Kwaheri (goodbye)

This is my last weekend in Tanzania!

Wednesday afternoon we had our graduation ceremony for HBC and Chamwino english and computer classes.  We printed off these fancy certificates with their pictures and names on them that said they completed and english and computer course and listed all the different elements.  Then we had some soda and hung out with them for a couple of hours.

Our HBC class is 9-15, but the Chamwino students are older from 18-30.  It was a really great afternoon! We took lots of pictures and videos and said A LOT of goodbyes... but I managed to not cry!!  Those kids are so dedicated and amazing.  They all put in a lot of effort always and tried their best.  The last two or three weeks they really started to come out of their shells, speaking more english and just having fun with us and I'm really sad that just as it is starting to happen we have to leave.

Thursday night we said goodbye to Frankie and Magunda.  We gave them Canada shirts and bandanas (as the next day was Canada day... and we're from Canada) and they wore them for the rest of the night.  It was super sad to say goodbye to them aswell, they have become my really good friends and I wish I could take them home with me!!

Then came the worst goodbye: Zabi.  She is the housemaid who lives with our family but she is our dada(sister).  Friday morning our family came out to say goodbye, as did our close neighbours and the neighbourhood kids.  The little kids were all yelling "GOODBYE JEMY, GOODBYE JENIFA".  Mama, Mwendy and Baba will all be in Dar with us this weekend so we didn't have to say goodbye to them... but at this time I couldn't stop the tears.  When it came time to say goodbye to Zabi I couldn't help it - the waterworks started... and then Jenn started, then Mama, and then Zabi.  She is the most wonderful, lovable, happy person in the world.

Today we had debrief with Cheryl in Dar es Salaam, tomorrow we hang out with Mama and Mwendy, and Monday I leave!!!!  Will be home Tuesday!

Missing Morogoro already,

Jamie

So little time!

Zanzibar was AMAZING.

minus the last night of being up all night sick and then travelling home on the ferry and then public bus, sick.  But other then that it was fabulous!! Full moon party, beach, parasailing, stone town, fish market... paradise!

Now back to Morogoro and time to wrap everything up!

I saw murder yesterday.
Rabbit murder that is!  We went to Kiroka with YCI Intern Larissa for a rabbit raising project.  Three local women from two villages were selected to receive three rabbits to start their own rabbit raising business - to sell the meat for profit.  Two days of training went really well - but yesterday we watched the rabbit guy show them how to kill, skin, gut, and then clean the rabbit - yummy!  Rabbits are also really easy to skin - two people grab an end of the rabbit and pull, and the skin comes right off (after you behead it of course!).

This week is our last week of real classes - next week we have a graduation party for the Chamwino and HBC computer and english classes, and then posttests and final activity reports for everything.  And A LOT of goodbyes.  I'm so NOT ready to go yet.  Two months is such a short time!  Before coming I was thinking that eight weeks is going to be so long and I'll barely make it,.,... but it's been so short and I wanna stay for another eight weeks!  (although if I did that a certain someone might kill me! haha).

We had internet cafe with our computer and english classes tonight and after we took them all out for a soda! They are definitely my favourite class! Just such good and cute kids, so ready to learn!  It's going to be really hard to leave them!  And our famjam and Frankie and Magunda and Makho, and Jamie(another YCI intern)!

But I must stop talking about leaving since it isn't happening YET, but very soon!

So tomorrow is english with HBC!  Friday we have girls club and it's going to be a big debate!  The girls formed two teams and they are going to debate about how women don't need to rely on men.  It's for sure going to be interesting!  They are an awesome bunch of girls - pretty independent and well organized.  One of them, Anna, drew all of us (Tony, Jenn, Devon, and I) pictures today to take home.  They are so good! Such a little artist.

Everywhere we go we make friends.  It is such a friendly and wonderful place! 

Football Bonanzas and Mountain Climbing

My body is so sore.

Friday we had a football and netball bonanza in Kinole.  Kinole is a rural village about an hour and a half (depending on driving conditions) into the mountains.  We got up at 6am and headed to Faraja for 7 when we were supposed to leave.... should have factored in that Tanzania time thing!  Whether we waited an hour or two, or not, we finally arrived.  The drive there was quite eventful - really bumpy and tossy and turny... we hit our heads a couple of times!  The event took place at the local school and school children and community members alike were present - I would say there was at least 1000 people there, but probably more!  Football (don't forget, football is soccer here!) is really big here and that alone drew people in. 

The day was really successful once it all got started.  We had the Amkeni Sanaa drama group there with us who provided entertainment and MC'ed for most of the day.  We had little competitions with the school kids - a couple of dance offs, a chicken catching race, and some games that were fun and educational at the same time.  They also performed a couple of skits about Malaria awareness - prevention, causes, symptoms, diagnosis, and medications, etc.  Did you know that there are completely resistant strains of malaria now?  So like HIV/AIDS, there is no cure for these particular strains right now.  Shit, right?

The main point of the bonanza was to present HIV/AIDS and Malaria facts to the football and netball teams, school children, and community members.  Although it was supposed to be mainly Malaria oriented it ended up being a lot more geared toward HIV/AIDS.  The four of us - Jenn, Tony, Dev and I - did a lot of condom demonstrations with a lot of bananas.  It was really good though because when we first asked the first football team if they have any questions (before going over any information) the first guy asked "Condoms protect against HIV but how do we use them?".  Get out the bananas! Get out the condoms!  And boy did we give out a lot of condoms.  During a demonstration Devon and I were doing together one of the girls asked about female condoms.  Female condoms aren't very popular at home and it didn't even cross my mind that they would be available here - but they are.  One of the school teachers ran to her house to get one... and they presented it to me (NOT Devon) and asked me to demonstrate how to use it.  I had never seen one of those things in my life before!  

The day went really well, it was really cool to watch the football games (no shinpads - ouchie!), but also the netball game.  Netball is played by females here.  It is a combination of European Handball and Basketball - but the nets have no backboard, just a hoop.  It was a really good game!

Although the drama club and MCs had been dancing around all day and we had been around, we weren't stepping up and dancing in front of everyone as the only "wzungos" there.  Well, boy did that change!  Toward the end they called us up to be introduced officially.  (Because the bonanza was completely off schedule there were no formal introductions done at the beginning eventhough we had been around talking to people all day). So they introduced us, etc, and then said they had a surprise for us.  Well, we all looked at each other with the "please don't make us dance" look.  BAZINGA!  Let's make all the white kids dance in front of every one!  Hahaha, it wasn't so bad - we just danced like crazy people for the hell of it.  And Magunda had my camera and so we now have a video of it - yaaaaay! 

Saturday sleep in to recover from the long day of the bonanza?  DON'T THINK SO! Up at 5:30 this morning to go into town, grab some mandaz (doughnut-y things) and chai to meet Frankie and Baisa who were taking us to the top of the Uluguru Mountains!! So in total we went up 1.6km.  That's a long way up!  And not counting the distance we walked, just the altitude.  And we did it in 4 hours - including a half hour break at Morning Side (which is about the halfway point), and numerous breaks that Tony and I took going up. 

It was a lot harder than I thought it was going to be.  It wasn't that it was so steep but that I couldn't breathe.  So while we were all sweating and huffing and puffing, Frankie and Baisa (both members of Amkeni Sanaa) were singing and dancing and yelling and fooling around the whole way up - jealous!  It's funny how around town they all take their time walking places, nice and pole pole (slowly), but put them on the mountain and UP THEY GO, fast fast!  Haha, it's cool - Tony and I took our time.

Some places were really really steep going up and you used to weeks to help you up, others it was more like a steady incline.  We had pure glucose powder that we ate to make sure to keep our energy up - suga suga.  And the last two hours-ish were in the jungle!  Now I really felt like "I was in Africa".  It was so cool! 

When we were at Morning Side looking down at Morogoro and the crops on the mountain side we noticed the clouds starting to roll in.  They rolled in right around us and stayed with us all the way to the top!  When we were at the top looking off the side all you saw was white.  We were above the clouds, in between the clouds, but we couldn't see down.  In a way it was a little more freaky than if you could see down because you didn't know how far the fall was at that particular spot or if there was a ledge just under it.  So unfortunately we couldn't see down from the top, but it was still amazing to just lie up there!

At the top Frankie cooked ugali and samaki (fish) and we feasted! Haha.  We listened to music, sang, there was a little bit of a dance party, and a lot of just hanging out and napping.  But it was cold up there!  All the way up is pretty cold but you didn't really notice it because of how much you're sweating - but as soon as you stop moving you feel it!

Going down is a lot faster than going up - although it hurts your legs a lot more.  By the time we got down to the bottom, the sides of my butt and my thighs were on fire.  We hit up the supermarket for some more water and ice cream (yum!!!) and took a taxi home (so lazy!, haha).   It was so much fun!! But Sunday and today my body is yelling at me.  As long as I'm moving around for a bit I get used to it, but as soon as I sit down and then try to get back up I have to give my body a second to adjust.  This means going back to rugby when I get home won't be as easy - doing a mountain minus 5 weeks of exercise....... rugby minus 8 weeks of exercise! Wooooo.

Today is going to be planning and activity reports - this weekend Zanzibar here we come!  Then only one weekend left in Morogoro!  I'll be home in three weeks!! Time is flying.

<3
J

Postponed

Hola!!

oops... wrong language.  MAMBO!

So poor Devvy got sick yesterday and we decided it was best for him to rest at home this weekend and not risk getting worse in Zanzibar.
So this weekend?  Jenn plans to do a lot of sleeping in, not really my style but I'm good to just do nothing.  Except we're going to try and go to the Masaii market on Sunday - if we can find someone to take us there.  I guess it's pretty cool, Larissa (an intern here with YCI), and Lonny (a previous volunteer) went and said it's a lot of fun.  Biggest part of their trip to the Masaii market?  You can drink cow's blood... we'll see if that happens or not!

Other than that there isn't too much going on over here.  Just working!  For the health lesson yesterday at the SSS the boys session went pretty well.  They asked a lot of questions and were really interested in puberty and safe sex.  Bonus!  The girls session didn't go as well.  First off we had a male translator, which is kind of inappropriate for a lesson on puberty for girls - but we got through that because Magunda did a really good job!  We were relying primarily on discussion of the information, and although there was some there wasn't a whole lot.  That's okay - the information was given, some really good questions were asked, and we finished a little early. Yay play time!

Today Jenn and Anthony are at the SSS for Life Skills.  Dev and Anthony are going to a drama club talent show presentation at a secondary school while Jenn and I are heading to girl's club.  The topic today for Girl's Club?  - Legal Right and Inheritance.  We are bringing in a guest speaker for these particular subjects because although we may know some of that stuff in Canada, we are certainly no experts - especially not in Tanzania.  The Girls are really excited about these topics and Jenn and I are hoping it goes really well - we'll report back!

Jenn and I had HBC English class last night.  You wouldn't think that teaching English, a language you have been speaking your whole life, would be so hard.  But starting from the basics, from stuff you just know and don't have to know, can be difficult.  This week it was Nouns and Adjectives - next week Verbs and Adverbs.  We'll work off that!  They are such good students! Taking notes and answering questions, and trying hard to speak English.  Sometimes it's difficult because we're teaching English, but we have translators translating the English to Swahili... but we're getting there and the students are really picking up on it!

That's it for now folks!

J


(ps, I have now been here for a month.  It's HALF OVER! I'll be home in a month... crazy!)

Three weeks already!

Mambo rafikis!!

So this week is already our fourth week here which means we have already been here for three weeks! It's ridiculous.  One the one hand I feel as though I have been here forever, and on the other I feel as though I just got here. 

Yesterday Jenn and I had our HBC English and Computers class.  We just worked on computers - basic formatting and typing on Microsoft Word - because we are now going three times a week! Tomorrow we'll be at the internet cafe where the kids can all be on computers themselves, and then Thursday we'll do an english lesson.  It's a little difficult teaching the computers because Jenn and I work off a laptop while the kids crowd around us and watch what we're doing - that's why Wednesdays we travel to the internet cafe.  

The kids are so cute!  For the past two weeks we have had 9 kids, yesterday we had 18!  Most of the new members to the group were at PlayDay on Saturday - so happy to have more kids!  They are all so excited to try and learn and be there with us.  They are possibly my favourite group. 

Today I'm just working on programs for the rest of the week.  Tomorrow's internet cafe lesson plan, Thursday's english for HBC and also puberty at the SSS, and Friday is girl's club.

Thursday's health plan is going to be interesting!! Devon and I work together for that class and last week we did a general puberty and female/male reproductive anatomy lesson.  The boys and girls were together for the lesson, and considering the material it went fairly well.  A couple of giggles here and there but we were giggling too!  Magunda did a good job considering the content - when he had to say vagina in Swahili the kids knew what was coming - they started to laugh and yell and egg him on to say it, and although he started to laugh a little he eventually said it... with applause and laughter from both the kids and Devon and I.

This week however we are splitting up the boys and girls to go into more detail and depth about the changes they will be facing, or are currently facing.  No prob right?  Wrong.  What about the cultural differences in dealing with menstruation, cramps, do they shave legs and armpits here?  It's cool - I've mostly got it figured out.  The only thing I'm worried about is that the girls won't ask the questions they want to ask.  Devon and I are relying on the lesson being a lot of discussion and Q&A, but having the girls with a male translator may present a shyness problem.  Hopefully not!

Other than that I'm about to grab some lunch and work on my english lesson plan!  Ouuu, we found a little place that makes fruit salad with ice cream on the top.  Mango, pineapple, banana, papaya, vanilla ice cream... heaven!! 

Also, does anyone have any ideas yet about food Jenn and I can cook for our famjam?

I'm hearing little good things about improving weather at home - yaaay!
It's HOT and gorgeous here!

lots of upendo! (love)

Jamalam! 

Happy, Tired Sunday

Yesterday was our play day!

Playday happens once at month at the Faraja Trust Fund Home Based Care Center (or HBC).  It is a day where people from all ages, little mtoto (babies) to 20 year olds, come to the HBC center to play games and sports in the morning, have lunch, and then we take the 12+ group to the Rock Garden!

It was SO MUCH FUN.  All the little kids were so cute and so happy to play play play play play!  It was a little intimidating first walking in with all of the children running around, but 5minutes in and you had no room to breathe!  Some of the kids jumped on us right away but a lot of them were really shy.  Especially if they hadn't seen many wzungos before.  It happened quite frequently that morning that the kids would come up to me, slowly, and then carefully touch my hands or my arms, then my fingers, and my face.... and my hair.  Our hair is a lot different then what they are used to and they just marvel at the difference!  And they were touching me, if felt like, to see if I felt different or if you could actually touch me, something like that.  It was cute - but as soon as they determined I wasn't much different I became another toy (hahaha)!

One group of little girls that was around me were looking through some story books and there was one of Barbie.  In it Barbie was babysitting a little African girl, but the little girls would stare at Barbie, then look at me, and go back and forth... and then. Mzungo! Wewe! (White person - you!).  Like, I'm Barbie - we have the same long straight hair and white skin.  Frankie and Devon certainly thought it was hilarious... but it was kinda cute.

After lunch - wali, marahaga, and ndizi: rice, beans, and a banana - we took the older kids to Rock Garden.  Now the Rock Garden is this stream/river that comes down off of the mountain.  It is beautiful! Actually, it feels like you're back in Canada.  It is surrounded by trees, and trickles like a stream.  So there are certain parts where there are rocks in the water and other parts where it's flat - none of it is steep, but a steady run down the side of the mountain... so we swam!  The boys hiked further down stream to go swimming while the girls got to stay further upstream - it is taboo for the genders to swim together.  It was really nice.  Jenn and I and the girls ran around in the water, going a little up and a little down, deeper and more shallow, through rapidy rocks and calm pools.  SO fun!  And as a plus there is no seaweed or zebra mussels and completely cool to walk barefeet - no one got cut or anything! Poa sana!

So we followed the older girls, carried the younger ones and just hung out.  Splashing and talking - having some girly fun!  And then we all packed up and everyone got dropped off!

Anthony, Devon, Jenn and I went to Magunda's basketball game last night after we got home from our day!  It was cool - a lot like street ball.  Then we walked home, had some delicious dindin, and watched a movie with Mama Mwendy, Prisca and Happy (our neighbours, 20 and 18), and Zabi, and gossiped while they tried to get Jenn to agree to marry Mama's brother or Prisca/Happy's uncle - good times, good times.

Today we went to the market!!  Crazy crazy busy place.  It was fun, we were in a group of 5 white girls and one local guy (HP - one of the girl's boyfriends).  We just walked around, took everything in - then went to town for a bite to eat - yuuummyy fresh mango/passion fruit juice!.  

Now home time and then the next week ahead!

The four of us are going to Zanzibar this weekend!  Google Zanzibar beaches, you'll be jealous! :)

sending lots of love home!

J

Just a typical Morogoro day...

So, a typical day for me varies from the day of the week, however I can give you guys what the typical day consists of (weekday that is!).

Wake up in the morning and get ready.  When we go for breaky(called Chai here) there is usually some type of chapati/pudding/omelette-ish/porridge waiting for us on the table.  Zabi is running around getting Mwendy ready for school and Mama Mwendy could be sleeping, cooking, cleaning, etc.  

After chai we head into town!  It takes us about half an hour to get to Faraja.  On the way we may stop at the internet cafe to send some emails, but usually it is to print off handouts for one of our programs.  We spend the day flitting from program to program - planning here and there, grabbing lunch at Mona's at some point, and running around.  

The end of the day depends on the day - sometimes it is 4, sometimes 6, sometimes 5.  When we get home Zabi, Mama Mwendy, and Tabu are usually outback with the charcoal stoves starting dinner and chatting while Mwendy runs around like the little monkey he is.  Sometimes we chat for a bit then shower, other times we shower and then chat and help with dinner - whether it's cutting up food, stirring, setting the table, or not being allowed to do anything.  Dinner preparation usually takes awhile, I'm not sure why, but we always end up eating somewhere around 8pm. 

After dinner we try and hang out for a bit but sometimes we need to get some more planning for the next day done and retreat to our room - other times we go and pass out.  But sometimes we watch movies with everyone.  This could be cartoons (elephante is Ice Age for Mwendy, while donkey is Shrek 3), some other sort of North American film, or (the best!) Tanzanian movies.  These are the best because while they speak in Swahili they have english subtitles which are hilarious!  The translation is pretty bad sometimes and it makes them worth watching - they are kind of like soap operas back at home.  

Overall we try to spend as much time with our family as possible when we are home because they are amazing!  Plus they want to spend time with us as well ;)

So, there you have it: a typical day. 

Today Jennifer and I had a big STI presentation for a rural PLWA group.  We presented for two hours, with a delicious chai of tea, chapati, and a boiled egg in between.  The presentation went really well - everyone was taking notes and asking questions!  Keep in mind that everyone in the group is older than us.  We covered eight STI's, organized into viral, bacterial and parasitic, which included: gonorrhea, chlamydia, syphilis, chancroid, HPV, HepB, Herpes, and Trichomoniasis.  After the presentation we headed out to complete some programming and meet up with the boys for a bit. We returned for the evaluation of the entire program (the Mamas from Faraja presented on HIV, AIDS, differences, problems, etc) after and got amazing responses.

Although Jenn and I did not feel as though we had done a lot with our little presentation on STI, the people were so thankful of us.  One woman said that she thought her life was never going to be the same, there was no hope left, but after attended a number of different seminars and presentations she was feeling more hopeful - and the fact that two young ladies would come all the way from Canada to share their skills and knowledge with Tanzanians, to help them develop their own and apply them in their own life, she was very thankful.  She also said that it was a bit different because Jenn and I could be her daughter we are so young, but that we have all these things to share and we are doing a good thing.

Wow. I mean sometimes it is hard to see the impact, or the effect, you have on people because the frustrations of language barriers and the "western person" mentality (western way is the right way, blah blah.  I don't believe that and try to keep an open mind in everything I do, which is why we are working with the people to do what THEY want and what THEY need - defined by THEM), but I am so thankful for these people and the fact that they have the courage and the heart to recognize that they are not their disease.

I guess I will leave you with that for the time being!

.....Jenn and I are running out of clean clothes and seriously need to do some laundry; hopefully that will get done sooner rather than later! Eiiik.  (hahaha)

baadaye kidogo !    (which is see ya a little later)

J

Safari Time!

Heellooooo everybody!

Thanks for all of the comments and suggestions, they are really appreciated and I miss everyone at home!!

So after a hectic first week of getting our footing we decided to head to Mikumi National Park with BushRoutes for a two day Safari.  50 feet after passing the "Welcome to Mikumi National Park" sign were baboons all over the road.  Contrary to the lion king, they do not have blue butts, but red ones! Hahaha...

So we picked up some lunch, some kuku and chipsi (chicken and french fries) for the drive and headed off for our first game drive!!

In total we saw giraffes (twiga), elephants (tembo), simba (lions), warthogs, impala (antelope - swala), zebras, water buffalo, wildebeest, hippopotamuses, lots and lots of colourful birds (bright bright red ones that we couldn't catch on camera, beautiful!), so everything but cheetahs which are nocturnal, and rhinos which aren't in Mikumi.  It was so cool!!

At first when we saw Simba he was sleeping in the grass with a lioness.  They were really hard to see so we decided to go eat our lunch.  We stopped at an eating spot with a massive baobab tree, which Jenn and I decided to climb - it was so cool!  Just as we finished eating 7 tour buses and a bunch of jeeps pulled in to eat... we got out of there and drove back to the simbas!

Our jeep was a land cruiser that had a pop-off roof.  That way we stood inside the jeep and had our upper half out of the vehicle so we could take pictures and have a better view - a lot of the time we sat on the back of the roof. 

The king and queen of the jungle woke up when we got back and started walking out of the long grass right in front of us! The whole time they were 15ft away from our jeep - it was so cool!  They looked so cuddly I wanted to go make rafikis(friends) with them, but Roman our tour guide wouldn't let me.  The male lion decided it was mating time (which would have been kinda cool to see in the wild! Discovery channel in person!) but mama lion didn't think so - rejected!

Mikumi is gorgeous.  The baobab trees are one of many different types which are clustered around and in random spots.  In the background as far as you can see for 360 degrees are mountains. You can tell the different distances from the type of blue they are - in some spots there were 4 to 5 different 'layers' of mountain.  Just driving around taking in the landscape was enough, the animals were all just bonus.

Saturday night we stayed at the bush camp - felt like camping back in Ontario!  We had a delicious cook, for dinner we had fresh homemade tomato soup, chipsi (again), veggie stew and pineapple, ndizi (banana), papaya and orange for dessert!  The orange peels are green here so when you go to pick some up you get fooled into thinking they are large limes!  We had a campfire and hung out with the guard that night.

Sunday morning we had breaky - delicious again, fruit and omeletteish things with coffee (Africafe - yum!).  It was drizzly and the coldest day yet when we headed out for our last game drive.  Although we did not see anything new, we did get a better view of the elephants on two occasions.  First was when they decided to cross the road on our game drive, they passed right in front of us!  About six of them and a little mtoto tembo (baby elephant).  The second time was even cooler - we were leaving for lunch and on the main road that runs through Mikumi when there were tembos on both sides of the road!  Right up close, so close that I could have touched them.  They are GORGEOUS!  We got a little too close to one though and she/he let us know with a little trumpet, oops. 

So that sums up our Safari adventure!  Last night for supper Mama Mwendy made pilau.  Pilau is rice with nyama (beef), spices, and some veggies in it.  It was yummy! (tum tum tum). 

Today we are doing a lot of program planning and then we have our HBC computer/english class tonight!!
Tomorrow morning Jenn and I are presenting an STI seminar to the rural PLWA group. Then just normal programming for the rest of the week!  Fun fun.  It is a little rainy today, which is the worst it has been in Morogoro since we got here - also today we have been here for two weeks! Already! Time is flying.

This weekend there won't be any adventures outside of Morogoro, but we have a 'play day' with kids from 1-20ish who are HIV+.  That goes from 9-12 and after we take the youth 12 and up to Stone Garden for some swimming and chilling - I'm excited, but it is going to be emotionally hard.  Will keep everyone posted!

Hope Canada is sunny and bright and warm.

Love Love Love

Jamie

Habari Gani!

How is everyone?  I hope well and sleeping, since it is 3:30am at home right now!  So today is more of a planning day for Devon and I, while Jenn and Anthony are at the street side school (SSS) teaching Life Skills.  Dev and I will be there tomorrow doing a Health program.  It's all so exciting!  However, this class is bigger than the HBC class on Monday, with about 30 students... a little intimidating, especially when you don't speak much Swahili and are not 100% sure what they are saying all of the time - thank goodness for Frankie and Magunda, troopers and amazing local volunteers!

Last night Jenn and I just chilled in the backyard with Mama Fatima (homestay mom), Tabu (sister in law), Dada Zabi (dada means sister, but she is the live-in house keeper), and Prisca (a neighbour).  We were outside cooking with portable charcoal stoves that they either use inside or outside depending on the weather and the time of day.  We also had a power outage (our first since in Morogoro), but the power turned back on soon enough.  I have discovered the deliciousness of real coconut!  Coconut at home is gross, coconut here is YUMMY!  Almost everyday  they crack open a coconut and make coconut milk for broth, sauce, or mix-ins to whatever we are eating that day... and it is so simple!  You just keep mixing the shredded coconut with water and  strain it,  over and over again - mmmhmmm!

Although I had known that skirts are probably the best choice of clothing to wear, I had not brought any with me: mistake no.1.  Yesterday Jenn and I stopped at a couple of places along the way home to look for a konga or a skirt - something light and presentable to wear to work.  I found a skirt, and today it is a blessing!  It is gorgeous out, and from the moment we stepped out of the house it  was a hot one!

Morogoro is absolutely beautiful.  What I didn't realize before coming here was that we are staying in the city of Morogoro in the district of Morogoro (kind of like a province).  It is absolutely beautiful here!!  There are these huge mountains that surround the one side of the city, and every morning I wake up to see them.  I have taken a lot of pictures of them already but they do not do it justice - they look far away and smallish.  They are gorgeous and humongous and right in your face.  Everyday they get more and more beautiful - and we are planning on hiking them!  It takes about 6 hours to get to the top, and then you can camp or come back down.  I'm so excited! 

We have three free weekends, and with those weekends we plan to hike the Uluguru Mountains, visit Zanzibar, and go on a Safari in Mikumi National Park.  This weekend is our first weekend free and we hope to go on the Safari!! We can stay overnight or return the same day, but I believe if we stay overnight we sleep on top of the vehicles!  There are tents that they put up on the vehicles at night so that no creatures can come into your tent.. Exciting! Hahaha.

One thing that I am still getting used to is the noise and Mosque.  Now, what I mean by that is the mornings.  Prayer call rings out from the Mosque 5 times a day, starting at 5am... guess what is right across the street from our house?? That's right, the Mosque!!  So after that goes off most people are up - that is not saying that most people here are Muslim, because there is a variety of religions in Morogoro, but just that people get up really early.  After they are up the music comes on!  And I mean TURNS ON.  It is loud.  There are no windows in our rooms, just bars and screens and so the music sounds like it is right beside my bed because our windows lead onto the courtyard we share with our neighbours.  Yesterday we woke up to R.Kelly "I believe I can fly" - not such a bad song to wake up to... and they usually aren't bad songs, just LOUD and really early!!  Today it was full-tilt bongo flava music (which is really good music, but not at 5am).  What I also don't understand about this early rising practice is that the music is also on when we go to bed, and there are still people up most nights - and then getting up at 5am.  Crazy!

Mama Fatima and Baba Hamissi want Jenn and I to cook them Canadian food.  We explained that there really is not anything (minus poutine and beaver tails) that is truly Canadian we can make them, however we agreed to cook for them.  The only problem? Charcoal stoves.  That means no heat control, no oven, no barbecue, just the charcoal stoves.  We have been brainstorming but can't come up with anything solid.  We thought of making really sweet Jamie Oliver-esque/Food & Wine hamburgers but there is no such thing as ground beef here to make them.  We thought about chili, but we can't leave it cooking all day.  They eat spaghetti-esque stuff so we thought maybe a white pasta of sorts?

Anyone have any ideas for us?  Remember, no oven!

I heard it is quite rainy back home right now, and I hope it clears up for you!

Missing everyone,

lots and lots of LOVE,

J

Gorgeous Tuesday afternoon

Mambo! Poa! Habari Gani! Zuri!

One thing you need to know if you ever decide to come to Tanzania is all of the greetings - so so many!

We had our first program yesterday, it was Computer and English for children with HIV.  They are so sweet!  We did a couple of ice breakers and name games, a pretest to gage where they are at for learning, and then a couple closing activities and that was it.  When asked what they want most out of the class their response:  Can you come more than twice a week?
Melt my heart!!

All four of us work with two local volunteers - Frankie and Magunda.  They help us plan when they want to, but mostly translate during facilitation with us.

I only have four minutes left on the timer for the internet right now, but I'll be back on tomorrow for bigger updates!!  Until then, I hope everyone's Tuesday morning is off to a great start - the afternoon here is beautiful!

J

Mambo!

Hello :)  I have not been able to get on the internet yet, but here I am !

All you need to know about the plane ride is that I got from Montreal to Amsterdam, then Amsterdam to Dar es Salaam... and WAS NOT nauseous!!!  Hurrah!  Poa.
Tues and Wed was orientation in Dar and Thursday morning we traveled to Morogoro to meet our homestay families and continue orientation.  It is 10:30pm here, but only 3:30pm over in Canada - hope everyone has a fabulous Friday night :)

Things to get used to - bucket showers (not so bad), squat toilets and (generally) no toilet paper, and eating with your right hand.  The eating with your hands thing is really cool - my host family only really eats with their hands, but you are only allowed to use your right hand - not so easy for a lefty.  Also, we went out for dinner in Dar one night and I ordered wali (rice), ndizi (bananas that taste like potatoes), and myama (beef)... Devon - another volunteer - ordered antelope.  Guess who ALSO got antelope??  That was also my first hands-eating experience.  Interesting to say the least.

Morogoro and Tanzania are amazing!!  So beautiful and such wonderful people..everyone is so excited to meet the mzungu (foreigner, or more directly white person) because it is so easy to spot us out!  The big thing about Tanzania is the greetings - so so so so many different greetings, and after you greet "Mambo" - "Poa", they continue.  It's kinda cool, not like in Canada where you say Hey What's Up?  And then you're too far down the street to hear the person's answer.

So orientation has been amazing - it feels like I have been here for longer than a week!  My host family is AMAZING and so cute and welcoming and wonderful!! Morogoro is surrounded by the Uluguru mountains and every morning I wake up to a beautiful landscape!

Today we sorted out all of our schedules - it is going to be a busy 7 weeks!!!
Our programs reach a bunch of different audiences and here are some of the sections:
1 - english and computers intermediate/advanced
2 - english and computers for PWA (people living with AIDS)
3 - girls club
4 - health and life skills for street side schools
5 - HIV/AIDS outreach in rural communities
6 - Social support for youth PWA
7 - Soccer/Netball tournament for health and development with a focus on malaria
8 - capacity building with Faraja Trust Fund
9 - small scale initiatives.

Everything is so exciting!  There is also an intern here named Larissa and she's working on Environmental support/initiatives and implementing programs with the communities in Morogoro and surrounding it - waste and composting, water, wells, irrigation and deforestation - it is all so exciting!!

Hope to post and tell you all how my trip to the market is tomorrow !
Missing Canada

lala fofofo (sleep tight)

Jamie

Welcome!

Hey everybody !


       Trip happens in t-minus 5 days! Crazy - it still does not yet feel real... but it will on Sunday!
I have had a lot of support from a lot of people and I really appreciate that. 
Because I will have internet access while I am gone for the eight weeks of my trip, a lot of people would like updates, and that is awesome!  Except it is difficult to send updates to TEN people every time I'm on the internet.
       Instead I've created this 'travel blog' to update all of you!!  You can leave comments, ask questions, and share the information - it is all public.   Also, please feel free to update me on what has been going on with all of you in your comments - I still want to hear what exciting or not-so-exciting things you have all been up to!!   The blog is also in Tanzania time - seven hours ahead of us.
       So, this is where all the information will be posted - I will miss you all and see you in eight weeks!!


Lots of <3,
Jamie