Worst Week Ever.
3/1/10-3/7/10
Remember the MTV show Best Week Ever? Imagine Mo Rocca providing commentary of the montage of horrible events from this past week. Basically it boils down to our house cursed-literally.
It all started a week ago. My roommates all work for a British based org that runs a few different projects. The main project of the organization is an afterschool center for disadvantaged children. The director of the org is a total nutcase. Here are a few examples of the director’s lunacy: she never registered the organization in Tanzania, therefore they are operating illegally and has resisted Asa's attempts to legally register; due to the tight budget Asa switched the guard dogs’ food to a slightly cheaper brand however the director immediately made her switch back stating the dogs are as important to the center as Asa; and because the director has a bad relationship with the owner of the center’s building, she recently sat in her car in front of the gate spying on the landlord wearing a scarf covering her hair and big sunglasses. Totally crazy! This last scenario leads to our bad luck.
The landlord has made every attempt to hinder the center’s work-but only out of spite for the director. (Mind you, the director lives in England and was simply here for a wk long visit) One afternoon while the director was in town my roommates and the director were sitting on the front porch at the center. All of a sudden they heard gibberish coming from the building directly in front of the center. That building is also owned by the spiteful landlord. Kala (my roommate who speaks fluent Swahili) realized the gibberish as a voodoo curse being directed at the center! The landlord had hired a witch doctor to come and put a spell on the center. At first we all laughed at the extreme measures the landlord was going to, however more recently we’ve begun to think perhaps there is to this curse.
Asa has lived in Arusha for 1 ½ years and never lost her phone, had it stolen, or even dropped in a toilet or under a moving car (take my word, it’s easier than you’d think). Thursday morning, it managed to disappear between exiting her boyfriend’s car in our driveway and entering the house. She realized it was gone immediately and began the frantic search but it is nowhere to be found-not in the car and not in the drive nor in the house. The strange thing is that when people steal phones, they immediately put their own sim card in which therefore turns your own phone number off. However, Asa’s number continues to ring! Perhaps it hasn’t been stolen at all but been sent to the black abyss of voodooness.
That same Thursday, Kala was driving out to visit another project of the organization about a 2 hour drive outside of Arusha. On her way there the car began to make funny noises. She decided it was best to turn around and head back. As she made the Uturn, the car died. She got out of the car to push it out of the middle of the road, and was approached by several men who were there to help her. She was smart enough to put all her things in her bag and zip it up, however there was a sneaky devil in the bunch who managed to unzip her bag and steal her wallet while reaching through the driver’s window to ‘steer the car’ as the group pushed. She was then stuck in the middle of nowhere with no cash, no bankcards, no driver’s license. Luckily she did have her phone to call for help but the wallet is long gone.
On Friday as Heather and I were heading back from town we caught a dalladalla. I had to squish in the back. There’s some unwritten rule in Africa that you don’t move over to make room on a bus seat. When I climbed in, a single man was lounging on a seat made for 3-4people. I motioned for him to move over, but instead of moving over he moved his right knee about an inch which meant I was to climb over him and sit by the window. As my stop approached, I stood up, stuck my phone in my back pocket and asked the man to move again. Again, instead of getting up to let me pass he moved his knees to the side. Again I had to step over him to get off. All in one fell swoop, as I stepped with one leg over him he slid his body to the right to where I had been sitting and he spread his legs to I was trapped straddling his knees. I immediately began to shout-the F word and Jesus Christ are universal by the way. I was able to get off the bus. As I turned to cross the street and the dalla sped off, I reached for my phone and it was gone! When the man had jostled me around, he managed to slip my phone out of my pocket. Heather was still on the same dalla, so I ran up the street to a restaurant where I knew a friend would be and call her. As she started to yell at everyone on the dalla-with translation from a fellow rider-the dalla stopped. She thought they were stopping to search the passengers in the 3rd row. Instead they stopped to let people off-ironically from the 3rd row. It was gone for good.
30 minutes later as Heather was heading back to my house from Njiro, she caught another dalla up the road. After waiting a ridiculous amount of time at a single stop, she decided she would catch another dalla since all others seemed to be flying by. Just as she had told the driver she was going to get off, she stepped down with one foot and the driver hit the gas. She tumbled off into the dust.
Just when we thought nothing else could go wrong, it did. Sunday was sunny and clear, and supposed to be the start of a better week. On Saturday we were laughing about how many things had gone wrong and how Jackie had managed to escape it. In her 9months here she has never had anything stolen and never lost anything, until now. She had gone into town to the market and was on her way back. There is a specific bridge in Arusha that everyone warns is a prime spot for theft because the wooded ravine makes for an easy get-away. Just after she had safely crossed the bridge, she greeted 4 young, hip-dressed boys who were walking past her. Right then, one of them ran up to her and grabbed her. Another grabbed her bag. Even though we all would give up our bags to a thief, but your initial reaction is to cling to what you’re holding. Also because it was so unexpected she wasn’t sure how to react. Strangely enough this busy stretch of road normally has many tourists and locals walking along each side and a lot of car traffic, however somehow there was no one and no car in sight. Luckily they only took the bag and ran, but still it was quite a scary situation! She immediately ran up the road to where a security company truck is parked. After she explained the situation, they had her climb into the truck and they drove around looking for the thieves. People in the neighborhoods had seen the culprits and directed the guards to where they were. Eventually though, they lost their trail. After the fact everyone has said oh well that location is dangerous-but it was the middle of the day! She did nothing wrong, it’s the main road into town, it can’t be avoided!
We were discussing how do a group a boys or whoever suddenly decide to rob someone. If even one other person had been walking or one car driving by, this situation would never have happened. Were they waiting there for a solitary walker? From the angle of the road they couldn’t have seen her approaching for very long, so it wouldn’t have given them enough time to plot. Do they just have a standing plan; you grab the arms, you grab the bag, you be the lookout?
Thankfully neither she nor any of us were hurt. Although I’m not typically a believer in witchcraft, desperate times call for desperate measures; we need to find someone who can reverse this spell and cast some good luck on the Philips household! If you know of a good witchdoctor, send him/her our way.
Ps. Mom-do not freak out.
Pps. Other moms, do not freak out.
Monday, March 8, 2010
Thursday, March 4, 2010
February and March Madness
3/4/10
Its hard to believe its already March. February flew by! After returning from Tanga I spent a week in Arusha running around to meetings to finalize our grant application. Since the DC office decided that they wanted every last second to work on the grant, I was nominated to go back down to Dar via hot smelly bus to submit the packet in person at the USAID office. I boarded the bus early Monday morning and arrived in Dar in the evening. Despite the fact that the distance between the two cities isn’t too too far, the bus ride takes about 10hrs-or the travel time between West Lafayette, Indiana to Washington, D.C.!
On the morning the application was due, I finally received the documents via email (they literally took every last minute to work on the grant). The thing to remember is that Kinkos does not exist in Tanzania. Because resources are scarce, often costs for items we would never think of are quite expensive-including paper. First I found an internet café where I could print original copies of the document. Printing costs for this first round was 1,000 Tanzanian shillings for black and white, and 2,000Tsh for color. I bargained with the attendant to agree to 500 T shillings for B&W, 1,000 for color. After printing the 80 pages, my next mission was to make 2 copies of the packet. The first place I found to make copies looked promising. It was a large office space filled with Canon printers. I explained in my best Swahili that I needed 2 copies of the entire document. He understood! He took the first 10 pages of the document and proceeded to copy each page one-by-one. No, no, no can’t the documents be put through the top feeder-I worked in an office, I’m an expert at photocopying! However, this is where our communication failed. If we continued in this fashion, it may have been completed in a year’s time. Luckily I found another copy place just down the hall. Here they could make 2 sets of copies, and bind the originals in no time. After this laborious task was finished, off to another shop to have the files burned onto a CD (who does that anymore?). Without too much hassle I was able to transfer the files to CD, put the packet together, and find a taxi to the US Embassy where USAID is located. The following day, once again I boarded the bus back to Arusha. When this trip was completed, I spent a total of 20+ hours traveling and about 34 hours in Dar.
Just when I was settling back into my routine, I was thrown back into mayhem when the Books for Africa container showed up unannounced after missing for 2months. The container left the US in early November. Estimating liberally, I expected the ship to dock around the 15th of December. When the 15th came and went, I then re-estimated for it to arrive around Christmas. I was worried this would ruin my Zanzibar plans, however I sweated through the holidays without any disturbance from a 40ft container of books. In the mayhem of my first trip to Dar I discovered the clearing agent we had been assigned for the first container, whom I had been talking to regularly, was in fact NOT the agent assigned for this current container! I tracked down the agent, however when I spoke on the phone to the office assistant, she had no record of our container. After (literally) running around Dar in a panic, I found the original paperwork and was able to see the manager of the clearing office. He was aware that he had been assigned this job, had spoken to the logistics officer from the US months before, but somehow failed to communicate with me until I showed up in person. The agent then attempted to hold me responsible for charges up to $1500 for processing fees. This is a donation made possible through a USAID grant-all of these charges are handled up front, and not by me or my organization directly! Once we set aside the extortion, we were able to move forward.
Since that first meeting, I have been calling several times a week to check on the status of the clearing process. This was important as we needed to inform and organized the regional and district education officers to receive the books in Arusha. Even though it is partly the clearing agent’s responsibility to keep me informed, I recognized early on that I would be kept in the dark unless I made the phone calls. This continued for a month when in reality the clearing process should have only taken a week to 2 at most. A week ago, on my daily check in, I was told the container would be loaded and ready for departure the following day. The agent emphasized that HE would call ME once it left with the details of the truck and the drivers’ numbers. 3 days later and still no call. However, I refused to call him out of principle. Perhaps that was my mistake.
Thursday morning I received a phone call from the agent’s office stating that the container had been in Arusha since the day before and they were waiting for me to direct them. I immediately called Lyne and ran down to the REOs office. We needed a permit from the Engineer’s office in order to authorize the travel of the semitruck into town center where the books would be off loaded. We would also have to notify the district officers and organizer day laborers to unload the truck. We were aware of these steps and would have had everything in place-had we been properly informed ahead of time. Since Lyne had other meetings, she left me with Isak to make all the arrangements. If it weren’t for Isak and Heather’s humor, I may have jumped off a bridge that day! We were able to obtain the permit, schedule pick up times with Monduli and Ngorongoro district officers, hire day laborers, and contact the local newspaper.
Friday morning, we met the truck drivers in town to hand over the permit. With Isak’s help the day before, our bicycle taxi drivers/day laborers arrived to offload the truck. Unfortunately because the road up to the main hall was in a bad state, the headmaster would not allow our massive semi truck to drive up close to the building. This meant that our workers would have to carry the boxes of books 100meters to the hall. While that may not sound like a lot, carrying 580 boxes each weighing at least 50-60lbs is no easy feat. These men worked hard! After 4 hours of heavy duty work in 90 degree heat, the job was complete; however not without another hitch. In Moshi we had maybe 15 boxes that arrived unlabeled. As the first few boxes were unloaded off the Arusha truck, I instructed the workers to simply place those in the ‘unknown’ pile; the rest should be placed under their corresponding label on the wall. I expected a few to be unlabeled. In the end, approximately 300 of the 580 boxes remained in the ‘unknown’ pile. While the work was done for the day, I knew I would be back bright and early on Saturday morning to label and organize these lost soldiers.
Sat morning I met Isak and a laborer to go through the boxes before the district officers arrived to take their portions away. After awhile we found a routine. Isak would move across a section of boxes cutting through the tape quickly; I would follow prying open the flaps, determine the category of books inside, and label accordingly on top. Isak would then follow me again to retape. Then our worker friend would heft the box into the appropriate location in the room. 3 ½ hours later, the district officers were ready to collect their books and I was ready for a nap.
Now that this shipment of books is over, I am preparing to put in a request for the next shipment which will head to Karatu and Longido districts. Hopefully in the next week I will make a visit to Karatu to speak to the district education officer as well as stop by the program site for Wellshare Int (formerly Minnesota International Health Volunteers). I’m beginning to think about what will come after this job. I’ve found it much easier to network here than at home…maybe thats because I already feel a little out of my element, and can therefore be more bold than usual and actually talk to people! I also have an invitation to dinner at a woman’s house who is the director of a UMN-connected, population project here in Arusha!
Now I must go and find candles as the power has gone out again. Hopefully the pony-size (as Heather likes to describe them) cockroaches will stay away. I would hate to run into one of those in the dark!
Pictures to come…
3/4/10
Its hard to believe its already March. February flew by! After returning from Tanga I spent a week in Arusha running around to meetings to finalize our grant application. Since the DC office decided that they wanted every last second to work on the grant, I was nominated to go back down to Dar via hot smelly bus to submit the packet in person at the USAID office. I boarded the bus early Monday morning and arrived in Dar in the evening. Despite the fact that the distance between the two cities isn’t too too far, the bus ride takes about 10hrs-or the travel time between West Lafayette, Indiana to Washington, D.C.!
On the morning the application was due, I finally received the documents via email (they literally took every last minute to work on the grant). The thing to remember is that Kinkos does not exist in Tanzania. Because resources are scarce, often costs for items we would never think of are quite expensive-including paper. First I found an internet café where I could print original copies of the document. Printing costs for this first round was 1,000 Tanzanian shillings for black and white, and 2,000Tsh for color. I bargained with the attendant to agree to 500 T shillings for B&W, 1,000 for color. After printing the 80 pages, my next mission was to make 2 copies of the packet. The first place I found to make copies looked promising. It was a large office space filled with Canon printers. I explained in my best Swahili that I needed 2 copies of the entire document. He understood! He took the first 10 pages of the document and proceeded to copy each page one-by-one. No, no, no can’t the documents be put through the top feeder-I worked in an office, I’m an expert at photocopying! However, this is where our communication failed. If we continued in this fashion, it may have been completed in a year’s time. Luckily I found another copy place just down the hall. Here they could make 2 sets of copies, and bind the originals in no time. After this laborious task was finished, off to another shop to have the files burned onto a CD (who does that anymore?). Without too much hassle I was able to transfer the files to CD, put the packet together, and find a taxi to the US Embassy where USAID is located. The following day, once again I boarded the bus back to Arusha. When this trip was completed, I spent a total of 20+ hours traveling and about 34 hours in Dar.
Just when I was settling back into my routine, I was thrown back into mayhem when the Books for Africa container showed up unannounced after missing for 2months. The container left the US in early November. Estimating liberally, I expected the ship to dock around the 15th of December. When the 15th came and went, I then re-estimated for it to arrive around Christmas. I was worried this would ruin my Zanzibar plans, however I sweated through the holidays without any disturbance from a 40ft container of books. In the mayhem of my first trip to Dar I discovered the clearing agent we had been assigned for the first container, whom I had been talking to regularly, was in fact NOT the agent assigned for this current container! I tracked down the agent, however when I spoke on the phone to the office assistant, she had no record of our container. After (literally) running around Dar in a panic, I found the original paperwork and was able to see the manager of the clearing office. He was aware that he had been assigned this job, had spoken to the logistics officer from the US months before, but somehow failed to communicate with me until I showed up in person. The agent then attempted to hold me responsible for charges up to $1500 for processing fees. This is a donation made possible through a USAID grant-all of these charges are handled up front, and not by me or my organization directly! Once we set aside the extortion, we were able to move forward.
Since that first meeting, I have been calling several times a week to check on the status of the clearing process. This was important as we needed to inform and organized the regional and district education officers to receive the books in Arusha. Even though it is partly the clearing agent’s responsibility to keep me informed, I recognized early on that I would be kept in the dark unless I made the phone calls. This continued for a month when in reality the clearing process should have only taken a week to 2 at most. A week ago, on my daily check in, I was told the container would be loaded and ready for departure the following day. The agent emphasized that HE would call ME once it left with the details of the truck and the drivers’ numbers. 3 days later and still no call. However, I refused to call him out of principle. Perhaps that was my mistake.
Thursday morning I received a phone call from the agent’s office stating that the container had been in Arusha since the day before and they were waiting for me to direct them. I immediately called Lyne and ran down to the REOs office. We needed a permit from the Engineer’s office in order to authorize the travel of the semitruck into town center where the books would be off loaded. We would also have to notify the district officers and organizer day laborers to unload the truck. We were aware of these steps and would have had everything in place-had we been properly informed ahead of time. Since Lyne had other meetings, she left me with Isak to make all the arrangements. If it weren’t for Isak and Heather’s humor, I may have jumped off a bridge that day! We were able to obtain the permit, schedule pick up times with Monduli and Ngorongoro district officers, hire day laborers, and contact the local newspaper.
Friday morning, we met the truck drivers in town to hand over the permit. With Isak’s help the day before, our bicycle taxi drivers/day laborers arrived to offload the truck. Unfortunately because the road up to the main hall was in a bad state, the headmaster would not allow our massive semi truck to drive up close to the building. This meant that our workers would have to carry the boxes of books 100meters to the hall. While that may not sound like a lot, carrying 580 boxes each weighing at least 50-60lbs is no easy feat. These men worked hard! After 4 hours of heavy duty work in 90 degree heat, the job was complete; however not without another hitch. In Moshi we had maybe 15 boxes that arrived unlabeled. As the first few boxes were unloaded off the Arusha truck, I instructed the workers to simply place those in the ‘unknown’ pile; the rest should be placed under their corresponding label on the wall. I expected a few to be unlabeled. In the end, approximately 300 of the 580 boxes remained in the ‘unknown’ pile. While the work was done for the day, I knew I would be back bright and early on Saturday morning to label and organize these lost soldiers.
Sat morning I met Isak and a laborer to go through the boxes before the district officers arrived to take their portions away. After awhile we found a routine. Isak would move across a section of boxes cutting through the tape quickly; I would follow prying open the flaps, determine the category of books inside, and label accordingly on top. Isak would then follow me again to retape. Then our worker friend would heft the box into the appropriate location in the room. 3 ½ hours later, the district officers were ready to collect their books and I was ready for a nap.
Now that this shipment of books is over, I am preparing to put in a request for the next shipment which will head to Karatu and Longido districts. Hopefully in the next week I will make a visit to Karatu to speak to the district education officer as well as stop by the program site for Wellshare Int (formerly Minnesota International Health Volunteers). I’m beginning to think about what will come after this job. I’ve found it much easier to network here than at home…maybe thats because I already feel a little out of my element, and can therefore be more bold than usual and actually talk to people! I also have an invitation to dinner at a woman’s house who is the director of a UMN-connected, population project here in Arusha!
Now I must go and find candles as the power has gone out again. Hopefully the pony-size (as Heather likes to describe them) cockroaches will stay away. I would hate to run into one of those in the dark!
Pictures to come…
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
The Roller Coaster Ride also known as the month of January
The Roller Coaster Ride of January
2/3/10
The month of January has signified a turning point. Not only is it a new year, but January marks the completion of my third month in Tanzania. January has been a busy month-with many highs and lows! I’ll take you through down the rocky road it has been.
(High) After traveling to Zanzibar for Xmas, I returned to Arusha to ring in the New Year. I celebrated New Years Eve with dinner at a Chinese restaurant, and then headed to a central round about in town to watch fireworks. After the new year I resumed working on the Books for Africa project, visited the education offices, etc.
(Low) One week after the new year, while out with friends, my purse was stolen off of the bar counter (I was standing right in front of it, and two friend sat on either side of where I set it. (Yes, yes I know. I don’t need the lecture about being more careful with my things). While I was saddened that my cash, bank card, and phone were stolen, I was more upset that my special little purse I bought at a boutique while visiting my sister in LA and special key chain I’ve had for 10years bought in Toledo, Spain were gone too! I figured the bank card would be useless to the thieves-NO WHERE in Arusha or greater Tanzania uses credit, and chances were that they weren’t savvy enough to buy a flat screen tv online. But still I (and my mother) had to go through a great deal of trouble to cancel the card from my US bank! I also lost all my phone numbers, which is the main form of doing business in Tz. my IDs were gone, as were my house keys. What a pain!
(High and Low)The following Monday, as I tried to recollect the lost bits of my life I received an urgent email from the program director with orders to go to Dar es Salaam immediately! USAID had released a funding opportunity and I was to go to Dar to network with orgs, research Orphans and Other Vulnerable Children (OVCs)issues, and sell our org as a potential partner/sub-grantee to bigger health orgs like Family Health International (FHI) and the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation (EGPAF). While I was excited to start a new project and re-enter the world of public health, it was a little untimely considering the loss of all my important possessions! However, I pulled it together, popped a Dramamine and boarded the bus to Dar. The length of time I was to spend in Dar was indefinite which added another stressor to the trip. I was warmly welcomed at the fabulous Chateau Imee and Tom.
(High) Imee and Tom (fellows for CDC) live in a very nice apartment on the peninsula in Dar, outfitted with fast internet and cable TV! Living in the lap of luxury! Additionally, I received a call from an employee of the bar where my purse was stolen-it had been returned with all my possessions (sans cash)! I was ecstatic! Many of my Tz friends had told me similar stories about how their wallets had been stolen, and then returned to a post office, or even put in an envelope and placed under a random car’s windshield wiper. I figured with my luck, I would never see my purse again. Apparently these thieves had some shred of decency or perhaps they heard me lamenting about my fav keychain that I’ve had for 10 years!
(Low)Despite spending many hours in Imee’s guest room/office on the internet and phone trying to arrange meetings, I succeeded in setting only two during the two weeks I was in Dar. Many organizations have been working in the realm of OVCs for many years and are opting to continue with their current partners; others are not to applying for this grant; and still others felt that my org could not offer additional skills or services that they themselves (Mom/editor in chief/corrector of my speech, is that proper English?) already provide. This was definitely frustrating. This also changed my orgs approach to the grant: instead of applying along with another org as a subgrantee, we would now apply as a primary grant recipient. It also meant I would have to move on to Tanga to do more leg work.
(High) Imee and Tom are great hosts! While in Dar I ate great food: sushi, fish and chips, burger! Aside from the food and MTV, it was also nice to hang out with Imee because she can be such a motivator. As a type-A personality, Imee is a go getter, not afraid to talk to people, and is networking 24/7-pretty much my complete opposite! Through her encouragement and connections, I’ve begun to think about my next steps here and even passed along my resume. This position has been a great foot-in-the-door, but I know my next job has to be public health work full time. I’m planning a return visit to Dar to conduct some informal, informational interviews that will hopefully lead to something fruitful!
(High) Even though Tanga is probably a 4hr drive north of Dar, of course in reality it took 7hrs. Tanga town is a small seaside town with friendly people, beautiful water, and cheap eats! My first night I met a local who told me all about Tanga, showed me where the internet shop and a nice little restaurant were. On Saturday night, I accompanied him and a few Norwegians (who were staying at the same motel) to dinner and the local disco. Turns out-he knows my roommate from Zanzibar! Small world, Tanzania is. Monday morning I had a productive meeting with the regional director of the social welfare department. Even though I unexpectedly dropped by the office, the director took the time to answer all my questions, he and another officer personally escorted me to two children centers to help me with my research! This is a testament to 1) the niceness of the people here, 2) the different way in which business operates in Africa.
(All time low!) Since I had lost my purse prior to departing for Dar, I only had X amount of money, and no emergency-bank-card-withdrawing-access-as-safety-net. I had budgeted exactly enough money to for the trip and to get home—or so I thought. When I checked out of the hotel I was informed that I still owed 40,000 T shillings. I only had 40,000Tsh left, total! When I booked the room, I thought the man had said 20,000Tsh/2 nights. Apparently it was 20,000/night. After looking very upset and pathetic, the man relented and accepted 30,000. That left me with 10,000Tsh for the bus. When I arrived at the bus station, I informed the booking people that I only had 12,000. They told me that would only get me to Moshi-again I looked sad and pathetic and they said OK. THANK GOODNESS EVERYTHING IS NEGOTIABLE IN AFRICA. Usually this loosey goosey system drives me nuts: as a white person I tend to get overcharged, but in this case it worked to my advantage.
I made it safely back to Arusha. While the seaside view was beautiful, after 3 weeks of being on the road its good to be home! Since I didn’t think I would be traveling to all these places, I neglected to bring my camera to visually document the journey. When Erik comes to visit in March, I’ll have to retrace my steps and photograph the lovely places along the way (hint, hint Erik-buy that ticket!)
2/3/10
The month of January has signified a turning point. Not only is it a new year, but January marks the completion of my third month in Tanzania. January has been a busy month-with many highs and lows! I’ll take you through down the rocky road it has been.
(High) After traveling to Zanzibar for Xmas, I returned to Arusha to ring in the New Year. I celebrated New Years Eve with dinner at a Chinese restaurant, and then headed to a central round about in town to watch fireworks. After the new year I resumed working on the Books for Africa project, visited the education offices, etc.
(Low) One week after the new year, while out with friends, my purse was stolen off of the bar counter (I was standing right in front of it, and two friend sat on either side of where I set it. (Yes, yes I know. I don’t need the lecture about being more careful with my things). While I was saddened that my cash, bank card, and phone were stolen, I was more upset that my special little purse I bought at a boutique while visiting my sister in LA and special key chain I’ve had for 10years bought in Toledo, Spain were gone too! I figured the bank card would be useless to the thieves-NO WHERE in Arusha or greater Tanzania uses credit, and chances were that they weren’t savvy enough to buy a flat screen tv online. But still I (and my mother) had to go through a great deal of trouble to cancel the card from my US bank! I also lost all my phone numbers, which is the main form of doing business in Tz. my IDs were gone, as were my house keys. What a pain!
(High and Low)The following Monday, as I tried to recollect the lost bits of my life I received an urgent email from the program director with orders to go to Dar es Salaam immediately! USAID had released a funding opportunity and I was to go to Dar to network with orgs, research Orphans and Other Vulnerable Children (OVCs)issues, and sell our org as a potential partner/sub-grantee to bigger health orgs like Family Health International (FHI) and the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation (EGPAF). While I was excited to start a new project and re-enter the world of public health, it was a little untimely considering the loss of all my important possessions! However, I pulled it together, popped a Dramamine and boarded the bus to Dar. The length of time I was to spend in Dar was indefinite which added another stressor to the trip. I was warmly welcomed at the fabulous Chateau Imee and Tom.
(High) Imee and Tom (fellows for CDC) live in a very nice apartment on the peninsula in Dar, outfitted with fast internet and cable TV! Living in the lap of luxury! Additionally, I received a call from an employee of the bar where my purse was stolen-it had been returned with all my possessions (sans cash)! I was ecstatic! Many of my Tz friends had told me similar stories about how their wallets had been stolen, and then returned to a post office, or even put in an envelope and placed under a random car’s windshield wiper. I figured with my luck, I would never see my purse again. Apparently these thieves had some shred of decency or perhaps they heard me lamenting about my fav keychain that I’ve had for 10 years!
(Low)Despite spending many hours in Imee’s guest room/office on the internet and phone trying to arrange meetings, I succeeded in setting only two during the two weeks I was in Dar. Many organizations have been working in the realm of OVCs for many years and are opting to continue with their current partners; others are not to applying for this grant; and still others felt that my org could not offer additional skills or services that they themselves (Mom/editor in chief/corrector of my speech, is that proper English?) already provide. This was definitely frustrating. This also changed my orgs approach to the grant: instead of applying along with another org as a subgrantee, we would now apply as a primary grant recipient. It also meant I would have to move on to Tanga to do more leg work.
(High) Imee and Tom are great hosts! While in Dar I ate great food: sushi, fish and chips, burger! Aside from the food and MTV, it was also nice to hang out with Imee because she can be such a motivator. As a type-A personality, Imee is a go getter, not afraid to talk to people, and is networking 24/7-pretty much my complete opposite! Through her encouragement and connections, I’ve begun to think about my next steps here and even passed along my resume. This position has been a great foot-in-the-door, but I know my next job has to be public health work full time. I’m planning a return visit to Dar to conduct some informal, informational interviews that will hopefully lead to something fruitful!
(High) Even though Tanga is probably a 4hr drive north of Dar, of course in reality it took 7hrs. Tanga town is a small seaside town with friendly people, beautiful water, and cheap eats! My first night I met a local who told me all about Tanga, showed me where the internet shop and a nice little restaurant were. On Saturday night, I accompanied him and a few Norwegians (who were staying at the same motel) to dinner and the local disco. Turns out-he knows my roommate from Zanzibar! Small world, Tanzania is. Monday morning I had a productive meeting with the regional director of the social welfare department. Even though I unexpectedly dropped by the office, the director took the time to answer all my questions, he and another officer personally escorted me to two children centers to help me with my research! This is a testament to 1) the niceness of the people here, 2) the different way in which business operates in Africa.
(All time low!) Since I had lost my purse prior to departing for Dar, I only had X amount of money, and no emergency-bank-card-withdrawing-access-as-safety-net. I had budgeted exactly enough money to for the trip and to get home—or so I thought. When I checked out of the hotel I was informed that I still owed 40,000 T shillings. I only had 40,000Tsh left, total! When I booked the room, I thought the man had said 20,000Tsh/2 nights. Apparently it was 20,000/night. After looking very upset and pathetic, the man relented and accepted 30,000. That left me with 10,000Tsh for the bus. When I arrived at the bus station, I informed the booking people that I only had 12,000. They told me that would only get me to Moshi-again I looked sad and pathetic and they said OK. THANK GOODNESS EVERYTHING IS NEGOTIABLE IN AFRICA. Usually this loosey goosey system drives me nuts: as a white person I tend to get overcharged, but in this case it worked to my advantage.
I made it safely back to Arusha. While the seaside view was beautiful, after 3 weeks of being on the road its good to be home! Since I didn’t think I would be traveling to all these places, I neglected to bring my camera to visually document the journey. When Erik comes to visit in March, I’ll have to retrace my steps and photograph the lovely places along the way (hint, hint Erik-buy that ticket!)
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Zanzibari Sun Set
Holy Hot Holidays!
Wk of 12/21-12/28
This past week I escaped from Arusha town to the southern parts of Tanzania. My friend Heather and I ventured by early morning bus down to Dar where we met up with Imee and Debby.
[Photo 1. MCH Girls Reunion: Debby, Imee, Me]The first noticeable difference about the city of Dar es Salaam is the extreme heat and humidity. I’ve gotten used to the hot days in Arusha, but the nights are always nice and cool. Not so in Dar. In the evening the temp was still hovering around 85-90 and 100% humidity. After a quick dip in the pool, we all got ready for an Ethiopian dinner before Imee jetted off to Europe for the holidays. The food was delicious! Ethiopian meals are served family style on a large platter of spongy bread. Each dish is dumped out onto the bread and you tear pieces away and scoop up the sauce and dish of your desire. My favorites were the lamb and the cottage cheese(more like Indian paneer cheese)/spinach dishes. After dinner we went for a round of trivia at an Irish pub. A friend of mine who I met in Arusha but lives in Dar took a few of us to a local bar as an escape from the expat saturated bar we were at.
The next day we spent lounging next to the pool, relaxing with our books. For lunch we walked down the road to a shopping center where I spotted chocolate mint ice cream. That was a much better substitute to lunch in the hot hot weather. After lunch it was back to the pool to cool off. That night we picked up another arriving friend from Arusha who would be joining us in Zanzibar. The morning of our departure from Dar, we made a much needed pit stop at good ole Mr. Price! This was the largest one I’d been in with an amazing selection of tshirts, jeans, and all things I love: ) Thankfully we made it just in the nic of time to catch the afternoon ferry to Zanzibar Island. To ward off any seasickness I slept most of the 2 hr boat ride (and it was my afternoon nap time).
I thought it was hot in Dar-but it was even hotter in Zanzibar! To make matters worse, the power in Zanzibar was out, meaning no electricity for air conditioning or even fans! Our hotel did have a generator, but as good conservationists they only turned the generators on from 6-9pm. Unfortunately our room had only a single window that faced a small, center courtyard with no breeze. I sweated through the night sleeping like a star fish spread across my bed. However, despite the heat-Stonetown was pretty amazing! The architecture is Arabian inspired, the streets winding and narrow, and the attitude laid back like many beach towns. The highlight of Stonetown was the Forodhani Gardens; a public space where vendors set up shop at night and sell skewers of fresh seafood, fruit, Zanzibari pizza, sugar cane juice, and falafel.
[Photo 2. SEAFOOD GALORE]
We tried everything from lobster to shrimp to marlin, tuna, and barracuda! The verdict is: seafood is delicious! Zanzibari pizza is more like an omelet with chopped onion, tomato, pepper, and beef. My favorite desert was definitely the fresh slice of pineapple.
While in Stonetown, Heather, Debby and I decided to take a Christmas Eve day spice tour. Zanzibar historically was a major port for spices. Many are native to Zanzibar, but many also were brought over by the Portuguese, Spanish (?), and English. We saw, smelled and tried many things including vanilla, pepper, nutmeg, cinnamon, turmeric, cardamom, lemon grass, and ginger.
[Photo 3. Heather and I smelling Lemon Grass] Towards the end of the tour we also had a chance to try the abundant fruits of Zanzibar: passion fruit, jackfruit, oranges, papaya, pineapple, coco, and star fruit. The fragrance through the woods was amazing!
After the spice tour we attempted to withdraw money from the ATM-luckily, I had brought US dollars and could exchange at a bureau, but Debby and Heather were in dire need of an ATM. In true African fashion, none of the ATMs around Stonetown were working; partly due to the power outage and partly due to ‘nothing ever works in Africa.’ We ran from bank to bank and ATM to ATM with no luck. Finally a nice Zanzibarian took pity on us and offered us a lift to another bank. We finally found one that worked and the girls were able to take out money! This new friend turned out to be our savior-very fitting on Christmas Eve, even if he was Muslim. In return we invited him to our evening gathering. The night was great! We met up with my roommate Kala and another Arusha friend Megan at a near by bar where the special entertainment was an Arabian fire dance show!
[Photo 4. Fire starter, Xmas Eve]
On Christmas day, Heather, Debby and I travelled across the island to Jambiani for some beach time! It turned out that our new friend just so happened to grow up in Jambiani and offered to drive us to the town. Six of us piled into the car and took off for an adventure on the beach.
[Photo 5. The Jambiani Gang] Debby and I were ecstatic to see water-Arusha swimming pools just doesn’t cut it. The cool thing about this beach trip was that I can now add the Indian Ocean to places I’ve been! The water was crystal clear and warm, the sand white and powdery soft! On our second beach day we went up the coast to a private beach where we were the only people for miles in all directions! That is except for the fisherman who caught our lunch! While we waited for our fish to cook, we sipped milk from freshly picked coconuts and floated in the water. Truly an amazing holiday!
[Photo 6. Coconut Freshi (they say freshi in swahili)]
While I loved my escape to the island, I was looking forward to be back in the cool temps of Arusha! I guess when you miss being in your familiar surroundings, that’s when it’s really home.
Parties, Celebrations, Graduations Galore
Wk of 12/11-12/18
This week has been full of ceremonies and celebrations. On Friday the 11th, Jackie invited me to a graduation ceremony at ECOLI-the pre-school she has worked with for the past 6mo. These children will be moving on to primary school starting in late January. The school year here is Jan-Dec, with a few holiday breaks throughout. I was optimistic in thinking I was merely attending the ceremony as an audience member; of course I would be a ‘guest of honor’ and required to sit at the head table along with the District Ward Officer, a ECOLI board member, the assistant director of the school and Jackie. The ceremony was quite formal, with readings by the District Ward Officer and another guest of honor who preached the importance of education—to preschoolers, mind you. and not in a tone you’d usually address 5 yr olds… The children as usual were cute as could be. They marched into the ceremony singing and doing a little dance step.The families were very excited for their babies to be receiving recognition of moving on in their education, each mama or family member providing a lay and a gift to the child as their name was read for their ‘diploma.’ Despite the meager resources, ECOLI provided a light lunch for all which included samosa, sausage, potatoes, chipati (Indian style flat bread), fruit, and a soda.
The following Monday, Jackie organized a party for all the children of ECOLI-not just the graduates-at a local playground.
Many of these children (and their parents as well) have never left the neighborhood of Unga Limited. Unga=flour. The neighborhood is in an industrial part of town where the flour mills are located. As in the states, usually the neighborhoods closest to the industrial zones are quite poor. This field trip across town was quite an event for these children! When they first arrived at the playground, it was evident they were unsure what to do. But with some encouragement and a few demonstrations, they went wild! The kids ran from the slide to the swings to the merry-go-round. As I pushed kids on swings, blew bubbles, and played chase, I imagined myself as a ‘recess duty attendants’ at Lincoln Elementary School. I did not however, blow my whistle or make badly behaved kids stand on the brick wall for the recess period.
Later in the week I was invited to another party at the other site Jackie volunteers at, Shika. It just so happens that my other two roommates, Kala and Asa, work at Shika as well. I thought I would attend the party as a visitor, play with a few kids, help pass out lunch, however when Friday rolled around, Jackie ended up very sick and Kala was just out of town with a flat tire. Asa (pronounced O-sa) was desperate for help. Together we lugged 30 kilos of frozen chicken, a gift from Meat King, to the center that would be prepared for the kids’ lunch. Once there I was thrown into the mix painting faces, organizing ball games, and directing the parachute games. It was quite chaotic!
(This school center is quite different from ECOLI in that it is sponsored and run by a British group that brings in many volunteers. The kids are used to seeing Westerners for about 2wks at a time and being showered with gifts and resources for the center. My social work background in a therapeutic preschool tells me this is not the ideal set up for children who are vulnerable and have attachment issues with adults. But I guess that’s my perspective.)
Despite my concerns about how the center runs the children are still children and deserve as much fun as they can get. The face paint was a hit!
After painting all the kids, it was my turn. The kids turned their brushes on me and went to town. Even though I thought I had washed my face thoroughly, I realized after an entire afternoon of walking around town I had an orange tinted moustache.
Thanks kids!
Both school centers, and all Tz schools for that matter, are now on holiday break until about the 2nd week or so of January. So I get a little reprieve from parties and ceremonies. However, I’m gearing up for the arrival of my first shipment of school text books from Books for Africa! The container is due to arrive in Dar es Salaam around Jan 12th. From there the container will be shipped up by semi truck to Arusha were we will begin the sorting and distribution process.
Wk of 12/11-12/18
This week has been full of ceremonies and celebrations. On Friday the 11th, Jackie invited me to a graduation ceremony at ECOLI-the pre-school she has worked with for the past 6mo. These children will be moving on to primary school starting in late January. The school year here is Jan-Dec, with a few holiday breaks throughout. I was optimistic in thinking I was merely attending the ceremony as an audience member; of course I would be a ‘guest of honor’ and required to sit at the head table along with the District Ward Officer, a ECOLI board member, the assistant director of the school and Jackie. The ceremony was quite formal, with readings by the District Ward Officer and another guest of honor who preached the importance of education—to preschoolers, mind you. and not in a tone you’d usually address 5 yr olds… The children as usual were cute as could be. They marched into the ceremony singing and doing a little dance step.The families were very excited for their babies to be receiving recognition of moving on in their education, each mama or family member providing a lay and a gift to the child as their name was read for their ‘diploma.’ Despite the meager resources, ECOLI provided a light lunch for all which included samosa, sausage, potatoes, chipati (Indian style flat bread), fruit, and a soda.
The following Monday, Jackie organized a party for all the children of ECOLI-not just the graduates-at a local playground.
Many of these children (and their parents as well) have never left the neighborhood of Unga Limited. Unga=flour. The neighborhood is in an industrial part of town where the flour mills are located. As in the states, usually the neighborhoods closest to the industrial zones are quite poor. This field trip across town was quite an event for these children! When they first arrived at the playground, it was evident they were unsure what to do. But with some encouragement and a few demonstrations, they went wild! The kids ran from the slide to the swings to the merry-go-round. As I pushed kids on swings, blew bubbles, and played chase, I imagined myself as a ‘recess duty attendants’ at Lincoln Elementary School. I did not however, blow my whistle or make badly behaved kids stand on the brick wall for the recess period.
Later in the week I was invited to another party at the other site Jackie volunteers at, Shika. It just so happens that my other two roommates, Kala and Asa, work at Shika as well. I thought I would attend the party as a visitor, play with a few kids, help pass out lunch, however when Friday rolled around, Jackie ended up very sick and Kala was just out of town with a flat tire. Asa (pronounced O-sa) was desperate for help. Together we lugged 30 kilos of frozen chicken, a gift from Meat King, to the center that would be prepared for the kids’ lunch. Once there I was thrown into the mix painting faces, organizing ball games, and directing the parachute games. It was quite chaotic!
(This school center is quite different from ECOLI in that it is sponsored and run by a British group that brings in many volunteers. The kids are used to seeing Westerners for about 2wks at a time and being showered with gifts and resources for the center. My social work background in a therapeutic preschool tells me this is not the ideal set up for children who are vulnerable and have attachment issues with adults. But I guess that’s my perspective.)Despite my concerns about how the center runs the children are still children and deserve as much fun as they can get. The face paint was a hit!
After painting all the kids, it was my turn. The kids turned their brushes on me and went to town. Even though I thought I had washed my face thoroughly, I realized after an entire afternoon of walking around town I had an orange tinted moustache. Thanks kids!
Both school centers, and all Tz schools for that matter, are now on holiday break until about the 2nd week or so of January. So I get a little reprieve from parties and ceremonies. However, I’m gearing up for the arrival of my first shipment of school text books from Books for Africa! The container is due to arrive in Dar es Salaam around Jan 12th. From there the container will be shipped up by semi truck to Arusha were we will begin the sorting and distribution process.
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
An Eventful Week in Arusha
11/22/09-11/27/09
Birthday, Graduation, Thanksgiving
[Photos: 1) Megan and I celebrating our birthdays-both 11/22 babies; 2) Jackie and the giant tortoise at Arusha School; 3) Teacher graduates entering the ceremony with a song and dance; 4) Thanksgiving dinner at the New Arusha Hotel-Me, Jackie, and Heather enjoying our turkey, mashed taters, and wine (we talked the server into 'all you can drink wine')]
I have many favorite foods but at the top of the list are Thai and Indian cuisines. In Arusha, I’ve had no luck finding Thai, but Indian food is plentiful here. Last weekend, I started my birthday weekend celebration with a dinner at Big Bite with a few new contacts from my old stomping ground. Thanks to Lizz, the ever-networking-wonder that she is, I have new UMN friends who are doing their medical residency here at the Lutheran Hospital. So over a meal of mutton korma and naan we talked about Minneapolis and Arusha.
Since I share my birthday with another gal here, we decided we’d treat ourselves to a nice dinner on Saturday night before going out for the night. We went to a nice restaurant owned by an Australian and ate steak with blue cheese! Afterwards we all went across the road to a local favorite, Shooters, for some karaoke. Together Megan and I celebrated 62 years! It was a fun night, despite the fact that I was quite exhausted on Sunday for my real birthday. However, my roommates wouldn’t allow me to have an easy day and insisted I continue the birthday celebration until midnight Sunday night.
After an eventful birthday weekend, I jumped into the work week by making arrangements for the arrival of the Books for Africa shipment. Things move quite slowly here in terms of work pace, and as the holiday season approaches things are slowing to a snail’s pace! Its becoming more and more difficult to make appointments with necessary officials and plans continuously are cancelled. But I expect that everything will still manage to get accomplished.
The middle of the work week was marked by attending a graduation ceremony for a teacher training program. The program/preschool Jackie works at also hosts a teacher training program. About 35 or so teachers completed the course and are now certified as teachers with a specialty for early childhood education. Ceremonies in Africa are of a different breed. The decorations are always reminiscent of prom circa 1988, there is always a skit or dramatization involved, the ceremony lasts for hours! and the food served always involves an intestine or two. Despite not understanding a word of the ceremony, the celebration is always enjoyable.
Many of the graduates were women in their 40s and above and the joy and pride on the faces of their husbands and families was very touching. For me the highlight of the graduation was seeing the giant tortoise in the courtyard that lives at the school. Who has an actual tortoise as their mascot? I must admit it puts the LaPorte Slicers’ mascot to shame.
I often get emails asking about things and foods that I eat here or foods that I can’t get…Even though I’m a million miles away, this Thursday I still was able to eat my turkey and mashed potatoes! My American roommate and another new American girl went to a nice hotel in town for a special dinner. For 35,000 Tanzanian shillings (~$25) we had a full Thanksgiving meal complete with a mini pumpkin pie and champagne!
Throughout the whole week I watched two friends’ 10wk old puppy. For those who know me and my stance on having children, this week has confirmed my belief. I should not be responsible for any children for more than a few hours at a time. I like dogs (and children), but I don’t like having to constantly take care of it, clean up after it, watch it to make sure it doesn’t eat something on the floor, and then be woken up to make it breakfast before I’m ready to get up! Not to mention, I didn’t just pour dog food out of a bag into a bowl. I had to make a special porridge from water and flour with fresh fish or meat. Ugh! Even though its a really cute German Sheppard puppy, but I was so happy when the friends returned and took the puppy home. And their payment for my services was a spice boat from Zanzibar! Now I have saffron, red and yellow curries as well as fresh tea!
Birthday, Graduation, Thanksgiving
[Photos: 1) Megan and I celebrating our birthdays-both 11/22 babies; 2) Jackie and the giant tortoise at Arusha School; 3) Teacher graduates entering the ceremony with a song and dance; 4) Thanksgiving dinner at the New Arusha Hotel-Me, Jackie, and Heather enjoying our turkey, mashed taters, and wine (we talked the server into 'all you can drink wine')]
I have many favorite foods but at the top of the list are Thai and Indian cuisines. In Arusha, I’ve had no luck finding Thai, but Indian food is plentiful here. Last weekend, I started my birthday weekend celebration with a dinner at Big Bite with a few new contacts from my old stomping ground. Thanks to Lizz, the ever-networking-wonder that she is, I have new UMN friends who are doing their medical residency here at the Lutheran Hospital. So over a meal of mutton korma and naan we talked about Minneapolis and Arusha.
Since I share my birthday with another gal here, we decided we’d treat ourselves to a nice dinner on Saturday night before going out for the night. We went to a nice restaurant owned by an Australian and ate steak with blue cheese! Afterwards we all went across the road to a local favorite, Shooters, for some karaoke. Together Megan and I celebrated 62 years! It was a fun night, despite the fact that I was quite exhausted on Sunday for my real birthday. However, my roommates wouldn’t allow me to have an easy day and insisted I continue the birthday celebration until midnight Sunday night.
After an eventful birthday weekend, I jumped into the work week by making arrangements for the arrival of the Books for Africa shipment. Things move quite slowly here in terms of work pace, and as the holiday season approaches things are slowing to a snail’s pace! Its becoming more and more difficult to make appointments with necessary officials and plans continuously are cancelled. But I expect that everything will still manage to get accomplished.
The middle of the work week was marked by attending a graduation ceremony for a teacher training program. The program/preschool Jackie works at also hosts a teacher training program. About 35 or so teachers completed the course and are now certified as teachers with a specialty for early childhood education. Ceremonies in Africa are of a different breed. The decorations are always reminiscent of prom circa 1988, there is always a skit or dramatization involved, the ceremony lasts for hours! and the food served always involves an intestine or two. Despite not understanding a word of the ceremony, the celebration is always enjoyable.
Many of the graduates were women in their 40s and above and the joy and pride on the faces of their husbands and families was very touching. For me the highlight of the graduation was seeing the giant tortoise in the courtyard that lives at the school. Who has an actual tortoise as their mascot? I must admit it puts the LaPorte Slicers’ mascot to shame.
I often get emails asking about things and foods that I eat here or foods that I can’t get…Even though I’m a million miles away, this Thursday I still was able to eat my turkey and mashed potatoes! My American roommate and another new American girl went to a nice hotel in town for a special dinner. For 35,000 Tanzanian shillings (~$25) we had a full Thanksgiving meal complete with a mini pumpkin pie and champagne!
Throughout the whole week I watched two friends’ 10wk old puppy. For those who know me and my stance on having children, this week has confirmed my belief. I should not be responsible for any children for more than a few hours at a time. I like dogs (and children), but I don’t like having to constantly take care of it, clean up after it, watch it to make sure it doesn’t eat something on the floor, and then be woken up to make it breakfast before I’m ready to get up! Not to mention, I didn’t just pour dog food out of a bag into a bowl. I had to make a special porridge from water and flour with fresh fish or meat. Ugh! Even though its a really cute German Sheppard puppy, but I was so happy when the friends returned and took the puppy home. And their payment for my services was a spice boat from Zanzibar! Now I have saffron, red and yellow curries as well as fresh tea!
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Daily Grind
Weeks of 11/1/09-11/20/09
During the last two weeks I have been busy with work in the Arusha Region, travel to Dar es Salaam to visit a friend from home, and a whole lot of trivial pursuit. Did you know that a snail’s reproductive organs are located in its head? Just a little factoid you might want to commit to memory.
I had the good fortune to be invited to a grant writing workshop with Jackie. The school she works for does pre-primary education which is not supported by the government. The program is struggling, but the director understands and believes in the importance of early childhood education. The teachers have been coming to work with no pay for many months. They are dedicated, to say the least.
Jackie, Juhudi and I sat with an expert grant writer and defined the programs activities. This was the third step in the process of organizing before writing the grant. The program has applied three times before and been unsuccessful, but with the help of this woman and the thorough process I hope the program will receive sustainable funding.
The children at the school are absolutely darling! I’m not a big baby person, but these kids are SO cute! When you walk into the classroom, they all jump up, put their hand to their forehead like a salute, and sing a song to welcome you. They then run and hug you and just want to hold your hand. Despite the fact that the program resources are stretched so thin, the school has recently begun to welcome in the young neighborhood children who sit outside the door and windows watching. So a new class of 2 year olds has formed. Since each of the other teachers was busy teaching the other ‘classes,’ I attempted to entertain the minis-it was more damage control as they were beginning to throw the picture books at one another-Building Blocks moment! I sang the only song I could think of: Head, shoulders, knees and toes. It worked! Even though they had NO idea what I was saying, they liked the movements. The school was thinking that it would be better for them to at least come into the school and have exposure to a classroom setting, but I think it may actually be more disturbing to the other three classrooms that are going on.
Shika is another school program that Jackie works at, as well as my other two roommates. One afternoon I visited the afterschool program to speak to the staff and see the program in action. Very action oriented it is! The children were very rambunctious; playing soccer, doing yoga, playing a game with tennis balls-all in a very small yard with two big, obnoxious dogs in the mix. The program had invited a local Rasta musician to do a music session with the kids. However, he failed to show up, so Asa organized the kids to do their own music show. It was quite funny to watch these kids sing and dance to local pop music as well as their favorite-Michael Jackson.
Aside from work, I was able to travel to Dar es Salaam to visit my old MCH buddy, Imee! Since my bus left at 5.30am on Friday morning, I thought it would be best if I just stayed up all night and then slept on the bus. So Thursday night, I went out with my roommates until the early morning when I ran home, gathered my bag and chased the bus down. Off I went to Dar. Dar is very different from Arusha. Even though Arusha has 400,000+ people and is definitely a big town, Dar is a proper city. With a mall! And fastfood! Imee’s apartment is quite nice complete with cable and music videos After a quick dip in the pool, Imee and I got ready for a run way show for Swahili Fashion Week. It was great! The fashions ranged from super chic to bizarre to wearable. After the show we relaxed at a posh hotel bar where I got fresh calamari, yum! The next day I accompanied Imee and her roommate to White Sands Resort where Imee started her scuba diving training. Tom and I reclined under a grass hut next to the pool for the day, drinking soda and soaking up the sun (through layers of SPF 50). It was a short but sweet weekend trip! I was ready to take on the coming work week refreshed!
This week Kala and I have taken to an afternoon ritual of sitting in the living room, eating ‘cayenne pepper cheese roll’*(patent pending on the snack), and quizzing each other with Trivial Pursuit for hours on end. Watch out, I may be the next one to win on Who wants to be a millionaire. What was the first country to legalize abortion in 1935?
A. Germany
B. India
C. Iceland
D. Canada
Answer to come in the next blog!
During the last two weeks I have been busy with work in the Arusha Region, travel to Dar es Salaam to visit a friend from home, and a whole lot of trivial pursuit. Did you know that a snail’s reproductive organs are located in its head? Just a little factoid you might want to commit to memory.
I had the good fortune to be invited to a grant writing workshop with Jackie. The school she works for does pre-primary education which is not supported by the government. The program is struggling, but the director understands and believes in the importance of early childhood education. The teachers have been coming to work with no pay for many months. They are dedicated, to say the least.
Jackie, Juhudi and I sat with an expert grant writer and defined the programs activities. This was the third step in the process of organizing before writing the grant. The program has applied three times before and been unsuccessful, but with the help of this woman and the thorough process I hope the program will receive sustainable funding.
The children at the school are absolutely darling! I’m not a big baby person, but these kids are SO cute! When you walk into the classroom, they all jump up, put their hand to their forehead like a salute, and sing a song to welcome you. They then run and hug you and just want to hold your hand. Despite the fact that the program resources are stretched so thin, the school has recently begun to welcome in the young neighborhood children who sit outside the door and windows watching. So a new class of 2 year olds has formed. Since each of the other teachers was busy teaching the other ‘classes,’ I attempted to entertain the minis-it was more damage control as they were beginning to throw the picture books at one another-Building Blocks moment! I sang the only song I could think of: Head, shoulders, knees and toes. It worked! Even though they had NO idea what I was saying, they liked the movements. The school was thinking that it would be better for them to at least come into the school and have exposure to a classroom setting, but I think it may actually be more disturbing to the other three classrooms that are going on.
Shika is another school program that Jackie works at, as well as my other two roommates. One afternoon I visited the afterschool program to speak to the staff and see the program in action. Very action oriented it is! The children were very rambunctious; playing soccer, doing yoga, playing a game with tennis balls-all in a very small yard with two big, obnoxious dogs in the mix. The program had invited a local Rasta musician to do a music session with the kids. However, he failed to show up, so Asa organized the kids to do their own music show. It was quite funny to watch these kids sing and dance to local pop music as well as their favorite-Michael Jackson.
Aside from work, I was able to travel to Dar es Salaam to visit my old MCH buddy, Imee! Since my bus left at 5.30am on Friday morning, I thought it would be best if I just stayed up all night and then slept on the bus. So Thursday night, I went out with my roommates until the early morning when I ran home, gathered my bag and chased the bus down. Off I went to Dar. Dar is very different from Arusha. Even though Arusha has 400,000+ people and is definitely a big town, Dar is a proper city. With a mall! And fastfood! Imee’s apartment is quite nice complete with cable and music videos After a quick dip in the pool, Imee and I got ready for a run way show for Swahili Fashion Week. It was great! The fashions ranged from super chic to bizarre to wearable. After the show we relaxed at a posh hotel bar where I got fresh calamari, yum! The next day I accompanied Imee and her roommate to White Sands Resort where Imee started her scuba diving training. Tom and I reclined under a grass hut next to the pool for the day, drinking soda and soaking up the sun (through layers of SPF 50). It was a short but sweet weekend trip! I was ready to take on the coming work week refreshed!
This week Kala and I have taken to an afternoon ritual of sitting in the living room, eating ‘cayenne pepper cheese roll’*(patent pending on the snack), and quizzing each other with Trivial Pursuit for hours on end. Watch out, I may be the next one to win on Who wants to be a millionaire. What was the first country to legalize abortion in 1935?
A. Germany
B. India
C. Iceland
D. Canada
Answer to come in the next blog!
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