Ok so I know I have been terrible at this but in all fairness I have been extremely busy and internet cafes are only open at certain hours. I will have to fill you all in on Zanzibar and Egypt a little later but for now I will fill you in on what has been going on in Arusha. Everything with Tuamkeni is going excellent thus far. Earlier this week I met with Mr. Mathew to discuss the process of purchasing land in more detail and to work out the final cost for the land. After meeting with him I went and found a lawyers office in town so I could ensure that the process Mr. Mathew had told me about was in fact correct. The lawyer was extremely helpful and she showed me ones that were in the middle of being processed and ones that had already been processed. I feel confident that I now fully understand the proper process. The next step involves me getting all my funds together and figuring out how I will be able to withdraw the money for the land. It is a slow process but hopefully everything works out and Tuamkeni will be able to have a place to call home by the end of next week. Land will do so much for Tuamkeni because it means its a permanent place where they can grow and develop into a better organization. The land I am looking at is extremely fertile so Mr. Mathew and I want to devote a section of the land to a garden so they can either grow their own food or grow food to sell with the funds helping out the school. I am really happy with everything so far and I really hope everything with the land works out.
Catherine
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Monday, June 14, 2010
My mom and Aunt arrive in Africa
So it has been a while since my last update because I am traveling and I dont have a computer to type it out and then save it to my USB but I will give you a brief glimpse into what I have been up to for the past 2 weeks and I absolutely promise to give a more detailed description after I arrive back in Arusha on the 18th.
-My mom and aunt arrived in Arusha and I showed them my school, the town, where I live, and other orphanages in Arusha. Tuamkeni is located in an extremely poor area so they were both in shock at how poor the area truly is. My mom on the walk there was nearly in tears and she told me she had a much better appreciation for what I do and love before we had even arrived at the school. The kids teachers and grandmothers were all so excited to get to meet my mom and aunt, and it gave them a slight glimpse into my life back home.
-After touring Arusha for a few days my mom and aunt went on a 4 night, 5 day safari and they had an absolutely incredible time and saw every animal there is to see.
- On Tuesday the 3 of us left for Zanzibar and spent 2 nights at a 5 star beach resort where we relaxed by the ocean, went kayaking, ate incredible food, got massages, and I finally got a hair cut!
-Thursday we headed to another 5 star resort in Stonetown to spend 2 nights. In Stonetown we relaxed at the pool, did tons of shopping, got a tour of all the historical monuments many of which were related to the slave trade, and ate more incredible food.
-The world cup has begun and Africa is absolutely thrilled to have it on their continent.. you can buy tons of souvenirs and its played on every tv in sight.. its definitely an exciting time to be in Africa
-Saturday we made our way to Egypt and the flight was anything but direct we flew from Zanzibar to Dar to Ethiopia to the Sudan and finally we arrive in Egypt at 2:30am. Even though I just had layovers in Ethiopia and the Sudan I am tempted to count them as countries I have been to in Africa especially because the Sudan sounds so badass.
-We are currently in Egypt and its an incredible place. Cairo is a middle eastern, Mediterranean version of New York and I absolutely love it. Yesterday we went and toured the market and one of the massive mosques, and smoked sheesha at our hotel by the pool. Today we visited the pyramids, crawled through the pyramids, rode a camel on the sahara, visited the amazing Egyptian museum, saw some of the most famous mummies, and bought more cool souvenirs. Tonight we are off to watch the pyramids as they are lite up and although I have heard its extremely cheesy it will be cool to see them at night.
That is a taste of what I have been up to for the past 2 weeks. I hope everything is well with everyone at home!
Love you and miss you all
Catherine
-My mom and aunt arrived in Arusha and I showed them my school, the town, where I live, and other orphanages in Arusha. Tuamkeni is located in an extremely poor area so they were both in shock at how poor the area truly is. My mom on the walk there was nearly in tears and she told me she had a much better appreciation for what I do and love before we had even arrived at the school. The kids teachers and grandmothers were all so excited to get to meet my mom and aunt, and it gave them a slight glimpse into my life back home.
-After touring Arusha for a few days my mom and aunt went on a 4 night, 5 day safari and they had an absolutely incredible time and saw every animal there is to see.
- On Tuesday the 3 of us left for Zanzibar and spent 2 nights at a 5 star beach resort where we relaxed by the ocean, went kayaking, ate incredible food, got massages, and I finally got a hair cut!
-Thursday we headed to another 5 star resort in Stonetown to spend 2 nights. In Stonetown we relaxed at the pool, did tons of shopping, got a tour of all the historical monuments many of which were related to the slave trade, and ate more incredible food.
-The world cup has begun and Africa is absolutely thrilled to have it on their continent.. you can buy tons of souvenirs and its played on every tv in sight.. its definitely an exciting time to be in Africa
-Saturday we made our way to Egypt and the flight was anything but direct we flew from Zanzibar to Dar to Ethiopia to the Sudan and finally we arrive in Egypt at 2:30am. Even though I just had layovers in Ethiopia and the Sudan I am tempted to count them as countries I have been to in Africa especially because the Sudan sounds so badass.
-We are currently in Egypt and its an incredible place. Cairo is a middle eastern, Mediterranean version of New York and I absolutely love it. Yesterday we went and toured the market and one of the massive mosques, and smoked sheesha at our hotel by the pool. Today we visited the pyramids, crawled through the pyramids, rode a camel on the sahara, visited the amazing Egyptian museum, saw some of the most famous mummies, and bought more cool souvenirs. Tonight we are off to watch the pyramids as they are lite up and although I have heard its extremely cheesy it will be cool to see them at night.
That is a taste of what I have been up to for the past 2 weeks. I hope everything is well with everyone at home!
Love you and miss you all
Catherine
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Napenda Afrika sana
Its Sunday evening and I have nothing else to do so I figured I would blog. This past week has been productive and I feel rather accomplished. Monday morning I went to Tuamkeni and helped teach, mark, and just showed the kids some love. Kids at their age need so much love and affection especially when you consider the unpleasant situations they are growing up in. That said, I know fortunately enough that my kids are better off than many other kids in Arusha. Tuamkeni has 40 kids split between 4 classes, 2 teachers, volunteers, and 2 bibis (grandmothers) each day to cook for them. When volunteers are at the school the kids are never left alone in a class for more than a few minutes, and because the classes are smaller they are able to get the individual attention they deserve. Obviously the quality of education is severely lacking but that is something that can be improved upon through better resources and enough teachers per classroom just to name a few.
I spent the afternoon sitting with Bibi Monaca helping her sift rocks and sticks out of the bag of beans. Monaca and her husband Mathew run Tuamkeni but Mathew works as an accountant for a pharmacy in Arusha so he comes by the school very rarely. I was surprised to learn this week that Mathew earned his masters in accounting from the University of Glasgow and worked as a CA in Scotland for 2 years before returning to Tanzania. An accountant is a good job no matter where you are in the world but its funny the differences in life styles. Mathew is paid well for Tanzania and he dresses well but his house is essentially just a slightly bigger mud shack accompanied by a mud yard. Mathew chose to leave the UK to come back to the simple Tanzanian lifestyle. He obviously speaks very good English but his wife Monaca on the other hand does not. In fact I speak better Kiswahili than she does English so we had a basic conversation about life and marriage in Swahili. I understand Swahili significantly better than I speak it which is extremely frustrating because I can understand the questions and discussions but I can’t always formulate a proper response. Hopefully by the end of these 3 months I will be much better.
Tuesday I went to visit Kimondolo Primary School which is a private primary school located just 10 minutes outside of Arusha. I was a little shocked at the state of the school considering that the children’s parents are paying to send them there. The building was bare and practically falling apart, each classroom did have a teacher but the most alarming aspect was the teachers’ lack of care for their students. They would just leave the kids to run rampant for half hour periods at a time while they sat in the office drank tea and marked. It made me realize how lucky my kids are to have teachers who care about them.
Wednesday Katie and I went with Mathew to look at a possible land option for Tuamkeni. It was ¾ of an acre located 12km outside of Arusha in a gorgeous, safe, and quiet area. The location is incredible except for the fact that it is outside Arusha and thus a bus would need to be purchased to transfer the kids. Land is an extremely vital step for Tuamkeni because they can’t grow as a school until they have a solid home. The land we looked at costs 6 million Tanzanian shillings which is around $4500 plus there are fees of a few hundred dollars for transferring titles. Land is the difficult part; once you have the land it is relatively easy to build a building and then when other volunteers come through they can easily add things to the building and land. One of the biggest issues with buying land is trust, which is unfortunately really difficult to build in Tanzania. 2 of the past volunteers who were at the school for 3 months don’t trust Tuamkeni but Marcell a volunteer who was there for 9 months does, and Andrew another volunteer who came back to the school say he trusts them too. I took everything the 4 of them told me and for the past month I have been figuring out the trust situation for myself and I have come to the conclusion that I trust Tuamkeni completely. I sat down and made a list of all the reasons I should trust Tuamkeni and all the reasons I shouldn’t. My only 2 reasons for not trusting Tuamkeni were because Amanda and Emily don’t, and then also because it’s Africa and corruption is unfortunately such a major issue. My list for why I should is significantly longer.
1.) As a returning volunteer I have the advantage of already having established a relationship with the school so they now know that I will definitely return and continue to return to check up on things. I must add that last year Heather and I bought food, mosquito nets, a few books, and sand toys for the kids, and we delivered it all on our very last day which looking back might have been a stupid idea because they could have just sold it for their personal benefit. However, all the items are still located at the school and the mosquito nets are in all the kids’ houses, which has been beneficial for my ability to establish trust with Tuamkeni. I truly believe you can determine a lot off of gut instinct and last year my gut instinct was to trust them and obviously that was a good decision.
2.) I sat down and talked to Mathew about the school and their finances this week and he was completely honest about how much money they have in the bank account. In fact a former volunteer informed me that they had 800000 ($550) in their bank account and Mathew told me that they actually had over a million tsh and that that money was to be saved for a rainy day. I was really impressed to hear someone in Africa talking about savings and money for the future. At that point I was unaware that Mathew had his masters in accounting.
3.) Mathew has a good job as an accountant in Arusha so he doesn’t rely on the school for money. Furthermore, he could have simply stayed in Scotland if he wanted to make a lot of money and live a frivolous life.
4.) My gut instinct is telling me to trust them.
So that is a brief overview for why I trust Mathew and Tuamkeni. Now my focus will be on trying to buy land so that the school has a place to grow. I also have the advantage of having friends who are now living in Arusha who can go and check up on things for me. I am going to talk with some locals about the land procedure to ensure it is done properly and correctly.
Thursday Katie and I went and did an HIV talk for 6 12-14 year old boys who are sexually active at Faraja Orphanage. It was a really great talk and I think (hopefully) that the boys took a lot away from it. They asked crazy questions about whether goats blood and milk could cure it and if you could tell whether or not people had it, it was truly an eye opening experience and solidified everything I had learned in school about why HIV spreads like wildfire in Africa. At the end of the conversation the boys all had terrified looks on their faces so we offered to take them to get HIV tested. All the boys wanted to go get tested so that’s what I did on Saturday. Testing is free at the local government hospital and luckily everyone, me included, was HIV free. I was obviously not at all nervous for my own test results but I was praying that none of the kids test would come back positive. The nurse who did the tests was herself HIV positive which was an excellent example for the kids of how someone can look entirely healthy and have a good job and still be positive. Furthermore, she was able to tell them her own story of how her husband told her he was negative and she didn’t need to worry and that they should use a condom every single time if they are going to have sex. It was a really good day and the boys took even more away from it. Its important to talk to the guys here in Tanzania because unfortunately the women don’t have much of a say at all and it is entirely up to the man for whether or not a condom will be used. I knew the boys had taken important information away from the talk because at the end of the day they asked us how to convince their friends it was cool to use a condom.
Friday I went to Tuamkeni and we helped the kids decorate the masks we bought them, blew up balloons, sang songs, and helped them clean the school. It was a really productive and tiring day. I am so happy to be back with those kids and I love them to bits. Hopefully everything with the land is able to work out.
So I let this blog sit on the computer for a while before I finished typing it but it is now Tuesday and my mom has arrived in Arusha. Yesterday I took my aunt and my mom on a tour of Arusha and today we went to visit Faraja orphanage. Tomorrow is the big day when they get to meet my kids and see the school. The teachers and grandmothers are really excited to meet my mom and aunt as well, tomorrow will be a great today. Cayley has been MIA for the past few days; unfortunately she got malaria and has been in the hospital. She had a high fever but they only admitted her for precautionary measures because she is a foreigner and has no immunity to the disease. She just got home a few hours ago and she already looks much much better. I hope everything is better and I swear I will be better at updating this!
Over and out
Catherine
p.s I still love and miss you all
I spent the afternoon sitting with Bibi Monaca helping her sift rocks and sticks out of the bag of beans. Monaca and her husband Mathew run Tuamkeni but Mathew works as an accountant for a pharmacy in Arusha so he comes by the school very rarely. I was surprised to learn this week that Mathew earned his masters in accounting from the University of Glasgow and worked as a CA in Scotland for 2 years before returning to Tanzania. An accountant is a good job no matter where you are in the world but its funny the differences in life styles. Mathew is paid well for Tanzania and he dresses well but his house is essentially just a slightly bigger mud shack accompanied by a mud yard. Mathew chose to leave the UK to come back to the simple Tanzanian lifestyle. He obviously speaks very good English but his wife Monaca on the other hand does not. In fact I speak better Kiswahili than she does English so we had a basic conversation about life and marriage in Swahili. I understand Swahili significantly better than I speak it which is extremely frustrating because I can understand the questions and discussions but I can’t always formulate a proper response. Hopefully by the end of these 3 months I will be much better.
Tuesday I went to visit Kimondolo Primary School which is a private primary school located just 10 minutes outside of Arusha. I was a little shocked at the state of the school considering that the children’s parents are paying to send them there. The building was bare and practically falling apart, each classroom did have a teacher but the most alarming aspect was the teachers’ lack of care for their students. They would just leave the kids to run rampant for half hour periods at a time while they sat in the office drank tea and marked. It made me realize how lucky my kids are to have teachers who care about them.
Wednesday Katie and I went with Mathew to look at a possible land option for Tuamkeni. It was ¾ of an acre located 12km outside of Arusha in a gorgeous, safe, and quiet area. The location is incredible except for the fact that it is outside Arusha and thus a bus would need to be purchased to transfer the kids. Land is an extremely vital step for Tuamkeni because they can’t grow as a school until they have a solid home. The land we looked at costs 6 million Tanzanian shillings which is around $4500 plus there are fees of a few hundred dollars for transferring titles. Land is the difficult part; once you have the land it is relatively easy to build a building and then when other volunteers come through they can easily add things to the building and land. One of the biggest issues with buying land is trust, which is unfortunately really difficult to build in Tanzania. 2 of the past volunteers who were at the school for 3 months don’t trust Tuamkeni but Marcell a volunteer who was there for 9 months does, and Andrew another volunteer who came back to the school say he trusts them too. I took everything the 4 of them told me and for the past month I have been figuring out the trust situation for myself and I have come to the conclusion that I trust Tuamkeni completely. I sat down and made a list of all the reasons I should trust Tuamkeni and all the reasons I shouldn’t. My only 2 reasons for not trusting Tuamkeni were because Amanda and Emily don’t, and then also because it’s Africa and corruption is unfortunately such a major issue. My list for why I should is significantly longer.
1.) As a returning volunteer I have the advantage of already having established a relationship with the school so they now know that I will definitely return and continue to return to check up on things. I must add that last year Heather and I bought food, mosquito nets, a few books, and sand toys for the kids, and we delivered it all on our very last day which looking back might have been a stupid idea because they could have just sold it for their personal benefit. However, all the items are still located at the school and the mosquito nets are in all the kids’ houses, which has been beneficial for my ability to establish trust with Tuamkeni. I truly believe you can determine a lot off of gut instinct and last year my gut instinct was to trust them and obviously that was a good decision.
2.) I sat down and talked to Mathew about the school and their finances this week and he was completely honest about how much money they have in the bank account. In fact a former volunteer informed me that they had 800000 ($550) in their bank account and Mathew told me that they actually had over a million tsh and that that money was to be saved for a rainy day. I was really impressed to hear someone in Africa talking about savings and money for the future. At that point I was unaware that Mathew had his masters in accounting.
3.) Mathew has a good job as an accountant in Arusha so he doesn’t rely on the school for money. Furthermore, he could have simply stayed in Scotland if he wanted to make a lot of money and live a frivolous life.
4.) My gut instinct is telling me to trust them.
So that is a brief overview for why I trust Mathew and Tuamkeni. Now my focus will be on trying to buy land so that the school has a place to grow. I also have the advantage of having friends who are now living in Arusha who can go and check up on things for me. I am going to talk with some locals about the land procedure to ensure it is done properly and correctly.
Thursday Katie and I went and did an HIV talk for 6 12-14 year old boys who are sexually active at Faraja Orphanage. It was a really great talk and I think (hopefully) that the boys took a lot away from it. They asked crazy questions about whether goats blood and milk could cure it and if you could tell whether or not people had it, it was truly an eye opening experience and solidified everything I had learned in school about why HIV spreads like wildfire in Africa. At the end of the conversation the boys all had terrified looks on their faces so we offered to take them to get HIV tested. All the boys wanted to go get tested so that’s what I did on Saturday. Testing is free at the local government hospital and luckily everyone, me included, was HIV free. I was obviously not at all nervous for my own test results but I was praying that none of the kids test would come back positive. The nurse who did the tests was herself HIV positive which was an excellent example for the kids of how someone can look entirely healthy and have a good job and still be positive. Furthermore, she was able to tell them her own story of how her husband told her he was negative and she didn’t need to worry and that they should use a condom every single time if they are going to have sex. It was a really good day and the boys took even more away from it. Its important to talk to the guys here in Tanzania because unfortunately the women don’t have much of a say at all and it is entirely up to the man for whether or not a condom will be used. I knew the boys had taken important information away from the talk because at the end of the day they asked us how to convince their friends it was cool to use a condom.
Friday I went to Tuamkeni and we helped the kids decorate the masks we bought them, blew up balloons, sang songs, and helped them clean the school. It was a really productive and tiring day. I am so happy to be back with those kids and I love them to bits. Hopefully everything with the land is able to work out.
So I let this blog sit on the computer for a while before I finished typing it but it is now Tuesday and my mom has arrived in Arusha. Yesterday I took my aunt and my mom on a tour of Arusha and today we went to visit Faraja orphanage. Tomorrow is the big day when they get to meet my kids and see the school. The teachers and grandmothers are really excited to meet my mom and aunt as well, tomorrow will be a great today. Cayley has been MIA for the past few days; unfortunately she got malaria and has been in the hospital. She had a high fever but they only admitted her for precautionary measures because she is a foreigner and has no immunity to the disease. She just got home a few hours ago and she already looks much much better. I hope everything is better and I swear I will be better at updating this!
Over and out
Catherine
p.s I still love and miss you all
Monday, May 24, 2010
TIA
So I have been terrible at updating this lately but I promise to try and be better. Mark ended up getting sick last weekend so we all went to Lindazi’s Maasai Village yesterday. It was an amazing once in a lifetime experience because we were invited into the village by Lindazi and his family and we didn’t pay for a “Maasai village tour”.
The village lies in Northern Tanzania right near the Kenyan border. The landscape is very similar to the savannah plains of the Serengeti except with lush green mountains in the background. On the drive we saw giraffes, ostriches, and impalas. As we arrived at the village all the women in their bright colorful maasai cloth draped with beaded jewelry were singing “welcome” in Maasai. No outsiders had ever visited the village before so many of the women and children were scared of us and our drastically different appearance. They first took us in to see Lindazi’s farther mud hut; I had always assumed that the insides of the round huts were just bare and open but I was shocked to find that they build walls and “rooms” inside that you literally have to squeeze yourself through. The huts are as basic as you can possibly get and the beds are made out of goat hyde.
Lindazi’s family was so welcoming and to show gratitude for what Mark is doing for Lindazi they gave him a goat to take home and slaughtered one for us. I was a little apprehensive and nervous about watching a goat being slaughtered but I knew I had to set the cultural differences aside and just embrace the situation. It definitely wasn’t a pretty sight but them slaughtering a goat for us was the cultural equivalent of someone back home giving someone else a car to show gratitude. They didn’t let a single part of the goat go to waste; every single part was used for something. They even drank all the blood straight from the goats sloshed neck. Goat meat is not very tasty and it’s extremely tough. (Yes I ate the goat even after watching it die) After the sacrificing of the goat we got a tour of the land surrounding his village, its absolutely breathtaking! That day will stick with me for a while (literally) because after much convincing I decided to get a maasai burn. They heated up a metal wire shaped in a circle to the point of being red hot and stuck it to my arm; it didn’t hurt nearly as much as I thought it would. It just felt like a bee sting, what was more shocking was the instant sound of my skin popping. Mine is not very deep at all so the scar will probably completely disappear in a matter of months. At the very end of the day as we were leaving the women took off one of their necklaces and gave one to each of us. I was nearly in tears because they literally have nothing but they were willing to give us a goat, sacrifice a goat for us, let us into their village, and then give us each one of their necklaces. It was such an incredible experience.
The kids at Tuamkeni are all doing great I am just in the midst of trying to figure out how to spend the money I fundraised back home. This week we are actually going to go look at some land to possibly purchase, hopefully everything works out and we can find a truly beneficial way to spend the money. Land would allow them to build on what they have instead of constantly having to switch buildings and pay rent, plus with the land they can raise chickens or plant grains to make money. I will keep you updated on that but the kids definitely love all the toys we brought for them. One of the important things for going forward with the possible land purchase is establishing trust and a relationship with Tuamkeni. Corruption and Africa regrettably go hand in hand so everything needs to be done very carefully. Again I am still looking into everything but I will let you all know more once I know more.
I am out of time for today but I will update you all with another long one later this week. I hope everything is going well back home.
Catherine
p.s I am climbing Kilimanjaro aka the highest mountain in Africa and one of the 7 highest mountains in the world at the end of June!
The village lies in Northern Tanzania right near the Kenyan border. The landscape is very similar to the savannah plains of the Serengeti except with lush green mountains in the background. On the drive we saw giraffes, ostriches, and impalas. As we arrived at the village all the women in their bright colorful maasai cloth draped with beaded jewelry were singing “welcome” in Maasai. No outsiders had ever visited the village before so many of the women and children were scared of us and our drastically different appearance. They first took us in to see Lindazi’s farther mud hut; I had always assumed that the insides of the round huts were just bare and open but I was shocked to find that they build walls and “rooms” inside that you literally have to squeeze yourself through. The huts are as basic as you can possibly get and the beds are made out of goat hyde.
Lindazi’s family was so welcoming and to show gratitude for what Mark is doing for Lindazi they gave him a goat to take home and slaughtered one for us. I was a little apprehensive and nervous about watching a goat being slaughtered but I knew I had to set the cultural differences aside and just embrace the situation. It definitely wasn’t a pretty sight but them slaughtering a goat for us was the cultural equivalent of someone back home giving someone else a car to show gratitude. They didn’t let a single part of the goat go to waste; every single part was used for something. They even drank all the blood straight from the goats sloshed neck. Goat meat is not very tasty and it’s extremely tough. (Yes I ate the goat even after watching it die) After the sacrificing of the goat we got a tour of the land surrounding his village, its absolutely breathtaking! That day will stick with me for a while (literally) because after much convincing I decided to get a maasai burn. They heated up a metal wire shaped in a circle to the point of being red hot and stuck it to my arm; it didn’t hurt nearly as much as I thought it would. It just felt like a bee sting, what was more shocking was the instant sound of my skin popping. Mine is not very deep at all so the scar will probably completely disappear in a matter of months. At the very end of the day as we were leaving the women took off one of their necklaces and gave one to each of us. I was nearly in tears because they literally have nothing but they were willing to give us a goat, sacrifice a goat for us, let us into their village, and then give us each one of their necklaces. It was such an incredible experience.
The kids at Tuamkeni are all doing great I am just in the midst of trying to figure out how to spend the money I fundraised back home. This week we are actually going to go look at some land to possibly purchase, hopefully everything works out and we can find a truly beneficial way to spend the money. Land would allow them to build on what they have instead of constantly having to switch buildings and pay rent, plus with the land they can raise chickens or plant grains to make money. I will keep you updated on that but the kids definitely love all the toys we brought for them. One of the important things for going forward with the possible land purchase is establishing trust and a relationship with Tuamkeni. Corruption and Africa regrettably go hand in hand so everything needs to be done very carefully. Again I am still looking into everything but I will let you all know more once I know more.
I am out of time for today but I will update you all with another long one later this week. I hope everything is going well back home.
Catherine
p.s I am climbing Kilimanjaro aka the highest mountain in Africa and one of the 7 highest mountains in the world at the end of June!
Thursday, May 13, 2010
May 11,2010
This past weekend was my first full weekend back in Arusha and it was anything but dull. Friday night everyone was tired so we all just chilled at the house and played my new favorite game “Back in the Bag.” You split up into 2 groups and every player writes down ten famous names ranging from Disney characters to past Presidents/ Prime Ministers, all those names then go into 1 bag. Then 1 person from one of the teams stands up and for 1 minute and they draw names from the bag and gives clues so that their team can try and guess the names. At the end the team that guessed the most names wins! Its really fun to play with a group of people from all different backgrounds and countries because then you get a real range of names. Mark (American) got Stephen Harper and he had no idea who he was! Obviously all the Canadians were pretty offended but then ironically a few minutes later the Australian Prime Minister was one of the names and of course none of us knew who he was.
Saturday I went to Lake Deluti which is a gorgeous lake just 30 minutes outside of Arusha. There is a thatched roof bar and tons of tables’ right on the waterfront surrounded by giant lush tropical trees, the place is almost enchanted. We had a beer, made some bracelets, enjoyed the scenery, and just talked about life. It was the perfect way to spend a Saturday. That night was my birthday night so we all went out to Empire Sports Bar to have some beers and listen to the Bob Marley cover band. Around 12:30 a big group of us went to Masai Camp which is a dance bar and we all danced our hearts out till about 3am! Probably not such a hot idea considering the next day consisted of a 6 hour hike to a waterfall.
Mark a volunteer who has been here for 6 months has made a ton of local friends in Arusha and they took us. They rented a dalla dalla which is just the African version of a “bus.” Really though all it is a van that can hold as many people as you can physically fit. So 20 of us packed into the tiny van and attempted to make our way up a steep muddy African road, needless to say it didn’t turn out so well and we probably made it halfway. It wasn’t a big deal though because the walk was stunning. All in all it was a great weekend.
The house is extremely quiet right now because there are only 4 people here, the rest went on safari. We are getting a few new people this weekend though so it will only be this quiet for the next 2 days. On Sunday Mark, Johny, and I are going to visit our daytime security guards maasai village that’s about an hour outside of Arusha it will be cool to see the village and see how Lindazi grew up. Speaking of Lindazi, for the past 6 months Mark has been here Lindazi has been talking about wanting to go to America to learn English so that he can be a safari guide here. Well it’s going to happen for him because Marks family has agreed to sponsor him and they are currently going through the visa application process as we speak. Apparently Marks parents tried to adopt a child from China a few years ago but it didn’t work out so now they are thrilled that they get to bring a 23 year old to America to learn English. Lindazi a tough Maasai warrior bawled when he found out he gets to go to America, it was definitely a beautiful moment.
All the kids at Tuamkeni are doing fantastic as usual! I didn’t go Tuesday and Wednesday this week because I was sick but I went Monday and Cayley, and I brought the math duotangs we made and the ankle game. Who knew kids could get so excited about math problems! It wasn’t so much the math they were excited about but the fact that they had their own book with the questions already written out for them. We sat there for an hour and a half as the kids eagerly kept filling out the pages. Even the little 3 year olds were excited they could count out the pictures in the book. I am still trying to get a feel for what their biggest needs are but I will keep you all updated!
Baadai
Catherine
Saturday I went to Lake Deluti which is a gorgeous lake just 30 minutes outside of Arusha. There is a thatched roof bar and tons of tables’ right on the waterfront surrounded by giant lush tropical trees, the place is almost enchanted. We had a beer, made some bracelets, enjoyed the scenery, and just talked about life. It was the perfect way to spend a Saturday. That night was my birthday night so we all went out to Empire Sports Bar to have some beers and listen to the Bob Marley cover band. Around 12:30 a big group of us went to Masai Camp which is a dance bar and we all danced our hearts out till about 3am! Probably not such a hot idea considering the next day consisted of a 6 hour hike to a waterfall.
Mark a volunteer who has been here for 6 months has made a ton of local friends in Arusha and they took us. They rented a dalla dalla which is just the African version of a “bus.” Really though all it is a van that can hold as many people as you can physically fit. So 20 of us packed into the tiny van and attempted to make our way up a steep muddy African road, needless to say it didn’t turn out so well and we probably made it halfway. It wasn’t a big deal though because the walk was stunning. All in all it was a great weekend.
The house is extremely quiet right now because there are only 4 people here, the rest went on safari. We are getting a few new people this weekend though so it will only be this quiet for the next 2 days. On Sunday Mark, Johny, and I are going to visit our daytime security guards maasai village that’s about an hour outside of Arusha it will be cool to see the village and see how Lindazi grew up. Speaking of Lindazi, for the past 6 months Mark has been here Lindazi has been talking about wanting to go to America to learn English so that he can be a safari guide here. Well it’s going to happen for him because Marks family has agreed to sponsor him and they are currently going through the visa application process as we speak. Apparently Marks parents tried to adopt a child from China a few years ago but it didn’t work out so now they are thrilled that they get to bring a 23 year old to America to learn English. Lindazi a tough Maasai warrior bawled when he found out he gets to go to America, it was definitely a beautiful moment.
All the kids at Tuamkeni are doing fantastic as usual! I didn’t go Tuesday and Wednesday this week because I was sick but I went Monday and Cayley, and I brought the math duotangs we made and the ankle game. Who knew kids could get so excited about math problems! It wasn’t so much the math they were excited about but the fact that they had their own book with the questions already written out for them. We sat there for an hour and a half as the kids eagerly kept filling out the pages. Even the little 3 year olds were excited they could count out the pictures in the book. I am still trying to get a feel for what their biggest needs are but I will keep you all updated!
Baadai
Catherine
Sunday, May 9, 2010
Sakina Maziwa
I have now been in Arusha for 6 full days and home feels like forever ago. Adjusting back to life here has taken no time at all. Its so funny how in a place that is so different and I stand out like a sore thumb I feel so comfortable. I am so happy I made the decision to come back, I couldn’t imagine not being here and not being able to see my kids. They truly are the little loves of my life. I don’t think I will ever be able to explain to them how much they have affected me and how much they have changed my life. These little 3-11 year olds have dealt with more pain and suffering than most of us will ever have to deal with in our lives but despite that suffering they are happiest kids on the planet. It still amazes me how kids back home who have everything can find so many things to complain about. I even have to reflect back on myself growing up and everything I had and was given and how little I appreciated it all. I think the western world could learn a lot from Africa, not even just learning to appreciate everything but learning how truly unimportant material items are for ones happiness.
People often ask me why I go to Africa and why I love it here so much, questions I find impossible to answer when talking to someone who has never traveled to Africa. People go through life searching for their niche and I found mine in Africa. Before Africa I jumped all over the map for “what I wanted to do with my life.” I have done essentially every 100 level course offered at the U of A but I “found” myself here. Nothing in this world makes me happier than helping those kids. I wish I could say it was an entirely altruistic act but its not. I believe there is an actual psychological name for the feeling experienced while helping someone maybe “helpers high” or something of the sort. Despite the fact that I am constantly dirty, and living in a house infested with cockroaches and rats I am the happiest person in the world here. I definitely know I want to do something in international development I just don’t know where exactly that will take me. As much as I love the hands on work I know that there is more I can do back home. Right now my thought process involves going into corporate law and ensuring that corporations follow ethical guidelines. Obviously the most famous industry for the exploitation of foreign workers is the coffee industry, if you are at all interested I would definitely recommend watching “Black Gold.” It’s a really good documentary about how coffee farmers aren’t paid a living wage.
Enough of that though let’s move onto what I am doing here in Arusha. This week will be devoted to figuring out what the needs of the school are and where I should spend the fundraising money. By the end of the week I should have a much better idea of what I am going to do with Tuamkeni right now I am just trying to absorb everything.
The volunteer house is amazing I love it here so much. It’s crazy how close you get to people in such a short period of time. There are currently 10 of us living in the house so it’s a nice close knit group. Whats crazy is that out of 10 of those people 6 are from Alberta! Two girls are from Calgary, 1 guy is from Leftbridge, and then Laura Cayley and I from Edmonton. On top of that we have 1 other Canadian, an American, Australian, and a Brit. We all get along phenomenally and although I have only known them for a week it feels like I have known them for months. There is also another volunteer house that has around 20 people but 18 of them are girls so they are having a lot of problems with clicks and catty groups. So happy I don’t live there! I think a lot of them are younger too because last year there was a group of about 25 of us in this house and I mean there obviously were groups of people who got along better but no one was catty. Thursday night a group of 8 of us went out to Via Via which is a club here in Arusha. It was the best time I have ever had at a bar in my life! 4 days prior we were all a group of strangers and there we were a group of close friends in Africa attempting to better the world dancing up a storm in the pouring rain. It was definitely an “I love my life” kind of moment. Unfortunately that rain dancing made me sick but it was totally worth it. Well friends and family that is my update for today, I am happy I am actually updating on a more frequent basis and I promise to keep it up!
Love you all!
Catherine
People often ask me why I go to Africa and why I love it here so much, questions I find impossible to answer when talking to someone who has never traveled to Africa. People go through life searching for their niche and I found mine in Africa. Before Africa I jumped all over the map for “what I wanted to do with my life.” I have done essentially every 100 level course offered at the U of A but I “found” myself here. Nothing in this world makes me happier than helping those kids. I wish I could say it was an entirely altruistic act but its not. I believe there is an actual psychological name for the feeling experienced while helping someone maybe “helpers high” or something of the sort. Despite the fact that I am constantly dirty, and living in a house infested with cockroaches and rats I am the happiest person in the world here. I definitely know I want to do something in international development I just don’t know where exactly that will take me. As much as I love the hands on work I know that there is more I can do back home. Right now my thought process involves going into corporate law and ensuring that corporations follow ethical guidelines. Obviously the most famous industry for the exploitation of foreign workers is the coffee industry, if you are at all interested I would definitely recommend watching “Black Gold.” It’s a really good documentary about how coffee farmers aren’t paid a living wage.
Enough of that though let’s move onto what I am doing here in Arusha. This week will be devoted to figuring out what the needs of the school are and where I should spend the fundraising money. By the end of the week I should have a much better idea of what I am going to do with Tuamkeni right now I am just trying to absorb everything.
The volunteer house is amazing I love it here so much. It’s crazy how close you get to people in such a short period of time. There are currently 10 of us living in the house so it’s a nice close knit group. Whats crazy is that out of 10 of those people 6 are from Alberta! Two girls are from Calgary, 1 guy is from Leftbridge, and then Laura Cayley and I from Edmonton. On top of that we have 1 other Canadian, an American, Australian, and a Brit. We all get along phenomenally and although I have only known them for a week it feels like I have known them for months. There is also another volunteer house that has around 20 people but 18 of them are girls so they are having a lot of problems with clicks and catty groups. So happy I don’t live there! I think a lot of them are younger too because last year there was a group of about 25 of us in this house and I mean there obviously were groups of people who got along better but no one was catty. Thursday night a group of 8 of us went out to Via Via which is a club here in Arusha. It was the best time I have ever had at a bar in my life! 4 days prior we were all a group of strangers and there we were a group of close friends in Africa attempting to better the world dancing up a storm in the pouring rain. It was definitely an “I love my life” kind of moment. Unfortunately that rain dancing made me sick but it was totally worth it. Well friends and family that is my update for today, I am happy I am actually updating on a more frequent basis and I promise to keep it up!
Love you all!
Catherine
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Back to Tanzania
May 3, 2010
I safely arrived in Tanzania after 24 hours of flying! I was pleased to arrive with a proper return flight home after the whole debacle that occurred when I arrived at the airport. Long story short I had to call expedia, expedia (not surprisingly) did nothing and the women working for Delta completely sorted my flight out for me. I nearly cried when she ran through customs and handed me my itinerary with the return date on July 29! She was amazing and I have no idea how I would of ever tried to sort that out from Africa, I was only booked from Amsterdam to Seattle on June 29.
All my flights were really good! I had intended to sleep from Minneapolis to Amsterdam but I sat next to the most amazing 70 year old man and we ended up talking the entire flight. He and his wife loved to travel and they had seen essentially the entire world. He was from Scotland, and his wife was from Australia but they met at a Halloween party in the early 1950s in… Edmonton!! It really made for an enjoyable flight despite the fact that I was unable to sleep.
Arriving in Arusha was completely surreal, I still can’t believe that after all this time of wanting to be back I finally am. Sunday (May 2) was my first full day here and I just relaxed and tried to adjust to the jetlag. During the day our neighbors had a traditional party where the new granddaughter was presented to the grandma for the first time, everyone was singing and dancing so we all went over and joined, it was a ton of fun! Monday I went to Faraja orphanage to drop off pictures for former volunteers. While at Faraja I went and did some home visits for the kids to try and determine why they weren’t at school, words can’t even begin to describe what I saw. One of the home visits that will stick with me for the rest of my life was ran by this 20 year old named Ida. Ida had lost both her parents to AIDS and she herself was infected. She was looking after 3 of her younger siblings as well as her own 10 month old baby. Her house was made of mud cow dung and wood, and was extremely small and dirty. We brought vitamins and food for her and her siblings/child, as we handed the vitamin to her she began to shake and appeared as those she was about to faint. Faraja began to ask her questions in Maasai and it took a while for her to answer but she told us about how everyday is a struggle and she didn’t know whether she was going to live or die. I have never seen such hopelessness and sadness in the face of a 20 year old. It was extremely apparent that she was overwhelmed and unhappy with everything going on in her life. As I sat there listening to this horrific story it took everything in me to not cry in front of her. I tried to imagine myself in her position and I knew there was no way I would ever be able to understand. I think its imperative to understand that Africans have the same emotions and feelings as you and I and just because family deaths occur frequently here it is no less painful.
This story brings me to my first project here in Tanzania, some other volunteers and I are going to set up a weekly women’s group. The whole purpose of this group will be to bring similar young women together so they have a place to escape and vent their stories. We also plan to set up activities for them so that they have an outlook and something outside of caring for the kids and finding food to focus on. We first plan to establish relationships with all the women and make them comfortable with each other, and then we will move onto art therapy. I really believe this will help with their morale, and hopefully in the future Ida will be confident and happy! I will keep you all posted on how this project turns out, I think it will be really great! I will work on this once or twice a week and then I will be back at Tuamkeni for the rest of the time. Tomorrow is the big reunion and I am beyond excited to see all the kids again.
First Day Back May 4, 2010
Today was absolutely amazing! I got to see all my kids for the first time in 10 months. They were all so excited to see me and ran into my arms! The school looks a million times better than last year, they are in a new building and each of the 4 classes has their own room. It’s really great to see that volunteers’ gradual changes end up making a huge difference. The kids had learned so much in the past year and kids who could barely speak a word of English were reading full sentences to me. Today we just hung out with the kids and didn’t do much teaching. Two sisters who have been at the school for 3 months now go home tomorrow so after they leave we will probably each be assigned a class to spend most of our time with. I feel like I might cry when they are crying during their goodbye just because I know how tough it is to leave those wonderful kids. After visiting with the kids we went to visit Kaka, Kaka is the usual security guard at the house except he got hit by a car and has a broken leg. Thankfully he will be back to work in the next 2 weeks. Kaka is the happiest and nicest man on the planet so despite being bed ridden he was in good spirits. I am excited to see how the next 3 months will unfold. Its crazy to think I have only been here for not even 3 full days and so much has happened already. I hope everything is going really well back home.
Love you all
Catherine
p.s my number is +255762568182 but if that number doesn’t work then just add a 0 after the +255
Signing off
Catherine
I safely arrived in Tanzania after 24 hours of flying! I was pleased to arrive with a proper return flight home after the whole debacle that occurred when I arrived at the airport. Long story short I had to call expedia, expedia (not surprisingly) did nothing and the women working for Delta completely sorted my flight out for me. I nearly cried when she ran through customs and handed me my itinerary with the return date on July 29! She was amazing and I have no idea how I would of ever tried to sort that out from Africa, I was only booked from Amsterdam to Seattle on June 29.
All my flights were really good! I had intended to sleep from Minneapolis to Amsterdam but I sat next to the most amazing 70 year old man and we ended up talking the entire flight. He and his wife loved to travel and they had seen essentially the entire world. He was from Scotland, and his wife was from Australia but they met at a Halloween party in the early 1950s in… Edmonton!! It really made for an enjoyable flight despite the fact that I was unable to sleep.
Arriving in Arusha was completely surreal, I still can’t believe that after all this time of wanting to be back I finally am. Sunday (May 2) was my first full day here and I just relaxed and tried to adjust to the jetlag. During the day our neighbors had a traditional party where the new granddaughter was presented to the grandma for the first time, everyone was singing and dancing so we all went over and joined, it was a ton of fun! Monday I went to Faraja orphanage to drop off pictures for former volunteers. While at Faraja I went and did some home visits for the kids to try and determine why they weren’t at school, words can’t even begin to describe what I saw. One of the home visits that will stick with me for the rest of my life was ran by this 20 year old named Ida. Ida had lost both her parents to AIDS and she herself was infected. She was looking after 3 of her younger siblings as well as her own 10 month old baby. Her house was made of mud cow dung and wood, and was extremely small and dirty. We brought vitamins and food for her and her siblings/child, as we handed the vitamin to her she began to shake and appeared as those she was about to faint. Faraja began to ask her questions in Maasai and it took a while for her to answer but she told us about how everyday is a struggle and she didn’t know whether she was going to live or die. I have never seen such hopelessness and sadness in the face of a 20 year old. It was extremely apparent that she was overwhelmed and unhappy with everything going on in her life. As I sat there listening to this horrific story it took everything in me to not cry in front of her. I tried to imagine myself in her position and I knew there was no way I would ever be able to understand. I think its imperative to understand that Africans have the same emotions and feelings as you and I and just because family deaths occur frequently here it is no less painful.
This story brings me to my first project here in Tanzania, some other volunteers and I are going to set up a weekly women’s group. The whole purpose of this group will be to bring similar young women together so they have a place to escape and vent their stories. We also plan to set up activities for them so that they have an outlook and something outside of caring for the kids and finding food to focus on. We first plan to establish relationships with all the women and make them comfortable with each other, and then we will move onto art therapy. I really believe this will help with their morale, and hopefully in the future Ida will be confident and happy! I will keep you all posted on how this project turns out, I think it will be really great! I will work on this once or twice a week and then I will be back at Tuamkeni for the rest of the time. Tomorrow is the big reunion and I am beyond excited to see all the kids again.
First Day Back May 4, 2010
Today was absolutely amazing! I got to see all my kids for the first time in 10 months. They were all so excited to see me and ran into my arms! The school looks a million times better than last year, they are in a new building and each of the 4 classes has their own room. It’s really great to see that volunteers’ gradual changes end up making a huge difference. The kids had learned so much in the past year and kids who could barely speak a word of English were reading full sentences to me. Today we just hung out with the kids and didn’t do much teaching. Two sisters who have been at the school for 3 months now go home tomorrow so after they leave we will probably each be assigned a class to spend most of our time with. I feel like I might cry when they are crying during their goodbye just because I know how tough it is to leave those wonderful kids. After visiting with the kids we went to visit Kaka, Kaka is the usual security guard at the house except he got hit by a car and has a broken leg. Thankfully he will be back to work in the next 2 weeks. Kaka is the happiest and nicest man on the planet so despite being bed ridden he was in good spirits. I am excited to see how the next 3 months will unfold. Its crazy to think I have only been here for not even 3 full days and so much has happened already. I hope everything is going really well back home.
Love you all
Catherine
p.s my number is +255762568182 but if that number doesn’t work then just add a 0 after the +255
Signing off
Catherine
Friday, April 30, 2010
Back to Africa!
Hey all!
Its 1 hour till I have to leave for the airport and I figured writing my first blog post was an excellent way to pass the time. I want to first start by saying that I will miss you all so much! I really wish I could be in 2 places at once or at least come home on the weekends. Have an excellent summer and I will see you all in August!
I cant believe that after a year of wanting to be back and wanting to see my kids its finally here, it feels so surreal. I am proud to say that I have held onto everything Africa has taught me despite the overwhelming pressure from society. I haven't bought anything designer in the past year, furthermore I have really tried to be an ethical consumer. Although the latter can be really challenging especially in a world controlled by profit-seeking corporations. I should really get going and make sure I have everything so I will leave you all with a list of my goals for this time around...
1. Help the school and the grandmothers find ways that allow the school to be self-sufficient whether it be investing in a local business or investing in pigs.
2. Not allowing my western views to shape what I do. More specifically really ensuring that I am listening to what they want and need.
3. Fluency in swahili! I have now taken 2 years of university swahili and will have been to Africa twice, if I don't come back fluent I should probably give up on ever being able to speak a second language.
4. Update this blog frequently!
I hope you all have a great summer!
Love
Catherine
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