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!
Monday, May 24, 2010
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
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
