A few pics...

Back to the States!

I am back in North Carolina, adjusting back to America. Although this is a slow transition, it is much better than last year.

The last day in Moshi we went back to visit the two families we have sponsored. They were waiting for us and happy to welcome us back into their homes. At the Rhamadani house, the Grandma had boiled us another pot of tea. It was about 100 degrees in the house and we managed, through shear determination alone, to suck down two cups of tea. The Grandma was proud to be serving us tea in her home and it was flattering that she invited us for tea again. The kids were anxiously waiting 'for their mzungus' to come back and say goodbye.

We told the kids to study hard and to be good. Grandma Fatuma and Hamisi's mother know to keep in touch with Living so that we will know here in the states if there are any problems that we can sort out for them.

It was an amazing trip, we were so productive. We have a good footing there, and Living has agreed to help us out for as long as we need him so we have someone on the ground too. Next year when we go, probably in Dec or Jan, we will have much more of a regimented way of finding and sponsoring kids. Our next trip will be longer and we will be able to help many more kids and families.

We have made some great connections too. There are a few organizations already working in Majengo that we hope to connect with so that we can collaborate. There are many mzungus in Moshi doing really small projects and as we grow in our own foundation, it will be productive to come together.

Thanks for staying tune as we grow and support the kids of Majengo!

A Brotha from Anotha Motha (no, really) and other Tanzanian things...

So there are a few things that happen around Moshi that are almost indescribable but I will try, just to give you an idea about how things work around here.

First, the other day my friend Isaac introduced his friend Ali as his 'brother from another mother'. I instantly laughed and thought that it was remarkable that Isaac knew this phrase that we use in the states for someone who is really close to you (its pair being 'sista from anotha mista'). But, really, Isaac was being literal. Here in Tanzania, many men have multiple wives. So Ali was his brother from another wife of Isaac's father.

Secondly, there are Masai that wander in and out of Moshi town. They wear the traditional Masai clothing, but sometime spruce it up for their city adventures with a little bling, like a big gold chain. So you see Masai men wearing their traditional purple and red, with a giant gold necklace, sometimes equipped with a big dollar sign. Because their livestock is their livelyhood, they often have a herd of goats or cows in tow. Often, they wear tires for shoes too. It is almost impossible to stop the urge to take a picture of them. It is not unusual to be walking in town and see men walking with a herd of goats, or having a goat or cow on a rope.

Third, Tanzanians are never taught that it is rude to stare. So beyond the constant shouting of "mzungu" (meaning white person in swahili), everyone turns to stare at you as you walk down the street. Especially the men and the kids. You get used to it after a while but sometimes it gets a bit over the top. For example, when we were at the football game last weekend, we had two boys who were about 18 stare at us for what was probably five minutes straight. It is unnerving after a while.

Fourth, Tanzanias are the most welcoming and warm people. This means on the street everybody says "jambo" (hello) and "Karibu" (welcome) and will just approach you and ask about your life and your family. If you were to say to every body you passed in the states "hello sister, how are you? how is your family?", you would get hauled away real fast. The other day when we went for coffee at our favorite Aroma Coffee House, a man just came down and sat with us like it was totally normal.

Fifth, each business has one commodity. For example, below our balcony there is the shoe guy and the bicycle guy. The shoe man sells and repairs shoes, about five pairs at a time. Everyday he is under the same tree and people know where to find him. Next to him (about five feet away) is the bike guy. In the tree, he has hung tubes for bikes and he also invested in a wrench. He sits all day waiting to fix bikes. And that is what he does, day in and day out. In town you see people walking around with whatever they are selling, for example the underwear guy. He has a hanger with about 10 pairs of underwear (all used, mind you) that he sells. Everything is bought and sold repeatedly here. The underwear guy goes to the clothes market in a different part of town and then comes into the town center to sell them at a profit.

The stereotype of the women here is that they carry everything on their heads. And it is true. I have seen women with 50 pound buckets on their head like it was nothing. They will carry a tray of bananas down from the mountain every day on their heads. The tray is about three feet long and has about 400 bananas on it. Girls are brought up to be able to balance enormous amounts of weight on their heads. It is remarkable.

Finally, the people here pick up the randomest english phrases and plaster them everywhere. One of my favorite things is to read the things on the dala dalas (the busses). They can range from one word ('bling', 'happy', '50 cent') to a series of words ('happy nation express', 'god is possible' 'whats up god') to football players and teams (arsenal and chelsea seem to be the most popular). This has also translated to naming their kids random english phrases. We have met a few kids named George Bush. Our friend Isaac is adopting a little boy named God Bless, and we met another at Upendo named Godlizzen (as in God Listens). My personal favorite is a little girl named "dollabill".

Regardless of all these oddities, I am absolutely in love with this town.

Pretty Much the Best V-Day Ever

Happy Valentine's Day! Yesterday (saturday) we went to Tuleeni Orphanage for their Valentine's Day Party. It was amazing. We got there around noon with a bunch of donations from Jennifer. The kids were all pumped up because they knew it was a party day. Isaac, a local volunteer and friend, had arranged the party, complete with 'dj' and games. He had set up a music booth and was blaring bongoflava. There was about 40 kids of all ages. We hung out and held babies and toddlers, and danced (shakey shakey) with them.

My valentine this year was a three year old kid named Freddie (the one in the pic with the Yankee Jersey on). He is cute and sweet, and loved to dance, just like me! We had some fun with shakey shakey for a while and then played some games with the kids, including a coca cola chugging contest that was a bit out of control. The kids sang a couple songs for us and then we had the Miss Tuleeni competition. If there is anybody who knows how to shake their wowowos it is Tanzanian girls. They put on their best khangas and strutted their stuff around. The contestants were from about 3 to 15 years old. It was great.

The highlight was when we stood in a circle and sang songs together. We sang Lean on Me (a personal fave...) and Stand By Me and a few other equally heart wrenching songs. What is so striking about Tuleeni is the sense of community and family that Mama Faraji has built there. They function as one unit, even though they are a diverse bunch. Each contributes and they are able to live together as a family. It is incredible. Even though they have very little, their joy and comraderie are incredible. Also, there were many locals there to help out too, all guys in their 20s. I do not know many (if any) 20 some year old boys in the states who would give up their saturday to hang out with a bunch of orphan kids, out of their own volition. While we continue to dump on Tanzanian men, there are a few exceptions to this rule, all of which were at this party.

For more information on this awesome orphanage, you can google Tuleeni Orphanage in Moshi. They have a great website set up.

I have never felt so much love on Valentine's Day, that's for sure.

Juvy

On Thursday, we went to the local Juvy to visit. This was one of Jennifer's placements last year. The kids are strikingly young, from about age 8 to 16. There crimes range from stealing food to cutting school, to one boy being accused of murder (it was self defense against an abusive uncle). Because there is not a concrete justice system set up in Tanzania, the boys can stay in Juvy for a long time. When their court dates come up, often a judge or a lawyer or a witness won't show up and back to Juvy they go. Other than when the CCS volunteers are there, they are locked up in one bedroom. They are all really sweet and gentle and are so excited to sing and dance and to the Hokey Pokey over (and over, and over, and over) again. There are no advocates for boys like these. I heard many stories from the volunteers who worked their last year and it was great to go see for myself.

Sadly, there were also two girls there as well. They were both 16 and had run away from the local Masai village. If they were to stay at home, they would be forced into marriage, and female genital mutilation. They decided to run away to get an education. Once they reached Moshi town, the police picked them up and brought them to Juvy. They are free to go whenever they want, but do not wish to return home. They had such sadness in their eyes, and it was remarkable that they chose to stay in Juvy than return home.

We had a great time laughing and playing with the kids though. They taught us a traditional song and dance sung in english, called "we all come from different homes" which was awesome. We stood in lines and danced around to a song about how we are all different but live and sing under the same sky.

Meghan and Jennifer sit with a few of the kids at Tuleeni Orphanage.









This is Abedi in his new t-shirt that we brought him.

One cup of tea, two orphanages, and three mangoes.

On Wednesday we brought the last batch of clothes and food over to Hamisi's house. His mama is so humble and so kind. She gave us a bunch of mangoes to eat, which was very generous of her. In general, the people are extremely hospitable. The day prior, when we had dropped off the clothes and supplies for Abedi, Saumu, and Zubeda, their Grandma had insisted on preparing tea for us. We made sure that she boiled the water and she prepared some amazing tea. Outside of her house, there is a collective fire that the surrounding houses share. She added sugar, cloves, and other spices to the tea. It was delicious. We sat in her house, which was about 120 degrees, and sipped the hot tea while she watched. It was a wonderful moment. At both houses we were welcomed in with no hesitation and given whatever they had to offer.

On Wednesday afternoon we went to Tuleeni, a local orphanage in Rau village. It is run by one woman, Mama Furaji, who has put her whole life into the place. It is completely funded with her own efforts and some outside donations. There are several rooms, a place to keep a goat, a cow, and some chickens, and a small kitchen. The kids are of all ages, ranging from newborns to 20 years old, and were brought in by Mama Furaji through word of mouth. There are about 37 orphans living there. We had a great time playing with the kids and just running around with them. They have little help there and function as a family unit. Mama Furaji is another beaming example of how the women here are amazing, and so willing to sacrifice their own lives.

On Thursday afternoon, we went to Upendo Orphanage which was where we originally intended to set up our project. The differences between Upendo and Tuleeni are striking. Upendo has a large campus, set up rooms with nice neat beds, plenty of food, and because it is a teaching orphanage, plenty of help. We still had a great time running around with toddlers and holding the babies. The sisters (it is a catholic orphanage) don't give a lot of physical love to the kids so they just love to be held. The kids are so cute and so endearing. We learned that after they leave the orphanage at age 6, they are transferred to another orphanage in the south of Tanzania where they go to Primary School. This wasn't clearly communicated to us before and we are really happy we decided to shift gears away from supporting them. It was the right move.

Today (Friday) we are going to the local Juvy, where Jennifer had placement last year. Tomorrow we go to a Valentine's Day Party at Tuleeni, which should be a blast. And then on Sunday we leave! Our time has gone by so fast but it has been really productive and has been wonderful to be back. I can't wait til next time!

This is Hamisi, the fourth child that we have sponsored, showing off his new tie. He is with his mama and his younger brother. We are sitting in the Headmistress' office at Njoro Primary School.

Second Interview

While I was at Jipe Moyo, Meghan and Jennifer conducted the second interview. Mussa, the other child that we didn't end up funding the first round, showed back up with his step-mother. It was immediately an awkward conversation. She asked for money again and tried to tell us that she lived in a house without running water and electricity, just like Saumu and Abedi. We already knew this was a lie. They explained to her that things are relative here in Tanzania, and that we have to fund those who need it the most. She was really pushy, which is never a good sign. The people here that need it the most are always the most humble.

Afterwards, we interviewed Hamisi, our newest sponsored kid. He lives with his mama and his baby brother, without a father. His mama sells mangoes at the market to make an income. We talked to him about how he lived and where, and then went to his house to talk to his mama. She was renting a room in a concrete building about a ten minute walk from Jiendeleze. We told her that we would like to fund Hamisi to go to school and she was a bit embarrassed but very grateful. He already had the uniform, so we just have to buy him his books and the rest of the supplies. We will also do a large food package like we did with the other family.

We walked back over to Njoro Primary School and the headmaster was delighted to see us again. This time it was a lot quicker of a process and we were able to enroll Hamisi in school fairly quickly.

So it looks like this time around we have four kids enrolled in school. Next year we will be able to do a significant amount more, but we are wanted to start small. Also, we will be able to create a more thorough of a process of selection rather than just word of mouth. There are neighborhood and school associations to talk with and the headmaster at both Njoro and Jiendelze are on board to help us. It is a great start and so exciting!

Back to Jipe Moyo!

On Tuesday I went back to Jipe Moyo, the women's group that I worked with last year. There have been so many changes! I was the first volunteer there and they have come so far. As some of you might remember, when I left last year they were beginning to build a cell phone tower in the front yard of Mama Zenebu where I taught. It was weird to see a giant tower, surrounded by concrete and four armed gaurds, standing where I had taught last year. And this is right in the middle of the village!

Because of the work of past CCS volunteers, the women now have a building in which they meet. They rent a room right next to where Mama Zenebu's house. It is small and concrete, but atleast it is a meeting space. They have regular fundraising projects and are actually beginning to make an income. They use the money for both education and to help fund the women when they are taken ill, as most of them are HIV positive. CCS has had a bit of a problem with people giving donations to the women, which is in most cases more trouble than its worth. This time, however, the women seem keen to learn how to 'save' and 'budget', two concepts as foreign to americans as 'squatty potty' and 'chickens in the house'.

It was great to be back with the women, who immediately recognized me and were so happy to see me again. Mama Bruno, the chairwoman, offered to let me stay in her house with her so that she could teach me swahili and stay forever. I have to admit I was tempted, even if it meant sharing a one room bedroom with five kids, ducks, chickens, and a goat. I presented them with a computer that another past CCS volunteer had been given through a grant program in the states. They were really appreciative, although they have not the foggiest idea how to run the thing.

I was so proud of them and it is great to see what can be accomplished in 10 months. I just wish I would have been there to see the transition. It will be great to check back in with them during my next trips here.

First Day of School

Monday was a big day because we officially enrolled our first three kids into school. We arrived at the house of the Grandma Fatuma and gave them some kid clothes that Meghan had collected. They also had their uniforms that they had made for them. The whole thing was one giant love fest, I thought that the little mud hut was going to explode with love, cute kid noises, and gratitude. It was awesome and the kids looked so good in their new uniforms. Saumu and Abedi are starting in Standard 1 (1st grade) and their older sister Zubeda is going to Standard 5. When we arrived we found that Zubeda had been kicked out of school that day and her book bag kept as ransom for money. It was perfect timing, to say the least.

We marched the whole crew, the three kids, us three, Living, the grandma, and Furaha (a teacher at Jiendelze) down to Njoro Primary School to be enrolled. We found out that Zubeda was actually attend Chem Chem Primary School, but that was located next door so no worries there. It was great to meet with the head teacher of Njoro. We told her about our project, how we would be coming back year after year, and that she would probably get sick of us. She was great and very welcoming. She gave us a defined list of how much we owed, 13,500 shillings for a year, plus 700 shillings for a tie. Most of the money goes to food. This is about 10 dollars a year, but it still very cost prohibitive. We made sure that the grandma and the head mistress knew each other so that there wouldn't be any funny business about the validity of the payment. We paid for their schooling and off they went. We then went over to Chem Chem and did the same with the other head teacher. Although the schools are literally in the same building, they are run differently and cost a different amount. Zubeda owed 10,000 shillings from last year and we paid that too, after we verified this wasn't the head teacher's way of getting a few extra bucks from us. Needless to say, we are on the look out for this kind of behavior.

This whole adventure took about two hours. Everything takes a lot longer here than you would think. After we left the kids in their classrooms, we went to purchase the books and the rest of their supplies in town. We also got some basic food and health needs for the family. All in all, it looks like we spent about 60 USD per kid, for one year of supplies. The kids were so happy to be in their uniforms with their classmates.

Every Tanzanian is taught from a very young age to value education. The phrase "education is the key to life" is written all over the city. Even at six and seven years old, they couldn't have been more excited to be starting school.

Grandma Fatuma was bubbling with thanks and God bless. It was a good days work.

Living helping with the interview process. We ended up sponsoring the two kids on the left, Saumu and Abedi, who are brother and sister.

Our first kids..

When we arrived back at Jiendeleze to meet with our first three kids, we found a bit of a crowd. Word had gotten around that some mzungus were in town and most likely doling out the cash. We went into the classroom with the three kids (Abedi, Saumu, and Mussa), Living, and two other kids with their mamas. We quickly learned from these mamas that they were having trouble paying their bills and wanted us to help them. This was our first heartbreaking lesson, denying the mamas of even a few dollar donation. If we are going to develop respect in Majengo, we will have to draw the line in the sand many times, over and over. We told the mamas that we were here to help with primary school only. This was really difficult to do, knowing that with even a five dollar donation would have an impact. Now that word is out, even though we only are helping a handful of kids, we will surely see more mamas like these with their own stories. To discern between each heartbreaking story, and to decide which carries more merit, is not a privilege in most situations.

We then talked to the kids to find out about their home lives and to discover why they were not attending primary school. Abedi and Saumu are brother and sister, both around the age of seven. Most kids don't know their ages here as there aren't any birth certificates. They live with their grandma and older sister. Mussa lived with his four siblings, his step-mother, his father, and his uncle. He told us that he had both running water and electricity which was a huge red flag for us. Only the very very very wealthy can afford these amenities. We were immediately skeptical about his need. The kids were all very shy and had no idea what was happening. Living was kind and did well translating for us.

It was off to the house of Abedi and Saumu to meet with their grandma and to see their house. It was immediately behind Jiendeleze. I was used to seeing the houses in this area from my house visits last year, but the intensity does not fade. It was a one room home made from mud, about eight by eight feet. There were two beds, one for the grandma, the other for the three kids. There was a pile of dishes and containers in the corner and one pile of food. We talked for a bit with the grandma, discovering that she had just brought the three kids from Dodoma when their parents had died the year prior. The grandma has no source of income and is completely sustained by her neighbors and Ramadani, the headmaster of Jiendeleze.

The older sister was at primary school in Standard 5. She was going to get kicked out on Monday if she didn't come with school fees, 20,000 tsh (18 USD). It was obvious that this was going to happen. We immediately decided to help out the sister as well.

When we told her that we would like to help all three kids go to primary school, she was shocked. It was a totally humbling feeling to be the answer to someone's prayers, and such a high. She told us she had been praying for her grandkids to go to school and had one day left to figure out how to pay. And here we were.

After we came down from that moment, we talked with Ramadani who assured us he would keep track of the kids to make sure that they were doing their work and attending school. We will also have Living check in as well. We want to make sure that the money our donors have given goes toward the most deserving, and hard working, kids. We had the kids measured for uniforms. On Monday we will take them and their grandma to Ngoro Primary School to have them registered. It is important that there are witnesses to the transactions, as money from mzungus often goes missing...

It was such an awesome moment, knowing you are having such an impact on their lives that will last forever. It is difficult to put that into words. It is amazingly humbling though. I do not take credit for my efforts, I am simply doing what I know that I have been called to do. Every human is extremely capable, and every human deserves a chance. Especially kids.

We decided against supporting Mussa in the end. It was clear that the need wasn't there and our money would be better used elsewhere. What was keeping him out of primary school was the fact that it was his step-mother that had the money and she felt no need to support her step-kids.

We will be meeting with a few other kids on Tuesday to go through with the same process. Our goal is to have five registered in Ngoro for this year. Next year will be much bigger and we will have much more regimented of a process of selection.

The Pirates of Fate (I guess)

Today we met with the headmaster of Jiendeleze, the nursery school that Meghan worked in last year. It is a one room school full of 60-70 kids ages 2-6. Ramadani, the headmaster, has a shop in the back of the school and lets the kids come for free, paying for the teacher himself. The Majengo area is a very poor part of Moshi and many kids can't afford school at any level.

We asked him for a list of kids who were old enough to go to primary school but who still attended Jiendeleze because they could not afford to go. There were two kids in this situation. Our local friend, Living, was there to help us translate. I had a total Pirates of Penzance moment (anyone?) when I used the word 'often' (meaning frequently) in a sentence to be translated and all Living heard was 'orphan' (meaning one who doesn't have any parents). He then asked the headmaster if there were any orphans at the school. We got a list of names, including three that had already 'graduated' and were at home, unable to pay for primary school.

We have been very cautious in talking about numbers and if/when we will sponsor the kids. Money is a very tricky thing around here. Many people will take full advantage of you if they know that you are willing to pay for them. This comes from many years of being sustained on one time donations from mzungus. They will take as much as they can, as soon as they can. We are aware that we are bound to be burned at some point but are taking as many precautions as we can.

Tomorrow we will meet with the five kids that we have identified as having a need. We will interview them to find out a bit more and then go on home visits to meet their parents. It is necessary to do surprise home visits, as sometimes parents will instruct their kids to take mzungus to a 'poorer' house so that they are more likely to be sponsored.

At this time, we are hoping to sponsor five to seven kids. We want to make the commitment to them for all seven years of primary school. School has already started for this year but they will always take more students. The Tanzanian government has just made a new law making it illegal to not go to school. Many mamas will drop their kids of at school now so that they can not be fined but will not pay the school fees.

Tomorrow we are in for another big day! And thanks to some Gilbert and Sullivan orphan/often we have found five kids to help.

We gave the kids at Watoto Rau stickers that they immediately put on their foreheads. This boy wore a NY Yankees jersey instead of a uniform because it was the same colors, navy blue and white.

A Change of Direction

On Tuesday, we went over to the CCS home-base where we all stayed last year to say hello to the staff and see our old stomping grounds. It was weird to be back, it felt like college kids coming back to high school. The new volunteers looked at us with such unwarranted admiration. It was great to see the staff and reconnect with the people there. Mama Grace, the head mama of the house, was able to give us some good insight into what we might be getting ourselves into creating our foundation.

That afternoon, we met with another past CCS volunteer who has a foundation on the ground that has been running for the past six years. It is called The Rau Foundation and is worth a browse. She talked with us for a couple hours about what she does and the several occupational hazards that come with the job. She was a wealth of knowledge and I am very thankful that she took time out of her busy schedule to come and talk with us. It is inspirational to us that another past volunteer has done what we are looking to do. She goes about it in a different way than we intend, but was still very helpful.


Each of the primary schools here in Tanzania cost a different amount. Technically, they are government schools and if you read the laws they should cost nothing to the students. The government however severly underfunds them to the point that every year the parents, teachers, and headmaster have to decide what is needed to supplement the budget enough to even open the doors. Primarily this is money for food for lunch. Primary school in Moshi costs between 15,000 tsh and 25,000 tsh, or about 12 to 23 dollars a year. About 75% of this money goes to the maize and beans given at lunch time. Parents pay this in installments, as they can, which also means that the student can be kicked out of school at any point for not having paid.

Primary school goes from Standard 1 to Standard 7 (about 7th grade) and secondary school goes from Form 1 to Form 4, with the additional option of going for your A levels and attending Form 5 to Form 6. Seconday school costs between 100 USD and 200 USD a year. About 10 percent of the population will attend secondary school, and not all will pass.

We have decided to steer away from the Upendo Orphanage, after discovering a few things about that organization. There are more pressing needs in the community where we can be more effective. Majengo is a very poor neighborhood, where there is a high rate of alcohol abuse. Our hope is that we will take kids from this neighborhood and enroll them in one of two neighborhood primary schools. This will take us quite a bit of time as things are very pole pole here. We will start with a select handful of kids that we can manage and work from there.

Today we are going to take a rest day, to process, and because Meghan isn't feeling well. It will be great to walk around town and enjoy the sights and sounds of Moshi.

One of the students, Nancy, getting fitted for her uniform. I am in the back in the braids.

Home Again, Home Again

To say that it is good to be back is an understatement. The second I stepped outside the airplane and smelled the air, something resettled and I felt instantly back at home again. I was a bit nervous that I would not be as excited this time around, or I wouldn't get the same high, but these fears were misplaced. I have had a fantastic few days and things are getting exciting.

We have been really jetlagged and have done our best thinking during the 3am to 6am hours before we nap before breakfast. We are staying at a great hotel in the middle of Moshi town. We a block from the bus station and the mosque, both epicenters of noise and people. Our room has a great balcony behind a shield of trees which is a perfect people watching perch. I have spent many hours so far just watching people go by on their daily business.

Today (Monday) we went to Watoto Rau which is a nursery school in Rau village. There were 53 kids between the ages of 2 and 5. It was a bit crazy, to say the least. We helped out with the lesson (there is one teacher, a local CCS volunteer) and had some great play time. The kids are just so full of joy and are an inspiration, for sure. We had the nine kids who didn't have uniforms fitted for them so that they would have them.

Our original intention was to help out with the Upendo orphanage, but at this point in time it looks like we are switching gears to just funding primary school in general. Over the next week, we are going to try to put together a way to find, pick, and fund local kids to go to primary school. This still works with starting small and sustainable. Our hope is to fund their school fees, their uniforms, and to find a way to provide them with tutoring on the weekends. We will be focusing on the Majengo neighborhood, which is the area that both Meghan and I worked in last year and one of the poorest in Moshi. Things and objectives change quickly, so keep up with the blog to see where what we are up to next!

Tomorrow we meet with another past CCS volunteer who has her own group in town that does similar work. She will hopefully provide valuable information and point us in a general direction. The locals have also been very helpful, as they are entirely community oriented and understand every child to be their own.

This is such exciting and important work. I feel like the luckiest person in the whole world to be here. Thanks for keeping posted!

On My Way!

I am leaving in about an hour for Tanzania. I am in a bit of a dream state about the whole thing. It doesn't seem real! I am so thrilled and so nervous. It will be great to see the people and the places that I connected with last year. Last year it was a feeling of homecoming when I arrived, we will see what happens this year!

I am excited about getting started with our work. I feel unprepared because we don't have set up meeting with the individuals that we need to work with. It could take us two weeks to track down somebody. Tanzania Flexible Time (TFT) will be our first challenge. We have a few people in Moshi that know we are coming and will help us in the right direction but a lot of our time there will be trial and error. I am putting my 'learning cap' on and know it will be an exciting, and trying, time.

I will keep updating the blog as time and power allows, there are frequent power outages this time of the year due to drought. I can't wait!!

First Trip Back!

I am going back to Tanzania on the 29th of this month! We (Meghan, Jennifer, and I) managed to find time to go back at the same time and we took it! I can't wait.

On this trip, we will be meeting with the sisters at Upendo to set up the flow of money and to establish ourselves in their eyes as a sustainable source of income. Many mzungus tell them they will help but most do not follow through. We are doing our best to make sure that we will not leave them behind. From there, we will be talking with people from the local primary and secondary schools. We will also be talking to a couple other orphanages and street kid homes to get as much information as we can for our future ventures.

You have probably noticed that I use the word 'sustainable' quite frequently. To make our organization sustainable will be a huge task. The transition from an influx of donations to a sustained income over a period of time is difficult, and I can't do it without your help.

To make ourselves as sustainable as possible, we will tell each institution that we work with exactly what we will fund and what we won't. At this point, we are funding tuition, uniforms, and a few necessary school supplies like workbooks and writing utensils. Upendo has about 20 students that need to be funded for the 2009 school year (Jan-Dec).

They will need:
Pencils
Erasers (these cost a fraction of a cent)
Workbooks (about 10 cents)
Uniforms (10 dollars)
Shoes
Tuition (from 40 to 100 USD for one year. At primary school, this includes one meal a day).

I am accepting donations which will be pooled with those gathered by Jennifer and Meghan that will be used on our trip to Moshi. Every penny of the money will be used to support these kids and their education. We are funding our efforts and our trip out of our own pocket.

At this point in time, because we are a new organization, we are unable to offer a tax write-off. To achieve this status, we need to be in existence for 15 months -- something to look forward to! We are currently looking for donations from 1 to 50 dollars.

Thank you for reading and for having patience with us as we grow and learn in our effort to bring education to the at-risk children of Moshi, Tanzania.

THANK YOU!

A New Foundation: The Drawing Board

Even today, I have mixed emotions about leaving Tanzania. The hardest adjustment for sure was not being able to be as useful as I know that I can be. The coolest thing about volunteering in a country like Tanzania is that you are able to give of yourself completely and have a great influence. I missed that feeling when I came home the most.

I thought frequently of the teens and the women that I worked with and was haunted by a sense of abandonment. I knew that more volunteers came after me to continue where I had left off. For example, Jipe Moyo (the woman's group I worked with) now has a building that they meet in rather than a yard. They have regular classes and meetings and are now doing outreach themselves.

The best way to handle the emotion of being home and helpless was to talk with other volunteers who were there with me. Through this communication, Meghan, from Portland, Ore., and Jennifer, from New York, and I came together in agreement that we could pour our energies together to create an organization. We decided we were all passionate about creating a sustained effort and have spent the last few months working to make that happen.

We decided to focus on education for at-risk children, primarily orphans. The term 'orphan' is different from what you expect. An orphan in Tanzania, and most African countries, refers to a child who doesn't have a support system. Orphanages are a Western idea brought in in recent years. For the most part, kids with no support system, meaning a parent or two have passed or are unwilling/unable to support them, go to live with relatives or neighbors. They are, in a matter of speaking, absorbed into the community.

That said, they are an at risk population and are unsupported by the non-existent state. There are many non-profits and grassroots organizations, like churches for example, that have made a point to support orphans, but as usual these function in such tiny microcosms that each and every orphanage is funded differently.

One place that we grew to know in Moshi is an orphanage called Upendo (meaning love in Swahili). Upendo is run by a group of Catholic nuns. There are 60 kids from newborn to 6 years old at Upendo. These are children who are unsupported by their families. In some cases, this is because the kids have a debilitating disease themselves. The younger kids are kept in a nursery and those age 4 to 6 are in a school setting. Once the kids are 6 years of age, they are either sent back to their family if one exists or they are sent to live on their own. At six years old. Some end up in street kids homes and some survive (or not) on their own in Moshi.

Because we are a very new organization and need to start in a functional place, we are going to start by funding the school program at Upendo and then fund each graduating class to go to primary school. We will meet with the primary schools to set up scholarships and to brainstorm ways for these children to have housing. There are some homes for kids going to primary school and children who are attending school are more likely to be accepted back by a family or a neighbor. In primary school, they are given one meal a day which takes a lot of burden of a family hosting an orphan. Remember, though, that the sense of community is very different than here. The family unit is only one part of the community. The community takes care of each other regardless of blood ties.

Supporting Upendo with school fees for the older kids and supporting the graduates is an achievable task. There is a graduating class of about 20 kids each year, a reasonable number for a brand new organization like ourselves. After we are able to sustain this support, we will move on to other at risk children, including those at other orphanages, and those at street kids homes. In many cases, the youth at the homes for street kids are male. The younger females either get taken into other families or are married.

Every day at the beginning of the school day, the kids in every school in Tanzania repeat after their teacher "Education is the Key to Life". We understand this and see it as the path for the opportunity to have a fulfilling life.

The Inevitable Return: A Year Later

As most of you know by now, I am returning to Tanzania on the 29th of January for a brief two week stint. This is to get you up to date on where I am now and to invite you to follow my journey as two other past CCS volunteers and myself attempt to create our own non-profit to support those that we met there.

Returning from Tanzania was not easy, to say the least. I was immediately overwhelmed by the rushing pace of life and the continual demands on my time and energy, in a completely different way. Immediately after my trip, I traveled in England with Marty (my now fiance) and then to Hawaii with my family. Neither the bustle of London nor the craze of mzungu tourists in Maui allowed for a smooth transition, but perhaps it was better to not ease into it.

To say that I thought (think) of Tanzania frequently would be a drastic understatement. It was continually on my mind. I tried not to overwhelm those with questions with too much information or too long of a story, although those who know my eagerness to talk know that this was difficult. The most frequent question I got from those brave enough to ask a question other than the requisite "how was it?" and "what did you do" was "weren't you scared?" I guess that it never occurred to me while I was there to be scared. Yes, I felt uncomfortable at times and I was aware of certain dangers. But are you scared when you step into your home at the end of the day? To me, going to Tanzania was like going home. I immediately felt comfortable and at ease. Part of this, admittedly, were the plush conditions provided by CCS, but the other part was an internal recognition of where I was meant to be.

My mother, among many wise people I have encountered, have always told me to 'follow my bliss'. I am sure that none of them meant for me to follow it to a third world country.

I am so thankful for my experience, for the people who made it possible, for those who inspired and encouraged me along the way, and for those who I met while I was there. You are an inspiration, and I hope to see you all in a couple weeks!