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)!

Faraja Orphanage & "Mama Africa"

Yesterday we had free time in Moshi-town where we had a wonderful meal at Indo-Italiano. While out yester-eve, I acquired the new nickname, "Mama Africa". I think this is because I am the "elder" of our group of seven. :-) We are slowly nick-naming the entire team. We have added in "Mama Safari" for Kimberly, and "Mama Paparazzi" for Erin.

Today we began our day at the Faraja orphanage. We had a beautiful time with about 30 little wonders who played games with us, drew pictures (the drew "teacha Shari", sang for us (the "Mwengi"...visitors), and danced the congo line around the room. It was a beautiful time and they are so dear! Later, after lunch we had swahili lesson #2 and a visit from a local doctor to hold a Q&A on local health matters. It was very informative (although we were all a little droopy energy-wise). Prior to dinner, we had a wonderful walk along the rural roads. The sky was lightly cloudy this evening so we had a clear view of Mt. Kili. An amazing site! Btw, we definitely stand out as Mzungus, but the people are very friendly and hospitable.

We have had amazing rainfall the last two nights. It rained all night last night and many of the roads were washed out. So far tonight, there is no rain.

Worked hard at my Swahili tonight because tomorrow is my first day at Placement. Have a little case of the nerves because I want to be helpful tomorrow and am afraid my speaking skills are still below par, but we have to start somewhere. I just plan to try to serve where they need and look for opportunities to help (where they need me). Praying to see where and how to serve tomorrow.

Lala salama! ("Peaceful sleep") XOXO

Neewa Orphanage & Moshi Town

Habari Jani!

Today, after culture sharing time, we departed for the Neewa orphanage. Prior to arrival we stopped for gifts for the orphans (mostly bags of rice, bars of soap, and cooking oil). Neewa is a home for new-born to 3 year olds. Sadly, we were unaware until arrival that 6 children were in the hospital with scabies so were unable to play with the children. We got to visit them through the windows but it broke my heart to not be able to play with them. They were so excited to have guests. We will try again to visit later in our stay.

After the orphanage, we found a batik shop and got a couple skirts appropriate for our placement work, took a ride on a dola-dola (a van that hauls MANY people and makes frequent stops), and had free-time in Moshi town. A few of us walked from Moshi back to home base - and had a wonderful surprise...the most awesome view of Mount Kilimanjaro. I hope to upload a couple shots here shortly, but not sure if it will work.

Was a lovely day -- and blessed to be here! XOXO

Arrival in Tanzania

Happy Easter Dear Family & Friends -- and Habari Jani!

We have arrived safely in Tanzania and made it to our CCS (Cross Cultural Solutions) home base in the village of Karanga last eve with the assistance of Peter, our driver. Mama Fatuma greeted us ("Karibu"...Welcome!) and showed us about the house. We are a group of 7 and everyone is friendly and getting along well. We settled in last eve and went to bed quite early.

Today, Mary and Teddy guided Liz and I to Easter Mass. The service was in Swahili and there were 400-500 wonderfully adorned people celebrating the season. I loved the service and the people were very friendly (especially the children), although I have forgotten how hard mass is on your knees! :-) Btw, for those of you who know how much I love the morning, we were dressed and on our way at 6:00 a.m. and we walked 30+ minutes on "hiking-like" trails to the church.

After church, we had some basic orientation and then had a short tour of Moshi-town. Most of the shops are closed in observance of Easter. We had more orientation this afternoon and have had two very delightful meals! We also did some work on expectations and goal-setting.

Due to the Easter season, our placement work will not begin until Wed., however, we will be visiting a local orphanage tomorrow (and we get to play with the children). We also scheduled a safari for this upcoming weekend and our entire group of 7 will be going!

About to call it a day! Love to all! Lala Salama sj

p.s. We are 8 hours ahead of the States time-wise.

Departing From U.S.

"Baraka, rafiki wangu" (Swahili for "blessings, my friends"...thank you Karen!).

My heart is wide open, my spiritual center is high and I am anxiously anticipating the start of this very "stretched" phase of my life journey (as I sit in Ohare en route to London). I pray my eyes and heart will hear and see who and how I am to serve -- and that my actions will respect and honor the Tanzanian people to whom I am a guest...and the direction He wills.

Sadly, I am behind on my Swahili lessons (the job wind down consumed me) but will be trying hard to learn some respectful greetings (on the next leg of the trip) for our arrival because it is considered rude to begin talking without first sharing a formal greeting.

I have decided at this point it is best to stop reading about the various medical challenges that could face us and focus on all the beauty & splendor of the area - such as Mount Kilimanjaro and Serengeti National Park. We are as prepared as able on the medical side -- and at this point have to have conviction and "step out of the boat" (I borrowed that from a wonderfully inspirational writing from my new friend Maggie).

I am ready to "step out"! Feels more like leaping out! :-) Lots of unknowns and butterflies, but soon I hope to be immersed in Tanzanian community and sharing some wee glimpses of life & heart with the blog world...

Next stop London and a day with my baby girl, then off to T!

Love & blessings!

Day -6

-- To-Do List looks about the same (need to kick it up a notch!).
-- Have it on my heart to pause and thank the many friends, colleagues, and family members who have contributed their love, support, and prayers for the upcoming trip. This opportunity to serve is SO awesome it's overwhelming my ability to capture it emotionally -- but I am SO thankful to all of you!
-- One more update...recent news regarding my volunteer placement assignment is just one more example of how the trip is coming together in such an amazing way! I will be working with the following organization:

WEECE - Women's Education and Economic Center

• Providing women who are operatng existing businesses with financial assistance through micro-loans. This includes the provision of financial and small business education.

• Counseling and legal advocacy to lead towards gender equality to educate marginalized women in their human and legal rights (e.g. inheritance rights, business training, advice on personal relationships, domestic violence, etc.).

I could not have designed a more perfect assignment for my experience and heart direction! :-)

Day -7

So many things to do but spiritually in a great place! Initiating the "Day -" entries to clear the mind.

Trip prep top-of-the-list: 1) Write up emergency contacts & distribute (including keys), 2) Immerse in Swahili handbook, 3) Pet store run for self-waterer and stuff, 4) Submit AJs FAFSA, 5) Transfer $$ for Bill Pay, and 6) Tackle staged clothing and skinney it up!