Vacay and Visits

I realize its been a while since I've last updated this thing, but I haven't had much time to sit down and record what's been going on. I've been home 3 days in the last month and have yet a while to go before I can go home again. But while I have a minute here in the Peace Corps Volunteer Lounge in Dar, I'll try to bring you up to speed.

It all started back in the second week of June when I traveled to Tanga, in the Northeastern part of Tanzania, for a Training of Trainers to be PCV of the Week. Which feels kinda wierd. I can't believe I'm already in the position to be dishing out advice to the new class of health and education trainees. I'm no longer a newbie. I'm officially a second year volunteer. Well, I guess not until August technically, but now that a new group is here, I feel like my class can call ourselves the upperclassmen. I spent a week at the this year's new training site, helping Peace Corps staff develop new training implements and making up lesson plans for my own session that I will present on gender and development next week. It was nice to be able to have an imput into how to improve the training process for this year's volunteers, and I'm happy to say that it seemed like the staff really listened to our suggestions and made adjustments accordingly. The schedule for this year's trainees looks really effective.

After the week in Tanga, I went to Dar es Salaam to await the arrival of my parents and sister, who were coming to visit for 3 weeks. The day before they got here, the new class of PCT (Peace Corps Trainees) came in and I was able to go with the staff and a few other PCVs to the airport to meet them. It was kind of a surreal experience being at the airport again for the first time since we arrived seeing the newbies come in and realizing that this is exactly what we looked like at this time last year. As was expected, they we tired and overwhelmed and a little out of it, so we didn't do much talking until the next day. My family wasn't coming in until late so I got to hang out with them the whole day and get a feel for them and I liked the vibe that I got so far. It will be interesting to get back to them next week and see how far they've come and what questions they've been harboring for the last few weeks since I've seen them last.

That night, my family flew in to Dar and I went to meet them at the airport. Also a little surreal. I had never lived away from home minus a 7 week summer study abroad in Austria 2 years ago so to have not seen them for an entire year then suddenly have them show up in Africa, especially since none of them have ever done any traveling and haven't even left the country before coming here, was wierd. I actually didn't even recognize my dad the first second that I saw him. But to my surprise, I was spared a weepy, huggy, scene, and they relatively calmly greeted me and we proceeded to our hotel without incident. Well, sorta. They had A LOT of luggage and we didn't exactly fit so great into the taxi, but hey, I'm not complaining. Two of their six bags was loaded down with goodies for me! And I hadn't seen my big sister for a whole year so I didn't mind snuggling in the front seat with her and two backpacks.

Back at the Econo Lodge Hotel, which would be our home base each time we passed through Dar during our whirlwind Tanzanian tour, we stayed up til about 3 AM going through all my loot and adjusting the packing scheme for our trip to Arusha the next morning. Oh did I say the next morning? What I meant was about 2 hours later. Our bus to Arusha left at 6AM so we had a taxi coming to pick us up to take us to the bus station at 5AM and therefore woke up at 4:15. Hey, sleep when your dead, right? I told my family that I was just going to through them right in, to give them the authentic (aka budget) experience, but I didn't mean to toss them straight to the sharks. The main bus stand in Dar is an insane place. Shagalabagala, as we say in Swahili. Chaos. Maddening, ridiculous chaos all around. Even at 5AM. Especially at 5AM. And it was made 10 times worse by the good intentions of our taxi driver trying to take us straight to the bus instead of dropping us at the ticket office. Which would have probably worked out if anything in this country made sense like it might in America, but alas, tis not the case. A lot of times here, a company will sell you a ticket that may have a certain bus company's name on it which is in fact not the name of the company that you will end up traveling on. So we had a minor freak out when our taxi driver kept asking for where the bus line that was printed on our ticket was leaving from and people kept saying that there was no bus from that line leaving at that time. But no worries. After a frantic scrambling from the back of the bus station, squeezing between about 100 buses and horn-honking taxis with ALL of our riduculously bulky and uncooperative luggage up to find the guy I bought the tickets from so he could take us to the bus he intended us to get on, all was well. Pay no attention to that shell shocked look on my mother's face.

The first bus ride is always an eye-opening experience to newcomers to the lack of driving skills of Tanzanians. The buses like to pretend that they are trains. High speed lines. They just barrel through, speed bumps, pot holes, and pedestrians be damned. They just lay on the horn and expect everything to move. Nevertheless, we made it to Arusha Town alive and were met there by my Tanzanian's friend uncle whom we had arranged to be our driver and guide on our safari the next day in the Ngorongoro Crater. He delievered us to our bed and breakfast and we pretty much ate a quick plate of rice and beans and went to bed. The next morning we went on our safari and I think my family really enjoyed it. We were able to see all the African mainstays, even a couple of the more diffucult to spot predators like lions and a cheetah. Unfortunately they were all feeling pretty lazy that day and there wasn't much action to witness as they all lounged in the tall grasses, but it was cool anyway. And the crater itself is really beautiful as it is. That night was probably when the culture shock really started setting in for my family when we arrived at our guest house for the evening. I didn't see what the big deal was, as the place was reccomended to me by Peace Corps Volunteers that live in that region and stay at this place often and it wasn't so bad by Tanzania standards. But when I tried on a little sensitivity and looked at it from an outsiders point of view, the place was a bit ghetto. But as we sat down and ate some spaghetti and my parents saw more and more tourists and backpackers coming in to stay there that seemed completely at ease with their surroundings, they relaxed a bit.

After passing back through Dar for a night to break up the long journey home a little, we made it back into Mbeya Town and slept there for the night. It was cool for my family to meet my friends and boyfriend here and see where I spend my time when I go into town on the weekends. The next morning, we decided to splurge on a taxi all the way to my village from town since we had so much luggage to lug with us. One might presume that a taxi may be safer than a bus or a daladala...and one would be wrong. At least when it comes to the pedistrians well-being. Especially the particular pedestrian that we happened to hit on the way. Its ok, he ended up being fine. Our driver was really upset though. Not so much that he just nearly killed a person. Oh no. He was pissed because we he hit the guy he broke a side view mirror. So after having a hissy fit, he got back in the car and drove us the rest of the way like a bat out of hell almost running into countless other cars, people and stationary objects. Then finally...

HOME! It was great to have my family see my house and my village and meet my neighbors and see how I live. They got a kick of how much fun a group a full grown women who were taking a break from building a house next door to mine got out of a soccer ball that they brought me. They saw my dad pumping it up and shyly asked if they could play with it, and when I tossed it to them, the whole lot of them jumped up like excited little kids and ran around tossing it back and forth in soccer field in front of my house. Amazing how much laughter a $4 rubber ball can bring.

After three days impressing them with my village cooking skills, we ventured into another mode of transport and took a coaster (minibus) to Matema Beach on Lake Malawi. Despite being sandwiched between two rough and DIRTY coaster rides (I seriously don't think I've ever been as dirty as I was from all the dust when we finally arrived at Matema) , it made for a relaxing couple of days on the beach. After that we hung out in Mbeya Town again for a couple of days, before passing through the Masai Market in Iringa for souveiniers and continuing on to Dar then finally Zanzibar. And despite the annoyance of CONSTANTLY having someone in your face trying to sell you something or take you somewhere there, we were still able to enjoy the beautiful Indian Ocean and the delicious food. We ate a nice place near the ferry in Stone Town called Mercury's 3 times! (Named after Freddie Mercury of Queen who was born in Zanzibar, just a fun fact for you there.) I even got a pina colada! And how could our trip be complete without one last hellish trip on yet another mode of transport, the ferry. It was like the place was possessed. People were barfing EVERYWHERE! Some in the little blue plastic baggies they passed out, some off the side of the ferry outside, some on the floor, in the aisles, in the bathrooms, on themselves. It was crazy! It really was a rough 2 hours though. We were being tossed about quite a bit. I didn't feel so great myself.

But once again, we made it to the otherside alive, if not well, for one last night at good ole Econo Lodge. Their flight didn't leave until late the next night so we spent the next day going to see Trasformers 2 at the completely out of place very nice movie theater in Dar, walking around the grocery store in the 'mall', and eating some questionable Chinese food. To cap off this unusual day, we watched the Michael Jackson memorial on the t.v. in the hotel lobby before I saw my family off in a taxi that was to send them back to the airport.

And even though it got a little crazy at times and a little stressful in spots, it was cool to have the opportunity to hang out with my family for three weeks here in my new home. I was glad that they were able to get a little piece of mind knowing that I'm safe and adjusted here. That my neighbors know me and like me and look out for me. That I've become good friends with the other Peace Corps Volunteers in my area and that my Brazilian boyfriend is a nice guy. I would recommend it to anyone who has the opportunity to host visitors to do it. It definately made me feel much more competent having to take care of people that had no idea what was going on here. To be constantly complimented on my Swahili skills, and knowing where I was going and what I was doing.

So I think that brings you up to date. Now I'm in Dar for a 3 day training for PSDN (peer support and diversity network), which is essentially a group of volunteers that make themselves available for the venting needs of other volunteers. Then when this is over, I'll be heading back up to Tanga to hang out with the PCTs for a week, then to a Community Theater Workshop in Morogoro region before FINALLY getting to go back home. I'll probably have to totally readjust to the whole living alone concept after spending so much time around my family and other volunteers these two months. But I look forward to getting back and getting to work on my library project. Speaking of that, big thanks to my grandparents and the High Springs Rotary and Kiwanis Clubs, and Ms. Weaver and High Springs Community School for the great support that they've offered so far in donations! Can't wait to get those books on the new and empty waiting shelves at the primary school. I know that teachers and students will all be very excited. If you're interested in reading more about the project or donating, you can visit peacecorps.gov and click on the donate button and search by my last name, Gillman, or my project number 621-188 or just follow this link
https://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfmshell=resources.donors.contribute.projDetail&projdesc=621-188 THANKS so much for any help you can give.

Upendo Hoteli

I finally feel like I’ve accomplished something as a Peace Corps Volunteer! Yey! It only took about a year, but at least I’m getting somewhere now…maybe. Upendo Hoteli (Restaurant of Love) is officially open for business in Kimondo as of today. In the Tanzanian time frame, this happened at lightening speed. I’m really proud of my widow’s group. They’ve been really motivated up to this point. We’ll see how long it lasts, but they’re doing great so far! We went to town together last Saturday to buy all the dishes and a big bag of rice and things of the like. Yesterday we planned on starting, but we had to get the room that we are renting for the restaurant ready as well as going buy a few last touches, like charcoal and bananas. Last night we were trying to get ourselves prepared to serve food first thing in the morning by cooking a loaf of banana bread (which I introduced to them at our cooking seminar at my house last week). However, the whole thing was sold within about 4 minutes of coming out of the “oven.” We cut it up into ten pieces and sold it for 200 Shillings a piece (about $0.14). This morning we planned on baking another loaf first thing, but we had to wait until about 11AM before we found some eggs in the vil, but we went ahead with the chai maziwa (tea with milk) until we finally got all the ingredients we needed. You would think we were serving chocolate soufflé. People are very impressed. So we’re off to a good start at least.
In other commentary, they aren’t kidding when they talk about there being a rainy season and a dry season in Africa. In the rainy season, it literally rained everyday. Now it appears that the rainy season is coming to an end. Perhaps not all at once, but it is clear that the dry season is rapidly approaching. If it doesn’t rain for just one day the dust is back in full force. I’d forgotten how bad it gets. And it doesn’t help that giant trucks fly by going 90 mph on the dry dirt roads. (Survival tip number one for Tanzania: Pedistrians NEVER have the right of way. Ever.)

Productiveness

It’s amazing how a little taste of home can make a person happy. The paradox of sitting in the village reading a Shape magazine while munching on Girl Scout cookies…it’s a beautiful thing. I’m lucky to have a family so devoted to making sure I get my proper dose of processed foods. And even though we had to smuggle them in like cocaine stuffed in an Easter Bunny, I FINALLY got some iPod speakers!!! My life has been infinately better this week! And I was able to sew the bunny back up and give it to my favorite kid in Tanzania, the contraband ended up making TWO girls very happy instead of just one.
So besides trying to ration my Cheezits and enjoying my new coloring books, what have I been up to in the vil? I actually have a few things going on right now. Last Saturday I began training 20 peer educators, 4 from the primary school and 16 from the secondary school. It was a bit challenging for the first day because my counterpart Upendo, who works with a local HIV related NGO, couldn’t be there so I had to facilitate the session by myself. Trying to describe things like role models and qualities we admire in another language is a perfect reminder of just how not-fluent I am in Swahili. But they are good kids and they helped me out and were patient with me so we managed. This coming Saturday should be easier with or without Upendo though, because I will be talking about HIV transmission and prevention, which is what I do here, so I think I’ve at least got that vocab down. The training will be continued for five weeks total, each Saturday in May up until the summer break for school. (Well technically its not summer on this side of the equator but you get the idea). When the school reopens about a month later, the peer educators will be assigned one period per week to teach the other students about HIV, communication skills, decision making skills, relationship skills, and gender roles.
This Wednesday I started working with a widow’s group in the village next to mine, Igoma, and on Thursday I met with the widow's in my village, Kimondo. If it all works out according to plan, for two Wednesdays/Thursdays of the month I will talk about special topics like caring for children with HIV, proper use of ARVs, making budgets, and things of the like. The other two Wednesdays I will teach nutrition and healthy cooking. I showed them how to make biscuits at our first meeting this week and gave them some strawberry jam and they loved it! And we even made preliminary plans to open a resturant in Kimondo!
I’ve also been busy planning a girls’ empowerment camp with seven other volunteers in Mbeya region. We’ve got all kinds of activities planned teaching things like the life skills I’m working with my peer educators on, as well as fun stuff like a spa night and movies and popcorn. Bringing the concept of a sleepover to Africa, isn’t that what Peace Corps is all about? Maybe we can even build a huge tent out of sheets.
But the biggest thing that has gone down lately happened this past weekend. There is a health clinic in Mbeya Town that does HIV testing and they brought a group of people out to my village for a special event on Sunday, which is the market day so there are more people around. They had a group of people around my age that came to do all kinds of things to get people’s attention so that they would come in get tested. They did tribal dancing, and skits about HIV, and acrobatics. It was really fun and 73 people ended up getting tested for HIV and there were a bunch more that were waiting in line that didn’t get the chance to get tested, so I’m going to try to organize another time for them to come and do it again. It is possible to get tested in the dispensary in Igoma, but people are too scared to go down there because they feel like everyone will know why they’re going and they’re embarrassed. But it seems that the whole ‘everybody’s doing it’ idea works here because they were all for it on Sunday. Its sad that 14 people ended up testing positive, but at least now hopefully they can get the help they need to live the longest and healthiest lives possible.
So that’s pretty much what’s on my plate these days. Along with the usual trying to get used to kids staring at me while I eat and trying to remind people that my name is Katie and not Mzungu.

Oh the small humorous moments...

I just wrapped up a month long soccer tournament/HIV seminar for young guys in my village. During the last class, I answered general questions about HIV transmission, condom use, and the myths surrounding these topics. I decided to get one of the participants to explain and demonstrate how to properly use a condom using an empty coke bottle, which went fine. I ended up stuffing this demo condom back in the box to throw away in the garbage basket in my kitchen when I got home.
As I believe I have previously mentioned, I have a crew of boys in the hood that like to hang out/terrorize my house on a regular basis. My most faithful little friend underfoot is the youngest son of my neighbor. He likes to just sit on my kitchen floor and watch me cook (aka wait for me to give him some of whatever food I’m making) while he practicing writing the numbers 1-10 over and over on some notebook paper. Another of his favorite pastimes is to dig through my garbage and find things to play with…
So imagine my surprise when one day last week I am sitting at my ‘dining room’ table writing a letter and out of the corner of my eye, there’s little 6 year old Yosiah, with a bright red strawberry scented condom in his mouth trying to blow it up like a balloon. Priceless.

What its really like

People are always wanting to know, so what is like? Really? Well, its hard to explain. It’s a world of opposites and contradictions. Its up or its down. Its exciting to be so far out of the box, out on my own, living my life…but then again there’s homesickness. Its exhilarating to see the enthusiasm for plans for development at village meetings…and incredibly frustrating when nothing happens beyond the planning stages. Its nice to be able to just slow down the pace of life and smell the roses a bit if you will…and also so annoying when that lack of concept of time means that if you plan a meeting for 8:00 nobody shows up until 9:45. Its great to have some time to myself to just read, relax, and just think…but too much time to myself turns into loneliness and extreme boredom. It’s the day to day that is the biggest challenge. I’m all about planning big projects and have several in the works. But most of them are things that may only last a day or two and that’s it. We have a health/career seminar coming up next month and a girl’s empowerment camp the month after. But we’ve pretty much finished planning them. What am I supposed to do until the time comes around for them to take place? Sleep. Cook. Clean. Read. Give the crazy neighborhood boys candy to make them stop running and screaming around my house. Clean up after crazy neighborhood boys. Cook again. Write letters. Read again. Cook again. Sleep.
There’s still moments when I ask myself what in the world I am doing with my life right now. Did I come to Africa just to read, cook, and sleep? Did I come to sit in a house all day alone and listen to the rain that inevitably comes at some point every single day? But then there’s those moments that remind me what the whole purpose of it all is. For instance right now I’m facilitating a HIV info oriented soccer tournament for teenage/twenty-somethings boys in my village. I, along with my counterpart Lupogo, teach a 45 minute lesson about HIV/STDs/condoms and things of that nature before each of the games. This Monday we played a fact/myth game to instigate discussion about various rumors associated with HIV. One of the questions was whether or not there are tiny wholes in condoms that allow HIV to pass through. The guys were supposed to go to one side of the room if they thought this was true, the other if they thought it was a lie, and hang out in the middle if they weren’t sure. The majority stayed in the middle, a good amount went to the true side and a handful went to the lie side. But what was interesting was during the discussion that followed the movement, one guy said that he heard that there were some condoms that carried HIV themselves! I tried to explain that HIV must live inside of a liquid (blood, semen, vaginal fluid, or breast milk) so it would therefore be impossible for a condom itself to be infected, but I’m not so sure he believed me. The point is, we threw out some pretty far reaching myths and every time there were at least a few people who believed they were true. So I felt like I was doing something semi-productive by at least giving them the facts and stimulating the discussion.
Things move along pretty slowly around here. It’s difficult to see real changes. There’s always setbacks. Like with my community garden project to improve nutrition and income status in my village. I wrote the grant, got the money, bought the supplies… now I’ve just got to get the people to show up to plant it! But at least the orphans have managed to take their share and plant a vegetable garden at the primary school and the group of people with HIV in my village have planted their own garden to share. The people who were most interested in the idea in the first place have yet to do their part, but oh well. The people who need it the most seemed to have benefited.
So there you have it. This is pretty much my life as a PCV.

Just in case you were wondering...

Tanzania isn’t exactly a hotspot for Irish Pubs, but hey, I did hear a nice little tribute to Irish culture on The Voice of America Special English on the radio. They gave a lovely little history of Mother Jones and Bing Crosby. Not exactly green beer, but at least I’m remembering my roots somehow.
On to other reflections: for instance, how they manage to cut the grass without lawn mowers around here. I was pondering this as the rainy season progressed and the grass started getting ridic on the soccer field in front of my house. It was up to my knees and I was getting soaked every time I had to walk up to buy some candles or kerosene. I was thinking maybe the cows that like to hang out in the field would take care of it, but I noticed that even with all that they were eating, they weren’t even making a dent. Then the students came back to school from the winter break and I was enlightened. Everyday before the students go home from school, the teachers send them out to a different section of the field with machetes and the students go to it. And that’s the way its done. Try to imagine that happening in America. Let’s just envision giving a bunch of 12 year old boys machetes…
Other things you may wonder about: like how do all these kids wake up on time to get to school without alarm clocks, or even watches for that matter. Well, spend one night at my house and you’ll wake up to the answer. Every morning at about 6AM someone goes up to clang on the big circular piece of metal that is the school bell for about 2 full minutes to wake up everyone in the village. Then there’s another bell about an hour later to let everyone know its time to start heading towards school. Then at 7:45 every morning, just in case you haven’t made it there yet, all of the students stand outside and sing Mungu Ibariki (the National Anthem) with drum accompaniments. So there you go, that’s how its done.
Sasa Unajua (Now you know.)

Pictures from Christmas, finally