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.