Wanafunzi Wengi!

22 January 2010

We have been back at work this week and it has been a nice change of pace from our weeks off. We did five presentations over the last four days to a total of 442 students between the ages of 15-18. The students were attentive and interested and full of questions, so we had a very gratifying week of work.

This afternoon we also went to a meeting with some government people in order to make plans for Women’s Day, which is an international holiday celebrating women. The CWCD will be mostly in charge of planning activities for a whole week that include village visits, seminars and a celebration. We are excited to be involved in the festivities, especially in a place where women’s empowerment is so crucial to the development of poor countries like Tanzania.

We also received good news that we have been selected for final evaluation by a grant that we applied for last month (funded by USAID). Supposedly it is now not a matter of whether we get funding, but how much. They will be visiting us at the CWCD sometime next week so we are busy getting things ready for their arrival. We are planning to take them to Sambasha Village so they can see some of the work of the CWCD first hand. Mama has been so excited this week that she can barely control herself. Between our new running routine and working a lot we are pretty tired most days and are making up the time we had off lately!

Mala is still doing marvelously also. She is getting spayed in the next couple of weeks and has finished all her necessary shots and vaccines. I miss her daily and look forward to being able to stay with her everyday, but for now she is thriving up in Ilboru with the many volunteers and huge yard to run and play in.

(The picture here is of Mala and I snuggling on the porch. She loves belly rubs and always flops over on her back right in your lap. She is growing up and starting to live up to her name, “Angel”!)

Written by Whitney

Banana Stew and Jogging

15 January, 2010

We’ve had a couple of relaxed weeks since returning from the beach. We’ve been working on grant writing for the center, drawing posters for the school, including maps of Africa and Tanzania and the human body, and also writing letters to groups who we hope to present to in the next couple of months. We just finished a letter to the Tanzania Military Academy, which is currently training over 7,000 soldiers. We received a tip from a student there that they desperately need educated about reproductive health, women’s rights, and HIV/AIDS, and we definitely couldn’t pass up the chance. Hopefully we’ll hear back from them soon. We are also working on letters to several governmental offices here in Arusha that we hope to present to in the near future. I’m not sure how and what we will present to this group, but this is another group that could have great pull in the community.

We start presenting in schools again beginning on Tuesday, and have a full schedule through the middle of February, so the time should start to move a little quicker. Students are always a great to talk to.

We were invited to dinner at a ladies house that we have come to know through our time at the market. She wanted us to meet her children, and also to show us how to make banana stew. I talked with Grace’s son, while Whitney worked in the kitchen with Grace. I love to cook, but it’s not Whitney’s favorite thing. Yet everyone continually tries to convert Whitney into the “perfect” wife, and we have been told to not tell people that I do most of the cooking because the men will get upset. It’s quite hilarious. Regardless, we had a lovely afternoon with this family and had an absolutely wonderful meal that I can’t wait to try cooking on our own.

We’ve made a commitment to some friends that we would run the Kilimanjaro Marathon (actually the half-marathon) at the end of February in Moshi, so Whit and I have started jogging around town a few days a week. As much as I always thought that Africans loved to run, it is clearly only the professionals who care about running. Everyone else would rather save their energy, and for good reason. However, rather than respecting our decision to exercise, many feel the need to mock us, as if we don’t catch enough flack everyday. I guess it gives us more incentive to run faster though.

Corruption appears here at every level of society, from small vegetable stands and taxis to large governmental offices and police officers. We can’t trust anyone here; fruit vendors charge the people in front of us one price and then try to double it when we go to pay, and we tried to renew our volunteer permits at immigrations and they tried to make us pay three times as much as we’d been told. All I wish for the rest of our time here is that people would be honest with us, but everything we do and everywhere we go, we have this overwhelming feeling of mistrust from everyone. By continually trying to rip off visitors, they are only hurting themselves. They only thing they can think about is how to get the most out of visitors right at that moment, but people won’t continue to support a country or a group if they feel that they can’t trust them with that money. It is so sad, and it is hard to blame the younger generations who have never known any different, just as they can’t be blamed for their views on HIV/AIDS and human rights, etc. We can only hope to show them another way of thinking about these issues.

(This picture is of Whitney and Grace preparing banana stew.)

Written by Zach

Mwaka Mpya!

6 January 2010

Mwaka Mpya! (Happy New Year!) We are back from our vacation on the beach, which was really great. Pangani was beautiful and the ocean was warm so what more can you ask for? We just camped in a tent the whole week so it was pretty low key. We went with the Simonson family and they were very accommodating and welcoming to us as always. On our last day we went snorkeling which was our favorite part of the whole week. Neither of us have been before so it was incredible, but we have also heard from people who have been a lot that that was some of the best in the world. We saw octopus, a sting ray, eels, starfish and an endless array of colorful fish and corals. I think we are hooked and will want to go on all of our vacations now!

It was nice to get home to Arusha and get back into the swing of daily life. The vacation was much needed and will help us get through the challenges we will face in the coming months. Unfortunately last night we got bad news from Wyoming that one of Zach’s best friends committed suicide and we are struggling with feeling helpless and out of touch being so far away from home. Please keep us and his family in your thoughts and prayers over the coming days and weeks.

Written by Whitney