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!