The last three weeks

I apologize for not posting remember how I stated previously, my posts may not occur on the specific day I stated due to technical difficulties. That is what has happened the past three weeks, the web was so slow it took me 15 min to open one email, so uploading a blog entry was out of the question.

Week 1

The madness of becoming reacquainted with everything was less extreme this year then years past. I knew exactly where I was in town, my Kiswahili came back rather quickly, and the street vendors remembered that I won’t buy anything from them.

The first week of any volunteer program is always hectic, getting the vols oriented in town, on the Dala Dala (public buses, actually 12 person vans that 30 people cram into), introducing to the community, and hoping that we placed them with a partner org that best suits there skills and interests (see below for a description of some of the local NGOs and CBOs we are working with this year).

A new project this year is for us our Grant program. For the past three years we have been working on developing sustainable programs for the community, which are directly (and for the most part solely) funded by the volunteers program fees (a quarter of the fee goes directly into the community throw these projects). We have had great success with our microfinance project were we lend small business loans (equivalent of 80 to 100 USD) to women who are affected or effected by HIV/AIDS. One project we tried ended up not ending as valuable to the community as we originally had thought, a Permaculture program. So that was scrapped in favor of a grant program for local NGOs and CBOs in the area. The AP tested out the idea last winter when we made a grant to the Yullansoni clinic to complete their solar panel project, now they have electricity for the first time and are able to provide care past daylight hours and are applying to be a gov. vaccination site.

Now the AP has set up a program where local HIV/AIDS and gender equality orgs can apply for a 500,000 – 5,000,000 Shilling (400 – 4,000 USD) grant after attending a bidders conference, grant writing workshop and submitting a full application. The grants are meant for covering the cost of on going projects and sustainable works during a 12 month period. We received 30 applications and have broken them up into smaller groups to be reviewed during each volunteer program.

(Monday) After a full morning of orientation we took the volunteers out to meet the Aang Serian organization. Aang Serian (house of peace in Kimaa) is a Masai run organization founded for the preservation of the Masai tribal culture founded in 1999. In 2005 Aang Serian members attended a conference in Nairobi about ending FGM (Female Genital Mutilation or Circumcision) and in Spring of 2006 started its own program to end FGM in the Masai area of Monduli Juu (about an hr east of Kwa Idd). FGM is illegal in Tanzania but some tribes still practice it included the Masai. FGM in the Masai community is seen as a right of passage into womanhood. The type FGM practice in the area includes the removal of the clitoris and inner labia and is done with a dull razor, no anesthetic and cow dung is used to stop the bleeding. The accompanying ceremony is when the girl now a women is presented as such to the community the actual FGM is done in private with the cutter (circumciser, exciser), the girl and maybe a few female relatives. After doing some research it was found that the actual presentation ceremony was the passage into adulthood not the cutting. Some infants and younger girls under go FGM because they may have various bacterial infections that are lumped together as a disease called LaoLao and FGM is seen as a cure for this, so when asked if an infant that was cut because of LaoLao was a women the answer is no. So the cutting itself is not the important part of the ceremony. Many Masai believe that it FGM makes females more faithful to their husbands but it has been found that women who have been cut are less faithful do to lack of pleasure. Slowly cutters in the area began pledging to give up the actual cutting in the ceremony and have the girls go through various other alternative rights of passage. The girls are suppose to go through and overcome a challenge, the cutting, so an example of an alternative ceremony is taking an HIV test. One former cutter said that she gave up the practice and join Aang Serians’ campaign after a girl died during a ceremony due to blood loss. Other cutters in the organization gave up the practice after seeing that women in other cultures without cutting recovered from childbirth with in weeks instead of months from reopened wounds and others when they saw that women in other cultures were not more promiscuous. The women that have given up the practice have found work either by giving these alternative rights of passage or received training in other income generating activities such as selling traditional beadwork (which I encourage the volunteers to buy during our visit instead of buying similar items from street vendors in town). In the Aang Serian catchment area of Monduli Juu the percentage of people that now oppose FGM is ~60% compared to 0% before they started their education campaign. The important thing about Aang Serian is that it is a Masai organization run by Masai, it is not seen as a bunch of Wazungu (foreigners) coming in and trying to change someone’s culture, its cultural change from within.

Aang Serian is applying through the AP grant program to continue and expand its education and support groups to stop FGM in the Monduli area.

(Tuesday) First day of placement for the volunteers. Below is a brief describtion of a few of our partner orgs were vols are placed.

- BOSSI was founded in 2007 by Anna Yoeza.  Anna has been dedicated to helping those infected since she herself was diagnosed in 2003 after her husband passed away.  Anna contracted HIV from her husband, who practiced migratory labor and was unfaithful.  Anna has 5 children all HIV-, who are dedicated in helping their mother live out her dream of helping others.  She also has adopted 2 children from family members that have died from AIDS.  Anna serves on the Arusha Project board of directors and has been a crucial part of our development since 2006. The orphanage now houses 15 children.  They are given English, Health, Science, and Mathematic classes for pre-primary students during the week.

- Faraja was founded by Sister Felicity in 2006 after she had lost both her brother and sister from HIV/AIDS. She felt that women in particular were being unfairly put at risk by socioeconomic factors and cultural practices. Currently the organization operates home visits and counseling for locally affected women; in-house counseling and work training; prostitution outreach program; and spiritual support groups. In May of 2008 FARAJA opened a nursery school for orphans and now has 50 children attending.

Sister Felly is an amazing woman who puts so much work into her organization and into the Arusha Project as one of our Microfinance directors.

- Hatuchoki believes that the arts are the embodiment of the soul of a culture. Its activities emphasize not only the creation and performance of art, but arts education for the children enrolled in the organization’s primary and secondary school. Hatuchoki also shares the belief that the physical and educational welfare of a community’s children is the responsibility and privilege of the entire community—that it takes a village. Thus Hatuchoki has framed its mission in support of at-risk youth and family services in the Tengeru area.

- Last year I developed the Yullansoni Heath Program for pre-medical/health volunteers and medical professionals who are interested in international health. We send these specific volunteers for two weeks to Meru District hospital and then a week out in Singida/Yullansoni to a rural dispensary.

Meru District Hospital, were I volunteered three years ago and did my research on ARV (antiretroviral therapy) availability and accessibility to women in the area, is a government hospital that receives international volunteers (a lot more lately since Bush visited the hospital last year). The hospital has a men’s and women’s ward, Maternity ward, HIV and ARV clinic, TB clinic and two surgery theaters.

The Kibaoni Dispensary in Singida and the Yullansoni Rural Dispensary Clinic in the Yullansoni Valley are by most Americans standards, in the middle of nowhere. If someone is interested in serving the underserved they go here. I posted an entry on Aug 2 last year about my initial site visit to the area.

(Wednesday) Since our organizations mission statement is centered around the HIV/AIDS pandemic, I would consider it a gross disservice if our volunteers did not have at least the basics of the viruses biology and the pandemics socio/economic effects worldwide and in Tanzania specifically. So after lunch today I presented said information, I tried not to get to into virology and immunology (especially since less then half the vols are bio majors) but I think I lost some of them anyway, I saw blank looks when I was talking about CD4 counts.

(Thursday) So I wake up this morning and the Helema (our head matron) says ‘Pole sana, Micheal Jackson is dead’ as if it was the most devastating news anyone could hear. All the radio stations in town are playing nothing but Jackson and it seems to be the only thing people are talking about.

One, I’m socked that the news made it around so quickly. Two, I was completely unaware that he apparently had such a huge influence.

(Saturday) The volunteers in each program will be reviewing the grant applications before the review committee (consisting of 6 trustees, directors from local non-affiliated NGOs) makes their final funding decisions. It was decided to get the volunteers more involved in the process for several reasons, one: for the benefit of the applying org whose application may be incomplete, budget errors, may need an advocate to clarify their proposal and two: so the volunteers can see exactly where the money from their program fee is going.  My boss, Nick, decided subjecting the vols to a 4 hr grant/proposal/writing workshop on a Saturday morning was a great way to introduce them to the project. I would have preferred an intestinal parasite.

Random stuff:

In Tanzania religion is a very important part of most peoples lives. The country is 30% Christen (Catholic, Lutheran, Pentecostal, ect.), 35% Muslim and 35% indigenous religious beliefs. In the states we are told to avoid the topics of religion in polite conversation, however here religion is often one of the first questions that comes up in conversation, even when you have just met someone. Being an Atheist has proven to be a challenge for me during these conversations. Most people I have talked to can’t grasp the concept that someone can not believe in a god, any god, the conversation usually becomes strained, simply ends right there or sometimes becomes verbally abusive (I have been called the devil, a bad person and other colorful names on more then one occasion). Deciding this may not be the best way to form ties in the community I then tried to say I’m Agnostic. This is received slightly better by most individuals, however the talk usually turns to they believe I’m simply have a crisis of faith and should go to church with them. This outcome is not exactly desirable on my end. After a long trial and error period I have settled on telling people that I’m not religious, this is often a good enough stopper on having the line of questioning progress to belief in a god. Sometimes the questions do continue and when asked then what do you believe in I simple say people/humanity. I don’t know how people process that one, but it seems to work as I can usually see an expression of understanding appear.

Week 2

Getting good feedback from the volunteers on placement and helpful criticism on programming from the first week.

I don’t do anything especially noteworthy everyday. The day to day is a lot of logistical stuff, putting together programming, checking in with the vols, ect.

I met up with my friend Shannon, who went to UCSD with me, was a volunteer with the AP last summer and is now working for a safari company/Massai NGO and living in Arusha with her boyfriend Bariki.

(Tuesday) the women of Faraja are receiving their fourth cycle of loans today and Thursday. There are some new faces and some women that have been with us since we started the program. I love talking with some of them, they have such powerful stories. A common thread among many of the women is that with their successful businesses from the loans they are now able to send their children to school, where as before it was impossible for them to afford school fees. Allowing for the success of the next generation through education is, in my belief, one of the most important indicators of this programs success.

(Wednesday) Arusha is the location of the United Nations Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda.Visitors are welcomed to the facility and may sit in while court is in session. The vols seemed really keen on going to the facility, so we arranged a tour.

Now I have a few lawyer friends back home so don’t take this wrong way, but holy shit some lawyers are most annoying individuals ever. For an hour the defense attorney was trying to get the court reported kicked out for being incompetent because she was coughing and the prosecutor kept arguing with a witness about the spelling of his name. I now there was probably some strategy involved for all of this or random legal precedence or thing but really this is a case were the accused is facing charges of crimes against humanity and genocide and the lawyers are arguing about how a witness sometimes spells his name with two L’s and sometimes with one L.

Despite my inability to see the logic of what was going on in the court room the overall experience of visiting the tribunal is very informative especially for those who previously had little knowledge of the events that occurred in Rwanda.

(Friday) Sr. Felly had received monies from the Arusha Municipal social welfare office to purchase goats for the women of Faraja and she wanted us to be there for the distribution this afternoon.

Faraja operates in the village of Sombatini which is where Sr. Felly’s church is located as well as all the members of Faraja live.

So the fun thing about being in Arusha and maybe Tanzania as a whole is that most people run on ‘African Time’ which means if an event is slated to start at 1pm it will probably start around 2pm. Sometimes it seems like the unofficial national motto is ‘PolePole’, slowly slowly. For those of you back home that know patience is not one of my stronger attributes, I always feel like my time in Tanzania helps me grow in this particular area, no matter how much it pains me.

The goats were stuck in traffic apparently, so an improvised game of soccer (football or whatever you wanna call it) sprouted up among the vols and the neighborhood kids. No matter were you are in the world if anything remotely shaped in a sphere is around a game resembling soccer will usually erupt.

The goats arrive, 10 goats for 10 of the women that Sr. Felly had picked form the membership of Faraja. The goats were accompanied by the social welfare officer. One thing about any kind of event that involves a government official, the event turns into a ceremony and immediately becomes at least 2 hrs longer. This is because everyone and I mean everyone gives a speech, sometimes multiple speeches, sometimes you are asked to give a speech randomly because you were the only one that did not give a speech. I went to a dam opening ceremony a few years ago that the prime minister was attending and I swear people talked for 5 hrs.

(Saturday) the volunteers went on a day safari to Tarangire National Park but the most exciting news of the day was that Chahe, our in-country coordinator is now a dad. Chahes’ wife Regina is in Dar es Salaam with her sister and went into labor last night. Reports say a health baby girl named Sabrina was born in the early morning hrs. So Chahe is now Baba Sabrina, Baba means father and the name of the first child.

I had an interesting discussion with Chahe about names. Here in Tanzania there is the first name which can be anything, the middle name is the fathers’ first name and then the fathers last name is the family or surname. He seemed just flabbergasted when I told him that my middle name was Marie and not Richard (sorry dad) and that I have both my mothers and fathers last names.

(Sunday) We decided to take the volunteers on a day trip to Marangu, which a small village at the base of Mt. Kilimanjaro. There one can find numerous waterfalls and a lush rainforest environment to take an afternoon hike.

While it’s a nice little day excursion on the weekends the real treat for most of the vols is seeing Kili up close. I really think they all enjoyed it because now 6 of them are looking to extend their stay in Tanzania so they can attempt a climb.

A few words about Kili, There is no way anyone could tell me global climate change is not happening. In the four consecutive years I have been coming to Tanzania I have seen the snow/glaciers on the mountain shrink with my own eyes. There is a shocking visual difference between what I saw four years ago and what I saw today. It still remains a beautiful sight but a sad reminder of our global impact.

Week 3

(Tuesday) today is SabaSaba (7,7) a national holiday marking the creation of the TANU political party (now CCM, the dominate party in national politics) and its internal constitution. As a result of this holiday the center of town is practically abandon with most shops closet or their hours severely cut back for the day.

Anna invited everyone over to her house for lunch today, we had a simple meal that is the norm for most Tanzanians: rice, ugali (a white stiff corn porridge), beans and boiled greens.

(Wednesday) Nick received an email from the Grameen Bank in Australia, the Grameen Bank was started when Professor Muhammad Yunus, a Professor at The University of Chittagong, launched a research project to examine the possibility of designing a microcredit delivery system to provide banking services targeted to the rural poor. In October 1983, the Grameen Bank Project was transformed into an independent bank by government legislation. The organization and its founder, Muhammad Yunus, were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006.

The bank is looking into funding projects here in Arusha and contacted Nick because they knew of the APs work in the community with microfinance. Some representatives will be doing a site visit to Arusha in Sept. and asked us to prepare background information on Tanzania and the Arusha region. So I’m excited because I get to spend the next couple of days researching into economic, social, health and gender disparities and putting it into a report. I know I’m a nerd.

Wednesdays and Saturdays are market days in Tengeru. Venturing through the market is a must, not just if you really need that pair of second-hand boots but to people watch. First the market is for the selling and purchase of fruits and vegetables, second household goods (pots, pans, baskets, soap) and third second-hand clothing and shoes. Ever wonder where your clothing donations end up, I can’t tell you how many times I have gone through the market and seen clothes with value village tags still attached.

(Friday) While our microfinance program is entering its’ fourth cycle we keep adding more clients to the program. Today we are distributing a first cycle of loans to women who attend Sr. Fellys church and belong to a womens support group (not associated with FARAJA). A total of 8 groups of five women will be receiving loans.

When we arrive at the church, which we are using for a distribution site, not all the women are present. Unfortunately if a group is missing any of its members they will be unable to receive their loans until all the group members are present and sign a contract. The lending is done this way and in groups of five as a kind of social collateral. If at the end of the 6 month loan cycle any of the five women have failed to repay, it will affect the ability of the other women to receive another loan. So as a result the women vouch for each other and support each other ensuring business and repayment success. If not all group members are present at the initial loan distribution it maybe a sign of problems in the group dynamics and therefore there maybe a problem with the whole concept of this social collateral.

A woman in the first group made comments along the lines of, if anyone comes to her house for repayment collection she will cut them. The other four women of the group took this as a dangerous statement that could damage the groups’ integrity and kicked her out of the group before the loan was disbursed. Sr. Felly had another woman in mind to be this groups fifth member, she is a widowed, mother who has been HIV+ for at least five years. If the women accept her as their fifth member she will be able to receive a loan to expand her business of selling second hand clothes at the market.

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