As I'm getting more settled, things are getting even better. For example, I learned this week that our showers do in fact get hot water, after you flick the water heater switch! Such excellent news, although it's so hot here that I've barely needed it. My laundry came out fairly well, although a bit stiff with all the soap that I failed to wash out but the ironing helped soften things out...
Last week was good, we're kept so busy for the first three weeks with Swahili lessons, cultural sharing, etc that by the end of the day we're exhausted! This week we had a female human right's lawyer who spoke to us about gender issues in Tanzania, which was really interesting. She talked about girls in school (or lack thereof), women and HIV, etc. We also had many Swahili lessons so now we've all got the grammar and vocab down pat and are totally fluent (not!).
Teaching English has also gotten easier. For the first week, I mainly just watched but last week I was thrown into the position of "mwalimu" (teacher) when no one showed up on Thursday. One of the translators had come down with malaria so wasn't able to be there and the other volunteer wasn't there so it was me standing in front of the class with my Swahili dictionary staring at the students. Having learned numbers in Swahili class on Wednesday, I decided that I could at least teach them that. After a painful hour of me getting blank stares after everytime I said "sawa?" (okay?) they eventually started to understand me and I them. They're also very shy and so it's hard for me to know if they know what I'm talking about. They're very cute but scared to look silly if they get something wrong, so no one ever volunteers to answer questions. A little different from SCS where we all wanted to have our voices heard!
The women's group also made mango jam last week. The German volunteer, Paul, led us in the jam making and it was a big success for round one. The women all brought a couple mangos and some sugar from their homes. Using a solar cooker donated by a past volunteer we endeavoured to make jam. Paul had found jars in the local dump so we sterilized them and then used them... some Tanzanian recycling for you! The end result was very tasty and there isn't much left! This week tomorrow at the business meeting hopefully we will talk about whether this is something that they could do long term and as a source of income. Potential problems include lack of jars and lack of drive to continue once the volunteers are no longer there to help, but we'll see.
This week we are headed to Arusha on Wednesday, a city about an hour and a half's drive away from Moshi. There we are attending a court session at the International Criminal Tribunal for war crimes committed in Rwanda. I am really looking forward to it and afterwards we get to talk to someone from the court, ask questions, etc. Hopefully there I'll be able to get a micro sim so that I can get my iPad kicking and upload some photos! Hope you're all surviving the Canadian winter, I hear it's particularily brutal right now. I'll try my best to send you some heat; we certainly have more than enough!
Monday, January 24, 2011
Saturday, January 15, 2011
The land of The Lion King
The rest of my week at placement was really interesting. Everyday there is something different that goes on after the English classes. Thursday I went with Amani (one of the local volunteers who actually co-founded Jipe Moyo) to do home visits to the sick members. We started by visiting Jumani, a 38 year old man with HIV and neuro-syphilis, which has totally deteriorated his motor skills. As a result, he has been bedridden and unable to work since 2007. He lives with his grandmother in a small one room house. There is a past volunteer who is sponsoring Jumani and is paying for his medication and his physiotherapy, so when we visit we ask him if his meds are working, how he's doing, etc. Our next stop was to visit a seven year old boy with HIV. Both his parents died from AIDS and he lives with his grandmother and two sisters. When we arrived we were told by his distraught grandma that he had become very sick and his uncle had come to see him and when he saw how bad the conditions were where he was living, his uncle took him to Doma (the capital). The problem is that the uncle believes in witch doctors and so it's unclear as to what will happen to the boy. The grandma is getting a lot of trouble from other members of the community because they are judging her for letting him go. She says that they never helped her when he was sick and there was nothing else she could do. A very very sad story.
Last night we went out to Glacier, a local bar. It's totally open and outside and they have a live band playing a mix of Tanzanian music, Bob Marley and then casually they threw in some Enrique Iglesias... Afterward the DJ spins some more main stream American hits and everyone starts dancing. Another cool aspect to the bar is they have two big projector screens that play national geographic planet earth type movies with subtitles that are hilariously translated. Next time I'll write some down and post them.
This morning we traveled to a local village along the mountainside and saw lots of coffee plants and just sort of walked around taking in the very picturesque scenery. On the way back we were walking and I slipped on the gravel and cut my knee. It bled a lot but was mostly a surface wound, not a big deal right? Nope here it was. Our guides felt soo badly that I'd hurt myself and insisted that I go to the "pharmacy" to get it looked at, even though I had band aids. After much hesitation on my part I was escorted to the shop. Every person along the way stopped me saying pole sana (very sorry) with such sincerity that one would think I was having my leg amputated not just in need of a band aid. The woman at the shop gets out a bottle of antiseptic (I think rubbing alcohol judging on how much it stung) and iodine (also sting-y). So she poured some antiseptic into a bucket and used a cotton swab to clean me up. Then she poured the left over alcohol BACK INTO THE BOTTLE. Yeah.. just freaked out a little when that happened and then she put some iodine on, this was a fresh bottle thank goodness, slapped a cotton swab on and sent me on my way. That was my first, and hopefully last, encounter with the Tanzania medical system.
Tonight we watched the Lion King, great movie, and guess where it is supposed to take place...Tanzania! So we all sang along to the songs actually knowing what some of the phrases meant and picking out places we recognized. Apparently in the Serengeti, where I'll be going for safari to see the migration of the wildebeests, there is a rock exactly like pride rock. Pretty cool eh? Tomorrow we're off to the hot springs, really looking forward to it and then maybe after I'll do some laundry... in a bucket... should be interesting. After everything is washed and hung to dry it all has to be ironed, like literally everything, underwear and socks included. They tell us it's because of bugs, although we think they just want us to look presentable haha!
Last night we went out to Glacier, a local bar. It's totally open and outside and they have a live band playing a mix of Tanzanian music, Bob Marley and then casually they threw in some Enrique Iglesias... Afterward the DJ spins some more main stream American hits and everyone starts dancing. Another cool aspect to the bar is they have two big projector screens that play national geographic planet earth type movies with subtitles that are hilariously translated. Next time I'll write some down and post them.
This morning we traveled to a local village along the mountainside and saw lots of coffee plants and just sort of walked around taking in the very picturesque scenery. On the way back we were walking and I slipped on the gravel and cut my knee. It bled a lot but was mostly a surface wound, not a big deal right? Nope here it was. Our guides felt soo badly that I'd hurt myself and insisted that I go to the "pharmacy" to get it looked at, even though I had band aids. After much hesitation on my part I was escorted to the shop. Every person along the way stopped me saying pole sana (very sorry) with such sincerity that one would think I was having my leg amputated not just in need of a band aid. The woman at the shop gets out a bottle of antiseptic (I think rubbing alcohol judging on how much it stung) and iodine (also sting-y). So she poured some antiseptic into a bucket and used a cotton swab to clean me up. Then she poured the left over alcohol BACK INTO THE BOTTLE. Yeah.. just freaked out a little when that happened and then she put some iodine on, this was a fresh bottle thank goodness, slapped a cotton swab on and sent me on my way. That was my first, and hopefully last, encounter with the Tanzania medical system.
Tonight we watched the Lion King, great movie, and guess where it is supposed to take place...Tanzania! So we all sang along to the songs actually knowing what some of the phrases meant and picking out places we recognized. Apparently in the Serengeti, where I'll be going for safari to see the migration of the wildebeests, there is a rock exactly like pride rock. Pretty cool eh? Tomorrow we're off to the hot springs, really looking forward to it and then maybe after I'll do some laundry... in a bucket... should be interesting. After everything is washed and hung to dry it all has to be ironed, like literally everything, underwear and socks included. They tell us it's because of bugs, although we think they just want us to look presentable haha!
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Lost in Translation
After a long second flight south to Moshi, we finally landed in the International Kilimanjaro Airport only to have our passports glanced at, stamped and returned to us while the customs officer was texting on his cell phone. Greaaat security clearly. Thankfully all my bags arrived but one girl's got left behing in Amsterdam so hers have only arrived today, which sucked for her but luckily everyone (not just me) overpacked so she had plenty of clothes to borrow.
The volunteer house is great. There are 15 new volunteers starting this week and five that stayed on from previous sessions. The veteran volunteers have been here for ages so they constantly give us tips on where to go, what to say, etc. The what to say is the biggest part. Before going, the organization tells us it's a good idea to learn Swahili. Having been to South Africa and having no problem with language, I sort of brushed it off as something that would be nice, but not necessary. Wrong! Tons of people here speak only the most basic English, resulting in very long and broken conversations. It's starting to change as it is increasingly taught in schools and by volunteers but it is nowhere near at the same level as SA. We have done lots of activities to help settle in, including Swahili lessons (very useful), a historical education of Tanzania and a trip around Moshi Town. Yesterday we went to Rau, which is a Chagga village just outside of Moshi.
Today was our first day at our placements. I headed off on the 8:30 bus (thank goodness it wasn't the earlier one) to Jipe Moyo Women's Centre. When I arrived I was introduced to some of the women that work there. The greeting is shikamoo which is said to elders. The cultural norms are very respectful here so it is of utmost importance to learn proper introductions and greetings. I think I know what to say before and then always get flustered when I have to use it! But polepole (slowly slowly), practice makes perfect I suppose. Today I mainly observed all the goings on. In the mornings, there is an english class for children and other members who want to participate. Today a German volunteer ran it but hopefully I'll start helping him out. He and another German are also volunteering, which is nice but also means that they speak German to each other. So just because I wasn't already lost in translation, we now have german to throw in the mix. Afterwards, there was a meeting in which we discussed issues facing the youth in their community and then how the formation of a youth group could help to change them. It was super interesting as an observer and helped me to get an insight into their community life.
Well we are all off to the bar across the street, called Mzungu bar. Mzungu means white or foreigner in Swahili. It's not meant to be offensive and it's something we hear ALL the time. Walking through town we get called mzungu constantly, seems a bit odd though. I can't really picture yelling the equivilant of that in Toronto and it going so well...
Kwaheri! (goodnight)
The volunteer house is great. There are 15 new volunteers starting this week and five that stayed on from previous sessions. The veteran volunteers have been here for ages so they constantly give us tips on where to go, what to say, etc. The what to say is the biggest part. Before going, the organization tells us it's a good idea to learn Swahili. Having been to South Africa and having no problem with language, I sort of brushed it off as something that would be nice, but not necessary. Wrong! Tons of people here speak only the most basic English, resulting in very long and broken conversations. It's starting to change as it is increasingly taught in schools and by volunteers but it is nowhere near at the same level as SA. We have done lots of activities to help settle in, including Swahili lessons (very useful), a historical education of Tanzania and a trip around Moshi Town. Yesterday we went to Rau, which is a Chagga village just outside of Moshi.
Today was our first day at our placements. I headed off on the 8:30 bus (thank goodness it wasn't the earlier one) to Jipe Moyo Women's Centre. When I arrived I was introduced to some of the women that work there. The greeting is shikamoo which is said to elders. The cultural norms are very respectful here so it is of utmost importance to learn proper introductions and greetings. I think I know what to say before and then always get flustered when I have to use it! But polepole (slowly slowly), practice makes perfect I suppose. Today I mainly observed all the goings on. In the mornings, there is an english class for children and other members who want to participate. Today a German volunteer ran it but hopefully I'll start helping him out. He and another German are also volunteering, which is nice but also means that they speak German to each other. So just because I wasn't already lost in translation, we now have german to throw in the mix. Afterwards, there was a meeting in which we discussed issues facing the youth in their community and then how the formation of a youth group could help to change them. It was super interesting as an observer and helped me to get an insight into their community life.
Well we are all off to the bar across the street, called Mzungu bar. Mzungu means white or foreigner in Swahili. It's not meant to be offensive and it's something we hear ALL the time. Walking through town we get called mzungu constantly, seems a bit odd though. I can't really picture yelling the equivilant of that in Toronto and it going so well...
Kwaheri! (goodnight)
Friday, January 7, 2011
The Departure
Finally, after much anticipation, and help from mom on the getting ready and packing front, I am off to Tanzania. I am currently blogging from the Amsterdam airport, where I am eating breakfast at a restaurant (alone) and sipping fizzy ice tea (weird). The flight was long but to pass the time I watched movies and worked on my Angry Birds levels, which was pretty exciting. Next to me I had an Angry Bird expert, who informed me he had beaten the whole game in two days. For the first hour he was glancing over at me struggling and kept making little noises until finally he decided, for both our sakes, that he needed to step in and help. True to his word, he was quite the expert. He helped me breeze through about ten levels until we got bored and went back to our various movies and continued the flight feeling accomplished. After my delicious breakfast of a ham and cheese sandwich, I am off to find my next gate and two Americans who I am flying into Kilimanjaro with. It will be really great to arrive already knowing a couple volunteers.
We land in the Kilimanjaro airport and then it's about a thirty minute drive to the volunteer house in Moshi. There are about twenty volunteers who live at the house, though we are not all volunteering in the same place. My placement is with Jipe Moyo Women's Group, which is a women's empowerment group whose members are all HIV or AIDS positive. There are many volunteer roles at this organization, some of which include community education on issues such as family health and women's rights, teaching conversational English, and helping the women with fundraising and advertisement ideas for their businesses. I'm not sure what exactly I'll be doing yet but it all looks good to me!
It's only just starting to get light here, even though it's 8:40. I could never live this far north, too depressing in the winter. I am almost finished by breakfast so will sign off and search for my gate and travel buddies. I am so excited to finally touch down in Africa again, only 11 more hours to go!
We land in the Kilimanjaro airport and then it's about a thirty minute drive to the volunteer house in Moshi. There are about twenty volunteers who live at the house, though we are not all volunteering in the same place. My placement is with Jipe Moyo Women's Group, which is a women's empowerment group whose members are all HIV or AIDS positive. There are many volunteer roles at this organization, some of which include community education on issues such as family health and women's rights, teaching conversational English, and helping the women with fundraising and advertisement ideas for their businesses. I'm not sure what exactly I'll be doing yet but it all looks good to me!
It's only just starting to get light here, even though it's 8:40. I could never live this far north, too depressing in the winter. I am almost finished by breakfast so will sign off and search for my gate and travel buddies. I am so excited to finally touch down in Africa again, only 11 more hours to go!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)