Krismas Njema!

25 December 2009

Krismas Njema! Our first Christmas away from home and our first as a married couple was a good one. We still missed our families and Christmas traditions and snow (believe it or not!), but we made of it what we could and had an enjoyable couple of days. On Tuesday we attended the candlelight service at church and the Simonson’s invited us over for Christmas Eve dinner. We thankfully obliged and had a great time with them. We ate ham and mashed potatoes and had a mango crisp for dessert! Then we sang some Christmas carols and watched everyone exchange gifts. Dave and Eunie, as well as Nathan and Susan and John and Annette Simonson, graciously gave us little gifts. Their kindness and hospitality made us feel as close to being at home with family as was possible over here, which was wonderful.

This morning we woke up and opened stockings (which we improvised with some oven mitts) and made omlettes. Then we exchanged some gifts and went to church. It was kind of cold and rainy, so the dreariness made it feel at least somewhat more like a “white Christmas” J. We came home and watched Christmas movies and snacked on various foods all day, and really enjoyed just relaxing for a day. Zach gave me a beautiful purse made out of scrap kitenge materials and I gave him a soccer ball made out of banana leaves and some authentic African cooking tools, which he was excited to try out.

We have been invited to go to the beach with Simonson’s for New Year’s and will be leaving on the 28^th or 29^th. We are looking forward to getting out of town for few days and getting our mind off of our work. We also have never seen the Indian Ocean, which will be fun. We’ll be in touch when we get back. Hope everyone has a safe and fun New Year’s.

(The picture is of our Christmas tree and "stockings," which were actually oven mitts made out of kitenge scraps, but they actually looked really cool.)

Written by Whitney

Maasai Babus

17 December 2009

We had another draining, yet successful week of village visits. The drains come in the form of long and bumpy daladala rides, cultural frustrations both during our presentations and apart from our presentations, and then having to wake up the next morning to do battle all over again; the successes come in the form of meeting new people, learning of their struggles, and sharing our knowledge with people who desperately need it. Plus, we get to explore many new areas of Northern Tanzania, which I never get enough of.

We received some wonderful news about a generous donation that was given to us by Gerry and Lois Olsen in order to buy basic medical equipment for the villages that we visit. We have already provided a stethoscope and blood pressure cuff to both the CWCD and to the Karatu regional hospital.

Yesterday, we returned to a village that we visited last week, Matudumomye, in hopes of speaking with the village men as well. It was Stacie’s birthday, so the village women, in coordination with Mama, had a large celebration planned with singing, dancing, and a wonderful feast. I felt so guilty that they provided such an extravagant meal for us, but was glad to see the 20 gallon pot filled with pilau for the whole village (it took three women to carry it).

We took a half an hour out of our celebration to revisit the Sambasha antenatal clinic, which was the site of our first village visit, and it was this clinic that inspired the Olsens’ wonderful gift. We bought a stethoscope and a blood pressure machine to present to them, and the elation shown by the two nurses was enough to pull tears to my eyes. They bounced around the room giving hugs to anyone and everyone. One nurse looked at me and said that just that morning, she had suspected hypertension in one patient, but had to refer her to a hospital in Arusha, which is a good half hour drive, simply because they had no equipment to properly diagnose her. We have pictures of the event, but I wish that Gerry and Lois could have been there to witness the joy that their gift brought to this rural clinic. There will be many more of those stories coming up.

If the excitement at the clinic wasn’t enough, the ride to and from Sambasha included a daladala full of Maasai women who were just as thankful and showed it by serenading us with their traditional songs. Whit and I were joking that it was the ultimate surround sound system.

We finally returned to Matudumomye, and were able to talk with 20 of the elder men of the village. This was our first presentation to a group of men, and I was a little apprehensive. I had no idea how they would react to our information, and it doesn’t help that they all carry big sticks (for walking) and machetes. But they were very attentive, which is all I can ask for. However, their questions and concerns showed the fundamental difference between relationships here in Tanzania compared to relationships that we are accustomed to. They asked a question about how to protect themselves if their wife is unfaithful, as if it happens all the time. But the very next thing they asked was what they are supposed to do to protect themselves when they leave their families for weeks or months at a time, because they simply cannot last a couple of weeks without having sex (supposedly). It is so hard to listen to them talk about their relationships here because they are nearly always based on money and convenience, rather than love. It is so easy for us to why HIV spreads so easily here, but the challenge is trying to explain to them these concepts without seeming like we are pointing fingers and blaming them. I feel like we have to be blunt at times and point fingers at harmful behaviors, but I don’t want to upset them to the point where they question our credibility…it’s quite a fine line.

Whit and I filled out an application for a program called STAR that works to promote women’s and children’s rights, and the CWCD was one of 12 selected out of 90 NGOs who applied. Mama, the director, has to travel to Dar for a meeting on Monday, so we will know more about what our membership in the program means. It was a nice little success story for Whit and I that we can tangibly see.

Stacie, our roommate and co-worker, decided to leave this week and is taking off tomorrow. I’m actually really looking forward to having our own apartment for the first time since our wedding, but we both are a little jealous that she gets to go home and see her family for the Christmas. The holidays have been very difficult for us here as we miss our families and friends and traditions, but we have some fun plans for Christmas.

(This picture is of us presenting to the group of men. I love the traditional dress of the Maasai men (the ones mostly to the left us). Definitely one of our more intimidating crowds.)

Written by Zach

Maasai Boma

10 December 2009

Today was another absolutely wonderful day, as was yesterday. We traveled to a town west of Arusha, known as Monduli, to visit the small village of Olesteti.

This area has been experiencing extreme drought for the last few years and has struggled mightily to produce enough crops. However, we are in the middle of the short rainy season, which has showered the area with an abundance of well-needed rain. As we approached Monduli, we turned off the main road to head to the village only to find a huge mud bog swallowing the road; and if that wouldn’t be enough to stop us (which it was), the bridge just beyond this bog was halfway washed out. But we had no reason to complain as the rolling hills below Monduli Mountain we lush and thriving with vegetation.

Luckily the village was only a few hundred yards from where we had stopped and we were able to maneuver around the muddy trails to the boma of a Maasai man. The boma is the full property of one man and his family and consists of a collection of huts inside a fence constructed of brush, and the establishment where we presented belonged to a man name Ndoipo Migaro. Many of the women from the village (several of the surrounding boma) met us halfway, wearing their ceremonial attire once again, and escorted us to the center of the boma, where they proceeded to lavish us with singing and dancing. These Maasai villages truly know how to make their visitors feel welcome. I hate to say it, but my “dancing face” always seems to crop up in our pictures.

We set up our “classroom” outside in the courtyard of the boma, amidst the odor of animal dung and hoarding flies; goats, chickens, cats, and dogs roamed freely within the bush fences. We presented to a group of more than 40 women with a few younger men and the owner of the boma, and many of the village children gathered as well to simply be a part of the happenings. I was expecting very few questions from the women in the group as they often become tentative when there are men in the audience with them, but we had wonderful interaction with the group. These people are very eager to learn; even though we can’t communicate well with them through words, their expressions say it all.

After a couple hours of presenting, we shared Supa Buns and juice, and then dispersed three large bags of flour among them to help out while their crops recover. They accepted our presence, our knowledge, and our small gifts with extreme thankfulness and shared their small tokens of appreciation (jewelry). They asked for nothing more, and they invited us back whenever we are able. The atmosphere in villages is so much more relaxed than in the touristy metropolis of Arusha, and they never try to exploit us. If we would have chosen a more rural area to stay here, we would have had a much more relaxed first couple of months here. The living conditions would wear on us, but the people are wonderful. This village epitomized the Maasai culture.

On our way back into Monduli, we stopped by the Maasae Girls Lutheran Secondary School, which was built by Dave Simonson. We slid and swerved down a very poor road to get there, but it was such a pleasure to finally see this school that we have seen in pictures. There is a central auditorium at the school that was built so that the roof resembled a Maasai shield. We really wanted to meet the girl that Doug and Kari sponsor here, but they are on December break right now, so we are planning a return trip to present to the students and will hopefully meet her then.

(This photo is of our final dance in the center of the boma (the classroom) before we left. The lady on the far right is Mama Hindu, who runs the CWCD and has translated for us on our village visits.)

Written by Zach

Dancing with the Maasai

9 December 2009

Today was the first day of a series of village visits that we have planned over the next two weeks and it was a great start. Today we went to a village in the foothills of Meru called Matudumomye, but there were also women there from a village called Elakunoto.

When we first arrived the women were singing and dancing and bouncing their ceremonial shangas up and down. They called us into the center of the circle and put a shanga on me and tried to teach me how to dance with it. It was really fun, but really hard. I need to practice a little bit more (or a lot!) before I have the skills that they do J.

After the dancing and introductions we went into the local church and presented. The women were extremely interested and asked TONS of questions! We talked about so many different things and the women didn’t feel like they had to sensor themselves around us. We talked about menstruation, pregnancy, nutrition, female circumcision, STDs, AIDS, stigma and I also gave a condom demonstration. Mama told us later that she had never heard women talk so openly as they did with us. She said it had a lot to do with the fact that there were no men around to intimidate them and keep them quiet. She said that if men are around and hear them asking questions and talking about these topics that often get in trouble and can be shunned.

When we first brought up female circumcision there was quite a bit of unrest in the group and they seemed very uncomfortable. We decided to cut our discussion about the topic short so that we didn’t lose our credibility with them, but they still asked several questions about it. Mama told us later that the reason they were restless was because they were nervous that we were going to take down their names and turn them in to the government, even though they all claim to have stopped the practice. Tanzania recently made FC illegal, but the government made no attempt to tell the villages about the new law. Mama tries to spread the word through her work with the women’s groups, but it is hard to reach everyone. Every woman we were presenting to had been circumcised and about seven of them raised their hands when Mama asked which of them performed the ceremony. We asked much resistance there was to the practice being made illegal, but Mama said that for the most part they all adhere to it very strictly and did so as soon as they knew it was illegal. This obviously surprised me and I am not sure how common that reaction is, but I think the groups that Mama works with are more inclined to react that way because they are learning about their rights and health and are beginning to be empowered by such things. I am sure that more remote villages, if even aware of the law, clinging much more strongly to this cultural ceremony.

After the presentation, to say thank you, the women danced and sang more and kind of ceremoniously gave me a necklace and Zach a bracelet, putting them on us while singing. It was very gracious and unexpected surprise for us, and things we will always have and appreciate. We plan to go back to the village again in January and will meet with a group of men instead, which the women were also very excited about. As important as it is to teach and empower the women, with cultural tradition of patriarchy still very strong, it is equally important to teach the men about these issues so that hopefully changes will be made as a whole village.

I had such a great time today and I can’t wait to see the villages that we will visit over the next weeks and months. I am finally feeling like we are getting to do what we came here to do in the first place and I’m loving it.

(This picture is of me dancing with the Maasai women before the presentation. The white shangas are worn for celebrations and ceremonies, which they treated our visit as such. It was very humbling.)

Written by Whitney

Push Carts & a Christmas Tree

5 December 2009

Today was a pretty slow and relaxing day. We went to town this morning to look into a kennel that a guy called us about after seeing one of our fliers around town. It ended up being pretty much a piece of trash that he was asking $400 for, so we obviously didn’t take him up on that. We had a couple other errands to run in town and then went home to relax a bit. We went to Maasai Camp last night with a couple friends of ours here, which is kind of like a club where locals and tourists come together to dance and socialize. It is normally not my kind of scene, but last night was a Michael Jackson tribute and there were not many people there, so Zach and I had fun dancing, hanging out with friends and meeting new people. We were out late and had to get up early so we were pretty tired today and spent most of the day reading. I just finished Plain Truth by Jodi Piccoult, which I really enjoyed and I am going to start reading A Shackled Continent by Robert Guest now. I try to alternate novels with informational books so that I don’t bog myself down with one depressing book after another.

Yesterday we got a Christmas tree for our apartment. We went to a “nursery” on Old Moshi Road and got it for about $4.00. It is pretty small and has a cactus-like trunk and small leaves all over it…definitely a Tanzanian Christmas tree J. We put a few ornaments on it and when we track down some lights (hopefully!) we will put up a picture of it for everyone to see.

Since I don’t have much more to tell I thought today I would write about the pushcarts that you find all over here. Since many people in town have lots to move around and transport, but don’t have cars, pushcarts are a very useful and common way to get things done here. Although many people will pile a bicycle seat high and walk beside it, tipping hazard and loading capacity still make pushcarts a superior option. The pushcarts carry sugar cane, clothing, fruit, chickens, just about anything and everything you can think of. For big loads there are often two men moving it along and for those that don’t, as they pass you say a sincere “pole” (pronounced poh-lay) to them as they pass. (This is their word for condolences and is often said in passing to strangers who have hard work or a cough or if they fall down, etc. People most often say it to us when we are walking up the steep dirt road when we work when it is really hot or really muddy. We also get it a lot when we tell people that we are volunteering, which I think is pretty funny J.) On the streets that are downhill the pushcart driver uses the momentum to kind of glide down the road. If there are two men one sits of top of the cart and just rides while the one in front steers. When it comes time to slow down the driver takes his weight off the front bar so the back end of the cart starts to drag on the ground, which is padded with pieces of scrap tire. This process does not happen quickly, though, so it can often be more dangerous to get in the way of a runaway pushcart than a dala dala or motorcycle. Although I think pushcarts are an incredibly eco friendly alternative to motor transport, the strain that it puts on people here is not healthy, and unfortunately, the day when they are not a necessity here seems a long way off.

(The picture here if of a pushcart near Clock Tower (one of the busiest areas in Arusha). It is full of I think onions or maybe potatoes and bicycle, obviously, but either way, this is definitely a load that deserves a “pole” in passing.)

Written by Whit

World AIDS Day

December 1, 2009

Whitney and I woke this morning with no major plans for the day. We had to write a proposal for a grant for the CWCD, but being World AIDS Day, we were upset that we had no event or fundraiser or anything to go to. Whitney told me that the first thing that she wrote in her journal this morning was that she was embarrassed that we were in sub-Saharan Africa, where AIDS has devastated millions, and we had no way to ‘celebrate’ World AIDS Day…it was a sad and lonely feeling to be here and have nobody else to share our passion with on this very somber, yet empowering, ‘holiday’. Little did we know that within the hour, we would stumble upon a huge parade full of enthusiasm and desire to put an end to AIDS.

We were on our way to the office when we heard music and commotion by Clock Tower (the center of town). We turned the corner just in time to catch the rear of an endless line of parading activists. We started running to catch up to the front, and on the way, we saw that these activists took the form of students, adults, mothers, fathers, children, widows, friends. We saw groups of Maasai, whole schools, AIDS organizations, hospital workers, and many others.

We asked some marchers what else was going on today, and they enthusiastically said that we should go to the stadium and find out. A lady asked us what we were doing as we marched, and upon hearing our response she asked in a baffled tone, “You teach about HIV/AIDS and you didn’t even know about the parade?” Just another example of how it doesn’t matter what you know, it’s who you know.

Upon entering the stadium, the parade was greeted by a standing-room-only crowd, who were full of cheers and applause for the marchers. Many of the groups performed skits, songs, and small speeches that demonstrated their knowledge of AIDS and their desire for an AIDS-free Tanzania. A panel of guests of honor, probably political leaders from the region, also addressed the crowd (in Swahili) that clearly motivated the onlookers. Many tents were set up around the stadium that had information about everything from HIV to human rights. Free HIV testing was available to all who were willing, and the line for testing was ten times as longer than any other line. It was a wonderful sight.

I am so glad that we could march with the very people that we are here to help and I felt that we were finally on the same page with this community. I was expecting the aura to be much more somber at an event like this since everyone here, if they aren’t themselves HIV+, has a family member or friend who has died from or is HIV+, but this was a World AIDS Day full of optimism and determination.

(This is a picture of one group of students marching in the parade with their WAD 2009 t-shirts on.)

Written by Zach