Kilikala showers

I know you’ve all been dying to know how I clean myself every day. Here it is:

So far it’s been a healthy combination of baby wipes and bucket baths. I'd say I use about 2 litres of water on a bath day, and 3.5 L on a bath & shower day. At home, a 10 minute shower will use upwards of 40L (Dad, I'm sure you have more precise estimates on that).

It's pretty amazing how clean I can get with so little water.

Alicia would like to mention that we are not the only ones that enjoy our bucket baths. In fact, our cockroach friends like them as well. This morning we awoke to a rather large fella trying to climb his way out of our Laundry & Foot Washing Bucket. I spared his life. This time.

Anyway, back to human baths. I have recently switched from morning showers to evenings instead. The reason for this change is three-fold:

1. Our family seems to take evening baths, and they probably think it's strange that we take wash in the morning.

2. We are our dirtiest by the end of the day. If we bathe in the evening, we get to crawl into bed clean.

3. The nights are cool and we have an electric fan. If I'm clean at night, I don't wake up sweaty enough to feel the need to bathe in the morning.

Of course there is another component to bathing: the shower room. It’s a private room with a small drain in the corner. Well, maybe not so private. There are a few spiders and gecko’s that peep in on us while we bathe.

Here’s a photo of my bathing supplies: a bucket containing water, a 1.5L bottle of water (my shower head), a small shampoo bottle (way too much effort to shampoo AND condition), a washcloth, and my quick dry towel (to avoid cockroach gatherings).

Scrub a dub dub

The reason why daily bathing is necessary. That's not a tan.

 

Play Day

Today was Play Day for Faraja’s Home Based Care unit. HIV affected kids from all over Morogoro came to the HBC office to play and socialize. There were kids ranging from babies to teenagers. Most, if not all of the kids were born with HIV. Play Day is really important because children and teens with HIV can be singled out and discriminated against in their greater community. But at Play Day, they can come together and play without facing the same judgements and stigma.  The energy in that courtyard could not even be contained. Kids spilled out onto the streets playing games of all sorts. We joined in on colouring, clapping games, soccer, basketball, piggy-backing, jump rope... there were so many activities going on! After a couple hours of play, Mama Mlema, the director of HBC, addressed the group and invited us to start eating. We were served up a meal of rice, beans, and banana; a pretty basic but nutritious meal offering protein and vitamins.

Unfortunately Play Day only happens every couple of months because of limited funding. Families and care-givers depend on Faraja stipends so they can get to and from Play Day. Faraja also provides a goody bag of sorts for kids to take home. Norbert, Irene, Alicia and I helped hand out cooking oil, flour, sugar, and soap. These items are simple but very important and not always affordable. The kids’ immune systems are already compromised, so proper hygiene and nutrition must be provided to prevent opportunist infections.

While at Play Day we also got to meet with the HBC Ambassadors. They are the group of Faraja youth that we will be working with. There are 16 people in the group, but 1 of them is very sick and Norbert doesn’t think he’ll be able to make it any of sessions.  We had some basic introductions and went over the workshop outline for the coming weeks. They seem to be most excited about peer education and learning how to organize their own peer-education events. On December 1^st, World AIDS Day, they’ll be presenting the knowledge they’ve acquired to their care-givers and the Faraja staff. I’m excited for that day… but I have to keep telling myself, “One day at a time!”

PS. Met some other Mzungu’s at Play Day today.  They’re German and have been in Morogoro teaching English for about a year at the Faraja schools.

Lunch, braids, and sandles

Yesterday was a national holiday so Alicia and I had a little more free time than we normally did. Irene invited us over to her place for lunch so we happily obliged! She lives about a 10 minute dala dala ride away from town.  She and her cousin had prepared a tasty meal of rice, carrots, peas, cucumber, and an Indian-like sauce made with coconut milk. It was delicious and a nice change from rice and beans. There was some sliced mango which Alicia and I ate as desert, but Irene mixed it in with the rest of her food. We arrived just in time for mango season… yum!

After lunch Irene braided our hair while we practiced our Swahili in the shade of her house. Despite the thousands of ants, it was a nice way to relax.

Irene also took us on a walk through a nearby neighbourhood. We got to check out a local sandal factory. It was quite small and probably had about 20 people working on different components of the leather flip flops. There were so many cool different designs. My fat feet wouldn’t fit in them, so no sandals for me… but Alicia got some really nice ones!

Neema with red hair.

Lunch at Irene's

Irene wouldn't let us help... so we just enjoyed the shade and cool breeze

Trying on some sandles

Alicia with her new sandles

This is the remix to ignition


 

Transportation

It’s only been a week and a half but I already feel quite comfortable using local transportation.

We ride dala dala’s on our own all over town. Dala dala’s are broken down little minibuses that serve as a central form of transportation for many Tanzanians. Drivers have main routes to follow and main un-marked drop-off points, but they will pick up passengers anywhere as long as it’s on the route. The drivers honk at upcoming pedestrians, and if they want to jump on they signal with a flick of their wrist.

It’s only 300 shillings to take it one way… the equivalent of about 20 cents.  Cheap for us, but there are plenty of people that walk because they don't have the extra money to spend.  The low fare doesn’t do much to fund regular upkeep on the inside of the vehicle either. As long as the engine works, they’re in business.

I have yet to see a dala dala that isn’t completely jam packed with people, and unless you get on at a main dala dala station, you’re probably not getting a seat. Standing on the ‘bus’ isn’t quite the same as standing on a bus back home. There isn’t much head room and there aren’t many designated handles to hold onto. If you’re lucky enough to have a seat, you’ll at least have someone’s crotch swaying in front of your face (like Alicia did today). That being said, everybody on the bus is extremely helpful...  it’s just an extension of general Tanzanian friendliness. Babies are passed back and forth while mothers move around the bus.  Mamas offer to hold your bag while you clutch onto the sides of the van for dear life. And best of all, people remind us when it’s our time to get off the bus (very helpful when going to an unfamiliar area). I think that some of the dala dalas were made in China or Japan where people tend to be smaller. Some of the benches meant for two people, are SO tiny. I’ll try to get a picture of the inside of an empty dala dala some time. I don’t think I’ll be getting any when it’s full. Too bad though, because it’s definitely hilarious how many people get packed into these things. SFU’s 145 aint got nothing on this.

Piki pikis are probably the next cheapest form of transportation and delivery. However I haven’t taken one so I’m not sure just how much they cost. They look dangerous… but so fun! I think 3 is the max number of people you can fit on. I frequently see mothers riding with their child squished in between the driver and themselves. I also see a lot of women riding side saddle. They look so casual! With these crazy roads I’d never want to let go of the driver! As for motorcycle safety, helmet use isn’t enforced and the drivers usually only wear a puffy, down-like jacket for protection. I honestly don’t know how they don’t pass out from heat stroke. Piki piki’s are also loaded with all types of goods (and livestock!) for delivery. They’ve clearly mastered how to properly strap their cargo down. I haven’t seen any stray loads quite yet.
Since our neighbourhood is on a slight hill, piki piki drivers often turn their engines off and coast down on neutral. Whatever you can to save on gas I guess.

Bicycles are another very popular, cheap form of transportation, delivery, and recreation. The back saddle can serve as an extra seat for a passenger (or two) or it can hold extra cargo. Most of the time we see water jugs, food, or people on the extra seat… but yesterday as a man passed us with a bundle of 2X4’s balanced precariously on his back saddle. Wide load! The day before that, I saw a guy walking around town with two doors strapped to the sides of his bike. There wasn’t any room left for him so he just walked along side it. They are very versatile vehicles! I have yet to rent one, but it would be nice to use it to explore the neighbourhood a little bit more. Maybe I'll be able to find a bike that has greased brakes... my ears bleed every time a bike passes me on a hill.

Last but not least, we use taxis when we are either running short on time or commuting after sun-down.  Prices range 3,000-5,000 for a 10 minute ride. That’s less than 3 bucks. Slightly cheaper than home eh? However we have to be careful that we don’t get ripped off. That’s why we’ve got preferred drivers that we use as often as possible. Like dala dalas, cars are usually in pretty bad condition. One of the cabs I took didn’t open from the inside because my handle was detached and only hanging by a wire. Alicia’s door, however, was in perfect working order.

Something consistent across the board no matter what type of vehicle you're in are the road conditions. Only the roads to and from town are paved. In our neighbourhood the dirt roads are riddled with pot-holes and rifts from the rainy seasons. For this reason, dala dala rides are very noisy, and taxi rides involve a lot of swerving. I'm surprised that I haven't seen anyone go over their handlebars yet.

So that’s the gist of local transportation. Definitely different from home, but it has become very normal in a very short amount of time!

I think it's time for me to take off and do a little housekeeping i.e collect the garbage and burn it on the side of the road. Our room has exploded ever since we made our first trip to the mzungu watering hole (the supermarket). We've now got baby wipes (a god-send for our sweaty selves), a variety of snacks, and more toilet paper. We are saving Alicia's luxury, north-american toilet paper for diarrhea days. TMI? Too bad.

 

Jumatano

Today was a eventful day...

-        I shaved my legs and arm pits
-        I groomed my eyebrows
-        Alicia almost died
-        We met with the UMATI Youth Action Movement  (YAM)group.
-        We did our first load of laundry!

 While the grooming is pretty self-explanatory, let me expand on a few of the other points.

During our walk into town to check out a local mzungu restaurant for lunch, Alicia unknowingly jumped out in front of a piki piki (motorcycle). And this was no slow-moving piki piki. Drivers here go hair-raising speeds on even the crappiest roads.

While jumping over a ditch to get to the road,  Alicia looked to her left instead of her right to see if traffic was coming (they drive on the opposite side of the road). She literally leaped right in front of the piki piki! My voice stuck in my throat and I couldn't even say anything, let alone yell. The driver swerved a few inches to the right like it was no big deal at all... just goes to show just how attentive these drivers have got to be driving on these crazy roads! If her skirt had allowed her to jump any further, she may not be here sitting here in one piece.

We made it to the mzungu restaurant but only had time to have a glass of juice. However, we did have a chance to look over the menu... chicken sandwiches, burgers, pizza, samosas... chocolate cake! We're definitely going back.

In the afternoon we met with the UMATI Youth Action Movement Group. There are13 boys and 2 girls. They were a lively and welcoming bunch and I'm excited to start working with them more often. They've already shared some of the challenges that they face as peer educators. Sometimes, people don't trust that YAM members are educated or knowledgeable on the health topics they talk about. Other times, they don't even believe that YAM is as legitimate group. Another concern is that YAM members don't have food or water at their outreach events. Since they are unemployed, they don't have money to buy these things while they're out. Irene, Robert, Alicia and I will be working with them as a group to come up with some solutions to these seemingly simple challenges.

Once Alicia and I made it home, we decided it was time to get some laundry done. Sophie watched us for a few minutes before taking pity and diving in to demonstrate how it's done. The 2 shirts of mine that she scrubbed smell a lot better than the ones that I did.



Ashi, me and a couple other kids are now watching the movie 'Honey' that Irene lent us. It's in English subtitles....So  after seeing the rap words written out on the screen, I now realize that the rapper who I previously thought was named “Dog Chow” was in fact stating his name as “Dark Child” in his songs.... I always thought the name Dog Chow lacked street cred. But what do I know.

 

The best part of my day.



I'm the student in this picture... learning swahili from a 7 year old

UMATI group!

Studying



Our bedroom turned laundremat

That water was clean at one point in time

Scrub a dub dub



The Chamwino neighbourhood

TZ Time

So something that is completely new to me is Tanzania time. And I'm not talking about the time difference between Vancouver and Tz, I'm talking about how the people here tell time in an entirely different way than what I'm accustomed to at home.

 

While Irene was teaching us how to read time in Swahili, I noticed that noon is referred to as “saa sita”. But in English, sita means six. So noon is 6 o'clock.. WHAT?

 

But it makes sense. The sun rises at 6 am and sets around 6:30pm. So why not base your timing on the sun?

 

Not sure if this is completely correct... but you can get the jist of it.

 

Canadian Time                       Tanzanian Time

7am                                                 1 o'clock

8am                                                 2 o'clock

9am                                                 3 o'clock

10am                                               4 o'clock

11am                                               5 o'clock

12am                                               6 o'clock

1pm                                                 7 o'clock

2pm                                                 8 o'clock

3pm                                                 9 o'clock

4pm                                                 10 o'clock

5pm                                                 11 o'clock

6pm                                                 12 o'clock

So... what are you doing in Africa?

I've been pretty bad at sharing what exactly I'm doing over here in Africa. Aside from sweating my butt off on a daily basis, I'm actually here volunteering with a Canadian organization called Youth Challenge International (YCI). In summary, YCI is an organization who's mission is to improve youth health, leadership, and livelihood.  It's been funded by CIDA under the Global Youth Partnerships grant to connect Canadian volunteers (International. i.e. Alicia & I) with local partner organizations and volunteers (Robert, Irene, and the organizations listed below).

In each country (Tanzania, Kenya, Ghana), YCI partners with local agencies to ensure program sustainability and relevance and also to expand the reach of it's programs. YCI works closely with partners to not only improve program quality but also to strengthen their organizational capacity. Support comes in the form of volunteer labour, financial and material support, as well as specific partner training initiatives. YCI staff and partners, local and international YCI volunteers, in collaboration with local youth and community stakeholders, implement programs jointly.  (Yes, I stole that paragraph from my information package... but I think it's a great summary).

Alicia and I shopped around for quite some time trying to find an organization that we felt good about . Ultimately, we chose YCI because we  really felt that their approach to sustainable programming through capacity building and youth leadership  is incredibly important. We didn't want to be a part of a volunteer project that would end when we left. We simply want to contribute to an existing project, and to offer our own knowledge and perspectives to perhaps improve and expand upon the existing efforts.

Since arriving in Morogoro, we've not only been busy acquainting ourselves with the community,  culture, and language,  but we've also been meeting and learning about the different partner organizations that we'll be working with. Here's a little bit about the organizations and the projects that we're helping with:

The Faraja Home Based Care (HBC) department of the Faraja Trust Fund was developed in 2004 to provide voluntary HIV testing and counseling. HIV is highly stigmatized, so people were and continue to be hesitant to have testing done in public hospitals where others can see them. Faraja has also been working on getting their own treatment centre up and running, however funding cut-backs have inhibited this venture.

Through YCI we will be working with the youth of HBC to design and implement workshops that target self esteem and improve the youths' leadership, facilitative, and public speaking skills. To practice their skills, we will help the youth to prepare for upcoming public events that promote HIV/AIDS education, stigma reduction and awareness, and Faraja's services.

We will also be working with the Faraja STAFF to go over some computer skills that they've expressed a desire to learn more about. Most staff have basic computer skills, but we will help them improve their skills on Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and website maintenance. Since Faraja's funding is dwindling, it's important that they update their website regularly and pursue online fund raising ventures. I'm glad that my experience volunteering with Literacy Victoria's mobile computer lab will be coming in handy!

Check out their website here: http://farajatrust.org/

The Chamwino Girls Club is a recipient of Faraja's funding. The girls in the club are eager to build their confidence and improve upon their organizational and public speaking skills. Past volunteers have helped lead seminars on leadership, environment, and life skills. We will be following suit with a module that a past volunteer made for teaching english as a second language for business purposes. Youth unemployment is a big problem in Tanzania, so these girls have expressed a desire to gain some skills that may help them secure jobs after high school. During our 2 months here, we will be teaching Front Desk/Reception skills. I suppose all my experience in administrative and front desk work shall come in handy!

Last but not least, UMATI is the local Tanzanian branch of International Planned Parenthood. It is the leading provider of youth health services here. Through their Youth Action Movement (YAM) project, UMATI seeks to engage more youth in leadership and peer educating opportunities. We'll be conducting workshops and info sessions that tackle  issues of Gender, Adolescence, and Abortion (illegal in Tz, but it happens anyway). Just like we do with HBC ambassadors and the Girls club, we'll also be talking about what it means to be a peer educator, and how to be a successful leader, all while practicing and utilizing public speaking skills.

So those are the 3 organizations and 4 projects that we'll be working on over the next 2 months. It's going to be a crazy ride, but I'm so overly excited to be here. I think living with our home stay family makes all the difference too. I can't imagine working with Tz Youth without having a proper understanding of what home life is like. It's also made me feel much more at home!

If you're reading this and thinking about volunteering or working overseas on development projects, I strongly encourage you to do your research and be very critical of the work you would like to take on. Is the organization you're going with transparent and ethical? Do their morals align with yours? A great website to check out is Beyond Good Intentions. - http://www.beyondgoodintentionsfilms.com/the_dialogue.php

Their spin on international volunteering is pretty negative, but I think it's important to be very aware of how 'good intentions' don't always mean that a particular development project is OK.

That being said, just because I chose to go with YCI does not make me or the organization itself a god-send. In most cases, and most likely mine, I think that there is an unequal balance between the rewards for the volunteer and the rewards for program recipients. I think it has a lot to do with the fact that volunteer gratification is immediate, whereas our partner organizations' goals are long term and cannot be achieved in a 2 month time period. The projects that we take on are a work in progress, and only an indicator of what successes we can expect in the future.

 

Heres to youth empowerment!

Morogoro!

Oops! It's been a while since my last update... there's been a lot to take in over the last few days so I'll do my best to summarize.

We left our hotel at 7am on Friday and made our way to the bus terminal. I'm so glad that Makho accompanied us on our trip. I think the terminal would have been extremely overwhelming if Alicia and I had to make the intial trip by ourselves. Tickets from Dar to Morogoro were 6000 shillings... about $3.75 candadian. Talk about bang for your buck! The bus ride was hot, loud, and crowded, but everybody had their own seat. It was nice to get out into the country side and see more of Tanzania.

We rolled into the Morogoro bus station around 11am, and then met up with one of the preferred taxi drivers to take us to our destination (taxi drivers are independent here, so YCI has a few trusty drivers that we keep on hand). We got to our homestay and met the family. Mama, Asharafu, and Robert. Baba (our host dad) was at work, and we didn't get to meet him til the following day.
Sophie (dada), our host family's helpful assistant served us a lunch of potatos and tomato sauce. It seems that a lot of the meals here are served with a tomatoey broth. So far so good!

After lunch we got to visit the YCI office for the first time. It's only a 5 minute walk from our home! We met Irene and Norbert, the local volunteers that we will be working with over the next 2 months. Irene is 18 and heard about YCI from one of her friends. This is her first year working with YCI! She is very friendly and has been helping us a lot with our swahili.
Norbert has been with YCI for a couple years so we are lucky to have such an experienced volunteer on our team! He heard about YCI through the Faraja trust, which is one of the partner organizations that we will be working with. He's super nice and his english is excellent. I am consistantly impressed by the english skills we encounter on a daily basis. It makes me feel pretty bad about my rudimentary swahili.

On Saturday (jumamosi) Robert and our new friend Steven showed us around our neighbourhood a bit. Everything is so lively; children running around, chickens everywhere... a few dogs here and there.... Music blasting from houses, dukas, and restaurants. Sophie served us chips yai (french fries cooked in egg white) for lunch, and we took off into town aterwards to explore a bit of the market. Sunday (jumapili) was spent doing some more exploring in our neighbourhood.

SIDENOTE. MY BLOG JUST CRASHED AND I LOST MY ENTIRE (completed) POST FROM HERE ON. I'm ready to throw this computer at the wall. I've been working on this damn post all day. I blame internet explorer.

Despite my aggitation from explorer's inferiority to chrome or mozilla, I'm in considerably better spirits than I was the last couple days around this time. The heat and sun completely drain me, and I'm exhausted by 9pm, which is bad, since that's when dinner is served. Today I took a tip from Alicia and had an afternoon siesta. I felt MUCH better and had a ton more energy for the playtime that took place before dinner. There are so many kids around! Half a dozen congregated at our house, so I brought out my ipod and took requests. My host family LOVES Chris Brown. I never thought I'd be so grateful for my grand total of 3 Chris Brown songs. The kids showed off their dance skills, and the older guys (Robert and co) sang or rapped along in English. You can definitely seen the influence of music videos and western TV in the way that kids dance and act.

Speaking of.... TV has been the major contributor to the rollercoaster ride that has been my culture shock experience. It's pretty bizarre to be watching a Chris Brown music video at one moment (have I mentioned my family likes Chris Brown?), only to be spending the next moment doing my business over a hole in the ground. There is definitely an art to using a Turkish toilet, and I have yet to master it. There have been some gem conversations and quotes along this journey so far, and most of them have been toilet related. We're like todlers that jump for joy after successful toilet trips. Good laughs every day!

Sorry if this post has been all over the place. There's been a lot to take in over the last few days, but it's been hard to record it all. I don't like to shut myself up in my room with the computer... It seems very antisocial and I don't want to be rude!

Anyway, the crickets are chirping and enticing me into dreamland. Soon enough the roosters will be crowing and Chris Brown will be blaring from every other window. Time to catch some z's!

Pics to come later.

Alicia and I infront of the YCI office

 

The legacy of past volunteers



Lunch with Irene and Robert. This restaurant was quite shocking at first... but it's the norm. We'll be coming back!



Neema loves to pose and practice her english. I love this girl.

The first look at our bedroom.

Dala dala station downown Morogoro

Our familys living room/dining room. They have 2 refrigerators which are usually used for keeping drinking water cool. Refrigeration of food isn't common, as power is intermittant.  

A view down our street

View of the mountains

PS. I smell. A lot.

Dar Es Salaam

Well, we finally made it Dar! The plane rides were uneventful but long. Didn't sleep much on the first flight, but Alicia and I were able to catch some glorious sleep on our flight from Amsterdam to Dar. After we had taken off, one of the KLM attendants approached us and told is that there was an extra row of seats available if we wanted to grab them. It was so nice to be able to stretch out and sleep comfortably! I love KLM!

Our flight arrived at around 11:30 pm local time, marking the 26th hour of travel time. We found out that we were on the same plane as some other YCI volunteers (Claire, Zack, and Mirijam), so we all got to go through this visa application process together. After another hour or so of waiting in the immigration lobby, we finally got our visas and picked up our luggage (which all arrived!! Yay!). Cheryl and Domitila, two of the YCI Tanzania staff greeted us at the exit and took us back to our hostel, which is in the suburbs of Dar. We are about a 20 minute drive from downtown.

The hostel is really nice and has pretty much everything I could ask for. A bed to sleep on, bed nets, AC (!), private flush toilet, and a shower. The hostel is run by some catholic nuns, who also prepare us breakfast, lunch and snacks throughout the day. Life is good!

After taking much needed showers, we began our first day of orientation on the rooftop of our hostel. It's the perfect spot for our sessions as it is shaded, breezy, and has an incredible view. The orientation was great, and we got a chance to meet our project managers and go through some basic Swahili. Still need lots of practice!!!

After orientation we took off for dinner in a convoy of bajajis (3 wheeled, 3 seater vehicles). It was on this ride through town that it finally started to sink in that I'M IN AFRICA! Kind of sketchy driving in heavy rush hour traffic, but totally fun! We made it to a restaurant and indulged in some true Tanzanian fair. I got chicken (which you can tell gets considerably more exercise than our caged chickens in North America), a fried banana (harvested early so it tastes like potato), and mboga mboga, a spinach dish (needed some veg!). Alicia got fried fish, beans, and ugali.
Most others got similar dishes...Zack got antelope (!). When in Rome, right?

By the time we made it back to our rooms we were thoroughly exhausted. I conked out around 9:30. And here I am, at 6 am writing a blog post because I can't sleep.

Today is our last day of orientation, and tomorrow morning we split up and head to our volunteer locations. Alicia and I catch our bus to Morogoro at 7am. I'm excited to see more of Tanzania from my bus seat, and I'm comforted knowing that our first trip will be made with our new friend and project manager, Makho.

That's all for now! Much more to come...

Pics are somewhat out of order... oops

The green bus is a dala dala. They will be one of our main forms of transportation. Very crowded!

At the hostel

Observe: the bajaji in it's natural habitat

Orientation!

Our bedroom, resembling a quarantine ward

Karibu!

I love KLM

Amsterdam!

Happiest plane riders in the world. Juice, snack, gravol, sleepy time.

Map

From east coast to west coast!

Excerpt from my To Do list:

• Save obscene amount of money in 10 months
• Dust off camera, as iPhone instagram pics will be unsuitable for chronicling Africa
• Fill prescriptions
• Loot London Drugs for all it's worth
• Cram life into backpack
• Learn Swahili 
• Make blog
• Mentally prepare self for pit-toilets
• Mentally prepare self for frequent cockroach encounters
• Get to airport... or more specifically, the airplane.