For those of you who do not know, I was chosen as the Volunteer Coordinator for the Fall 2009 SIC program!! I will be traveling back to Tanzania in September of 2009 and staying for three months to supervise the new incoming interns. Which means that this blog will once again see action!
If you know of a college student or recent college graduate who might be interested in our programs, encourage them to check out the application at www.sichange.org or email me at ucla@sichange.org
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
It has come to an end...
I am officially done with my volunteer program with SIC. We had closing dinner last night and it was so sad saying goodbye to Tanzanian teaching partners and volunteers from the UK and the states. Since I haven't been able to write in a while, I wanted to give you all a report of the last few weeks:
Village Life:
Living in the village was an amazing experience. As the only wazungu (foreigners), we were kind of liuke celebrities in the sense that everyone knew out names. Also, since we taught at all of the schools, we were also greeted on the road by kids in our class. It really took awhile for the adults in the community to warm up to us, but by the end we were greeting everyone and learning about their families.
Teaching:
Teaching the SIC curriculum to student in three schools in the village was highly rewarding. We administer a pre and post test to evaluate our progress and how well the students are grasping the information. Our primary school kids started with a score of 5 out of 10 on the pre-test and ended with an 8 (standards 4 and 5) and an 8.5 (standards 5 and 6). This is remarkable, considering that there are over 200 students, half of which did not show up for every lesson (mostly because of family farm duties, not truancy). Our secondary students started with a score of 6 and ended with a 9 out of 10 average! I have such pride in their progress. We also did a very moving lesson on stigma with our primary students that made them think about how we should be treating others. Students in Tanzania don't get a lot of chances for critical thinking; most of their lessons are simply regurgitation of the material that is presented on the blackboard. Teaching about a topic like stigma was therefore very difficult because they had to draw their own conclusions about what is morally and socially correct. One student stated that most people in the village are religious (either Christian or Muslim, more later on my inability to make people understand that I am neither) and said that they should therefore be treating others as they would wish to be treated as a moral obligation to their religion. This touched me because this student was taking the information presented to him and connecting it with his own life. We also had our student demonstrate skits in which they interacted with HIV positive people and had them decide as a group how they were going to act and whether these people deserved respect.
Peer Educators:
Peer educators are what make SIC stand out from other NGOs. SIC is sustainable. Peer educators are picked from each class as outstanding students and leaders among their peers. They are then trained by us to continue an Anti-AIDS club (primary students) or a club dedicated to more teaching (secondary students, since they are older and can handle their own teachi demonstrations). Our primary school Anti-AIDS club named themselves the Seli T-Saidizi Club, which means T helper Cell (the T-helper cell is one of the immune system cells in our body that signal T-killer cells and B-cells, which make antibodies. T-helper cells are one of the immune system cells that are attacked by HIV). Our secondary school girls named their club the DA YAA Club, which stands for D'alzon Youth Against AIDS Club. Some of their goals for their club is to travel to other schools to educate them about HIV. Peer educators get additional training and support from our field officers, who are Tanzanians that work for SIC and stay in the villages after volunteers leave to continue peer educator work and to provide access to treatment and social support for those who tested positive during our testing sessions.
Community Day:
The culminating activity for the ward in which we work is a community day. Community day provides the community with entertainment from students who perform songs, raps or dramas about HIV awareness, free HIV testing and overall a fun day for both adults and children. Our community day was actually held in the village in which I lived, Mlangarini Juu, so our group took the lead on planning. We had both of our schools perform songs and a poem and our secondary school girls did a drama involving the fight against stigma. We also tested over 200 people and had a great performance from the Salama Brand Condom truck, which came with dancers and comics and handed out free condoms. My favorite moment of the day came when the secondary school girls arrived and immediately swarmed me with hellos and excitement for their performance. Usually they are extremely quiet during their lessons and don't show a lot of emotion. Also, it was really funny when our vounteer programs manager walkked through the vilage, becuase apparently she got lots of "Mambo Rachel!" greetings. All us foreigners look alike and she IS about the same height as me with brown hair so i can see the confusion :)
A significant moment during community day was the speech of an HIV positive person. This was my Mama! Mama Zena agreed to speak to the community about her status to encourage people to get tested and to reduce stigma. Before this day, a few of her friend knew her status (she is open) but the whole village did not and so it was poignant to watch her neighbore listen to her speech about treatment of HIV positive people and about the importance of getting tested. Mama Zena is my true hero.
Patient Visits:
One of the other things that SIC provides for their volunteers is the opportunity to visit with HIV positive people who are working with the local field officer. In Mlangarini ward there is an HIV positive group established with the local government and we were able to visit with this group (my mama Zena is one of the unoffical leaders of this group). TThe mama is visited with is Mama Greta. She was tested positive for HIV in 2003 and lives with her HIV positive husband and her daughter, who is also positive. In Tanzania, all pregnant women are required to have an HIV test before giving birth, but some clinic and hospitals only do this when requested by the patient, so we stress the omportance of individuals knowing this information so they can get tested. Mama Greta was given a test when she was pregnant with her daughter in 2000, but was not told the results of the test (we know it was positive, since her daughter is). Because of this, she did not know her status until she had the test in 2003. She is also talking care of another HIV positive young girl, whose mother died from AIDS. To me, it is a potentially complicated or awkward situtaion, since the mother who died, is the second wife of her husband and therefore the girl is her daughters half-sister. It is amazing to me that she has the stregth for this, especailly considering that her husband is the most likely vector (transmiter) of the virus to both of his wives. She is also different from my experience with Mama Zena, because Mama Greta is not open in her community. Neither her neighbors nor her family knows her status, including her two grown sons. She is afraid of being stigmatized and since she makes her living selling fruit, she is afraid that no one will buy from her if she is open. This is a common feeling among positive people in Tanazania, which is why Mama Zena is such an inspiration to us as a Baloze (leader in the village), as a mother of 8 children and as an HIV positive woman who is not afraid to be open in her community and speak out against stigma.
Kuku Project:
The group of HIV positive people in the ward had a meeting last week and as voilunteers with SIC we presented them with a business initiative to help make their group finally sustainable. A few of the volunteers had extra money that they fundraised and wanted it to go to the HIV positive group. Our coordinators, Sarah and Hanifa came up with the idea of a chicken (kuku) farm. The group was behind the idea and for the last few weeks we have been learning about rbuying, selling and raising chickens. With the extra money to start the project, it will be self sustaining after 7 months and will provide the group with a significant amount of income. This project, which is now going to be initiatedwith other HIV positive groups in other wards in which SIC works, was an ideal goal to helping those who suddenly find themselves with the need for extra money to provide themselves with better nutrition or because maybe they were laid off their jobs because of their status. We started constuction on the kuku coop, the first step in this project, the day before we left the village and it will be finished in one week. It was decided that the coop would be placed in Mama Zena's land as so early morning two days ago, we all helped the worker dig trenches in the ground for it to be constucted in. I can not tell you the emotions that we felt in making a project like thsi a reality in under a month. This will change the lives of the members of the groups significantly. As much as we focus on prevention of HIV transmission, it is great to succeed in helping those that are already infected and it will be remembered as one of my most meaningful experinces in Tanzania.
Can not wait to see you all soon. I will be back in LA the 22nd and would love to see anyone who is in that area. Thanks again to everyone who donated financially to my trip and to those that provided me with emotional and mental support for my endeavors.
Village Life:
Living in the village was an amazing experience. As the only wazungu (foreigners), we were kind of liuke celebrities in the sense that everyone knew out names. Also, since we taught at all of the schools, we were also greeted on the road by kids in our class. It really took awhile for the adults in the community to warm up to us, but by the end we were greeting everyone and learning about their families.
Teaching:
Teaching the SIC curriculum to student in three schools in the village was highly rewarding. We administer a pre and post test to evaluate our progress and how well the students are grasping the information. Our primary school kids started with a score of 5 out of 10 on the pre-test and ended with an 8 (standards 4 and 5) and an 8.5 (standards 5 and 6). This is remarkable, considering that there are over 200 students, half of which did not show up for every lesson (mostly because of family farm duties, not truancy). Our secondary students started with a score of 6 and ended with a 9 out of 10 average! I have such pride in their progress. We also did a very moving lesson on stigma with our primary students that made them think about how we should be treating others. Students in Tanzania don't get a lot of chances for critical thinking; most of their lessons are simply regurgitation of the material that is presented on the blackboard. Teaching about a topic like stigma was therefore very difficult because they had to draw their own conclusions about what is morally and socially correct. One student stated that most people in the village are religious (either Christian or Muslim, more later on my inability to make people understand that I am neither) and said that they should therefore be treating others as they would wish to be treated as a moral obligation to their religion. This touched me because this student was taking the information presented to him and connecting it with his own life. We also had our student demonstrate skits in which they interacted with HIV positive people and had them decide as a group how they were going to act and whether these people deserved respect.
Peer Educators:
Peer educators are what make SIC stand out from other NGOs. SIC is sustainable. Peer educators are picked from each class as outstanding students and leaders among their peers. They are then trained by us to continue an Anti-AIDS club (primary students) or a club dedicated to more teaching (secondary students, since they are older and can handle their own teachi demonstrations). Our primary school Anti-AIDS club named themselves the Seli T-Saidizi Club, which means T helper Cell (the T-helper cell is one of the immune system cells in our body that signal T-killer cells and B-cells, which make antibodies. T-helper cells are one of the immune system cells that are attacked by HIV). Our secondary school girls named their club the DA YAA Club, which stands for D'alzon Youth Against AIDS Club. Some of their goals for their club is to travel to other schools to educate them about HIV. Peer educators get additional training and support from our field officers, who are Tanzanians that work for SIC and stay in the villages after volunteers leave to continue peer educator work and to provide access to treatment and social support for those who tested positive during our testing sessions.
Community Day:
The culminating activity for the ward in which we work is a community day. Community day provides the community with entertainment from students who perform songs, raps or dramas about HIV awareness, free HIV testing and overall a fun day for both adults and children. Our community day was actually held in the village in which I lived, Mlangarini Juu, so our group took the lead on planning. We had both of our schools perform songs and a poem and our secondary school girls did a drama involving the fight against stigma. We also tested over 200 people and had a great performance from the Salama Brand Condom truck, which came with dancers and comics and handed out free condoms. My favorite moment of the day came when the secondary school girls arrived and immediately swarmed me with hellos and excitement for their performance. Usually they are extremely quiet during their lessons and don't show a lot of emotion. Also, it was really funny when our vounteer programs manager walkked through the vilage, becuase apparently she got lots of "Mambo Rachel!" greetings. All us foreigners look alike and she IS about the same height as me with brown hair so i can see the confusion :)
A significant moment during community day was the speech of an HIV positive person. This was my Mama! Mama Zena agreed to speak to the community about her status to encourage people to get tested and to reduce stigma. Before this day, a few of her friend knew her status (she is open) but the whole village did not and so it was poignant to watch her neighbore listen to her speech about treatment of HIV positive people and about the importance of getting tested. Mama Zena is my true hero.
Patient Visits:
One of the other things that SIC provides for their volunteers is the opportunity to visit with HIV positive people who are working with the local field officer. In Mlangarini ward there is an HIV positive group established with the local government and we were able to visit with this group (my mama Zena is one of the unoffical leaders of this group). TThe mama is visited with is Mama Greta. She was tested positive for HIV in 2003 and lives with her HIV positive husband and her daughter, who is also positive. In Tanzania, all pregnant women are required to have an HIV test before giving birth, but some clinic and hospitals only do this when requested by the patient, so we stress the omportance of individuals knowing this information so they can get tested. Mama Greta was given a test when she was pregnant with her daughter in 2000, but was not told the results of the test (we know it was positive, since her daughter is). Because of this, she did not know her status until she had the test in 2003. She is also talking care of another HIV positive young girl, whose mother died from AIDS. To me, it is a potentially complicated or awkward situtaion, since the mother who died, is the second wife of her husband and therefore the girl is her daughters half-sister. It is amazing to me that she has the stregth for this, especailly considering that her husband is the most likely vector (transmiter) of the virus to both of his wives. She is also different from my experience with Mama Zena, because Mama Greta is not open in her community. Neither her neighbors nor her family knows her status, including her two grown sons. She is afraid of being stigmatized and since she makes her living selling fruit, she is afraid that no one will buy from her if she is open. This is a common feeling among positive people in Tanazania, which is why Mama Zena is such an inspiration to us as a Baloze (leader in the village), as a mother of 8 children and as an HIV positive woman who is not afraid to be open in her community and speak out against stigma.
Kuku Project:
The group of HIV positive people in the ward had a meeting last week and as voilunteers with SIC we presented them with a business initiative to help make their group finally sustainable. A few of the volunteers had extra money that they fundraised and wanted it to go to the HIV positive group. Our coordinators, Sarah and Hanifa came up with the idea of a chicken (kuku) farm. The group was behind the idea and for the last few weeks we have been learning about rbuying, selling and raising chickens. With the extra money to start the project, it will be self sustaining after 7 months and will provide the group with a significant amount of income. This project, which is now going to be initiatedwith other HIV positive groups in other wards in which SIC works, was an ideal goal to helping those who suddenly find themselves with the need for extra money to provide themselves with better nutrition or because maybe they were laid off their jobs because of their status. We started constuction on the kuku coop, the first step in this project, the day before we left the village and it will be finished in one week. It was decided that the coop would be placed in Mama Zena's land as so early morning two days ago, we all helped the worker dig trenches in the ground for it to be constucted in. I can not tell you the emotions that we felt in making a project like thsi a reality in under a month. This will change the lives of the members of the groups significantly. As much as we focus on prevention of HIV transmission, it is great to succeed in helping those that are already infected and it will be remembered as one of my most meaningful experinces in Tanzania.
Can not wait to see you all soon. I will be back in LA the 22nd and would love to see anyone who is in that area. Thanks again to everyone who donated financially to my trip and to those that provided me with emotional and mental support for my endeavors.
Saturday, August 30, 2008
199!
My week started out really busy and ended the same way. Monday we were suppose to have a community teaching in the early afternoon before teaching for our primary school kids. So Sunday evening the 5 of us walked around the small market in our village and spread the word about the teaching. I walked with Gertrude, one of the teaching partners and she made me speak to everyone in swahili. So i said the phrase: we are teaching about HIV tomorrow at the field near the primary school at 11am. Tanzanians think it's really great when you attempt the language or even know a few words so it went over really well. We were really pumped for the teaching and prepared what each of us was going to say and got all the supplies ready to do a condom demonstation. And then no one showed up. Actually, one guy came and my mama Zena came so we had two people. Turns out there was a death in the village on Sunday night so lots of the town was in mourning.
On Wednesday we went to the funeral after our primary school teachings. We got there almost at the end, but were given a place in the very front of the field where they were holding the services. IN Tanzania, guests are treated very well and are always given prominant spots. We were even asked to "say some words" in front of the crowd (there was about 200 people there). We declined this. Completely awkward. After the funeral we were then invited to eat with the priest and the family of the woman that died (she was 110!). We ate corn and rice with our hands sitting next to the oldest and most respected members of our village.
On Thursday we had our first testing day in our village (we will have more testing at our closing community day in two weeks) and we tested 199 people!! It was a record for all of the villages. All five members of our group also got tested. I can honestly say that now I know what it is like to wait for results and I believe this will be beneficial to empathizing and teaching those around us. We also tested ALL of our secondary girls school students and they sang the ABK song that we taught them! It's kind of like a rap so they are really into it. We got a great video of it as well. (SIC uses the ABKs to teach about keeping yourself safe from sexually transmitted HIV. A is abstinence, B is Be faithful and K is use a Kondom. If you pick one of them you greatly reduce your chances and in the case of A, eliminate your risk). We were all so happy at end of the day!
Today we went to the Masai market to buy gifts since this is our last weekend in Arusha. It is so draining to shop there. Bargaining takes so long and it is so mentally draining to argue in swahili.
Next weekend is our long weekend so a bunch of us are going to raft the Nile!! We travel to Uganda and then raft down the Nile for two days, staying overnight in a camp by the river. There is also bungee jumping available so I am going to jump! Anticipate cool pictures and maybe a video.
On Wednesday we went to the funeral after our primary school teachings. We got there almost at the end, but were given a place in the very front of the field where they were holding the services. IN Tanzania, guests are treated very well and are always given prominant spots. We were even asked to "say some words" in front of the crowd (there was about 200 people there). We declined this. Completely awkward. After the funeral we were then invited to eat with the priest and the family of the woman that died (she was 110!). We ate corn and rice with our hands sitting next to the oldest and most respected members of our village.
On Thursday we had our first testing day in our village (we will have more testing at our closing community day in two weeks) and we tested 199 people!! It was a record for all of the villages. All five members of our group also got tested. I can honestly say that now I know what it is like to wait for results and I believe this will be beneficial to empathizing and teaching those around us. We also tested ALL of our secondary girls school students and they sang the ABK song that we taught them! It's kind of like a rap so they are really into it. We got a great video of it as well. (SIC uses the ABKs to teach about keeping yourself safe from sexually transmitted HIV. A is abstinence, B is Be faithful and K is use a Kondom. If you pick one of them you greatly reduce your chances and in the case of A, eliminate your risk). We were all so happy at end of the day!
Today we went to the Masai market to buy gifts since this is our last weekend in Arusha. It is so draining to shop there. Bargaining takes so long and it is so mentally draining to argue in swahili.
Next weekend is our long weekend so a bunch of us are going to raft the Nile!! We travel to Uganda and then raft down the Nile for two days, staying overnight in a camp by the river. There is also bungee jumping available so I am going to jump! Anticipate cool pictures and maybe a video.
Saturday, August 23, 2008
Time is waning..
It is hard to believe that we only have a little over three weeks left as HIV educators in our program. we have had such success with our teaching and this week we are having a testing day. the true testament to whether the students and adults in our community are taking our teaching to heart is how many show up to be tested for HIV. we are hoping to test around 60 people. we have taught at almost all of the flower farms in the area now and hope that they will come out for the testing.
Walking to the flower farms are very far (more than an hour each way) and so this week we hitched a ride on the back of a massive fruit truck so we could get home in time to eat lunch before our afternoon teaching. we used the giant wheels to step on to get into the bed of the truck and the girls were all in skirts. it was quite unlady-like but great fun! Tanzanians are so friendly; we had at least two cars ofter to pick us up but neither of them had enough room for all of us.
Hope you enjoy the pictures, sorry i dont have time for a longer post.
Walking to the flower farms are very far (more than an hour each way) and so this week we hitched a ride on the back of a massive fruit truck so we could get home in time to eat lunch before our afternoon teaching. we used the giant wheels to step on to get into the bed of the truck and the girls were all in skirts. it was quite unlady-like but great fun! Tanzanians are so friendly; we had at least two cars ofter to pick us up but neither of them had enough room for all of us.
Hope you enjoy the pictures, sorry i dont have time for a longer post.
A picture is worth a 1000 words...but i still put captions
here is a picture montage of my trip so far:me on our 9 mile waterfall hike. in the mud.
my two english roses. kate on the left lucy on the right. this was the day we moved into the villages after orientation.
my host family!
kaka (brother) Damas on the left
kaka Dennis (they are twins) in the back with the orange balloon
dada (sister) Mariam with the blue skirt
dada Rehama in the yellow.
The rest are our neighbors kids ( i think, sometimes it is hard to know who belongs to whom)
my host mama washing clothes. we try to wash our own but she just does them over again anyway so we have kind of stopped trying. she also re-folds any clothes that we fold. we love her so much. probably makes the best chai in all of tanzania also.
this is me rolling out dough to make chapati (tanzanian flat bread/pancake). it is so amazing. we eat it with beans or with choroko (kind of like a lentil).
this is me cooking the chapati on a wood stove inside the house. i got really good at the cooking part so Lucy wouldroll out the dough and i would cook in with oil. we made enough that night for our whole family of 10.
Saturday, August 16, 2008
Mzuka! (awesome)
This weekend in our three day weekend so i am relaxing in arusha town. We had a very successful first week of teaching in the village. We taught twice at te primary school and twice at our secondary school and also a flower farm. The flower farm teaching went extremely well. We taught about 200 men and women during their lunch break and did both a male and female condom demonstration. They also asked really great questions such as, "what services does SIC provide if you are tested positive?" and "why do you tell us to use a condom for oral sex if the mouth is not a door for HIV transmission?" (fyi the answers are: SIC has community health workers that follow HIV positive people and make sure they are getting antiretroviral medicine when their immune system count in below 200; it is often that people have cuts in the mouth which provide a door for HIV transmission so it is best to use a condom for oral sex if you know your partner is infected). And I gt quite the laugh when i said the fluids that transmit HIV in swahili. I think it's funny for a wite girl to say "semen and vaginal fluid". We also did our village condom assesment to find out what dukas sell condoms in order to give this information at our teaching sessions in the community. There are quite a few places that sell male condoms but none that sell the female ones. Most women at our teaching said they would never use a female condom. The male/female relationships are really different here and most women do not feel empowered enough to ask their boyfriends or husbands to use a condom. This is why we also push female condoms. This puts the woman in control and it can also be inserted a few hours before sex so she is prepared if her husband comes home drunk or something.
I am adjusting very well to living in the village. Mama Zena is so helpful and considerate and we try to help out as best we can. On Sunday are mama is teaching Lucy and i how to make chapati, which is this delicious bread/pancake thing that we eat with beans or meat. We are trying to tell our family what we eat at home so we made french toast (Lucy calls in eggy bread and thinks it's funny that us americans like to use french in our food, like french fries, which they call chips) one morning for our family and it was a hit so now mama makes it for us in the morning!
The volunteer program that started in June finished last night and they had their closing dinner at a restaurant in town. A lot of the people that were in that program were in my pre-field training at UCLA so i got the chance to see a lot of friends before they left Tanzania. It is hard to believe that i have been here a month and only have 5 weeks left. Time is flying by.
Today i visited an orphanage in Arusha that was partially started by two SIC volunteers about three years ago. I went with two of the girls from the june program whom i know from UCLA. We walked for about a half an hour and ended up under these banana trees (almost like a forest) and visited with the 25 children that live at the orphanage. We played games like tembo, tembo, twiga (like duck duck goose, but in english the words are elephant, elephant, giraffe) and sang songs about HIV/AIDS and other nursery rhymes. I also helped thier dada (it means sister, but she is like a ired hand for the orpanage. some familie have them as well) sort beans. In Tanzania you have to sort through all of the beans and rice to check for rocks otherwise you can crack a tooth. It is really unpleasant when you bite on a rock. The teeth here are horrible. Everyone has rotten teeth and we don't see our families brushing. Also, everyone sucks on sugar cane all day in the village. I have been flossing daily. It keeps me sane. I have also gotten lots of compliments on my teeth as well as a few marriage proposals. I am quickly learning more swahili slang than actual words since white females are talked to a lot by younger men and they use adolescent slang.
Tonight i am meeting Christie Sun for dinner! She is in Tanzania working with One Heart Source and is also in Arusha this weekend. For thoe of you who don't know her, she was in AEPhi with me at UCLA and volunteered with SIC last year. Mostly this weekend i am hanging out with my coordinator Sarah. She is from Santa Cruz and went to Pitzer (one of the claremont colleges). She is working on med school secondaries right now.
This coming week we have 4 (!) flower farm teachings as well as our regular school teachings. We also picked up another primary school nearby and we are going to start teaching them tis week too. Each class has about 100 students!
Tanzania by list:
favorite food: chapati and beans; least favorite: banana stew with meat
favorite drink: tangawizi (the best ginger ale ever) and my mama's chai
favorite spot in arusha: this little hidden river we found in the middle of town.
favorite new swahili word: parachichi, which means avocado
how many times i have worn the same t-shirt without washing it: 3
number of times i say thank you to my mama a day, mostly because i can not say anything else: about 15
on a scale of 1 to 10 how awesome my coordinator is: 10 (i know you are reading this Sarah)
I am adjusting very well to living in the village. Mama Zena is so helpful and considerate and we try to help out as best we can. On Sunday are mama is teaching Lucy and i how to make chapati, which is this delicious bread/pancake thing that we eat with beans or meat. We are trying to tell our family what we eat at home so we made french toast (Lucy calls in eggy bread and thinks it's funny that us americans like to use french in our food, like french fries, which they call chips) one morning for our family and it was a hit so now mama makes it for us in the morning!
The volunteer program that started in June finished last night and they had their closing dinner at a restaurant in town. A lot of the people that were in that program were in my pre-field training at UCLA so i got the chance to see a lot of friends before they left Tanzania. It is hard to believe that i have been here a month and only have 5 weeks left. Time is flying by.
Today i visited an orphanage in Arusha that was partially started by two SIC volunteers about three years ago. I went with two of the girls from the june program whom i know from UCLA. We walked for about a half an hour and ended up under these banana trees (almost like a forest) and visited with the 25 children that live at the orphanage. We played games like tembo, tembo, twiga (like duck duck goose, but in english the words are elephant, elephant, giraffe) and sang songs about HIV/AIDS and other nursery rhymes. I also helped thier dada (it means sister, but she is like a ired hand for the orpanage. some familie have them as well) sort beans. In Tanzania you have to sort through all of the beans and rice to check for rocks otherwise you can crack a tooth. It is really unpleasant when you bite on a rock. The teeth here are horrible. Everyone has rotten teeth and we don't see our families brushing. Also, everyone sucks on sugar cane all day in the village. I have been flossing daily. It keeps me sane. I have also gotten lots of compliments on my teeth as well as a few marriage proposals. I am quickly learning more swahili slang than actual words since white females are talked to a lot by younger men and they use adolescent slang.
Tonight i am meeting Christie Sun for dinner! She is in Tanzania working with One Heart Source and is also in Arusha this weekend. For thoe of you who don't know her, she was in AEPhi with me at UCLA and volunteered with SIC last year. Mostly this weekend i am hanging out with my coordinator Sarah. She is from Santa Cruz and went to Pitzer (one of the claremont colleges). She is working on med school secondaries right now.
This coming week we have 4 (!) flower farm teachings as well as our regular school teachings. We also picked up another primary school nearby and we are going to start teaching them tis week too. Each class has about 100 students!
Tanzania by list:
favorite food: chapati and beans; least favorite: banana stew with meat
favorite drink: tangawizi (the best ginger ale ever) and my mama's chai
favorite spot in arusha: this little hidden river we found in the middle of town.
favorite new swahili word: parachichi, which means avocado
how many times i have worn the same t-shirt without washing it: 3
number of times i say thank you to my mama a day, mostly because i can not say anything else: about 15
on a scale of 1 to 10 how awesome my coordinator is: 10 (i know you are reading this Sarah)
Friday, August 8, 2008
Warrior Princess Mama
We moved into our homestays this week! I am living with Lucy (one of the volunteers from the UK). Our homestay is in Mlangarini Juu Village and we are living with a warrior princess mama who has 8 kids. She is so fantastic and even though we speak almost no swahili and she speaks less english, we are having a great time! She is the belozi (leader) of her 10 cell (the villages are broken up into sub villages and then 10 cells, which is like a row of houses). This is unusual for a woman, but I can see how she is a leader so it makes sense. She is also the only homestay mama who is HIV positive. Her husband is dead (presumably from AIDS) and he left three wives when he died (we don't live with the other wives or anything). Mama Zena (like Xena!)'s niece comes over to help out and she speaks a little english so we ask questions and communicate desires through her. Although we have mastered "i would like, we are going, we are returning and we would like a shower" in swahili, which are really the only things you need to know :) Showers are pleasant here, hot water in a bucket in a little room next to the choo (bathroom). The choo took some getting used to (it is a whole in a cement slab) but really after you use it once, it's fine. It's hard at night though because the cockroaches come out (i saw a two headed one yesterday!) but once you scare them away they don't come back so you can bathroom/shower in peace. Lucy is freaked out by the bugs (we caught a huge spider in our room the first night) so i've learned to suck it up. Lucy and I share a nice room with a large bed and cabinet for our clothes. The food is a lot better than during orientation and our mama asks us what we want to eat practically every meal. We are always served first and usually eat alone, which makes us unconfortable, but that it their custom for guests. My favorite meal is Chapati (it's like a really really really good tortilla, but made from flour) and maharage (beans). And we always eat umchicha, which is Tanzanian spinach. And avocados and bananas and oranges, which are way better than even california fruits.
On Monday we start teaching in our village. We are teaching the primary school (public) and a private secondary school for girls run by french nuns. we have also set up to teach at 4 different flower farms in the area. The flower farms are a major source of income for the village and it is a great way to reach 250 workers at once to teach about HIV transmission and prevention. we will be using a megaphone and speaking in a huge room. this will pose problems for our condom demonstrations (both male and female condoms, since there are female flower farm workers as well), so we are working on strategies to fix this problem.
We are also in the process of scheduling community teachings that are open for anyone to attend. We are booked almost everyday for a teaching for the next 6 weeks so we are going to be very busy. My teaching group is awesome. It is me, Lucy (from the UK), Taylor (from LA) and our teaching partners Kelvin and Gertrude who both teach and translate for us.
Today is Nane Nane (8/8 in swahili) and it is kind of special today because it is 2008 so it is 08/08/08. Nane Nane is a harvest festival and so we travelled out to this fair-type thing right outside of Arusha town (we are staying in town tonight) and I bought some Masai earrings, which are so cute. The Masai tribe are stereotypical Africans with long earlobes, tons of beaded jewelry and multiple wives.
Tonight is the birthday of two of the people in our group so we are going to go out dancing in Arusha. And a happy early birthday to you Dad!!
On Monday we start teaching in our village. We are teaching the primary school (public) and a private secondary school for girls run by french nuns. we have also set up to teach at 4 different flower farms in the area. The flower farms are a major source of income for the village and it is a great way to reach 250 workers at once to teach about HIV transmission and prevention. we will be using a megaphone and speaking in a huge room. this will pose problems for our condom demonstrations (both male and female condoms, since there are female flower farm workers as well), so we are working on strategies to fix this problem.
We are also in the process of scheduling community teachings that are open for anyone to attend. We are booked almost everyday for a teaching for the next 6 weeks so we are going to be very busy. My teaching group is awesome. It is me, Lucy (from the UK), Taylor (from LA) and our teaching partners Kelvin and Gertrude who both teach and translate for us.
Today is Nane Nane (8/8 in swahili) and it is kind of special today because it is 2008 so it is 08/08/08. Nane Nane is a harvest festival and so we travelled out to this fair-type thing right outside of Arusha town (we are staying in town tonight) and I bought some Masai earrings, which are so cute. The Masai tribe are stereotypical Africans with long earlobes, tons of beaded jewelry and multiple wives.
Tonight is the birthday of two of the people in our group so we are going to go out dancing in Arusha. And a happy early birthday to you Dad!!
Thursday, July 31, 2008
An update!
I have now experienced the worst that Tanzania has to offer: bad GI problems. I have been very ill for the past few days, but I am feeling slightly better today and made the trip into town. lots of things have been happening...we started orientation with our teaching partners and we have been splitting up into groups to present parts of the material. we have also been learning about the assessments that we will make in the villages when we first arrive. things like where the chiefs live, where the schools are and we will make a map to familiarize ourselves. we will also do random door to door assessment of the overall knowledge of HIV in the village by asking questions at random houses or huts in the village. we will also be finding out if any of the dukas (stores) sell condoms and how much they are so we can share this information when we do teachings.
The teaching partners (the tanzanian college students) are awesome and ready to help us with anything. my swahili is going slowly since i missed some classes because of my illness, but overall i think it will be fine. today i picked up my skirts at the tailors and they are so fantastic. i am hoping at some point to be able to take pictures and upload them. everything takes so much time though and the connection cuts out a lot. everyone in the group has bonded a lot and they are all so nice about asking me how i feel (why oh why did it have to be me????). today is the SIC BBQ at the office in town, one last get together before we move into the villages next week.
it is so fun to be in class and learning the material. it really is good that we are a solid representation of students and backgrounds in order to teach sexual transmission, since we will have to teach this information to high school aged teenagers and it is good to get all of the awkwardness out first so we can be straight forward and direct. talking about sex to teenagers is hard no matter the language and it is even harder when you are warning them about a life threatening illness. we also learned how a rapid HIV test works, the type that we are going to use in the village and encourage everyone to get if they have risky sexual behavior. we teach the ABCs: Abstinence, Be faithful, or use a Condom. it's really important that tanzanians get accurate information because they don't get sex ed like we do in high school.
also really great in orientation was a gender panel that we had. we split up the boys and the girls and talked about the parts of being female/male that we like/disliked and how roles are different or the same in tanzania and in the states or the uk. most girls stated that they disliked the double standard about girls not having as much freedom, and it is the same here. also in tanzania there is a bride price, in which the husband pays the family for his wife, so there is so risk of the tanzanian girl feeling like a comodity. also interesting to note was that it was cross cultural that the males feel more pressured to male money and have a lot of career goals. a lot of them said they were not praised for working with SIC as maybe their female counterparts were, since they should be making money this summer or perhaps working at something to further their post college career.
if any of you would like to get a cheap international phone card or check out this internet thing called skype that i heard of (it's suppose to be really cheap minutes) and want to call me, my cell number is (255) 787 532 173. incoming calls to me are free. remember that i am 10 hours ahead of PST.
Rachel
p.s. no internet for at least 2-3 weeks
The teaching partners (the tanzanian college students) are awesome and ready to help us with anything. my swahili is going slowly since i missed some classes because of my illness, but overall i think it will be fine. today i picked up my skirts at the tailors and they are so fantastic. i am hoping at some point to be able to take pictures and upload them. everything takes so much time though and the connection cuts out a lot. everyone in the group has bonded a lot and they are all so nice about asking me how i feel (why oh why did it have to be me????). today is the SIC BBQ at the office in town, one last get together before we move into the villages next week.
it is so fun to be in class and learning the material. it really is good that we are a solid representation of students and backgrounds in order to teach sexual transmission, since we will have to teach this information to high school aged teenagers and it is good to get all of the awkwardness out first so we can be straight forward and direct. talking about sex to teenagers is hard no matter the language and it is even harder when you are warning them about a life threatening illness. we also learned how a rapid HIV test works, the type that we are going to use in the village and encourage everyone to get if they have risky sexual behavior. we teach the ABCs: Abstinence, Be faithful, or use a Condom. it's really important that tanzanians get accurate information because they don't get sex ed like we do in high school.
also really great in orientation was a gender panel that we had. we split up the boys and the girls and talked about the parts of being female/male that we like/disliked and how roles are different or the same in tanzania and in the states or the uk. most girls stated that they disliked the double standard about girls not having as much freedom, and it is the same here. also in tanzania there is a bride price, in which the husband pays the family for his wife, so there is so risk of the tanzanian girl feeling like a comodity. also interesting to note was that it was cross cultural that the males feel more pressured to male money and have a lot of career goals. a lot of them said they were not praised for working with SIC as maybe their female counterparts were, since they should be making money this summer or perhaps working at something to further their post college career.
if any of you would like to get a cheap international phone card or check out this internet thing called skype that i heard of (it's suppose to be really cheap minutes) and want to call me, my cell number is (255) 787 532 173. incoming calls to me are free. remember that i am 10 hours ahead of PST.
Rachel
p.s. no internet for at least 2-3 weeks
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
It's a small world after all
It is pouring here!!! My raincoat is serving me well. The brits and I are going into the town in a bit for some lunch. the hostel has internet, which is what i am using, but it is more expensive (like a dollar for 40 min. that's 1000shilings). it amazes me how they can have internet and no hot water. all my showers are cold. today it was luke warm. and by that i mean not ice cold.
tomorrow we start our first day of training and i am sure i will ahve posts regarding our HIV education and groups for teaching. everyone else arrives today, but i am so glad i came early and had a chance to settle in. as to the title of my post, i saw a friend from UCLA in the town yesterday!! so random. i saw him near the wazungu (foreigner) corner. it's what we call the area where they have expensive restaurants and a walmart-tpye store. it was so awesome to see him, he is working outside Arusha building an orphanage for six months with One Heart Source, another UCLA based program.
Yesterday I got two skirts made in the village and will go in a few days to pick them up. The fabric here is crazy, but so colorful and vibrant. I finally found a purple/lavender fabric with a design and so one of my skirts is made from that. you all know my love of purple.
My swahili is coming along slowly...the guys that try to sell you stuff on the street is a good way to practice and so i have been talking to a lot of people.
i love to read your emails. keep 'em coming.
tomorrow we start our first day of training and i am sure i will ahve posts regarding our HIV education and groups for teaching. everyone else arrives today, but i am so glad i came early and had a chance to settle in. as to the title of my post, i saw a friend from UCLA in the town yesterday!! so random. i saw him near the wazungu (foreigner) corner. it's what we call the area where they have expensive restaurants and a walmart-tpye store. it was so awesome to see him, he is working outside Arusha building an orphanage for six months with One Heart Source, another UCLA based program.
Yesterday I got two skirts made in the village and will go in a few days to pick them up. The fabric here is crazy, but so colorful and vibrant. I finally found a purple/lavender fabric with a design and so one of my skirts is made from that. you all know my love of purple.
My swahili is coming along slowly...the guys that try to sell you stuff on the street is a good way to practice and so i have been talking to a lot of people.
i love to read your emails. keep 'em coming.
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Mimi ni mgojwa kidogo (I am a little sick)
I am a little sick today...nothing serious, just a cold I think. And I have been taking my Malaria pills religiously so I am nto worried. The worst part about it is that the showers are all cold, so it seems to worsen the sniffles. Today no more volunteers arrive, tomorrow the bulk of them come, but so far there are 9 of us plus our two coordinators. One of our coordinators is a Tanzanian teaching partner. Here name is Hanifa and she is so great. I have asked her to do a Swahili lesson, since I need to brush up and force myself to speak and most of the volunteers have had even less instruction in Swahili so we are all in need of this. The other volunteers are nice, I especially like the three from England. I want to not only know Swahili when I am done, but I want an English accent! Today we are going to visit a lake nearby the hostel. The area surrounding us is amazing, you can see Mt Meru from the middle of town (at the clock tower) and it just brightens up the whole sky in one direction. We don't start official training or orientation until Wednesday, so we have a few days to explore. Yesterday I bought some fabric and will go tomorrow to the tailor to have a skirt made. They do not use patterns, instead you draw them a picture of what you want and they make it via the picture and a few measurements.
Yesterday we went to the market. It was amazing, so crazy. Bananas, avocados, tiny fish that smell really bad, and people shucking corn all over are main sights. Everywhere we go they shout "wazumgu!" or foreigner. Today is Sunday so we don't go out walking or take public transportation. We take taxis everywhere because people drink on Sundays or go to church and then drink so the crime rates go up. But it is better to be safe than sorry!
So far my blogs are not that exciting. Have faith and keep reading. Writing these makes me think of all of you :) Missing you all.
Yesterday we went to the market. It was amazing, so crazy. Bananas, avocados, tiny fish that smell really bad, and people shucking corn all over are main sights. Everywhere we go they shout "wazumgu!" or foreigner. Today is Sunday so we don't go out walking or take public transportation. We take taxis everywhere because people drink on Sundays or go to church and then drink so the crime rates go up. But it is better to be safe than sorry!
So far my blogs are not that exciting. Have faith and keep reading. Writing these makes me think of all of you :) Missing you all.
Friday, July 18, 2008
I'm here!
I arrived today in Arusha, Tanzania after flying into Kilimanjaro airport. I also had a layover in Ethiopia, which was crazy...I found a taxi and stayed at a hotel that the airline paid for, but the sights were so alien. At 10pm (it was very dark), there were crowds of people on the street, under tarps and hatched roofs and people walked along the freeway that we drove on. At the hotel, this bird was right outside my window all night (sound familiar, mom and dad?) and i had no idea what time it was and was paranoid about missing my bus so i stayed awake.
In Arusha there is beautiful weather, I am the first volunteer here, but more come tonight. Tomorrow or the next day we will go to the fabric market and then to the tailor to get skirts made. i am most excited about this right now. The hostel is fine, I am in a room with 11 beds, (makes me think of the 8 girl).
I have yet to have a hot shower since leaving LA, because the hotel in Addis Ababa didn't have hot water in my room, so another thing to look forward to tonight! I have already met a bunch of people, including many missionaries that were on my flight. All were surpirsed that I was traveling by myself. I also met a man from Kenya who was in Addis on business and we had an interesting religion discussion. He is a Pastor (Episcapalian I think he said). Excuse the horrible spelling. I told him I was Jewish and he told me about all the missionary trips that he has taken with groups to India to work with Hindus. He also told me my first HIV wrong assumption. He himself did not think this was true, but knew those that were convinced. He said that some people believe that Albinos should be killed (in fact there is a lot of violence against them, since they of course look so different). But he also said that some believe that the organs of Albinos cure AIDS and therefore they are sometimes hunted and then eaten.
He also asked me why I thought HIV was so much more prevalent in Africa than other places and my response was lack of accurate information. Which of course is SIC's goal and my goal as an individual as well.
I hope that this summer brings us that much closer.
In Arusha there is beautiful weather, I am the first volunteer here, but more come tonight. Tomorrow or the next day we will go to the fabric market and then to the tailor to get skirts made. i am most excited about this right now. The hostel is fine, I am in a room with 11 beds, (makes me think of the 8 girl).
I have yet to have a hot shower since leaving LA, because the hotel in Addis Ababa didn't have hot water in my room, so another thing to look forward to tonight! I have already met a bunch of people, including many missionaries that were on my flight. All were surpirsed that I was traveling by myself. I also met a man from Kenya who was in Addis on business and we had an interesting religion discussion. He is a Pastor (Episcapalian I think he said). Excuse the horrible spelling. I told him I was Jewish and he told me about all the missionary trips that he has taken with groups to India to work with Hindus. He also told me my first HIV wrong assumption. He himself did not think this was true, but knew those that were convinced. He said that some people believe that Albinos should be killed (in fact there is a lot of violence against them, since they of course look so different). But he also said that some believe that the organs of Albinos cure AIDS and therefore they are sometimes hunted and then eaten.
He also asked me why I thought HIV was so much more prevalent in Africa than other places and my response was lack of accurate information. Which of course is SIC's goal and my goal as an individual as well.
I hope that this summer brings us that much closer.
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Preparations and Acknowledgements...
Hamjambo! (Hello all)
I leave for Africa in one week! This blog is for those that would like to read about my activities while I am in Tanzania for the next two months. I am hoping to be able to update it at least once a week.
For those of you that don't know, I am traveling to Tanzania with Support for International Change (SIC), a non profit organization committed to help stop the spread of HIV/AIDS. I was chosen as a volunteer participant back in March and prepared throughout Spring quarter during weekly pre-field meetings and by taking a Swahili class in order to know the basics of Tanzania's national language. While in Tanzania, I will be living with a host Tanzanian family and teaching HIV/AIDS biology, transmission and prevention in schools along with our Tanzanian teaching partners.
A huge thank you to all of you that donated to help fund my trip. I could not have done this without your support and encouragement. Also, a very sincere thank you to Sara's Wish Foundation, who has awarded me a scholarship to help fund my participation in the SIC program. If you would like to learn more about this amazing foundation and their dedication to safety while traveling and working abroad, please visit their website: www.saraswish.org
Much love to you all,
Kwa Herini! (Goodbye all)
I leave for Africa in one week! This blog is for those that would like to read about my activities while I am in Tanzania for the next two months. I am hoping to be able to update it at least once a week.
For those of you that don't know, I am traveling to Tanzania with Support for International Change (SIC), a non profit organization committed to help stop the spread of HIV/AIDS. I was chosen as a volunteer participant back in March and prepared throughout Spring quarter during weekly pre-field meetings and by taking a Swahili class in order to know the basics of Tanzania's national language. While in Tanzania, I will be living with a host Tanzanian family and teaching HIV/AIDS biology, transmission and prevention in schools along with our Tanzanian teaching partners.
A huge thank you to all of you that donated to help fund my trip. I could not have done this without your support and encouragement. Also, a very sincere thank you to Sara's Wish Foundation, who has awarded me a scholarship to help fund my participation in the SIC program. If you would like to learn more about this amazing foundation and their dedication to safety while traveling and working abroad, please visit their website: www.saraswish.org
Much love to you all,
Kwa Herini! (Goodbye all)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
