WEECE: LAST DAY AT PLACEMENT

Habari -- Moyo Wambu Una Uma! (My heart hurts!)

Today was my last day at WEECE and it was both joyful and sad. At mid-day the staff of WEECE held a celebratory tea in my honor and we exchanged what we have shared over the last three and a half weeks. They presented me with a certificate for my volunteerism and a skirt they sewed for me in their tailoring class. They also gave me my first konga [which has a special swahili saying something along the lines of "God will watch over me"...and for those of you not familiar with kongas, there is a social side to these wraps...typically, you were the wrap around your waist and there is a saying at the bottom on the back meant to be read by your friends or enemies. It may read something spiritual like the gift I received, or it can communicate to another woman to leave your boyfriend alone...ha! It's a very interesting cultural garment! :-) ] In addition to the tea and other goodies, the girls I teach on the computer performed a going away dance for me. The girls also wrapped my head in a wrap that matches my skirt. I definately had the local fashion going on, but I eventually had to remove the headwrap because my head was a sweat mop!

Relative to my overall WEECE and Tanzania experience, I will be working to capture the first level of insights, observations, and learnings in a follow-on (potentially final) blog. Many things are racing in my head as the trip winds down. I would like to capture at this point in the journey that I have immersed in the concepts and practices of micro-lending while on this trip and feel my life will continue to evolve somehow in this capacity. Not only did I see micro-lending in action at WEECE but I read "Banker to the Poor" and "A Billion Bootstraps" (thank you Maggie!) while here and have a notebook full of other reference items that I want to continue to research when I return to faster internet. I truly see in my heart how micro-lending can change lives -- and I hope I am able to contribute in some fashion along these lines. As a side note, we experienced micro-credit opportunities in many other places in our volunteer work. For example, Kimberly and Erin saw how microlending is assisting families with HIV/AIDS start up small businesses that can be run from or near their homes, and some of our new local friends are working to change their lives through the opportunity of micro-loans. I still have much more to learn on this front, but I continue to be a sponge.

As a final input to today's log, I would like to mention a friend of the "Group of 7" named John. John is for all purposes a street vendor but due to his friendly nature and good english he became a friend of the 7 Mzungus. He has helped us to find good bargains in the market and has helped us to learn more of the local culture. His dreams are to use his good english to build a tour guide business. Yesterday I spent a little time at the internet cafe teaching John some basic computer skills (he wants to learn to type fast where you do not look at your fingers and had heard me speak of teaching the girls at WEECE) and how to do research on the internet. We think John is coming down with Malaria and needs to visit the hospital but as of yesterday he still not made the trip. I will keep John in my prayers for a lifting up in his life. I share a bit of John's story so that maybe you can include him in a special prayer as well.

Tonight we will eat our final meal in the local town of Moshi.

Lala Salama and love to all! Mama A

ZANZIBAR WEEKEND

Mambo!!

We (Kimberly, Liz, Joe, Erin, and I) traveled to Zanzibar on Friday -- and it was MZUKA (awesome!)!!

Most of us did not stay in Stone Town (a common tourist site) due to our limited time, but rather went to the Kendwa Rocks Hotel on the beach and just relaxed for the weekend. If ever I make it back this way, I would like to see more of the sites in Stone Town. Kimberly soaked in the sites at Stone Town and had a great time.

The Kendwa Rocks area had a heavy Rasta influence and feel, even though there is a very heavy Muslim and Indian influence in Stone Town. The days included swims in the beautiful blue water, walks on the beach, and water sports. The evenings were filled with Reggae-Africani music and visits with the many other visitors - and sharing of cultures.

I have attached some of the sites from our beach and hotel.

We were so blessed to have amazing weather (even though it is the rainy season) -- and our travel was uneventful.

Zanzibar is definitely paradise in Tanzania!

SO MANY BLESSINGS!!!

LAST WEEK: WEECE & OTHER CULTURAL OUTINGS

Humjambo and Greetings from Mama A!

It has been over a week since I have been able to access the blog. A shortage of precious computer time due to busy schedules and power outages are primarily to blame.

As to our team of CCS volunteers, we have now reduced from "The Group of 7" (the image of shadows is the "Group of 7" on Safari) to "The Group of 5". Four of us will end our month of assignment on Friday and one (Andy) will continue for 3 more weeks.

I will attempt to capture the highlights of last week.

WEECE: Last week was a highly administrative week at WEECE. Mama Mrema had alot of correspondence to catch up on with her teams that support her globally. I assisted her with most of these interactions. Also, she made another visit to the Village of Nganjoni to follow-up on matters with the school Head Master. I assisted with a few school supplies for the children, but it's still on my heart that the children go without lunch and several had no uniforms. Related to the children of Nganjoni, it may sound like a small accomplishment, but last week we were able to document the sponsored children of Nganjoni with photographs and names and send to their sponsors, which took us the better part of an entire workday to do. The unstable electricity, power outages due to rain storms, and frequent computer crashes are such major productivity challenges to our days. The computer environment is extremely frustrating. Mama Mrema should be out visiting with new prospects for microloans and providing counseling (she is a licensed social worker) and spends too many hours doing the basic administrative matters.

Tomorrow and Wednesday WEECE will be conducting "Train Our Trainers" seminars - which are basically two days of teaching the new WEECE members the basics of microloans, women's rights, business planning, and legal matters in preparation for dispersing prospective microloans. There are more prospects for loans than there are funds so if anyone might wish to see their donations benefit an impoverished woman starting a new business, visit: http://www.weece.org/ (The is the U.S. arm of WEECE referred to as "Friends of WEECE"). It is a very basic website (I now understand the challenges they face with computer technology here) but it is secure and transacts through GuideStar. I have confirmed that $100 U.S. can provide the capital to change a woman's life - and her families. I have included a picture of the tailoring class that is taught at WEECE. They crafted a very nice batik skirt that I wear to work.

On a sad note, Esther, who was in the picture with me a week ago at the Chips and Chicken business, lost her dear sister a week ago. It was a very tragic accident. She has only returned to WEECE today. Due to the family tragedy we have not visited any other businesses that were created with the support of capital from WEECE. I am hoping there is a chance to do more visits prior to the week ending and my departure from Tanzania - but I am doubtful under the circumstances.

OTHER CULTURAL OUTINGS:

BATIK: Last week, we were trained on the art of batik (wax is applied to fabric to customize in to artwork) and made our own batik art. It was a fascinating process and our projects turned out great!

RWANDA TRIBUNAL: We traveled to Arusha (about an hour from Moshi) and spent the afternoon at the Rwanda Tribunal. We watched part of a trial (it has been underway since 2001) and heard the live interpretation to English through headsets. We later viewed a documentary of the history of the Tribunal proceedings. It was very informative, and also very sad. It is hard to believe they are still working to bring justice for actions of genocide that took place in 1994!!! Supposedly the trial proceedings are to be completed in 2009 but the long list of open cases makes me think otherwise.

TRADITIONAL AFRICAN DANCE: Mid-week last week, we went to dinner offsite and watched a dance group perform some traditional (for the local area) African dances . After they performed, they taught us some of their dance steps and we enjoyed the evening dancing. It was a fun time!

THE WATERING HOLE: There is another local spot that is somewhat of a favorite to the Mzungus (the westerners). It is a local restaurant/bar that shows movies on an outdoor screen on Thursday evenings. It is a beautiful and fun evening and I would have never pictured it (in my mind's eye) in a million years. Last week we saw "Frost/Nixon".

AMANI CHILDREN'S HOME (pictured below): The Amani Children's Home is on the road to our home base (the road is attrocious, btw, and completely indescribable). Amani works to provide shelter and care for street children. You can find more information about their organization at www.amanikids.org. The owner's of The Watering Hole (mentioned above) work at Amani.

WEECE & DAY HIKE AT KILIMANJARO

Habari za asubuhi (How's it going this morning!)

WEECE: Thursday & Friday were very busy with WEECE. We had guest from the Yorkshire England rotary in to discuss issues pertaining to women and abuse. We held more computer training classes. We worked numerous correspondences to various organizations related to funding and follow-up visits. We also visited one of the businesses that WEECE supports with their micro-loan program. It was Joyce's Chips & Chicken business (a street vendor type shop). During our visit we checked to see how her business is doing and what issues she may be dealing with. There is never a dull moment at WEECE.


DAY HIKE AT MOUNT KILIMANJARO: Yesterday (Saturday) Sister Kimberly & I hiked 3 hours up Mount Kili in their National Park (Mzuka -- AWESOME!!) to get to their first base camp. Their were two groups at base resting to continue their hike up to the summit. Would love to get the chance to make it to summit some day, but it takes 5-6 days (and ~$1500) to make the journey. I am very happy we had the opportunity to make the day hike. We lunched mid-way up to base and then hiked back down another two hours for 5 hours total of hiking. Our bones will probably start to feel it today....but it was well worth it. :-)

It a little while we will leaving for an after noon at the Hot Springs....

A couple other short notes, Thursday evening we watched a movie on an outdoor screen at a juggle type place (was good fun) and Friday we had a going away dinner at El Rancho (an Indian restuarant) for her going-away dinner. We will miss her. Also, we have been lucky to not have too much rain....and no serious health matters of any kind so far.

Sincere thanks to all for their continued prayers! Love to all!

The Villages of NGANJONI & MARANGU

Habari za jioni, mimi rafickis

Today was an fun-filled day with many activities in the village of Marangu. This was a much-needed outing after yesterday's journey to Nganjoni. I will speak of yesterday first.

NGANJONI VILLAGE: Mama Mrema from WEECE, our hired driver, Mac, and myself drove to Nganjoni yesterday. The last 10km of the ride were across ridiculous washed out roads that are only worsening as the rain season moves in. We traveled this way to visit the village of Nganjoni, which has about 4000 people and is extremely impoverished. WEECE has helped the village to learn how to grow and cultivate Maize, quarry for rock and shape "bricks", refurbish a few of their school rooms, sponsor 20 kids to attend school, and is soon to help with a dispensary. The entire village has no electricity or running water. Our primary visit was to the school to take photos of the sponsored children and confirm their names and attendance. We also toured the classrooms and Mama Mrema briefly spoke with the children. At "lunch time" Mama Mrema led an administrative meeting with all the staff and I was left to hang with the Watoto (the children). At first, I hung out with the very young children (kinder and maybe 1st grade equivalent) while they lined up to receive their cup of porridge (which was cooked over an outdoor fire in an open walled hut). They watched me (the Wazungu) and were not quite sure what to think of me...and I watched them somehow frozen relative to my recent Swahili lessons. After awhile I took a picture of a couple girls directly in front of me and then cautiously walked over to share it with them. This was a big hit! They began shouting at the picture and called over their friends and soon thereafter I had 50+ watoto pushing and shoving around me to see the "peechas" (I would love to upload some now but it takes too long on the internet here). A little later, the older children came out and were caught up in the commotion. I worked the same camera magic with them and had a big crowd. I noticed though that they were not eating lunch...and I asked our driver what was going on, and they had no lunch to eat this day as they had not cultivated the Maize. So, the older children were going from morning until sundown with no food, not even a snack. My heart broke with this understanding. MOYO WAMBU UNA UMA. MY HEART HURTS! This has haunted me ever since. I am still processing what I experienced, but there is more. Eventually the older children sang to me (WIMBO..."Song"...one of the few words I could pull out of my pocket...)...and they sang "We are so happy! We are so happy! For our Jesus died for us!" What a moment! No food...tatered & dirty school uniforms, shoes falling apart from their soles...and they are happy! Again, I am still processing this! As we left, all the watoto that were at first very timid with me sang "Goodbye to our Sister Shari". The crying started here (...and Mama Mrema mocked me a bit at this point, but in a care way...). We attended to more school business and then headed home, or so I thought. On the way back to Moshi, we made five stops to various families with disabled children that Mama Mrema and WEECE support. I took pictures of each of them for Mama Mremas report. You would not believe the family dwellings for most of these children. Very unbelievable situation. I was told most were suffering with Polio because the poor do not always vaccinate against it, but I think a couple had a variation of Palsy. By the end of yesterday, I was mentally broke. I fasted during the afternoon yesterday, for the love of the watoto...arrived home to eat a nice dinner, prayed, and meditated. I went to bed quite early and 24 hours later, after an amazingly eventful and light-hearted day, still hurt in my heart.

MARANGU VILLAGE: My time is running short on the computer, but today was heavily outdoors and a great diversion from yesterday (although I will be returning back there soon in my thinking). Today we did the following: went to a local batik artist and ordered custom batik canvas (art), visited a traditional Chagga market, went to the blacksmith area (I bought two traditional spears...awesome!), spelunked down the caves of a traditional Chagga hut (we all got terribly muddy due to recent rain but it was a great adventure), we hiked down a steep path to an amazing water fall and some swam...I just hiked around in the water, we had lunch at the same falls, we had a historical briefing on the Chagga tribes, tasted mbegae (traditional banana beer...looked disgusting!), rested at a beautiful hotel Kilimanjaro, stopped at a batik clothing shop, and had a barbeque at home base tonight that was wonderful! We eat so much better than I could have ever imagined. Weight loss does not look possible. :-)

Next on the agenda: prep an excel lesson for tomorrow and rest. I've become such an early bed person (we seem to run out of steam early here).

Lala Salama - and love to all!

More WEECE & an Intro to TAFCOM

Habari za jioni! (Hows the news this evening!)

I am learning at my placement service that the time goes by very quickly and I do not feel as if we accomplish as much as my heart would like to. Everything seems to take much more time than I am accustomed and I am trying to learn to slow my inner-pace. For example, to send a simple email (or update my blog), it is more like dial-up days, and so very slow. Today, we trained on transferring images from the camera to the computer and later in the week will work to email them to prospective donors. They are beautiful photos of all the good work they are accomplishing in the local villages with orphans and the impoverished. I also worked with the students on computer training, which was mostly Excel today. I had them practice a very simple business spreadsheet on a fictional sewing business.

Tomorrow at WEECE we will be traveling to Nganjori, a village about an hour away, so that I can see with my heart's eyes how some people live. Mama Mrema has passion about my visit to Nganjori. She tells me that they have no electricity, the roads are very washed out, they have dirt floors, and they cook over a fire in the yard. WEECE has helped them to build a small school, refurbish a couple of the village buildings, and initiate farming. I am very much looking forward to our trip tomorrow - although my heart aches for what I am learning about the situation.

On another matter, two of my fellow CCS volunteers (one is my dear friend Kimberly) shared their experience at placement this morning and my heart aches dearly for what they are witnessing first hand. They are working with TAFCOM, an NGO that provides support to HIV and AIDS families in the Moshi area. Everyday since we began placement they have visited several families a day in the field, but today was especially painful. There was a family living in a 1-room building with no windows or doors and dirt floors (many of the homes that they visit are like this). They had no electricity or water and chickens run in and out of the house. The husband is critically ill and near death and the woman has no means of earning an income and spends her day caring for him. They had no food and both were extremely thin. It does not look very hopeful for their outcome and it is SO tragic. My CCS friends are internally processing what they are experiencing and researching sustainable ways to help. Solutions look difficult to come by. The situation needs all our prayers!

Other activities today: Swahili lesson #3, Gender Issues update, good-bye dinner for Brodie (a CCS volunteer), walks in our village, and journaling. We lost power this evening so computer time has been especially limited.

Love and blessings to all! Neema na Mundo!

WEECE Placement & Safari Weekend

So much to share & so little computer time!

PLACEMENT: Thursday & Friday were my first days at WEECE (Women's Education & Economic Centre). Is an amazing experience - and I am SO blessed that this is my assignment while in Tanzania! Day 1, Mama Mrema introduced me to the team (they are all so very friendly), and we had opening prayer (in Swahili). I will be doing the prayer Monday (in English, for cultural sharing). After prayer, Mama Mrema explained their micro-lending procedures and showed me some example records. They keep records by paper & pen in files (no computer files). It is amazing that a new business can be started for less than $500 U.S. They also teach sewing classes (and sell garments to help fund more micro-loans), women's vocational skills, business start-up disciplines, support over 130 orphans, and do alot of community education on women's empowerment (to overcome poverty). I also learned that Mama Mrema led a Women's Development organization at her local diocese for 18 years and is a very spiritual woman. We shared life stories and have already formed a special friendship.
On Day 2 of placement I taught computer (we practiced Excel) and I quickly learned I needed to crash-course my Swahili. The girls are secondary level and are each at very different levels on the computer, but we made it through our first lesson. I am trying to approach the lessons a little different for this week's work together. After placement, we visited a Women's Milk Cooperative, and got a detailed look at how they are advancing on their vocations. I am still heart-broken to see the state of the machinery and tools that both the Milk Coop and WEECE have. Their sewing machines are foot-operated and the milk pasteurization machine uses a wood stove because fuel is too expensive. There will be much more to tell on this front as we go through the next few weeks.

SAFARI! Totally Unbelievable! I think this trip has to be in my Top 5 of Life! We had 3 different outings (Fri - Marynana National Park; Sat - Ngorongoro Crater; Sun - Taraginere National Park), and Saturday's trip to Ngorongoro was absolutely surreal! We travelled a couple hours to a dormant crater and then another 40+ mins down in to the crater (in a safari land cruiser with a top that raises) and spent the better part of an amazing weather day seeing all the exotic animals I have only thus-far seen in zoos! At one point, we had an enormous lioness sitting right next to our truck (and she was totally bored with us Wazungus). :-) We also saw rhinos, elephants, hippos, a male lion and two cubs, a million zebras, water buffalos, wart hogs, gazelles, pink flamingos, a number of other exotic birds, wildabeasts, giraffes, baboons, monkeys, and on and on. At one point in the day, when we left the doors open, the monkeys hopped in our jeep and on another occassion leaped on the truck and stole some cookies! They are little sneakie scavengers!! When we were standing in the crater having our lunch, I felt like this was one of the first places that God created!!

In the interest of time, I should say good-night!

Love to all -- and lala salama (peaceful rest)!