We have finally returned home to Mpwapwa District. Tomorrow we will return to our quaint village of Kibakwe and hopefully we won't leave for quite a while. I just want to get back home, plant the garden, finish the fence, and start doing some work. We plan to send out letters of invitation to a permaculture workshop at our house and taught by Zizo and Gilbert. These letters will be sent to the village offices and the leaders of the surrounding communities and to the various church and mosque congregations in our area. I know that our "dudes," as we call them, will do a fantastic job of teaching, since we saw them in action this past week in Dodoma. We went to a PEPFAR(President's Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief) workshop in Dodoma where one day was spent teaching HIV/AIDS awareness to 12-16-year-olds at the local school. We decided to let the dudes do everything and we would just be there for support if they needed it. They did a fantastic job and were totally into it. Zizo is a natural born teacher and Gilbert is so attentive to what the students want to know. The only thing that we might try to emphasize more to them is the importance of planning, rehearsing, and time management. I'll start a small tree nursery and try to get others in Kibakwe to do the same. These will most likely be the major environmental projects I do while I'm here. I'd like to start an art club at the secondary school whose focus would be in health education sign making: malaria prevention, HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention, nutrition, and water safety. We're still trying to figure out the feasibility of starting a video night in our village where people would meet somewhere (maybe a church or the village hall) and watch educational videos about HIV/AIDS or STIs, reproductive health, etc. Well, it's a good thing we don't have anywhere to go for a while. If anyone has any opinions, suggestions, or other input regarding what we'll be doing in Kibakwe, please don't hesitate to contact us through our blogs.
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I love the idea of art as public service. Remember Fire Prevention Posters? Did you do those contests when you were kids? We used to do them every year in primary school. All the schools in the area would have their kids draw posters about fire prevention. Then all the drawings would be judged. I was SO excited when I won in 2nd grade...I got $25 and opened my first savings account. And the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel art calendars and exhibition? Dunno how many students you will have or how to work out the logistics, but if you want to do limited-run cafepress.com calendars with your kids work, I'll happily sponsor it...
Thinking of you daily, even if I'm crap at letting you know that.
xo to you and C.
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