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.