VISITORS

We recently had the good fortune of receiving a visit from our very good friend Joanna. She was able to spend three weeks with us here in Tanzania. After picking her up in Dar, we went to Paje Beach on Zanzibar for a few days in order to ease Joanna into Tanzania. We had a great time swimming and relaxing on the beach. I think Joanna enjoyed the time to decompress from travelling. We continued our journey by returning to Kibakwe for one week. I think this may have been Joanna’s favorite part of the trip. We had a blast just walking around the village, introducing Joanna to people, and hanging out with our friends at our house. She had some clothes made by Mama Cocu and we did a lot of cooking and baking. After that, we travelled up north to Arusha and Tarangire National Park and Ngorongoro Crater for a few days of safari. The parks were fantastic and we even saw a few black rhinos (through binoculars) at Ngorongoro. Despite Arusha being my least favorite city in Tanzania, we did manage to find some really nice people at the kanga (a traditional cloth imprinted with a design and a single idiom) shops near the bus stand and at Mt. Meru Masai Market. My best interactions with Tanzanians while travelling have been in marketplaces where they’re not expecting a white person to be able to speak Swahili. The average vendor at a Tanzanian marketplace welcomes the opportunity to talk about international politics with a foreigner in Swahili. When we were on safari, we spent one night at a tented lodge near Karatu and Lake Manyara. Absolutely beautiful. Views of Lake Manyara from a wooded hillside and great accommodations. On the way back, we stopped in Morogoro for a night to have dinner at Oasis and relax before going on to Dar. It was a very sad farewell saying goodbye to Joanna at the Dar airport that night, but knowing that we will see her again back in the US in the spring made it ok. We also received a visit from a Peace Corps Trainee who’s at the end of her training. Margaret Mary, who by the time I post this will be at her site, came to “shadow” with us for a week at our site. Shadow week is designed to help trainees get an idea of what to expect once they get to their sites and see what life as a volunteer is like. We asked to get only one trainee since we don’t have a lot of room at our house and, as one of our COSing friends put it, “That’s better because if there’s more than one they can gang up on you.” As it turned out, Margaret was the perfect guest. She was up for anything, always offered to help, brought gifts (though not necessary), and was just an absolute delight. Shadow week is usually pretty chill since it’s one of the only times during training that PCVs are able to be away from their homestay. Most PCVs understand this, so we try to let the trainees plan what to do during their shadow week. As I said before, Margaret was up for anything so we mainly hung out with our friends, walked around our village, cooked, baked, went to visit Ben for a day, and relaxed. All in all, I think it was a really good experience for all of us. I’m really glad we decided to do it. After shadow week was done, we went back to Dar with Margaret for site announcements and then on to Kilosa to help Peter with permaculture training. It was tough being away from our site for so long, but I think the trainees found it helpful to have us around after site announcements to address their questions and apprehensions.


Above are pictures from Joanna's visit to Zanzibar.
Below are pictures of Carla and I with Margaret Mary, our shadow, and at bottom is her at site announcements.

WHAT’S GOING ON IN KIBAKWE?

The following is a glimpse of what it’s like in Kibakwe right now: it’s the midst of the dry season and mosquitoes (and Malaria) have returned, but it hasn’t rained yet, it’s starting to get warmer – 80s daytime, 70s night, people are starting to clean their farms and burn agricultural waste from last season, fierce winds in the afternoons and lots of dust, and everybody’s hoping that we’ll have more rain this year than last. Our biggest challenge in Kibakwe right now is that of water. We are trying to have the intake at the water source up the mountain, rebuilt and enlarged so that we will be able to get water every day of the year without interruption. Right now in Kibakwe is the time of year when the water supply gets cut regularly. Early on it only gets cut for a day and comes back at night, but as we get closer to the rainy season the supply can be cut for up to three or four weeks without a drop. And just because it’s called the rainy season, it doesn’t mean we get rain every day. We recently hiked up the mountain to get pictures of the intake and the supply line in order to inform whichever engineers we choose to do the project. We’re hoping to work with an American in Dodoma that we recently met if his busy schedule will allow. The condition of the intake and the supply line is a little disappointing. There are several leaks in the line, some have been repaired with plastic bags and some are just gushing water into the woods. The intake itself is just a 4’ x 4’ concrete box with the supply line and a cheese grater filter in it. This is what supplies all of Kibakwe with its water. In other news, I’ve recently started going to watch an old woodcarver named Kumwemwetea. I’ve known him for about a year, but only recently have we begun to develop a friendship. A couple of months ago we asked him to carve a few things for us and when he brought them by we started talking about art and carving and if he’d mind if I came to his house to watch him work. Well, he loved the idea and I recently went over there to watch him work. He uses a traditional adze called a tezo in Swahili to rough out the shape, then chisels made from long bicycle bolts, and he finishes with a small curved knife. Finishing consists of sanding and finally coating the wood with hair grease – essentially Vaseline. It was great to watch the old timer work and hang out talking with him about why the Tanzanian youth have no interest in learning this skill. Talking with Kumwemwetea, I realized that he really enjoys doing this. It’s not just about selling it. I found myself thinking, “He reminds me of most other sculptors I know: he’s totally down to earth and unpretentious, he’s telling the kids to shut up and sit still, and he’s working with a cigarette dangling from his mouth.” At that point I realized I wanted to learn about woodcarving from this guy. We’re planning on going up the mountain to cut wood when I get back from traveling and I’d like to get some traditional carving tools made for myself. It’s been so long since I’ve done any sculpture, I think it’ll do me good to start carving with Kumwemwetea on a regular basis. I know I have my creative outlet with the drawing club at the school, but my need for working in 3D is pretty strong. My sculptor friends out there will understand when I say that there’s just something about the transformative aspect of sculpting: of starting with one object that you can hold in your hand like a lump of clay or a piece of wood and then turning it into another, better, more actualized object that you can hold.

The Pictures above are of our water source, a two-hour hike up the mountain from Kibakwe. As you can see the intake is a small square cistern with a pipe attached to it (see photo at left). Pictured with Carla are our counterparts, Madinda and Mama Cocu.

To the right and below are photos Kumwemwetea carving and his finished work. Below right is a picture of him sharpening his knife on a stone he carried from the mountain.

IT’S BEEN MONTHS…

…literally, it’s been months since I’ve posted on the Rocky Woodbridge Journal. I apologize for the long internet silence. We’ve been pretty busy over the past few months with workshops, organizing clubs, writing grants, having a visitor from the US, and lots and lots of travelling. Also over the past couple of months, we have lost most of our Mpwapwa crew. Our good friends Loni, Holley, James and Jane, and James and Christy have all returned to the US after finishing their two years of Peace Corps service which leaves only four of us here in Mpwapwa: Ben, Thad, and Carla and me. Having good American friends that you can periodically hang out with in your region is crucial to the psychological wellbeing of most volunteers. We have a few good Tanzanian friends, but sometimes you just want to speak English with a fellow American that will know where you’re coming from. Having said that, we’re still doing well here. To be honest, since we’ve been travelling so much over the past few months, we crave being in our village for more than just a week at a time. When we are here, we find ourselves incredibly busy. We’re usually at the secondary school meeting with different clubs and organizing with a few of the teachers. Carla has started an English club, my Art club is still going well, and we’ve started working more with the Tumaini (Hope) club for Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVC). Carla’s English club is going well. She’s working with the students to improve their basic conversational skills. Even though most subjects are taught in English, it amounts to little more than a teacher copying out of the book and onto the blackboard and then the students copying into their notebooks. There’s little to no comprehension of the language and that’s true among the teachers as well. Carla is doing her level best to make English club a fun time for the kids. Meanwhile, my art club is moving right along. There are only a few students who are really serious about drawing and they show up for every session. I’ve basically given them a place where they can draw for a couple hours twice a week. My main objective with these kids is to foster in them that they can draw whatever they want, not just from magazine photos of rap artists. I’m trying to encourage creative thought which is not highly valued in Tanzanian culture. If you do something outside of the group or outside the norm, you’re judged for it. We’re working on drawing skills and projection techniques for enlarging pictures. I’d like to be able to do a mural with these students eventually: one that they conceive of and design themselves. Tumaini Club is a group of 59 secondary students that are Orphans or Vulnerable Children (OVC). In the developing world, and specifically in Tanzania, OVC is a term used to describe a person under 18 who has lost at least one parent and/or is living under difficult circumstances such as alcoholic or abusive caretaker, elderly or disabled caretaker, financial hardship, etc. The members of Tumaini (the Swahili word for hope) are currently working on a vegetable garden at the secondary school, from which they sell mchicha (a Tanzanian variety of spinach) to local vendors. Recently, we’ve been working with Carla’s counterpart, Renfrida, and secondary school teacher Mr. Nickson, both professional tailors, in order to diversify the club’s activities. Renfrida and Nickson have agreed to teach sewing fundamentals to the club members. Our hope is that the students will be able to supplement their small vegetable gardening enterprise with a sewing business. I am currently writing a small grant to acquire a sewing machine, sewing supplies, and garden tools, so that Tumaini Club can have a fighting chance for success. All too often the case is that students lose interest in activities for lack of proper equipment, insufficient supplies, and lackluster leadership. We’re trying to lead by example: we’re at the school when we say we will be, we do what we say we’re going to do, and we’re trying to teach that it’s better to earn by hard work than asking for handouts. Also, we are teaching the club members about different gardening techniques like permaculture. The students are just happy to be doing something different. Along those lines, we just acquired a volleyball from James and Christy and we’re planning on teaching the students how to play. Mr. Nickson is really excited about this. Every time I see him he asks if I’ve downloaded the rules yet. It’s really refreshing to see this type of enthusiasm in the village and it makes our job here a lot easier. I’ve included some pictures so you all can get a visual of what I’m talking about. Enjoy.

Clockwise from top left, James (Short), Thad, Loni, James (Tall), Carla, and Christy, James (Tall) by himself, and Loni, Christy, and Holley

A MONTH IN THE VILL

Greetings from Kibakwe. We're only about a month or two away from our landscape going from green to brown. The desert has already started reclaiming Kibakwe by occupying the recently harvested fields. Even though the daytime temperature doesn't fluctuate much year-round, Tanzanians complain about how cold it is right now(50s overnight, 80s during the day). Honestly, this is close to being my ideal climate, but without seasonal change it gets a little confusing as to what time of year it is.

Well, the past couple of months have been busy. Carla and I both succeeded in organizing and conducting two one-day workshops on the topic of HIV/AIDS education. Each Training Of Trainers(TOT) was conducted at the secondary school on consecutive Saturdays in May. The first one was for HIV/AIDS support groups which are composed mostly of concerned members of the community with little no formal education. They absolutely loved the seminar, found it to be really helpful, and were so appreciative of the opportuntiy to learn. The second group was the Kibakwe area primary and secondary school teachers and they were more difficult to please. First of all, there were a few that voiced their disappointment in not receiving a posho or sitting allowance to attend the workshop. The posho system is one of the main obstacles to development in Tanzania. Most Tanzanians with any amount of education beyond secondary school or in any position of authority automatically expect to be paid(posho) to attend seminars and workshops, very different from the US where attendees are the ones to pay. Secondly, there was one primary school teacher that expressed her displeasure the night before the seminar when she discovered there would be no meat offered with lunch the next day. She actually called me on my cell phone to complain about a free meal. During the workshop itself, there was a small portion of the group of teachers that seemed really interested in and attentive to what was being presented. I have much more faith in the community members to educate others about HIV/AIDS than in the teachers. Overall, though, I felt that the training events can be counted as a success. Even if many of the people don't do any teaching, the materials are out there in the community for people to read themselves. Over two workshops, there were 72 attendees, and each one got four books on HIV/AIDS, life skills, nutrition, and nutrition for children living with HIV/AIDS. That makes 288 books that are, hopefully, in circulation in Kibakwe right now.

Soon we'll be going on vacation for a bit since our friend Joanna is coming for a visit in the next couple of weeks. We'll pick her up from the airport in Dar Es Salaam, then to Zanzibar for some beach time, back to the village for a while, up North to Arusha, Ngorongoro Crater and Tarangire Park, and finally back to Dar. The past weeks have been like anticipating summer break and our TOTs were like our final exams. It will be good and bad to get away from the village for a while. Good to see our friend that we haven't seen in over a year and travel to cool places and eat good food, and; bad to be away from our house, our neighbors, our garden, and our cat. Right now in Kibakwe most people are at their farms harvesting peanuts, corn, and sunflowers. Once the harvest is done, most Kibakweans won't have anything to do until October or November when they will prepare their farms for the next growing season. Starting in July will be the perfect time to start planning our next projects since everyone will be around with nothing to do. However, nothing to do also means lots of time to hang out and get drunk, so I'm trying to be optimistic. On the agenda right now for possible projects is an HIV/AIDS awareness mural, an HIV/AIDS video series to be held at the secondary school, an English club/class at the secondary school, a sewing club for secondary school orphans, gardens at the primary and secondary schools, and trying to rebuild a better, larger water intake.

I'm hoping that our little vacation with Joanna will recharge our batteries for the upcoming work. And here it is, the request for donations. If anyone wants to send us any really simple kids' books or English flash cards, that's what we're looking for right now. Also, if anyone has any books on drawing or Art History, my drawing club would love them. Thank you all for your continued generosity.

JUST WORDS. NO PICTURES.

Sorry there aren't any pictures this time. I had some problems resizing the most recent photos from Kibakwe and beyond. I promise there will be many new pics next time. The latest news from Kibakwe is as follows: both Carla's and my grants were approved and the money was deposited into our accounts, so we've been able to start planning our Training Of Trainers(TOT). These will be one-day training sessions on how to teach about HIV/AIDS. My grant is to teach local AIDS groups and youth peer educators while Carla's is to teach Kibakwe area primary and secondary school teachers. We're organizing all of the logistics of these training events and they will be taught by our head doctor and the nurse midwife. Everyone is very excited about this and we're hoping it will all go well. In other news, I was recently elected Volunteer Action Committee (VAC) representative for the Dodoma region. This is the Peace Corps equivalent of a labor union or student council. We meet for three days in Dar es Salaam four times a year and discuss volunteer issues and present them to administration. We also write a quarterly newsletter detailing issues discussed and updates on our respective regions and their volunteers. I have started an art club at the secondary school and we meet once a week for two hours to draw. All of the students (about 10 or 12 usually) love to draw and some of them are really talented. I'm planning to involve them in the painting of a mural on the side of the village office within the next few months. I've been trying to teach them different techniques such as how to enlarge a photo or drawing without using a projector. Those artists out there will know what I'm talking about. Overall, the art club has been a very positive experience and the kids have loved having an outlet and an activity after school. Since we're coming up on the dry season (once the harvest is done) most people in Kibakwe will be at a loss for anything to do until the next planting season starting in late September, early October. For many of the students various after-school clubs provide a positive alternative to drinking, drugs, and prostitution, all of which are growing problems in Kibakwe. I'm expecting that after the TOTs we'll be busier than ever since we're inviting 50 people to each event. This means that our social and work circle will increase greatly. I expect many more visits from teachers and members of AIDS groups after May. All we're trying to do is get the people of Kibakwe motivated to start doing these events themselves and provide them with the necessary tools to continue after we leave. We always stress to people that you don't need lots of money to educate and that eventually we will be leaving Kibakwe to go home, but you can continue this same work by yourselves. Every day in Kibakwe our goal becomes more and more clear and the people who are capable of helping us achieve it become more evident.

A PLUG FOR MY FRIEND ANDY

This is just a little plug for my friend Andy Kochanski and his newly opened watering hole. Read more at : http://www.mkeonline.com/mkeinfo/issues/03-27-2008.asp

Or you can ask him yourself at :
Kochanski's Concertina Beer Hall
1920 S. 37th
Milwaukee, WI 53215
414-837-6552
or 414-83-POLKA

IT'S ZUCCHINI TIME!

That's right, it's zucchini time in our garden and Carla is holding our firstborn. We cooked up most of it on Easter morining, using it in breakfast burritos and later in chocolate zucchini cake. We had a house full of guests for the holiday - 5 guests total which is beyond the realistic capacity of our tiny house. We had a great time, but we'll never have that many people here again. We're finally starting to get some regular rain in Kibakwe which is great for our garden. The tomatoes are having some issues with whiteflies and I don't know if they're going to make it, but the Chinese cabbage, the lettuce, and the squashes are all doing really well. The cukes and the eggplants are looking promising and the jury's still out on the carrots and the onions. Since most Kibakweans are farmers, they're happy that we're getting rain now. The corn, peanuts, and sunflowers are all growing well.

Our once desolate and barren courtyard is now a virtual rainforest, a garden of Eden, a horn o' plenty, even. Hopefully, we'll have another couple of months of rain, though I doubt it. It seems like it comes in waves where it'll rain regularly for two or three weeks, then nothing for a month. Oh well, life in the desert.

Here is a new picture of our friend Mathayo. He was very displeased with the previous picture I had posted of him. I hope that this new picture will be to his liking. Once again, he is a very good guy and there's nothing P.O.S. about him.
Everything is going well in Kibakwe. We're waiting to hear back about some teaching grants that we submitted to HQ, and we're already starting to research some new project ideas for after the rains. All of this has kept and will keep us busy for some time. Mostly we're just trying to spend time with neighbors and friends and just enjoy being in the village. We're looking forward to completing more projects, achieving more successes, and keeping in touch with all of you - our friends and family. We love hearing from you about what's going on in your lives, how much snow you've had, how the new endeavors are working out, how your families are doing, and how things are changing while we're here. It's always a highpoint getting letters or emails or text messages from home. Keep in touch.

PICTURES AND CAPTIONS

It's been a very busy month for us. We started by making posters dealing with how you can protect yourself against malaria. In the picture, I'm standing with our head doctor just outside his office which is where the first poster went up. I know, it's a humble beginning, but we had to start somewhere. It's surprising that many people in Kibakwe believe that malaria can be caused by being out in the rain or by drinking corn juice. That's why we made sure that we put the phrase, "malaria is a disease that is spread by mosquitoes," at the top of the poster.

We put up the malaria posters in several spots around Kibakwe, including area schools, health clinics, and village offices. The picture shows one we attached to a baobab tree at the Idunda primary school.

World Women's Day was March 8, and we planned a celebration and HIV testing day for Kibakwe town. With the help of the secondary school headmaster, we were able to get student volunteers to make posters advertising the event, drummers, dancers, and singers. All of this was organized and executed within the two weeks leading up to Women's Day. It was a bit stressful, but it also energized everyone and allowed no one to lose interest and jump ship.

This group of about 30 secondary student girls got together every day after classes and practiced their drumming, dancing, and singing in an empty classroom in preparation for the performance on World Women's Day.



We put up posters advertising World Women's Day and HIV Testing Event at area schools, businesses, health clinics, and even outside of people's houses.

On the morning of March 8, we had no idea what to expect as far as a turnout. Everyone wanted a parade down the main road to generate interest. We were expecting it would be us and the head doctor and maybe some curious kids. It was a pleasant surprise when mama's groups and students with drums showed up, and even a car.



The parade went down the main road, through the center of town, and to the nearby subvillage of Idunda primary school, which was to be one of the testing sites.

The students did some drumming and dancing there while the medical personnel got situated and Carla and I were the first to be tested. Some other Peace Corps friends had joined us that morning to join in the festivities and they were really helpful in getting a lot of the little kids to be tested.



Once we got back to town, we were amazed to see that the stage was prepared for performances and the doctor had hired an MC and sound equipment. It's not too often that Kibakwe does anything like this.

The students had a great time performing and they were awesome. It seemed that everyone in town had showed up to see what was going on. We were amazed at the turnout for this event that was just an idea three weeks before. In the end, 313 people were tested, 7 were HIV positive, 5 were female, 2 were under the age of 10.

THE FOLLOWING IS A COLLECTION OF PHOTOS OF SOME OF OUR PEEPS IN THE MPWAPWA DISTRICT

THIS MAN IS BABA BANANA. HE SELLS BANANAS.

THIS IS THE GUY ACROSS FROM BABA BANANA. HE DOES NOT SELL BANANAS.

THIS MAN IS BABA MFUPI(SHORT). HE SELLS RICE AND BEANS.

THIS IS MATHAYO. HE SELLS MANY THINGS. HE IS NOT A P.O.S. PERSON.

THIS IS CARLA WITH BABA BANANA.

THIS IS ME WITH BABA BANANA.

THIS IS PIPI. SHE IS OUR CAT.

THIS IS OUR WATER. SOMETIMES IT IS CLEAN. SOMETIMES IT IS NOT.

THESE ARE BEANS. WE EAT A LOT OF BEANS.

THESE ARE OUR NEIGHBORS. THEIR NAMES ARE NICE AND COCUBANZA.

THIS IS BEN. AS YOU CAN SEE, HE NOT THE MOM.

THIS IS BEN, CARLA, AND COCU. BEN STILL NOT THE MOM.

THIS IS PIPI. SHE IS TANZANIAN.