The Girl Effect

I’m alive!  I just thought I should let everyone know that, with how long it has been since I updated my blog.  I’m sorry it has been so long since I told my stories, but I hope you enjoyed your vacation and got to read something else, like the entirety of C.S. Lewis’ works.

A lot has happened since I last posted, but I will try to keep to the point on this one (do I say that every time?  Has it ever happened?)

About 2 weeks ago I was able to meet with my co-worker in the U.S. for the first time, Dr. Mary Crave.  While we have emailed and Skyped a number of times, we have never had the opportunity to meet until she was coming here for work and meetings.  Mary flew into Arusha (northern Tanzania) to spend a couple of days there, so I took the bus out to join her for meetings and a club visit.  I decided to make a stop on my way to visit my friend Robert in Rombo (Ooh!  That’s fun to say!).  Robert was one of my friends and translators from my last time in Tanzania, so I was excited to visit him in his new home on the foothills of Mt. Kilimanjaro after 4 years!  I had no idea how far north I would be heading, but discovered after I arrived that I was within a short walk of the Kenya border.  I have heard that bus trips in developing countries can be dangerous (actually, I have seen that first-hand), and my trip to Rombo definitely confirmed this.  Don’t worry, I made it safely and without incident…and after I reached my destination it took me less than 5 minutes to remove my fingers from clutching the seat in front of me.  The road is actually quite nice and well kept, but the hairpin turns without guardrails does make one start thinking of loved ones.  Rombo is beautiful on the slopes on Kilimanjaro!  If you have ever seen Kilimanjaro, could you send me a picture?  Because, due to low clouds, I never glimpsed more than the base.  After a delightful (if not short) stay with Robert and friends, I headed on to Arusha.

Mary arrived in Arusha late that night and the next day we prepared for a full day.  First we headed to a meeting with an NGO (Non-governmental organization) based in Canada called Farm Radio International (FRI).  We were greeted warmly at their offices by Gizaw and Margaret who were so excited to find out what 4H is doing in Tanzania and were excited by the idea of creating a partnership.  Basically what FRI does is takes agricultural information and disperses it on radio channels that they work with.  It may be information about crop rotation, or the current prices of maize (corn) in the area.  The idea is to take the information to the farmers and agriculturalist in an easy and affordable way.  Community groups may meet each week to listen to the programs and then discuss the ideas, and ask questions.  Recent research found that listeners are 5x more likely to adopt an improved agricultural practice than those who did not.  The best part of our meeting was how excited and ready everyone was to find a way to partner FRI with 4H Tanzania!  They invited us to stay for lunch and we had a great time talking about our organizations, international development, and education.  As I looked around the table I couldn’t help thinking that I am one of the most privileged people in the world!  That feeling didn’t fade as we made a quick visit to an organization down the street: World Vision.

If you aren’t familiar with World Vision (WV), they are one of the largest NGO’s in the world.  Their main office in Tanzania is a large campus in Arusha, just down the street from Farm Radio International.  Mary and I met with them to discuss their work with technology education.  WV is working on setting up pilot computing centers around Tanzania.  People would be able to use the computers and the internet at a low cost and receive training on how to use the internet and the resources that are available.  As we are working on providing a resource through the Virtual Knowledge Center, we want to be able to get our information out there.  World Vision was wonderful to meet with and I couldn’t stop grinning as I learned about their various programs and aid work. 

After our meetings we headed to a 4H club meeting to observe.  The Themi Primary School in Arusha is actually a test project for us as we try to analyze gender equality in 4H.  Themi actually has two 4H clubs, one for girls and one for boys.  They meet at the same time and do the same projects, but separately.  They are even getting a little competitive when it comes to their gardening.  I attended the boys’ meeting while Mary attended the girls’.  They are a very new club and this was actually only their second meeting.  Even so, they had a Chairperson who led the meeting from an agenda and a Secretary who read the minutes from the previous meeting.  I wish all 4-H clubs got going as fast as this one!  After the meeting they took me outside to show me their gardening projects.  One of the problems that 4H clubs face here is that they hold their meetings right after school and the kids can be pretty hungry and tired by that time.  To avoid this, Mary and I brought some small snacks with us, mandazi (like donuts without sugar) and soda.  The girls finished their meeting first and as they were heading past our meeting room, a 4H advisor grabbed two of them to pick up the trash and the empty bottles from the boys (who were still meeting).  This may sound like a small thing, but it is exactly the kind gender bias we see everyday, in and out of 4H.  And all these seemingly little biases add up to make a very unequal environment for girls and young women.

After our time in Arusha, Mary and I went to Tanga to help the team (Joseph, Manase, and Gudila) with parents meetings in Muheza (about an hour from Tanga).  We held 3, full-day meetings with a dad and a mom from each club in the District.  The purpose of the meetings was to have the parents identify gender biases in 4H and ways to abolish those.  Due to funding from Nike’s “Girl Effect”, we were able to conduct research in Tanzania to help identify those biases or issues that girls face.  Some include: not having enough time to participate in projects due to their household chores, meetings being too late or far away and the girls have to walk home in unsafe situations, boys taking all the gardening tools, so girls are left without any, and girls’ parents taking the money from her personal entrepreneurship projects, while the boys get to keep theirs.  We asked the parents to add up the amount of time an average girl spends on household chores per day, and the amount of time an average boy spends on household chores per day.  The results? 160 minutes for girls (nearly 3 hours per day!), and 30 minutes for boys.  The parents were shocked to see the difference.  No wonder girls had trouble participating in 4H! 

While we would have loved to address all the societal biases for girls, we were really interested in finding out how 4H can change our club model to address these.  We came up with a host of solutions, most of which are extremely simple: change the meeting time to a Saturday morning so girls aren’t walking home in the dark, hold parents meetings at the club level to educate parents on the importance of 4H and their kids 4H projects, etc.  I think the most important thing that parents wanted was simply for other parents to attend the training like they had.  If other parents could see the different expectations of girls, they may change their ways themselves, they simply aren’t aware. 

After the trainings, it was time for Mary to head back to the US.  Since she was traveling to Dar es Salaam with Susan, in her car (NOT A BUS!), I decided to grab a ride for a visit to my dear friend Sammy!  Sammy was my translator while I was in Tanzania the first time.  I know I have said that about other people, but while the other translators were with our group, Sammy was MY translator, meaning he, my partner Brett and I spent all day, almost every day together in Mbete and I couldn’t wait to see him again!  I stayed at the YMCA in downtown Dar and spent the first day wandering around downtown.  I found a hamburger place (HAMBURGERS!) and grabbed lunch.  After I was exhausted, I took a bus to a wood carvers market near Sammy’s work.  He called while I was there and said he would be there in about 15 minutes.  As I was walking down the sidewalk, I looked up, and there he was.  I gracefully and calmly approached him and shook his hand to say hello.  Ok, so I actually screamed his name and ran down the sidewalk and gave him a huge hug…drawing the attention of several bystanders.  We met a friend of his, Amani, at a restaurant, and sat down to catch up.  The next morning I rode the bus back to the area to attend church with them.  Sammy had given me directions to get there, but I found myself standing in front of a movie theater, wondering where the church could possibly be.  I called Sammy to come and find me…turns out the church was INSIDE the theater.  The church meets in the theater!  How cool is that?  Even better, after singing and announcements, they have a coffee break before the sermon.  I was in love.  (The sermon was great too!)

That evening we went to an American couple’s house to play cards.  When I walked in the house…I smelled something heavenly…pizza.  The first pizza I have had in 5 months, and it was delicious.  We played Phase 10 (aren’t you proud, Grandma), ate, and laughed for hours.  And not that it matters, but I won the game…by a lot.

Well, I have attempted to keep it short, and considering the length of time I am covering, I think I did ok!  I promise to not go this long in the future.  And on that note, my future in Tanzania is limited.  I will be heading back to the US in a little over 1 month.  I arrive in Tulsa on November 23^rd (the day before Thanksgiving), so mark your calendars accordingly!

As always, below are links to my pictures, and links to Nike’s “Girl Effect” videos.  I found these videos a couple of years ago and still watch them for inspiration.  I double dare you to not smile and feel empowered as the music reaches its climax!

Thanks for reading and again, I’m sorry for waiting so long to write!    

The Girl Effect #1

The Girl Effect: The Clock is Ticking

Rombo and Arusha Pictures

Muheza Parents Meetings Pictures -- Sorry, I just added them to the existing 4H Tanzania Album...their at the bottom.

Dar es Salaam and Sammy Pictures

‘Kenya’ Feel the Love Tonight?

I know I can.  Believe it or not, I am now half way through my 6 months in Tanzania.  That could only mean one thing: time to leave the country to renew my visa.  And as long as you’re making a 15 hour bus trip, you might as well stay a few days!  My destination of choice was Nairobi (the capitol of Kenya).  I had heard it was a great place to visit and had some friends in the Nairobi area thanks to the Take A Lead Conference.  In all of the places I have gone, I think Nairobi is my favorite.  This trip was the perfect combination of relaxation and activity, spending time with friends and exploring by myself, and Africa and the “Western” world.  But let me start from the beginning…

I boarded my bus on Thursday morning.  From all the information that I had gathered, I estimated the trip to be a MAXIMUM of 12 hours (which is about 2 hours more than people told me it would take).  My route would take me from Tanga to Moshi, then Arusha where I would find another bus to take me to Nairobi.  At the very latest I would reach Arusha around 4pm.  At 6:30 pm, we pulled into the bus stand in Arusha.  I told the “conductor” of my bus that I needed to get a bus to Nairobi.  I hate that feeling when people are talking in Swahili and you have no idea what they are saying, but you know it can’t be good.  The last bus to Nairobi had already left.  I thought I was going to have to spend the night in Arusha, but the ticket seller came up with an alternate plan.  I could take an “express” to the Kenyan border and catch up to the bus there.  An express is basically a private mini-van that doesn’t make stops along the way and drives as fast as they can.  I asked if he was sure I would be able to catch the bus at the border (as I would much rather find a hotel in Arusha in the daylight than find a hotel at the border in the dark).  I was hoping for mathematical proof (If a bus leaves the station at 6 pm, traveling northbound at 80 km per hour…).

“Yes, I’m sure you can.  There were lots of Muslims on the bus, so they will be there for a while.”

Eventually I put the pieces together: It is Ramadan, Muslims are fasting until sundown, the border is their first opportunity to eat all day.

hungry Muslims + opportunity to eat = sure, why not.

And we were off.  When we reached the border, I made it through customs in a flash and discovered the bus was already on the Kenya side and I would have to hurry to make it.  I’m beginning to see why Kenyans are so good at running.   I caught the bus just in time and sat in the last seat, at the very back.  Then nice young man next to me said “Hello! You look tired.”  I said yes, and we had a lovely conversation for the rest of the trip.  He works for customs at the border all week and attends university classes at the University of Nairobi on the weekends.  And I thought I was tired.  We finally pulled into the Nairobi bus stand at 11:30 and I got a taxi to my hotel, where I arrived too exhausted to think, eat, or watch TV (but not too tired to literally jump up and down when the nice security guard showed me how to turn on the hot water for my shower).  

The next morning I woke up, took my first hot shower in two months, and headed to the rooftop of my hotel for my breakfast.  Breakfast quickly became my favorite part of the day.  My hotel had an awesome view of downtown Nairobi.  My breakfast consisted of fried eggs, sausage, wheat toast, fresh fruit, coffee, and passion fruit juice.  I ate every last bit of it while I stared at the city wondering what to do first.  I decided to go on a walk around my hotel and see a little of the city, saving the city center for later.  Crossing the street in Nairobi is a little like playing the eighth level of Frogger (“Holes, I need holes!”).  That afternoon I was met at my hotel by my dear friend and acting tour guide for the day, Raphael.  Raphael is the founder and director of the Youth for Life—Kenya organization, based just outside Nairobi.  I am constantly being impressed by the work of this organization, but I’ll go into more detail later. 

According to Raphael, the best way to see Nairobi is by matatu, so that’s what we did.  The matatu is the Kenyan version of a daladala, with one key difference: there is a law that you can’t put more people inside than you have seats for.  Someone pinch me.  We took the matatu into city center and then started walking.  We walked through the University of Nairobi campus, past parks, hotels, restaurants, shops, and towers, all the while I bombarded him with questions—about Nairobi, Kenya, himself, and mostly, his organization.  In the midst of the inquisition, he casually mentioned that there are a lot of coffee shops in Nairobi.  Guess where we went next…

We sat down in Dorman’s, ordered our coffee (real coffee, made from coffee beans!) and resumed the interview I had been conducting earlier, except with every answer, I became more inept at talking and mostly just stared at him with my mouth hanging open.  Raphael Gakinya started Youth for Life (Y4L) in 2004 working in schools conducting sexual and reproductive health education by creating a drama group to present in schools.  When they began to be identified as only a drama group, they switched gears and conducted more educational programs with drama sprinkled in.  Since 2004 their programs and activities have diversified and grown to include the collection and distribution of female sanitary towels, a place in the office for entrepreneurs to make handicrafts to sell (I bought baskets made from plastic bags collected off the street), sports teams and classes (soccer—err…football, basketball, and Tae-Kwon-Do), and a host of many other projects I am sure I am forgetting.  Last year, through the work of one of their interns (they like to have 4 international interns and 4 native interns working at a time), they were connected with a Japanese organization called Smile Africa where they received shoes to distribute to local youth.  Since it was the first year, they only distributed a few.  Well, 950 pairs.  The main office is in Athi River, about 45 minutes south of Nairobi.  When I went to visit, I saw a building plan hanging on the wall.  Raphael said that that was their hope and dream, to have a new building built.  Everyone should have those 10 year goals, I thought to myself.  Then he told me they are hoping to break ground in the next couple of months.  The building will include a basement activity center for entrepreneurs to work on their projects, an upstairs activities center, an office, and rooms for youth to stay in.  These rooms will be used like a boarding school for youth who don’t have the resources at home to do well in school.  With no library or study area, and no electricity or resources at home, youth who stay in school have trouble succeeding.  Y4L will provide a place for youth to come on Monday after school and stay until Friday, when they return to their families for the weekend.  The kids continue attending the school they are in, Y4L just provides the space for them to study, eat, and get a good night sleep.  Youth for Life has a philosophy that unfortunately seems to be unique amongst organizations.  They see a need in their community and they find a simple solution to offer.  If they don’t have funding for the project, they find a way to do it anyway, knowing that if they are fulfilling a need, the funding will come later.  They don’t chase after big grants to fund programs that aren’t needed.  They see a need, they find a solution.  And if you think that that is a silly way to run an organization, think about this: they have been operating for 7 years and are getting ready to open their 4^th office in Kenya.  I guess they are doing something right. 

One of the best parts of Youth for Life is that it is more than just Raphael.  While he is obviously an integral part of the organization, talk to any of the staff, interns, and volunteers and you will see as much vision, passion, and commitment in them as well.  They all truly love their work and take pride in their projects.  When Chad and Victor (brothers who must have been an absolute handful growing up) talk about the basket making project, you can see the excitement in their faces.  When Ann (one of the delegates to Take a Lead) plans for her female empowerment programs, you know she is dedicated to the cause.  And when Giuseppe, the intern who arrived only 2 weeks ago from Italy, talks about improving Y4L’s social media, you can see he has already been bitten by the Y4L bug.  Being around them is exciting and motivating and you get the feeling that if you were to return in a month, there will be new projects and programs already!

So that sums up my first day in Nairobi!  Yes, I am just to day one.  I’ll try to be brief.  Saturday morning I was on my own.  Having gotten the feel of Nairobi with Raphael, I decided I would see what I could do to keep myself busy.  After a long rooftop breakfast conversation with a German woman who is about 2 weeks into her 8 month long around-the-world journey (awesome, I know!), I set off on foot hoping to find the Nairobi National Museum.  Just when I was thinking I must have taken a wrong turn, there it was!  The museum is beautiful and I had a great time learning about the history of Kenya and seeing the Snake Park—though I probably could have skipped that last part.  After the museum, I decided to see if I could find my way back to Dorman’s for lunch and coffee.  After about 45 minutes of walking in vaguely the right direction, I was ecstatic to see I had guessed right and found my target.  There was a bookstore down the street, so I stopped there first to buy some reading material to keep me busy on the long bus ride home.  I selected “Banking to the Poor” by Muhammed Yunus, founder of the Grameen Bank.  Though I have hardly started it, I love it already and would recommend it to anyone interested in international development or micro-financing.  I had a wonderful sandwich and coffee for lunch…then I decided to go for some chocolate cake for dessert, accompanied by more coffee, of course.  Delicious.  When I got back to my hotel, I flipped on the TV to find that almost every channel was covering a live concert in Uhuru Park to support the Kenyans for Kenya famine relief project.  I knew that Uhuru Park was basically on the other side of Nairobi from me, so I wasn’t going to try to make it there (especially since I had no idea when the music would end).  Then I realized that this kind of opportunity doesn’t happen every day, so I set off in the direction of Uhuru Park (to the best of my knowledge).  About half way there I was offered a taxi ride, and I took it!  I reached the park and was met with a large crowd of Kenyans.  It was a great environment and I just sat on the grass and listened to the music.  While I was there I got a call to meet Raphael, Giuseppe, and Ann at the Hilton Hotel.  We met up and then went out to enjoy the Nairobi nightlife of music and dancing.  If you have never seen Congolese dancing, it is amazing!  I would love to replicate it, but I’m pretty sure I would hurt myself (and probably some innocent bystanders as well).   Another awesome and full day in Nairobi!

Sunday came with the same rooftop breakfast…my last for a while.  I was planning on leaving Nairobi on Sunday, but somehow that didn’t happen.  With a little persuasion, I decided to stick around, but transfer myself to Kitengela, where Raphael and Giuseppe live, near the Y4L office.  They have an apartment there for the international interns, but with only one intern right now, there was an open space for me and I could hang around and see all the happenings or Youth for Life!  I took a matatu to Kitengela.  I would call Raphael once I reached Kitengela so he could come and get me (since I had no idea where he lived).  Unfortunately, when I reached Kitengela (about 45 minutes outside Nairobi) my phone didn’t work.  Wondering what I would do, I hopped out of the matatu and was greeted by a guy who said “hey!  Where’s Raphael?”  “Umm…I don’t know.” I responded…wondering how small of a town this could be.  It turns out I had briefly met the stranger before when I was visiting Y4L on Friday.  I was fortunate that I ran into him, since I could then use his phone to send an SOS to Raphael, who promptly found me and took me to the apartment.  Sunday afternoon Giuseppe and I went with Victor to a Youth for Life football (soccer) game!  Y4L won 3-0!

Monday morning began as all Mondays should—coffee.  As I was staying at the intern apartment, Giuseppe made some wonderful Italian espresso, which I thoroughly enjoyed.  I went with Raphael to the office, pelting him with questions all the way.  He patiently answered them all.  I spent the morning learning more about Y4L and then went to Ann’s house for a delicious lunch she had prepared for us.  Victor, Raphael, Giuseppe, Ann, and I enjoyed catching up over some homemade ugali na nyama (ugali and meat).  Thanks for lunch Ann!  After lunch Victor took Giuseppe and I to see a primary school they work with.  Though schools are out of session, we got to see the results of a tree planting project.  We continued on our walk for an hour and a half.  That night Raphael showed Giuseppe and I how to make chapati (flat bread) and cabbage for dinner.  So delicious!  If you don’t know already, napenda sana chapati! (I love chapati!)

Tuesday morning brought an end to my visit as Raphael took me back to Nairobi to buy my bus ticket.  Since I arrived here I have heard rumors of buses with air conditioning, comfortable seats, snacks on board, and even TVs to watch.  Until Tuesday morning, I thought it was a myth.  I climbed aboard my Airbus to Mombasa settled in my seat at the back, and watched the music videos playing.  When the “hostess” started handing out cookies and juice, I started tearing up.  A little while later, a movie started playing (though I would like to have words with whoever voted for watching the “Green Mile”).  Unfortunately, as delightful as the ride was, we rolled into Mombasa around 7:30 pm, too late to catch a bus to Tanga (this seems to be a chronic problem that I have).  I found a small hotel right outside the bus and decided to just enjoy one more night on “vacation”.  The next morning I got up at 6 and checked out.  I was delighted to learn that a but heading for Tanga was parked right outside the door.  When I bought my ticket the man said, “okay, bus leaves at 7.”  I left to grab a quick breakfast and was on the bus right at 7.  There were about 6-7 young men spread across the seats of the bus when I boarded.  I assumed they were passengers who were just claiming their territory early, but slowly, one by one, they woke up, got dressed (yes, in the back of the bus), and left.  By 7:45 the bus driver had woken up and peeled his head from the steering wheel.  By 8:30, we were on our way to get petrol (gas) and by 9:00, we were leaving Mombasa.  So much for 7:00am, but at least we made great time and crossed the border quickly.  Unfortunately, about 1 hour from Tanga, the bus started making funny noises…so we stopped in a small village to wait for another bus that was coming up behind us.  When they arrived after about 30 minutes, they only let a couple people on.  I don’t know why they wouldn’t let everyone else on, as I have never seen a bus in Tanzania turn down a fare, but for whatever reason, there were still about 8 of us standing on the side of the road.  “Okay!  Everyone back on the bus!” said the driver, “we’ll just drive really slowly.”  After a discussion on the merits of driving slowly to Tanga verses driving quickly to get there before we broke down completely, we left.  I don’t know much about cars, but I do know they aren’t generally supposed to sounds like trains. And sure enough, about 30 minutes down the road, trying desperately to climb a hill, old Bessie decided it was time to stop.  Fortunately, we were close enough to Tanga by then that there was a daladala for us to cram into and arrive in Tanga safely (if not a little late). 

End of Act 1

I’m sorry this one is such a long one! (Do I end all of my posts with that?)  I really had a fantastic time in Nairobi and I can’t wait to return (except for that whole “bus ride” thing).  I have to give a special thanks to my dear friends at Youth for Life for showing me an amazing time and enduring all of my questions and picture taking!  When you are on Facebook looking at the pictures from my trip, go ahead and “like” the Youth for Life—Kenya page!  Giuseppe is currently working on the Y4L website, but the link to that is below.  And coincidentally enough, my newest project here at 4H Tanzania is to update our website.  Hopefully I will be done in a couple of days, but go ahead and check out the old one as well (link below).  Thanks for reading!                

Picture of Nairobi/ Youth for Life

Youth for Life--Kenya website

4H Tanzania website

Don't Follow...Take A Lead!

WOW.

That is the best way for me to start.  I know that it has been a while since I have updated my blog, but I promise you that I have been busy for every hour since the Take a Lead conference started 2 weeks ago.  This is the third year for the Take a Lead conference which has been held here at the Kange 4H Center.  This year there were delegates from 15 countries: the U.S., Canada, Finland, Austria, Tanzania, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, Namibia, Cameroon, Gambia, Ghana, Uganda, Ethiopia, and Liberia.

Before the conference began, Paivi arrived from Finland to work on preparations for the conference.  If you didn’t know, 4H Tanzania was actually started by 4H Finland and they have been working together ever since (nearly 30 years!).  Then, Mark from Canada arrived to further assist with the preparations.  When the delegates finally arrived on Tuesday, August 2^nd, after many delays and a 6 hour bus ride, I was delighted to meet everyone in a whirlwind as all the 41 delegates and 7 facilitators checked in and unloaded their luggage.  Even more of a delight was meeting the U.S. Delegation for the first time and finding that Jeff Howard, Maryland 4-H Director (the Charles Cox of Maryland) is, in fact, an Aggie (WHOOP!).  The others here representing the U.S. were Denise, a 4-H Agent in Wisconsin, Shingi from the National 4-H Council, and Yoko from the States’ 4-H International Exchange Program.  I cannot tell you how awesome it was to be surrounded by all of the amazing delegates at the conference.  If I could share with you each and every one of their stories, I would, but I will try to pace myself (no promises).  The schedule for the conference was packed with activities, workshops, and planning sessions.  To tell you all about it would take a full two weeks, so I will summarize and try to hit all the high points, without turning this into a novel rivaling “War and Peace.”

The first day of activities focused on all of us getting to know each other through games, discussions, and constantly changing our groups so we never spent time with the same people twice.  As we tried to recall the names of nearly 50 people, we had a great time being kids again.  The Take A Lead conference was a little like summer camp for adults, except with a little more focus and maturity (sometimes).  The main topic of this Take A Lead was “Volunteerism”— how to manage your volunteers, recruit volunteers, and be a good volunteer.  Aside from this we also learned a huge amount about networking, fundraising, and of course the various 4-H and other youth programs that exist around the world.  As Paivi said, lunch time is the best part of the conference.  I have always held fast to the belief that lunch time is the best part of anything, but I was surprised to hear the woman in charge admit to that, until I figured out what she meant.  She wasn’t talking about wali na maharage (rice and beans), she was talking about the conversations you have with people from all over the globe, and she was right!  I never got tired of hearing about the new 4H program in Malawi that is only 3 months old from Judith, or the youth program in the refugee camp in Uganda from Coco and Benson, or the awesome fundraising that 4-K  clubs are doing in Kenya from Millicent.  This is aside from the amazing personal stories you hear and general conversations you have.  I had gone from being basically alone here to having 50 friends around me all day long!  It was a little overwhelming, but amazing as well. 

One of the things that impressed me the most about the training sessions was the variety and creativity in the activities.  After you have been involved in 4-H for 15 years you start to think that there are no new games.  You can only do the ‘human knot’ so many times.  I am here to tell all you 4-H Agents and volunteers out there: THERE ARE NEW GAMES! Just not in America, apparently. 

We ended the first day with an International Buffet where you could visit different displays from each country and try some food from there.  I was excited to see that Shingi had brought M&Ms and Skittles from the U.S. and am ashamed to say I enjoyed them far more than anything from another country.  Since I had been here for two months, I really couldn’t bring anything from home to share, so I went to the supermarket here in Tanga to see what I could find.  I came up with two items: Pringles and Jello.  Then I got hungry and ate the Pringles, so Jello was the winning commodity and I attracted quite a crowd as I prepared it over my propane stove.  I had no idea Jello was such a novelty, but people were totally amused by it, even if they were a little scared to taste it. 

Thursday was the official opening for the conference with community leaders from the Tanga region present along with the Chairman of the 4H Tanzania Board of Directors.  After quick speeches, introductions, and pictures we headed to our tea break.  One of the best parts of the conference was the many scheduled eating times.  8:00 am- Breakfast, 11:00 am- Tea Break, 1:00pm- Lunch, 4:00pm- Tea Break, 7:00pm- Dinner.  Glorious.  We ended our Thursday by watching drama and dance from a local 4H Club from Tanga.  We also held committee meetings.  Everyone was required to sign up for one of four committees: Social, Networking, Media/PR, and Sports.  I was on the Networking committee and had a great time discussing the needs of Global and African Networks and the various components that are important to these countries.  We had great discussions and I learned so much about what is needed by newer 4H programs.

Friday was spent learning about cultures and beliefs.  I am normally one of those people who participate in teamwork activities and laugh at all the people who get truly frustrated by them because I can always remind myself “hey, it’s just a game.”  These activities however made me more frustrated than I have been in a long time...the must mean they were good.  I would go into more detail, but I am sure I will be using the activities in the future, and why spoil the surprise?

Saturday we spent the morning talking about motivation and empowerment.  This is a great topic that leaves everyone feeling awesome and ready to take on the world.  One of the best things that I heard that day was from Stephen from Ghana 4H.  He said “I believe that I am a unique person and so when a problem comes my way, I decide that it has come to me because I am the best person to handle it.  I am the person with the unique abilities required to deal with the issue better than anyone else.”  What a great way to look at your work.  Jeff the Aggie decided to have that cross-stitched onto a pillow when he returns home.  I don’t think he was kidding. 

Sunday brought a day of rest (sort of).  We began by packing two mini-buses and heading into Tanga.  My bus left first and then pulled over to the side of the road to wait for the other one.  Once the other had passed us, we started to pull back onto the road.  Unfortunately the engine died and wouldn’t restart.  If you have never pushed a mini-bus uphill, let me warn you, it’s harder than it sounds and I wouldn’t recommend doing it just for kicks.  Once we caught up to the others in town some of us went to church service and others walked around in Tanga.  After church we went to the Amboni Caves (a few miles outside of Tanga).  These caves are beautiful both inside and out, but the outside doesn’t have bats, so while some toured the inside, I walked around outside and discovered some beautiful paths by myself.  The path opened into a crop area and I turned when I saw some of the crops moving.  A head popped up out of the short crops and I discovered it was…a lizard.  Not a small lizard.  A big lizard.  Like, a Monitor Lizard.  The more I have thought about it though, the more I am thinking it was actually a baby crocodile, as crocodiles live in the river near there.  Whatever it was, I didn’t stick around to find out.  After the caves we headed to the beach for some fun in the sun.  The sports committee brought games, some swam, some talked.  I was in the sitting and talking group and got a nice chair-line tan on my back.  Once we returned to the 4H Center, I think we were all exhausted from our nice, restful day!  I ended the day by skipping dinner to Skype with Collin for the first time since he left.  It was great to catch up on what he is doing and we talked for a good hour about what is new since he left!

Monday began with open discussion groups about topics of our choice.  Then we moved to conflict management and then time management.  Then, the moment we had all been waiting for—we found out where we would be going for our “practical learning period”.  The practical learning period involved a 4-night stay with a host family with the days packed with 4H Club visits.  My traveling companions were Paivi and Tiina from Finland, Judith from Malawi, Mercy from Nigeria, and our only male and Swahili speaker—Victor from Kenya.  Tuesday morning our group headed into Tanga to catch our daladala to our destination, the coastal village of Pangani.  I have visited Pangani twice before so I knew that I would love it.  Once we reached Pangani we were met by the District Advisors for the area and were taken to meet some school officials and then to our host families.  I was envisioning 2 or 3 of us each staying with a host family.  Wrong.  We were almost all with different families, so I was a little nervous when I was dropped off at a house by myself. 

I was quickly welcomed by Rukia (age 18) who is in secondary school at a nearby Islamic school.  She took me through the house and into the backyard where I was handed half a coconut and a bench thing to sit on.  She taught me how to grate the coconut on a blade that is attached to the bench.  It takes a little practice, but I got the hang of it.  I also helped stir things over the fire, and shred tomatoes into a pulp, sift through rice, and I was even put in charge of scaling and cleaning the fish.  I had never done that before, but I am now a pro…even though I really don’t need to ever do that again.  After I helped with dinner preparations for a while I was told to grab my things because we were going to my host family.  I was a little confused considering I thought that this was my host family, but I did what I was told and grabbed my bags.  Rukia led me down little trails until we reached my host family where the mother was cooking up a storm.  Rukia stayed for a little while to help me with dinner and Swahili.  Eventually my 2 host brothers and host sister came and started talking to me as the two boys (ages 14 and 16) spoke quite a bit of English.  At some point in time my host mom must have told them to only speak to me in Swahili because I had said that I wanted to learn Swahili while I was here.  I was a little sad when she forbid them from talking to me in English because now I was back to barely understanding a word.  It was only when I was really, truly, and completely confused that she would allow them to explain to me in English.  My new family was so full of love for each other and so cheerful and welcoming to me, I knew we would get along just fine!  That evening they pulled out a children’s book called “Juma na Malaria” (Juma and Malaria) for me to read and see how much I could comprehend.  We barely made it through the first page because I was so slow in reading it, but we had a great time as they tried to teach me some new Swahili!

The next morning I got up and ate breakfast and was again told to grab all of my things to meet the rest of the group for club visits.  I was again a little confused as to why I had to take all of my things but just did what I was told.  What I didn’t know what that I wouldn’t be staying with this family anymore but with the first family I was with for the remainder of my stay.  Unfortunately I didn’t know that so I didn’t take any pictures of my first host family and never told them goodbye!  Hopefully I will be back in Pangani and can see them again to thank them for the awesome night I spent with them. 

Each day in Pangani we visited two 4H Clubs at primary schools.  Every primary school in the Pangani district has 4H!  Isn’t that awesome?  When we visited the schools we were always welcomed like royalty with singing, dancing, dramas, and even acrobatics at one school.  All of the Clubs also have gardens that they care for.  When we spoke with each Club about their needs and challenges, they all said that they need access to water as there is none near the school.  In order to water the gardens they have to bring water from home.  There are no wells for the schools.  When we returned to Kange we found that this was a common problem amongst all of the clubs visited, not just in Pangani.

When I returned to Rukia’s house (my new host family), I again helped with the cooking and was provided with a little snack since dinner was several hours away.  Rukia’s family is Islamic and since it is Ramadan they are fasting from dawn to dusk, so I was the only one to snack while the cooking was taking place.  That evening Rukia also took me to visit her school. Because it is an Islamic school, I wore a hijab to visit.   A my hijab was a black, long sleeved dress that went to the ground and I wore a head scarf.  It was interesting to see how people’s response to me changed when I walked through town.  Some looked at me with more respect, some with less, some didn’t look at me at all, and some looked confused as to why this mzungu (white person) was wearing a head scarf.  I also dressed in hijab the next day when I went to pay my respects to a family friend whose husband had died. 

When we ate dinner that night, we sat on a mat on the floor and ate with our hands.  There are a lot of things people eat with their hands.  Ugali (sort of like grits) is always eaten with your hands, but here they ate everything with their hands.  Rice, beans, fish, tomatoes, sauce, eggplant, everything.  It took some getting used to, but I am surprised to say that I did quite well at it considering I generally exhibit the grace and elegance of a hippopotamus.  We also ate dinner separately from the men in the family.  They were in the next room over.

On Saturday when we returned to Kange, I was totally exhausted and couldn’t wait to get to bed even though I knew we had a full day ahead of us.  When someone mentioned going to a local club that night I was hesitant to say I would go because I really wanted to get some sleep, but how often do you have the opportunity to go dancing in Tanzania with people from all over the world?  I had to say yes, but I would probably leave early.  Around 11 pm we boarded a daladala to take us into Tanga, the daladala would take us back at 2 am so I would need to get a taxi if I wanted to go back early.  I had so much fun the time flew by and when the bus headed back I was amongst the 6 who decided to stay behind until 4am!  I am not normally a nightlife person, but we had a great time and only regretted it briefly when my alarm went off a couple hours later. 

The last days of the conference were spent working on action plans to carry out when we got home and evaluating the conference and ourselves.  The last day we had a closing ceremony and received certificates for our completion of the seminar.  The last night we had a banquet and a farewell party with lots of fun and dancing and hugging.  The next morning I woke up at 5 am (after a whopping 2.5 hours of sleep) to see my new friends off on the bus heading for Dar es Salaam.  I was so sad to see everyone leave, and I hope we can see each other again.  Each and every participant contributed so much to the conference and to my own personal learning.  Everyone is so dedicated to their work and their organizations it is truly inspiring.  Here are some stories and programs that truly inspired me.  This is really the best part of this blog post, so don’t skip it.

Namibia 4H:  This program has been in existence for 12 years now but receives very little support from their own government and relies on funding from the Finnish Government for all of their programs right now.  Unfortunately they are still waiting to find out if they will receive funding for the next 3 years of their program.  They will find out in November if their funding has been approved.  If it is not, they have no other sponsorship right now so the program will probably shut down.  Kulu and Beatrice are two of the most hilarious, passionate, and hardworking people I know who would do anything for their program to continue working to serve the youth of Namibia.  

Malawi: The Malawi 4H program is only 3 months old, which means that they have a lot of growing to do and are just figuring out what opportunities there are for the 4H program.  This is a very exciting time to shape and mold the program.  They are focusing a lot on environmental work as well as agriculture.  Judith is such a passionate leader for the organization and would do anything to make sure that it succeeds!  She is so full of energy, I know that she and 4H Malawi WILL succeed!

Uganda: While there is a Uganda 4H organization, Benson and Coco were actually representing CIYOTA (Coburwas International Youth Organization to Transform Africa).  And if anyone could transform Africa, it would be these two.  This organization is housed in the Kyangwali refugee settlement in Uganda, where the founders live.  They live there because they are also refugees from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).  Listening to their stories is like reading a book.  Because they are not my stories to tell, I will not go into much detail.  Benson was attending school in the DRC away from home when the war came to his school.  He fled the area by himself and spent 2 years in forests, jungles, and various villages before he found his way to Uganda.  He was 14 when he left school and 16 when he reached Uganda.  It was 7 years before he was able to locate his family in the DRC again.  In the refugee camp he started playing soccer and was so good he was able to attend college on his soccer skills.  He saw such a need in his camp for youth to learn skills and have something worthwhile to work on that he started this organization.  Now there is a hostel, school, and various livelihood skill clubs like 4H. 

Coco’s story is similar in that she fled the DRC with her aunt and cousin.  She has never completed secondary school even though she has less than one year left, she does not have the money to cover the school fees.  If she could complete this she would possibly be able to attend college.  She works hard for her organization and always has such a bright attitude and personality.

There are 50 more stories where these came from and like I said, I wish that I could share them all.  The people that I had the honor to live with and learn with for the past two weeks are some of the most inspirational people I have ever met.  They talk about their lives and hardships and challenges so matter-of-factly that it makes me grimace when I think of the things that I complain about.  I hope that I have given you some inspiration for the day and helped you know a little more about 4H and youth organizations around the world.  If you have any questions about anything specifically, please don’t hesitate to contact me.  As always, if you want to find a way to help, let me know and I will put you in contact with the right person.  Thanks for reading all the way to the end!  You deserve a little treat for your perseverance!

Click here to check out pictures from the conference and home-stay!

Back to the Beginning

On Saturday I decided that I had hung around Tanga long enough.  It was time to venture out on my own and visit some old friends of mine that I hadn’t seen for a long time.  For those of you who don’t know, I first came to Tanzania 4 years ago on a mission trip.  Myself and 9 other Americans were stationed outside of Morogoro in the Uluguru Mountains with several Tanzanian college students as guides and translators.  If you ever want to get to know someone VERY well, I highly recommend traveling to a developing country with them.  You will learn more than you ever needed to know, and if you are still speaking to each other after the trip, you know your friendship will last through anything.  We all had an amazing time together, and our translators became our close friends. 

It was my experience 4 years ago that led me to where I am today…back in Tanzania.  Not only did I leave Tanzania wanting to come back again someday, I left Tanzania knowing that I wanted to pursue a career in international development.  When I got back to Texas A&M, I changed my major from International Studies to Agricultural Development.   This may seem like an odd change, since I wanted to do international development, but if you want to work in developing countries where well over 50% of the workforce is employed in agriculture, it is a very good way to find a practical solution to 3^rd World issues.  Suddenly I discovered that I was not the first person to think this way and found myself surrounded with like-minded classmates at Texas A&M, along with a host of professors, organizations, and books on the topic.  Don’t you hate it when you come up with an amazing, unique idea and find out that thousands of people have already been doing it for years?  My brother, Paul, still holds fast to the belief that he invented the snowboard.  Someone else just invented the snowboard also…and first.

Anyway, I have kept in contact with many of these Tanzanian friends and was excited to find that my friend Elisha still lives in Morogoro.  He is working towards his Masters Degree at Sokoine University of Agriculture (SUA).  He welcomed me to visit this weekend, and I gladly accepted.  Saturday morning, I took the daladala to the bus stand in Tanga and found a bus leaving almost immediately for Morogoro.  The bus ride took nearly 6 hours and as I neared Morogoro, the mountains rose in front of me.  I must had looked like a lunatic, sitting alone on the bus with a huge smile plastered on my face.  I made it to Morogoro’s city center where I had agreed to meet Elisha.  I waited and then started talking to a young man who was using me to practice his English.  Suddenly I felt a hand on my elbow and heard someone behind me yell “Elisha is here!” I can’t tell you how ecstatic I was to see him after all this time!  He took me to get some lunch and we mostly just stared at each other and said “I can’t believe you are here!”  While I have wanted to return to Morogoro for 4 years, the fact that I actually had was a little unbelievable.  Elisha informed me that he had arranged for me to stay in a dorm at SUA, we were going there to meet some of his friends, and then there was a going away party for some international students from Austria and Norway who had been studying at SUA for the semester.  I had only been there a few hours and I already had several new friends and was hanging out at a party where everyone spoke English.  Then I remembered what I happened to read on the internet that morning about the bombing and shooting in Norway.  The group of five from Norway were obviously really anxious to be home with their families after what had happened.  Two of the girls knew several people who had been at the youth camp, so far they had only received good news about their friends, though one was in the hospital, undergoing surgery.  My heart went out to them as I can’t imagine being away from your home when you receive news like that.  Keep them in your thoughts and prayers as they finish their final exams and head back to their homes.

After the party we headed to the dorms where I was introduced to my new roommates, three welcoming girls who took great care of me, even heating water for me in the morning for a hot shower.  While the dorms at SUA are really nice, there is still no hot water.  Although I am used to taking cold showers, the water in Morogoro must be refrigerated.  It is absolutely frigid.  Since I only had a bucket full of boiling water and no cup, I decided I would take a normal shower, then use the hot water to pull myself out a near hypothermic state.  It worked and I have never been happier to have hot water in my life. 

Sunday morning Elisha and I headed to a church in Morogoro where we sat next to two girls from America who are teaching at a primary school in Morogoro.  They got to Tanzania about 2 weeks ago and are loving it.  After church Elisha and I went to get lunch and walk around Morogoro for a while while I tried to get my bearings.  Surprisingly, while some things about the city are the same, a lot has changed if 4 years and Morogoro seems to have grown drastically from what I remember.  We walked a long way through the market, streets, and up towards the mountains.  We were reminiscing about events and people and I asked if he knew what had happened to Agripina, one of our translators.  Agripina isn’t on Facebook, and I had completely lost contact with her.  Elisha updated me to the best of knowledge, knowing she had gotten married, but didn’t know where she was now.  He said “hang on, let me make a phone call.”  And a few minutes later, we were walking to her home, only a couple of kilometers from where we already were.  We met her and her husband Samweli at their home and talked for a long time about the fun we had on the mountain.  Agripina was more than a little surprised to see me, since she had no idea I was even on the continent, let alone in her neighborhood!  Agripina and Samweli are both teachers at secondary schools in Morogoro.  Samweli wanted to know a lot about my work with 4H and is hoping to use 4H programs or start a 4H club for young women entrepreneurs that he works with.  It was great getting to use my knowledge and explain what 4H programs are available in his area! 

After talked for a long time, we all walked back into the city where Samweli was meeting with an American who is working on building wells in villages up in the mountains.  I know I have said it before, but one of my favorite parts of traveling is meeting all of the fascinating people who are giving their time in such unique ways.  It never fails that when I am traveling I meet at least one person like this.  After meeting with him, Elisha and I headed back to campus to get dinner at the faculty restaurant.  We picked up one of Elisha’s roommates along the way and when we got to the restaurant we were met with more friends of Elisha who we joined for dinner.  There ended up being 6 of us eating together and we sat, ate, and talked for hours.  I had so much fun getting to know these students who were all studying different fields of agriculture and doing research in various areas of Tanzania.   

I was going to head back to Tanga on Monday morning; however with a little convincing (it didn’t take much) I decided to stick around for another day in order to hike to the village of Mbete, the village I was working in 4 years ago.  When Elisha and I started driving from SUA to the base of the mountains, we passed a sign with a picture that looked like a rat sniffing a bomb.  Elisha asked if I knew what it was and when I said no, he explained: this is a lab where they train rats to sniff out old minefields and dig up the mines.

For those for you who have never heard of this, yes, I am serious.  Coincidentally, my mom read an article about this project before I came to Tanzania, I just didn’t know that it was based at SUA.  Elisha said that we could take a tour if I was at all interested.  Of course, I was.  In fact, I think he was a little taken aback by how excited I actually was about this!  We pulled into the parking lot and just walked up to the buildings; the men working there were very welcoming and didn’t hesitate to show us around.  In case you are like me and were envisioning little white lab rats, let me relay another story to you from when Collin and I were in Zanzibar, two months ago:

We went to an aquarium where you could pay a little and then learn about sea turtles, feed them, and even hold the small ones.  After we took a million pictures of ourselves with the adorable sea turtles, we were shown to the less adorable creatures that inhabit the aquarium: Two cages, each holding pythons.  I’m not one of those people who do a frightened snake dance when they come upon a snake, but I’m not a fan of them either.  And these massive pythons looked like they could devour me for afternoon tea (assuming snakes have afternoon tea).  So I was surprised when our guide told us that they feed each snake one rat every two weeks.  I said that didn’t seem like much, they must be big rats.  He said they were just normal sized rats…and held his hands about two feet apart to show just how normal sized they are.

The rats here more resemble opossums than my idea of a rat.  But anyway, we were shown to where the rats are kept and we got to hold them!  Then they took us to where they train the rats to identify the scent of explosives.  They basically use Pavlov’s method.  When the rat has correctly identified a positive sample, the trainer makes a clicking noise and then gives a piece of food, or some mashed banana.  After they have been trained to identify the smell, they are taken to a dirt area where samples are in the ground and they have to dig them up.  There is a minefield for training near the area for the final step of the training.  After they have been trained, the rats are mostly transported to Mozambique where there are many unidentified landmines.  People can also send soil samples to the lab so the rats can identify if there are explosives in that area.  Even more amazing is that the rats can also be trained to detect other smells.  For example, they can detect tuberculosis.  To date, rats have detected 716 cases of TB that were otherwise missed by lab tests.  Totally amazing.  I cannot wait to see what these rats can do next! 

If you want to learn more about this project, they have a fantastic website: www.apopo.org

After this surprise visit, we continued on our way to the Uluguru Mountains.  After we parked in an obliging man’s yard, we began our hike and I was reminded of the mantra my friend Kara and I used when we were hiking to the camp, “It’s only twenty minutes, it’s only twenty minutes, one foot in front of the other, it’s only twenty minutes…” Except I don’t think we ever made it to the camp in anything close to twenty minutes.  Once we reach Bahati Camp, we rested for a little bit and I took pictures before we headed on to Mbete.  These mountains are the most beautiful place I have ever been.  Between the tropical foliage, the mountains, and the rivers and waterfalls, it is impossible to not love the area.  

We headed farther up the mountain to the village of Mbete, where I was hoping to be able to see my old friend, Abdullah.  Fortunately for me, he happened to be home when I arrived and he remembered me as well.  After hugs, we sat and talked on his from porch as we had so many times before, four years ago.  After we caught up with how his family is doing and my work in Tanzania, we walked down to the new guest house that was built on the way up to Mbete to get some soda and enjoy each others company a little longer. 

We reluctantly headed down the mountain and back to SUA for dinner with Elisha’s sister, then bed, then Elisha took me to the bus stand the next morning for the 6 hour ride back to Tanga.  Overall it was a WONDERFUL trip and I cannot wait to make it again! 

Whew!  Ok, now for my 4H work:  we are in full swing here at the 4H Center in preparation for the Take a Lead Conference that starts next week.  I am honored to be a participant in the conference as one of five delegates from the US.  There will be about 50 delegates in all from Finland, Austria, Canada, America, Gambia, Liberia, Kenya, Nigeria, Cameroon, Ghana, Tanzania, Uganda, Ethiopia, Namibia, Malawi, and Zambia!  The conference is two weeks long and includes several days of home-stay visits to clubs around this area.  This is the third year for the conference and the focus is on volunteers this year.  Many of the participants work for 4H Organizations, some work for other youth development related organizations.  The conference is held here and most of the delegates will be staying here at the hostel with me.  I can’t wait to see who I meet and what all I learn!  I know that this will be a great experience and will add to my work for the Global 4-H Network!  I will try to update everyone half way through the conference, but the schedule is packed with activities, so it may be two weeks before you hear from me again, with the longest blog post ever.  Expect lots of pictures and stories.

And for pictures of Morogoro, Mbete, and explosive detecting rats, look on Facebook, or click here!

I'll Take "Tanzania" for 800, Alex!

Well…I did it.  I made it over a week without my English speaking companion, Collin!  I have, however, been updating him every chance I get about what is going on here.  I just can’t help myself.  After spending the past week travelling through Kenya, Uganda, and Ethiopia, he is home today.  And if you haven’t been reading his blog, the pictures from his Kenya Safari are amazing, so you should go check it out:

collininafrica.blogspot.com

I wasn’t going to post a blog, because there hasn’t been anything substantial that has happened this week.  Mostly office work, no trip this weekend.  But then I realized “hey, when has having nothing to say ever stopped someone from blogging before?” I’m SO sorry.

I realize, as I think about what to write, that many of my readers (all nine of you) may not know that much about Tanzania besides what I have told you already.  So allow me to educate you a little about this unique country.  First, I know that most people think of Africa as one big, autonomous country.  That is how I used to see Africa also, but the more you learn about different cultures and histories of the countries in Africa, the more you see how unique and different they all really are.  For example, Tanzania is bordered to the south by Mozambique.  Guess what language they speak in Mozambique?  Go ahead, guess.  Portuguese.  (duh)  They also speak a plethora of other languages and dialects in Mozambique, as is the same in most countries.  There are, for example, over 200 dialects of Swahili.  Because of tribes, cultures, colonization, and a host of other factors, each country has a unique history.

Now, I’m allowing my dork to show a little bit here, but one of my absolute favorite websites (besides Wikipedia) is the CIA World Factbook.  It is a fantastic resource for school papers, researching before a trip, or for bored people like me who love to carry around useless facts in my brain.  Useful information escapes my head immediately, but random knowledge sticks with me forever, just waiting for Alex Trebek to say “This author of Middlemarch published under the name ‘George Eliot’.” To which I yell out “WHO IS ‘MARY ANN EVANS’?”, impressing all those within earshot.  Of course they never ask that question, though I have been carrying around that knowledge for over 7 years now, so I hope you are all appropriately impressed.  I can never remember how to say useful things in Swahili like “I need to get off the bus NOW!”  But I can say “Iko wapi uwanja wakambi?” (Where is the campground) and “Wanawake wote wawili wameva mashati ya buluu” (The two women are wearing blue shirts).  That last one I just like to say because of all the W’s…and people who don’t speak Swahili think I really know what I’m doing. 

Anyway, you go to the World Factbook, pick a country (any country), and read massive amounts of information about that country.  Their history, what their flag looks like, their population, education rates, common diseases, occupations, imports and exports, major waterways, the number of telephones in the country, and kilometers of paved and unpaved roads.  It is totally fascinating information.  So, while I could let you go to the website and read it for yourself (or, more likely, NOT read it for yourself), I’m going to tell you some of the most fascinating things that I have found about Tanzania.

History:  Tanzania (or Tanganyika) gained its independence from Britain in the early 1960’s.  In 1964, Tanganyika and Zanzibar came together to form Tanzania.  Tanzania (including the islands of Zanzibar, Pembe, and Mafia) is a little more than double the size of California.  While its entire east coast is along the Indian Ocean, Tanzania still manages to border 8 different countries: Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (formerly Zaire), Zambia, Malawi, and Mozambique. 

Tanzania is a treasure-trove of awesome natural sights.   Tanzania is the home of Mt. Kilimanjaro (the 5^th highest peak in the world and highest point in Africa), the Serengeti (this borders Tanzania and Kenya), Lake Victoria (the World’s second largest freshwater lake), Lake Tanganyika (the World’s second deepest lake), and of course the Zanzibar Archipelago.  These natural resources are one reason that Tanzania is a fairly stable country in Sub-Saharan Africa.  Unfortunately, not all of the facts about Tanzania are like these.

There are 1.4 million people living with HIV/AIDS in Tanzania, ranking it 7^th in the world.  Tanzania ranks 4^th in deaths caused by HIV/AIDS.  The total life expectancy is 52.85 years.  Making it about time for me to have a mid-life crisis. 

The biggest agricultural commodities here are: coffee (yum!), sisal, tea, cotton, pyrethrum (insect repellent made from chrysanthemums), tobacco, cashews, cloves, corn, cassava (a root that is commonly eaten here, but is also used to make tapioca), and bananas.  80% of the population is employed by agriculture.  In the US, only 2% of the population works in agriculture.

There are only 173,552 phone land lines in the country (ranking 131^st in the world), however, there are 17.677 million cell phones here.  There are only 678,000 internet users here.  Can you imagine that?  The population of Tanzania is 42,746,620 and there are only 678,000 internet users. 

There are 124 airports in Tanzania.  9 have paved runways. 

77.5% of males and 62.2% of females age 15 and over can read and write.

22.5% of males and 37.8% of females can’t.

Even with these staggering statistics, Tanzania is far better off than many other countries.  There is no civil war.  There are no conflicts with other countries.  We have access to the ocean, enabling us to import and export goods.  The government is fairly stable.  The people are friendly, hardworking, and ambitions. 

Because of these things, combined with their abundance of ecotourism opportunities and natural resources, Tanzania has a bright future.  Working with 4H Tanzania has afforded me with the opportunity and privilege of working toward that future.  In the US, our hope for 4-H members is that they will graduate from college, maybe get a masters degree, become the best in their profession, become a billionaire, and then, of course, donate a substantial portion of their billions to 4-H.  In Tanzania, we of course have these hopes as well, but more realistically, we hope that the members don’t contract HIV/AIDS, attend some of secondary school, and are able to provide food for themselves and their families.    It is hard to wrap my head around this reality.  I like problems to be fixed quickly, like everyone.  I want to spend 6 months here and suddenly have a developed country.  That won’t happen, but what will happen is that little by little, year by year, generation after generation, Tanzania will improve. 

There are so many different areas of improvement that need to be tackled that it can seem overwhelming at times.  Government policy, transportation, medical care, education, food aid, micro-loans, technology, housing, gender equality, agriculture, the environment…plus a million other topics.  Instead of being overwhelmed though, it means opportunity.  It means that regardless of your occupation, field of study, your interests, or your abilities, I guarantee there is a way for you to help.  Whether you are lending your money, time, or expertise, I encourage you to find a way help.  And if you need help finding a way to help, don’t hesitate to ask!  There are a host of websites and organizations that I can point you towards.  And hopefully very soon, one of those organizations will be 4-H itself!

Well, looks like I managed to post a blog after all.  Sorry this isn’t accompanied with hilarious stories of my inability to function gracefully or pictures of adorable kids, but I’m sure the next post will!  Schools that have been on holiday started up again this week, so it is only a matter of time before I am out and about visiting schools!       

I Don’t Think We’re in Tanzania Anymore, Toto

And, we’re not.  On Thursday, Collin and I left Tanga for a short trip to Kenya.  Mombasa, Kenya, and the beaches south of Mombasa to be exact.  After our bumpy bus ride north from Tanga, along the coast, we reached the Kenyan border.  The road in Tanzania is currently under construction thanks to funding from the U.S. Government.  The road looks lovely.  Flat, wide, and….incomplete.  As we bumped along on the old road, we could watch the beautiful expanse of almost complete road out our window the entire ride.  Talk about salt in the wound. 

As we approached the border to Kenya, we were given papers to fill out— 3 of them.  If you have ever tried writing in the car, you know that it can be difficult.  If you’ve ever tried writing on a bus in a developing country, you know it is impossible.   We were afraid we would be turned away at the boarder for writing like 3 year-olds.  Our forms were completely illegible and despite the fact that we started filling them out about 30 minutes before we got there, we were still not done when we reached the border.  Lucky for us, they let us in anyway and we discovered that the road we were travelling in Kenya was actually quite pleasant.  We felt like we were flying, though I’m pretty sure we were just going about 50 mph.  We reached our destination of Ukundu in no time and hailed a taxi for our hotel.  Phase 1 of the vacation was successfully completed!

We stayed around Ukundu for two days at a lovely place called “Forest Dream” (because when I think of Kenya, I think of forests?).  Across the main road and down a little further was access to a beautiful beach.  Mombasa and the beaches surrounding are quite a vacation destination.  It can be fun to be in a touristy place…and it has its drawbacks as well.  One of the perks is that people expect to see white people who only speak English, so just a few words of Swahili makes them think “wow!”.  One of the downers is that you can’t walk 5 steps without someone saying “my friend, I make a special price for you, because you are my friend!”  We experienced this some while we were in Zanzibar, but nothing could prepare us for Mombasa’s determination.  Collin and I tried various approaches to avoid these meetings.  We spoke in Spanish (this may have been a more successful approach if I actually spoke any Spanish).  We told them that we had no money (you would think that that would send people away, but it didn’t seem to deter them).  Our final and most successful attempt was to “walk with purpose,” as Collin called it.  Just walk like a New Yorker and they tend to leave you alone.  It makes it difficult to enjoy the beach, but at least we made good time!  Sometimes they just step up their game and try a new sales approach.  Once we actually reached the city of Mombasa I received several “Madam, you are beautiful”s and a couple “You need a bus ticket?  But I am in love with you!”   If you are ever in need of a morale boost (or marriage proposal)…Mombasa is the place for you. 

Something that most people probably don’t know about Kenya is that English is actually the official language of the country, which means a lot of people speak it.  This is very helpful for people like myself who speak only a little (“kidogo”—remember this word…it will come in handy later) Swahili. 

After spending two nights in Ukunda, we hired a taxi to drive us the 40km (25 miles) to the city of Mombasa—the second largest city in Kenya (next to the Capitol of Nairobi).  We asked the driver if he would stay with us in the city and take us places we wanted to go, since we had no idea where anything was.    Thankfully he said yes and we embarked on our few hour tour of the city.  He took us first to Fort Jesus, a fort built at the end of the 16^th Century by the Portuguese looking to secure the port city as their own.  Old town Mombasa is beautiful and has a heavy Muslim influence.  The roads of the old part of the city are very narrow, with old buildings towering on each side of you.  Very Beautiful!

Collin and I have learned several lessons while we have been here.  We learn some every new place that we go.  Here are some that I have learned while I have been in Kenya:

Lesson #1:  If you are the type of person who smears their nail polish the moment you are done painting your nails, you should not be the type of person to get something semi-permanent…like, say….henna for example.

Lesson #2: If you ignore lesson 1 and decide to get henna anyways, be sure that cross-cultural barriers are out of the way before you begin.  For example, kidogo (little—see I told you it would come in handy) to me might mean “a few little dotted flowers on maybe one finger.”  Kidogo to a henna artist might mean “maybe we only go half way up the arm.” 

Lessons learned.  I have taken these lessons to heart and will never make the same mistakes again (or at least for another couple of months).

After we left Fort Jesus, we drove to find a place to have lunch and our driver dropped us off at a restaurant something akin to a Kenyan version of the Hard Rock Café, where you could order a cheeseburger called the “Michael Jackson Facelifter.”  I don’t know why.  Collin ordered the “Stevie Wonder” burger and I stuck with my standard since I have been here of “fish”.  When we finished, we loaded back into our taxi and headed to the bus stand to drop me off before the driver took Collin to the Airport.  Here we were…I had known it was coming for a long time now…but I was dreading it.  The goodbye. 

For the past five weeks, with the exception of when we were sleeping, we have probably been apart for a grand total of 8 hours.  So the fact that we were saying goodbye for at least 5 months was a little hard to take.  Collin has been a wonderful friend, co-worker, and traveling companion.  Together we have experienced culture, awesome sights, successes, and failures (or “learning experiences” as my 4-H Educators called them). 

Note to Collin:  Have a wonderful time on the rest of your trip!  When things go wrong, just think to yourself “hakuna matata” and “T.I.A.”  Then give yourself a homeschooler nipi tano for me!

After we said goodbye (or “see you later” as we like to say instead), I set off to purchase a bus ticket back to Tanga…all by myself.  This is the first thing I have had to do solo since I stepped off the bus in Tanga and I was somewhat saddened to find that the bus didn’t leave until 5:30 pm.  I bought the ticket at 2:30.  So, what does a girl do for 3 hours by herself in a city she knows nothing about while carrying her luggage?  She finds a restaurant, orders a Coke, and sits down to write her blog.  And that is where you would find me now (if I had internet and was posting this immediately).  I have been here for 2 hours thus far and have, just by sitting here been able to procure the phone numbers of two men.  Only one of whom would I ever consider calling.  Allow me to explain.

I hadn’t been sitting here for very long before I noticed that every time I looked up, a man sitting in the corner was looking at me.  When he approached me after this went on for about 30 minutes, I nearly said “look buddy, I know I’m white.  I don’t want a bus ticket.  I don’t want sunglasses.  And I don’t want a keychain with my name engraved in it.”  I’m glad I didn’t.  He walked up and said “Hello, are you Olivia?”  I said, “Umm.  No.”  He said, “I’m so sorry.  That is why I have been looking at you.  A women named Olivia came here from Britain about 3 years ago to work in the hospital with a group of students.  She stayed in my house and you look a lot like her.”  I was still a little suspicious but as the conversation went on it became obvious that it was true.  It turns out that this man (his name is David) has students work with him as he takes them to surrounding areas to work with the hospital.  David’s son is studying economics at Texas Tech University.  I said “I WENT TO COLLEGE AT TEXAS A&M!” and the conversation continued.  To you Aggies out there, I did refrain from hissing at the mention of “Tortilla Tech,” as I don’t need anyone to think that I am weird here.  My permanent Fightin’ Texas Aggie Ring tan-line proves my allegiance.  Maybe I could get a henna Aggie Ring…just in case I ever lost mine.  It’s an idea, anyways.  And on a side note, if you turn your Aggie Ring around, it looks convincingly like a wedding band…I would need this approach later on in the evening.  David told me that if I am ever in Mombasa again to give him a call and he will show me the work he does and maybe I could work with the students if there are any there at the time.  These are the kinds of chance meetings that I love about travelling.  I have yet to go somewhere and not meet someone who has something absolutely fascinating to say!

I left the restaurant to find my bus at about 5:00.  This was easier said than done.  When the bus finally pulled up a little after 5:30, I boarded, sat where the nice man told me to and waited.  There was a huge stack of supplies outside of the bus.  Boxes of margarine, apples, sacks of flour, and a ton of other items.  This wasn’t actually a bus.  It was a mini-bus.  Something between a daladala and a coach.  And to my surprise (and chagrin), they were loading ALL of those supplies onto the bus.  I don’t know how they did it but under every seat, in every crack, and filling the aisles were boxes and bags of supplies.  I should know by now that 5:30 does not mean 5:30, but I still sat and looked at my watch every 5 minutes.  Around 6:30 we pulled away from the curb, drove for about 10 minutes and came to a stop.  Suddenly everyone got off the bus.  I didn’t know why, but I figured that I better too.  The bus driver stopped me and asked if I knew how to find the bus after we crossed on the ferry and when I said no he pointed to a woman and said “follow her.”  And I did.  I wouldn’t let her out of my sight as hundreds of people ran to get onto the ferry.  I don’t know why we were running, but when everyone else is, you don’t really have a choice.  We boarded the ferry, stood while the ferry crossed the BAY, and then everyone started running again.  I still don’t know why we were all running, but again, no choice.  I followed the nice women for about 15 minutes through crowds of people and lines of buses, and miraculously, we boarded our bus again.  Because we are so near the equator, it gets dark here around 6:30 every night, so this entire event took place in the dark, which makes life a little more difficult.

We finally crossed into Tanzania after going through customs and immigration, reloaded the bus and began the arduous journey through the rough roads of Tanzania, getting back into Tanga at nearly midnight.  Totally exhausted, the bus driver found a taxi for me that he knew would be safe and I went on my way back to the 4H Center, arriving back a little after midnight.

I had a wonderful time travelling and while I loved having a travel buddy to share my experiences with, it is a completely different adventure to travel by yourself.  It’s like when you go to the mall by yourself and you feel a little lonely at first and wonder what you will do.  Then it occurs to you that you can do whatever you want.  You want to try on a hundred different shirts, you can.  You want to get a soft pretzel, go ahead.  You want to sit on a bench and do nothing, you can do that too.  Once you embrace this concept, the world is your oyster and I am excited to see what new adventures come my way in the next few months!

I know that this post wasn’t really about my 4H work, but rest assured that my next one will be as I am becoming increasingly busy!  I hope everyone’s 4^th of July was AMAZING!  And as always, look to Facebook for my pictures…including the great henna experiment!    If you don't have a Facebook (shocking, I know), you can follow this link to find the pictures!  I just found this out, or I would have been doing this all along.

Tanzania 4H Photos