, once the service started, we realized that there were four pews full of choir members who played real percussion and harmonized beautifully. The service was all in Swahili, but I was able to follow along better than I had expected to. There were some confusing parts, such as the multiple collections where first the women went up to donate, then the men – at the end of mass, they tallied up the totals and we cheered for the ‘winners’ who gave the most. I went up to receive Communion and couldn’t understand why people were pushing to get out of the pews without any sense of order, until they ran out of hosts when I was 3 people away from the priest, with half of the church still in line behind me. As our friend Henk taught us – ‘A.W.A.’, Africa Wins Again… the original phrase used before ‘T.I.A.’ was popularized by Blood Diamond.

After mass, we had chai (tea) with the mamas before leaving for the Saba Saba fairgrounds with Mama Paskwalina to meet the other Tukwamuane mamas who were at the trade fair manning the yogurt booth. The trade fair was very impressive. The fair hosted artisans, food processors and other trades-people from the all over Tanzania and the Lake Region in particular. We couldn’t have been more proud of our mamas who were doing a great job promoting their product and were selling a lot of yogurt. This fair will be a great opportunity for them to generate additional income, network with other small businesses, and publicize the project. In the afternoon, we shopped for produce with Mamas Elisabeth and Cesilia, cooked lunch for all the mamas with Mama Joyce who is making extra money by selling food to the vendors for the duration of the fair. Alison and I walked to Tunza Lodge from the trade fair to meet Claire, and went back to her place to cook dinner (not only do we not have much food, but we ran out of gas in the apartment so cooking at home was not an option!). We spent the night organizing ourselves for the busy weeks ahead as we prepare for the faculty’s visit in mid-October.

I have spent a lot of time over the last few weeks volunteering to edit proposals and documents for Kivulini employees that outline the prevalence of domestic violence, adolescent trafficking for the purpose of prostitution and domestic work, female genital mutilation, and the interrelationships between these issues and HIV/AIDS. We are lucky to be working with a project that provides positive support in the form of food products to HIV+ patients in the community, but I have realized that I am mostly blind to the more gruesome damage that the virus can inflict. I’m sure that this is mostly due to the nature of the destruction and heavy veil of stigma that hides these crimes from public view. Being exposed to the statistics and case studies that Kivulini’s documents present has made me aware of how common these tragedies are in the area and has increased my desire to become involved in empowering the vulnerable members of this society to help them escape from the overwhelming grip of poverty, disease, discrimination, and abuse.

A rugged dhow sailboat on Lake Victoria.

Tanzania - Wiki Saba

2007-09-24T05:31:00.001-04:00

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

2007-09-17T05:30:00.000-04:00

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

2007-09-11T04:04:00.000-04:00

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

2007-09-02T09:44:00.000-04:00

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.

Tanzania - Wiki Mbili na Wiki Tatu

2007-08-26T09:32:00.000-04:00

Over the last three weeks, Alison and I have been given a real sense of “Karibu Tanzania” (welcome) and are starting to feel a bit more settled in here. While it doesn’t quite feel like home, we’ve been encouraged to “Feel at Mwanza” which has been easy to do. This is a beautiful, colourful city and I look forward to discovering more of it over the next several months.

A baboon at the bar (taken on our trip to Kijereshi last week).

Over the last week and a half, project work has been very steady but relatively unremarkable. Our days have been full of trips to the kitchen, NIMR and the bank as we try to strengthen the framework that the project runs on. Our ultimate goal is to give the mamas more independence and ownership in all project-related decisions, and I hope that we’ll be able to achieve it over the next few months once we work through the basic logistics. As a result, you’ll have to forgive me for not providing more detail about project growth – hopefully that will come within the next few weeks. For now, I’ll try and stick to the more ‘interesting’ aspects of my time here.

Last Friday (the 17th) Jackie, Alison and I met with the Mamas at the kitchen to have them vote on new banking and record-keeping procedures. After our meeting, they invited us to join them for an afternoon meal of ugali. Ugali is the staple food of East Africa. It’s made by mixing cornmeal into boiling water until you get a thick, sticky mound of white grain (it kind of resembles mashed potatoes but is much denser). Ugali is generally served with a stew of vegetables and meat or fish. It’s eaten communally – we sat with all the mamas in a circle around the pots – by rolling little balls of ugali in your hand and then dipping them into the stew. It was quite an experience (one that I’m sure we’ll have again and again before we leave) and is good example of how important community is in African culture.

Eating ugali with the mamas.

On our way home from the kitchen, Mama Joyce took us up to her house in Mabatini. She wanted her sons to write a letter to Jackie’s dad (who had visited earlier in the summer) before Jackie left for Canada. Mama Joyce’s house is nearby the kitchen; to reach it you have to navigate a rugged rocky hill (certainly not something I’d want to attempt with aging joints!). Joyce has a huge family – 10 children of her own and a handful of adopted children (orphans from the community). She is HIV+ herself which makes it even more amazing that she can find the energy to provide for her family every day.

On Friday night, we went to Tunza and took along a guest – Beatrice, a volunteer from Kivulini who has been an invaluable asset to us over the last week, providing translation services for us as we work through project details with the mamas. We wanted to thank her for all her help, so we asked her to join us for dinner. Beatrice was born in Mwanza and has overcome a very challenging childhood. She now studies social work in Dar es Salaam and aspires to be an advocate for people with disabilities. She told me that the disabled really don’t have a voice here – “they’re kept inside, people often think it’s witchcraft at work”. I was very impressed with her drive and hope that she finds a very fulfilling way to contribute to her community after she graduates.

On Saturday (the 18th), we accompanied Kim and Jackie to the airport where they flew out to Dar es Salaam (Kim to attend a Hindu wedding with a friend from university, Jackie to start her long trip back to Canada). In the late afternoon, Missy, Alison and I met Danny in Bwiru (a district of Mwanza) and set out on a hike. The hills of Mwanza are dominated by amazing granite formations that you can even see from the plane. The ‘Dancing Rocks’ are located at a plateau atop one of the hills and provide a spectacular view of Bwiru and an inlet of Lake Victoria. We sat on a ledge for a long time taking it all in, and were taken by surprise by a rapidly moving thunderstorm that drenched us as we frantically retraced our steps back down the hill. After drying off and “showering” (using a kettle of boiled water in a bucket… we were way too cold to attempt the regular shower), we headed into downtown Mwanza for a night out.

Alison, Missy and I at Dancing Rocks.

On Sunday (the 19th), we were invited to an Indian BBQ at a farm outside the city. I find it funny that the same crowd of volunteers and the local “elite” (as I’ve come to think of them) show up at all of these events. We were happy to indulge in some well-cooked meat (chicken curry and marinated lamb) and were surprised to find that everything was to be eaten with our hands - we felt like real carnivores. We stopped by Tunza on our way home to visit the seven Labrador retriever puppies that were born the first week that we were here – there’s nothing like snuggling a puppy around a bonfire on a moonlit night! While we were there, I got a great call from a whole pile of the Horgans who were together at a family birthday party… so wonderful to hear everyone’s voices!

Loving one of Chewy’s little puppies.

Monday and Tuesday (the 20th and 21st) were very busy days full of project errands… we were able to accomplish a few things, including getting 2 litres of milk to NIMR to get the probiotic culture production back on track, our first Swahili lesson at the International Language Training Centre (finally! steps towards independence!), a few more trips back and forth to the bank, and an English lesson with the mamas (“I am, He/She is, We are” etc).

On Wednesday (the 22nd) morning, Alison and I walked to NIMR to pick up the probiotic mother culture. We had a very bumpy taxi ride back to the kitchen and realized that we would need to figure out a more effective container system to prevent spills en route. Upon arrival at the kitchen, we chatted with the Mamas for a while about the pricing that they use for their yogurt and realized that their model is backwards – they’re charging relatively less for smaller quantities and more for bigger quantities. They’ve noticed that people in the community are only purchasing the smaller portions of yogurt (because it’s so much cheaper to do so!) and so they’re losing out on a lot of profit. We will try to work with them to restructure this aspect of their business to improve their profit margin. We made another trip to the bank to attempt to complete the account changes and complete a withdrawal – after a long wait and a meeting with the accountant, we were told to come back tomorrow (“kesho, kesho”) for the money. I tried to remain composed as I explained to the accountant my understanding of the concept of banking – I give you my money, and I take it out when I need it – to no avail. We walked back to the kitchen with the Mamas and taught them their afternoon English lesson, followed by a quiet night in catching up on project work.

On Thursday (the 23rd) we made our final trip to the bank, which was finally successful – we were able to withdraw enough money for the mamas to pay off their outstanding bills for June and July. We meandered back to the apartment via the market, where I managed to get a great deal on some fabric ($4.00 CDN for about 3 metres). Alison and I headed off to our Swahili lesson in the afternoon. Our teacher (Gaudence) is great, we’re learning a lot really quickly. Now we just have to force ourselves to practice to cement our new knowledge.

Alison and I spent Friday morning (the 24th) at the apartment working through some pricing proposals while Kim and Missy did errands around town to prepare for next Tuesday’s visit from the Tanzanian Minister of Gender and Children. She’s coming to Mwanza and will be spending a significant amount of time checking out our project – it should be a very interesting day! We had to email some pertinent information home and thought we’d check out an internet café that’s right next door to our apartment… to our pleasant surprise, it was empty, clean, had great music playing, and even had cold drinks for sale! This will certainly make communicating home a lot easier if we can’t manage to get internet to the apartment.

In the afternoon, Alison and I went up to the kitchen to teach an English lesson. We came home and got ready for a witch-themed goodbye party for an American Ph.D. student named Amy at Tunza. Amy is studying urban witchcraft, which she became intrigued about after hearing of the Mwanza witch hunts that are still going on today – groups of young men seeking out and attacking women who have been accused of being practicing witches. Amy has been conducting interviews in the area over the past year and has heard some really interesting accounts of possessions, zombies etc. She is an anthropologist and as such, isn’t so concerned with whether or not the stories are true – instead, she examines the cultural importance of belief.

Yesterday (Saturday the 25th), Jan (the owner of Tunza Lodge) picked us up and took us out on the lake in a boat. We navigated the rocky peninsulas, observed lots of local fishermen working on the shores, and enjoyed close ups of the local wildlife (lots of birds and lizards).

A cloudy-day shot of the beach at Tunza Lodge.

This morning I got an early morning call from all of my friends who are cottaging back home. It was such a treat to hear everyone’s voice and be able to talk to them about my time here! Alison and I spent the afternoon with Beatrice and McZedec (both Kivulini volunteers) translating the English version of a probiotic pamphlet that Missy prepared into Kiswahili so we could send it to Jackie at home to work out the asthetics. The volunteers have been so generous with their time over the last few weeks - they've been lifesavers for us!

It’s nice to be able to take breaks from the project, especially when the work is frustrating and not much is being accomplished despite our efforts. We’re lucky to have found a network of friends in the city to spend time with. I do find it difficult to balance the extremes of this place, sometimes. The excess can be really excessive – I find it very disconcerting to leave the city centre where there is so much poverty and arrive at homes where people are driving golf balls into the sun setting over Lake Victoria (Adam, you would have loved it). I was even embarrassed to take Beatrice out for dinner because I know an $8.00 meal is really far from the local norm. I realize that these differences are just the reality of the area, but I haven’t been able to get my head around it yet. Hopefully my conscience will become more settled with time.

I’ll leave you this week with some general descriptions of life in Mwanza. It’s been strange to get used to feeling like a celebrity when you walk down the street… everywhere we go, we’re regaled with shouts of “mzungu!” (foreigner), or “mchina!” (Chinese) in Alison’s case. Sometimes we can get by with a reply of “Mambo!”; other times we find ourselves with new ‘friends’ (of all ages) who accompany us all the way to our final destination, which we always tell them is “kazi” (work) in hopes that they won’t figure out where we live and start stopping by for regular visits. The city air is full of diesel exhaust, dust, and questionable smells (at times)… I’m sure I’ll be coming home with black lungs! At night and early in the morning, it’s often difficult to stay asleep with the loud noises of the city surrounding us – if you’re lucky enough to be stirred from slumber at 5.00am, you’ll be able to hear the Muslim ‘call to prayer’ that is blasted from loudspeakers around Mwanza (the summer interns affectionately call it the ha-la-las). All in all, this city is a wonderful place to explore… the people are so friendly, there’s a very peaceful rhythm to life, and there is a lot of hope for the prospects of the future.

Though my last two blog posts have covered a week and a half each, I will be now trying to update every week... now that we've figured out a better system for internet access, I think it will be more manageable! Pictures may follow text posts a couple of days later... but I'll do my best to keep sending regular updates home! Thanks for all your emails and messages... it's been great to hear from everyone! Wiki ijayo...!

Tanzania - Wiki Moja na Wiki Mbili

2007-08-17T06:35:00.000-04:00

Mambo everyone! I’m so sorry that it has taken me so long to tell you that I’m in Africa, I’m in one piece, and I’m trying to take in as much as I can as quickly as possible… it’s been an overwhelming week and a half but I’m very excited to finally be here! Pole sana (very sorry) that I haven’t been able to post sooner… we’ve been busy working out the initial details of our transition into Tanzania, dealing with project issues, and unfortunately do not have functioning internet at the apartment yet. I’ve been itching to share stories with everyone from home, though… hopefully once we get into more of a routine I will be able to communicate more regularly!

Alison and I (and our baggage!) made it to Mwanza on the evening of Wednesday, August 8th after a complicated ride overseas… i.e. Heathrow’s “One Bag Rule” that requires you to ‘consolidate’ your two pieces of hand luggage into one (not a possibility for someone who has packed for a 5 month trip, especially when that someone is a chronic over-packer like me), accidentally taking the train to Paddington Station instead of Heathrow’s Terminal 4 when we realized we’d have to check our extra baggage, being delayed ‘indefinitely’ at the Kilimanjaro airport and not being able to get a hold of the girls to let them know, etc. Hamna shida (no worries), we’re here and that’s all that matters!

In Heathrow - not impressed about the one bag rule.

On Wednesday night (after our first cold shower and settling in to the apartment), the girls took us for dinner at Tilapia Hotel (right on the shore of Lake Victoria with amazing views of the hills of Mwanza) and introduced us to some of their friends from the area who they socialize with at nights and on weekends. We thought it would be a good idea to get a square meal in and stay up as late as we could to try and get over our jet lag. Afterwards, we came home and passed out… 5 hours of sleep over 3 days (back to back red-eye flights) makes for two very tired girls!

We woke up early on Thursday morning and took a taxi with Jackie and Kim to NIMR (the medical research facility where the probiotic cultures are made for the yogurt kitchen) to drop off the new supply of GR-1 probiotic cultures and CO2 packs that we brought over with us from Canada to restock the lab. We met some of the staff and discussed the need for a new freezer to store the cultures in, since the microbiology lab works with serum and blood samples and we need to ensure that we minimize the risk of contaminating our bacteria. We have requested a quote for a new freezer and will present the request to the project’s Canadian counterparts as soon as we can. I spent some time preparing an accountability form that will require signatures from both the individual who is picking up the cultures to bring to the kitchen and from a member of NIMR to attempt to provide more structure for this component of the project.

From NIMR, we came back to the apartment and left almost immediately with Jackie to the daladala (crowded hop-on/hop-off van-bus) station to get a ride to Mahina, a community on the outskirts of Mwanza where a lot of HIV+/PWLAs (people living with AIDS) who receive yogurt from the community kitchen. Jackie wanted to drop off some pictures that she had printed for community members, as well as some female condoms I brought from home for one woman (she had requested them from Jackie - most likely for contraceptive purposes as we suspect she is already HIV+). The last time the summer interns were at Mahina, they had been invited to see some local homes and businesses but couldn’t because of bad timing… this time we suggested it to the group again but they couldn’t facilitate it because they were working on settling up financial details of the group microcredit (loans) program they had set up. This is a great example of active self-empowerment which is a wonderful thing to see in a community that faces a lot of challenges (poverty, disease, and the incredible stigma associated with HIV/AIDS). We walked through the area on our own and talked project before heading to Mabatini, the community where the yogurt community kitchen is located.

At Mabatini, we stopped by the kitchen very briefly for a quick meet-and-greet with the yogurt mamas who were on shift that day. We had a chance to sample our first bit of Fiti (this is what the mamas have chosen to name the yogurt)… plain yogurt, very light – delicious!

The mamas making yogurt at the community kitchen!

In the afternoon, we headed out with Missy and Kim to the bank and to purchase our cell phones. Yes, I’ve finally caught up with technology and am the proud owner of a blue Nokia! We stopped by an internet café for 30 min which provided a good opportunity to send emails home to assure everyone that we’re doing well here in Tanzania. We headed home and left again via taxi to Tunza Lodge where a Californian missionary named Jenny teaches yoga on the beach twice a week. Picture perfect moment of the week: practicing yoga (from the Far East!) on the beach with several mzungus (foreigners) from all over the world, looking out on a setting sun and two Maasai men in traditional dress walking out on a dock into the lake.

Yoga on the beach at Tunza Lodge.

Friday the 10th was busy as well – the day started at the Tukwamuane yogurt kitchen where Jackie had to finish up video interviews with the mamas. Alison and I entertained ourselves (or were entertained!) by interacting with the crowds of schoolchildren who stopped in front of the kitchen to observe the goings-on. We came back to the apartment for a quick lunch courtesy of Jackie and headed out again to NIMR so she could videotape an interview with Joseph Mwanga (a senior research scientist who has been involved with the project since its inception). A 15-minute visit ended up taking closer to 2 hours as we had to figure out a filming location and get Jackie’s power adapter sent from the apartment, etc. etc… Joseph was very accommodating, however, which really showed us how things can work on “Mwanza time”. Later in the afternoon, we went to the kitchen for our first experience with the mamas’ English lessons. They are such quick and eager learners and have really absorbed a lot from the girls this summer! I have new-found respect for everyone who works teaching ESL (especially to my friends who are headed to Asia for long work stints!)… English is such a challenging language to teach and to learn.

Spending time with the local kids outside the yogurt kitchen.

On Saturday, we left with the girls’ friend Major to Kijereshi camp just outside of the Serengeti National Park. It’s about a 2-hour drive from Mwanza, and you can camp there for $15 without paying the fee to enter the park. We met our friends Henk, Janine, and Laureen who had set up tents and gotten a fire started before we arrived. In the morning, we set out on a game drive (as an aside: the roads are generally terrible in and around Mwanza, cars don’t last very long here due to constant ‘offroading’ conditions) – we managed to see zebras, baboons, ostriches, and Thompson’s gazelles… very exciting to experience this side of Africa so early on in our trip! On our way home on Sunday, I started feeling very ill and was up all night with a fever and a funny stomach. I thought it best to hold off on being tested at the clinic in case this was just my body’s way of adjusting to Africa.

Chasing ostrich in the Serengeti!

Unfortunately, I woke up on Monday morning not feeling any better and by Tuesday I headed to the clinic with Jackie to be tested. Lucky me – I have amoebiasis, which can be contracted from the water here. Jackie was diagnosed with malaria (only one “ring” on the test). This has taught me early on that sickness is just part of the experience here… as long as you’re able to access medical care in a timely fashion, it’s manageable. The summer interns have accumulated a long list of maladies between them – multiple cases of malaria, worms, amoebas, typhoid etc. Not something to be taken lightly, of course, but it certainly is encouraging to know that you’re not alone. I promise that I’m taking all the precautions I can, though… we’re being careful!

Although the early part of this week was ‘iffy’ because of my illness, I was able to focus my efforts on working through some of the project accounting from the apartment (bank statements, Mamas’ receipts, reports from Canada) to consolidate the numbers. We hope to revamp the way that money is handled here and to ensure that the Mamas are included fully in all financial decisions so that they can take ownership of the project.

The Mabatini Community where the yogurt kitchen is located.

By Thursday (the 16th) I was ready to head into town again. We ran a couple quick project-related errands in the morning, and after lunch the girls took us through the market for the first time. It was really incredible to see all the merchants with their produce and I’m looking forward to figuring out some bartering skills so I can really capitalize on having it so close by. I sometimes feel like I’m going through sensory overload here with all the new experiences… it’s amazing. We attempted to get into several internet cafés but had no luck. Jackie and Missy brought us to Forever Angels orphanage in the afternoon where they have been volunteering once a week. The orphanage is run by a British woman named Amy who worked for several years in Tanzania before deciding to start an orphanage with funds raised from home. There are about 20 babies/toddlers there right now but there are plans for growth, in which case the numbers will likely double in the future. It was great to spend time (even though our visit was very brief) with the kids and I know that both Alison and I are looking forward to including the orphanage in our weekly schedule. Last night, we headed to Tunza for yoga on the beach which was very relaxing and gave all us sickies an opportunity to stretch out our tired bodies.

The five of us at Tunza Lodge (Missy, Alison, me, Jackie, Kim).

This has been such an overwhelming transition and I’m looking forward to feeling more settled over the next few weeks. Thank you everyone for all your supportive emails and calls – it’s been wonderful to hear from home! Hopefully we’ll be able to get a better handle on this internet situation soon so that my updates will start to be a bit more regular… for now, I’ll leave you hata wiki ijayo (until next week)!

Safari Njema!

2007-08-06T10:58:00.000-04:00

Sail on silver girl

Sail on by

Your time has come to shine

All your dreams are on their way

See how they shine

... and we're off... the next time I write will be from Africa! This week of goodbyes has been challenging, but it has reminded me of what a lucky girl I am to have such incredible family and friends to support me from home! Tonight, Alison and I begin our journey - we have 18 1/2 hours of flights over the next 3 days and will be arriving in Mwanza on Wednesday afternoon to be greeted by the summer WHE interns (Jackie, Missy and Kim... we've just missed Corinne who has returned home to Canada). Miraculously, I've entered a state of peaceful calm which I'm hoping will stay with me throughout the next several months (a girl can dream!). So for now, onwards and upwards... cheers (heri!) to travel, love, inspiration and self-discovery.

Usisafirie nyota ya mwenzio

(Don't set sail using someone else's star...

to each their own destiny)

The Final Days...

2007-08-03T11:07:00.000-04:00

All of a sudden, it's the August long weekend. I don't know how these summer days have managed to fly by so fast, but here I am... with bags (almost!) packed, tickets and passport in hand (finally, after a month-long battle with the Tanzanian High Commission and Canada Post!), project objectives established, trying to soak up every last drop of home before I embark on what I am sure will be one of the greatest adventures of my life!

For those who are interested ("so what exactly are you going to be DOING there?")... here's a brief summary of some of the projects I intend to take on during my time in Mwanza:

Assisting the yogurt Mamas to further develop/expand the Tukwamuane business through various initiatives
Networking with TACAIDS & other local NGOs, the Tanzanian government and other groups to further explore opportunities for teaming to move the project forward
Continue the work of previous interns in developing educational material to ensure that the community has been properly informed of the benefits and limitations of probiotics
Continue to teach the Mamas English
For my personal interest, exploring the availability and accessibility of ARV treatment in Mwanza
Volunteering with local organizations (i.e. schools, orphanages etc.)

I am confident that all of my preparation will likely be turned on its head when I arrive in Africa, and as such am very open to the fact that my work with the project may end up being completely different from what I'm anticipating. My only hope is that I will be able to contribute to the bettering of the project in whatever capacity I am most needed!

I will post again before take-off... but will sign off with some of the most delicious parts of summer at home:

Summer salads!

Loving on my family...

The Newmarket crew enjoying a summer day on Rossi's yacht...

Going away party for LA- and Africa-bound travellers chez Breanne!

Om

2007-07-11T12:31:00.000-04:00

Calming my mind at Yoga Source a few times a week pre-Africa...

Fill your bowl to the brim, and it will spill.
Keep sharpening your knife, and it will blunt.
Chase after money and security, and your heart will never unclench.
Care about people's approval, and you will be their prisoner.
Do your work, then step back... the only path to serenity.
- Lao-Tzu

Thursday Inspiration...

2007-07-05T13:21:00.000-04:00

32 days pre-departure, I found myself walking through my neighbourhood with my mp3 player listening to Pimsleur's Swahili 1... repeating the phrases to myself aloud, giving the landscaping teams good reason to think I'm completely crazy. I find it hilarious that the first phrases they teach you are "I don't understand Swahili" (Sifahamu kiswahili) and "Do you speak English?" (Unasema kiingereza?). Not necessarily the most encouraging sequence of vocabulary lessons, but I can imagine I'll be grateful for those default phrases once I arrive on the ground in Tanzania and realize I'm wildly unprepared and desperate for someone who can give me directions/advice in English!

On my way home, I stopped by my Opa & Oma's house to visit & show off my skills and the conversation turned to my Oma's trip to Malawi in the 1990s to visit my aunt and uncle, who were living there at the time. She started telling me a story about how the three of them travelled out to a relatively remote village where my aunt & uncle's housekeeper was from... night was falling quickly and the road wasn't very clear, so the housekeeper and my aunt went back to escort my uncle into the village (he had sprained his ankle and was on crutches), leaving my Oma in the village alone for about an hour. She recalls that the villagers had told them that this was only the second time that anyone remembered Caucasian people visiting their community. Soon enough, she found herself sitting in a chair with a large group of children sitting at her feet and adults close by.

"They were all just looking at me," she said... "I thought to myself, now what am I going to do?".

"So," she said, "I just started speaking to them in English. Look at the moon! THE MOON! MOON! Now, chitongo? (referring to their ethnic group, hoping they'd tell her their word for moon) ... but they didn't really get it. So, I started singing to them:

"Le soleil a rendez-vous avec la lune,
Mais la lune n'est pas là et le soleil l'attend
Ici-bas souvent chacun pour sa chacune
Chacun doit en faire autant
La lune est là, la lune est là
La lune est là, mais le soleil ne la voit pas... now, chitongo!"

My aunt and uncle arrived at the village to find all of the villagers in song with my little dutch Oma sitting on a chair in the middle of the crowd. That's the kind of Africa I want to experience... here's hoping I have some of the same strength and ingenuity of my amazing family.

Convocation Trip to UWO

2007-06-17T16:33:00.000-04:00

Last Thursday and Friday I found myself back on the Western campus for my convocation ceremony. It's incredible how quickly I've realized how much I'll miss UWO... four of the very best years of my life! Great to see everyone and spend a night celebrating the end of one life chapter and the beginning of many new ones. Luckily, I was able to organize my trip back to London to include multiple meetings with Dr. Reid (my trip supervisor), Jon, Alison and Ruben (the Dutch medical student who will be living with us in Mwanza, who was coincidentally in North America for the week), and a stop by the travel agency to confirm flight bookings.

As of Tuesday, our flight will be official... departing August 6th from Toronto, travelling to Mwanza via London (Heathrow) and Nairobi, arriving in Tanzania on August 8th. Time for an official countdown to begin (51 days...)!

Meaghan, Ruben & Alison!

Tanzania On Tap

2007-06-12T12:56:00.000-04:00

This past Saturday, I hosted "Tanzania On Tap" at The Wheat King Bar & Grill in Newmarket with the help of a dedicated group of friends & family. The evening was a great success... the venue worked out perfectly, the band (The Rileys) received rave reviews, and raffle winners went home with a big haul of prizes. The event raised approximately $2200 for the project, which was above and beyond my expectations... thank you SO MUCH to everyone who assisted.

Committee girls! Caitlin, me, Krystal and Steph... missing Kathy and Sarah!

The Rileys and our emcee, Nick!

Adam and Justin working the raffle table

Alison and I! ... almost time for Africa!

Cait, Steph, Al, me, Brent, Chas, Jay and Mandy

One World, One People, One IBM - Diversity Gala 2007

2007-06-02T02:58:00.000-04:00

When my father mentioned casually over dinner that Stephen Lewis was the keynote speaker at the 2007 IBM Diversity Gala, he probably didn't anticipate that I'd respond with such fervor. As I explained to many people tonight, Stephen Lewis is my rock star... and I've certainly established myself as a devoted groupie (if politico-humanitarians can have groupies).

The gala's theme "One World, One People, One IBM" was touched on by the senior IBMers who spoke to kick off the evening's festivities, celebrating the pervasive diversity exhibited by the company and the open-door policy of our nation. Throughout the evening, the 800 guests were entertained by Arabesque, African, and Brazilian dance troupes, a performance by Sofonda (a drag queen with an entourage of backup dancers), and various musicians.

The African Dance Ensemble (ADE).

"Sofonda" and her backup dancers on screen.

The Rio Samba Divas.

Early in the evening my dad and I decided to be aggressive and go shmooze with the speakers (most of whom are close colleagues of his) at the head table... "coincidentally" we ended up talking to Mr. Lewis and his companion for the evening, Aissatou Diajhate, who works with the Stephen Lewis Foundation and promises to provide me with a number of NGO contacts in Tanzania. I have already met Mr. Lewis in person once before, but during my first meeting I was determined to be "classy" and not ask for a picture to be taken. Now that I had been given a second opportunity to speak with him, I decided to throw class out the window and asked him for a photo - he informed me that he had come out to the event specifically to "take a picture with Meaghan".... obviously, I should have known (just kidding)! ... we spoke at length about the project and my plans for my time in Africa, and he informed my dad that as a father, he should be reassured that Tanzania is one of the safest and most stable African countries to live in. Thank goodness for Stephen Lewis, always knowing exactly what to say! He further explained that Julius Nyerere (who was the country's prime minister from 1961 to 1985) celebrated the unification of citizens as "Tanzanians", creating an environment where different ethnicities were brought together as a collective group working towards the bettering of their nation. I find it interesting and encouraging that this policy parallels Canada's views on immigration and diversity so closely. I appreciated the opportunity to let Mr. Lewis know (again, and again) what an inspiration he has been to me. His speech, as usual, was fantastic - by far the most eloquent man I have ever met - and I was glad that my family and Adam were able to hear him speak & get a little perspective on what is motivating me to travel to Africa!

SL speaking... I decided not to pull a paparazzi move and settled for a pic of the screen.

Overall a great evening - so good to catch up with some of my favourite IBMers & spend some quality time with some of my favourite men (& my mom)!

The Horgan siblings

Adam & I.

Coming Soon: Tanzania On Tap

2007-05-21T23:36:00.000-04:00

On Saturday, June 9th, Western Heads East and The Wheat King Bar and Grill are presenting "Tanzania On Tap", an evening benefit supporting the fight against the HIV/AIDS crisis in Africa. Tickets are being sold for $10, and all funds raised will go directly to support the Western Heads East project on the ground in Tanzania.

I'm so looking forward to this event... it's going to be a fun summer celebration for a great cause! The Rileys are headlining the entertainment for the evening with their unique style of acoustic-funk-rock -- check out their material on their MySpace page. The evening will also feature a huge raffle for various items from local organizations.

Tickets are selling fast and the venue has limited capacity, so please contact me via Facebook/email if you want to reserve a spot on the guest list! Looking forward to seeing you out on the 9th!

The Summer Begins: A Recap of the Year and Future Plans

2007-05-16T04:13:00.000-04:00

It's finally summer! After what has been a whirlwind of a year, I'm able to look back on my progress (with a degree in hand!) and look forward to new challenges and opportunities.

To recap: ... last April I applied to travel as a volunteer intern with Western Heads East (WHE). WHE was established in 2004 as a collaborative effort between several different UWO staff/faculty groups after Bob Gough (Director of Housing) was inspired by a lecture presented by Stephen Lewis, who spoke to Western staff about the HIV/AIDS crisis in Africa. WHE's mission statement (To engage in a community response by mounting a campus-wide educational and fundraising campaign to send delegates to directly assist with the African HIV/AIDS crisis and to provide a sustainable learning and research opportunity) highlights its focus on sending people, not money, to a community in need in order to establish a sustainable project that helps those afflicted with the disease.

WHE sends student interns to Mwanza, Tanzania, to help manage a probiotic yogurt production initiative. Probiotics, as defined by the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO), are "live microorganisms administered in adequate amounts which confer a beneficial health effect on the host." The probiotic yogurt is produced and distributed by a group of local women in Mwanza (the "yogurt mamas") and it is believed to have a wide range of health benefits, including improving the immune system, preventing mother-to-child transmission of the HIV virus, and reducing disease-related symptoms.

In April 2006, I was accepted to travel as a WHE volunteer intern from the beginning of August (2007) until Christmastime of this year. This past year has been full of preparations and fundraising as I got my head wrapped around travelling to Tanzania. I served as the Fundraising Coordinator for the WHE Campus Fundraising & Awareness Committee - very lucky to be able to work with such a passionate and motivated group of individuals. By the end of the year, we fundraised a total of approximately $10,000 through various events:

A rave card from our fall "Support A Cow" campaign.

The campaign kickoff on the Concrete Beach! (above and below)

Yoga for Yogurt - a benefit event held during the Support a Cow campaign at the Moksha Yoga studio in London. In response to the success achieved by the first event, Yoga for Yogurt II was held in March.

Manning the WHE booth at the World AIDS Day Vigil in the UCC on December 1st (above).

Manning the WHE booth during our screening of "RENT" at The Spoke (below).

WHE's first charity pub night was held in March 2007 at the Barking Frog... a wonderful evening of support and celebration!

This year has also provided me and the rest of the WHE team with a number of opportunities to network with foreign scientists and dignitaries who are interested in or are involved with the project. From working lunches with scientists from Danone France, cocktail parties thrown by local London fundraisers/activists, awards luncheons (celebrating WHE being awarded the Scotiabank-AUCC Award of Excellence in Internationalization) attended by the Tanzanian High Commissioner Ombeni Sefure, a follow up visit to Western by the Mayor of Mwanza and other Tanzanian government officials, to my personal "high point" of the year - meeting Mr. Stephen Lewis in person before hearing him speak at the Under An African Sky: Songs of Hope and Heroes benefit event at the JLC... my involvement with WHE has opened doors to countless opportunities for learning from others and personal development, and I am confident that this trend will continue during my time overseas.

A working lunch with Danone France scientists in the fall of 2006.

On World AIDS Day, Western hosted the Mayor of Mwanza and several Tanzanian dignitaries to discuss the project.

Some of the WHE team at the kickoff party for "Under an African Sky" in November 2006.

The summer interns and I learning to make probiotic yogurt in Dr. Hekmat's nutrition lab at Brescia.

In April of this year, WHE welcomed a second student intern who will be my travel partner for the fall timslot. Alison Chen is a phenomenally motivated and positive individual who I have been lucky enough to be good friends with during my time at Western - I can't wait to experience this international adventure with her!

Now that the summer months are upon us, I will be shifting into high gear to prepare for our departure in early August. With vaccinations/passport/visa details either taken care of or in the works, I'm working hard on fundraising the remaining portion of the $8000 that I will need for my 5 month stay in Africa. On June 9th, I will be hosting "Tanzania On Tap", a benefit event at The Wheat King Bar and Grill in Newmarket, Ontario. The event will feature live entertainment (courtesy of The Rileys), raffles and an opportunity to support a great cause! Tickets are being pre-sold for $10, please contact me to reserve a spot on the guest list.

If you can't make it to the event but still want to contribute to the cause, please consider submitting an online donation through Western's secure "Giving" website. WHE can be selected as the recipient of donations by choosing "Special Groups: HFS - Western Heads East" on the donation form. Thanks in advance for your support!

PS - 'blogging' is a new experience for me... and the perfectionist in me is hating that I can't get my head around proper formatting... hopefully I'll learn fast!!