Week One- New Placement!

After the turmoil of Chawamaki, and the inactivity of Tapoti, Brittany and I were moved to work with another women's group called Kiwodea. So far this has been a lot more successful. They have many activities. They run a nursery school for kids 2-6, they give out micro loans to women starting businesses and they help educate women on how to run their businesses. Along with helping with these endeavors, we will be teaching English to the kids and to the Mamas in the group, about 25 in all. On the first day we were given a tour of the building and were put on the spot to teach something to the kids. We had no idea what they new already and none of the teachers spoke english to help us out. We ran through the alphabet and counted to 10 about 50 times and then the lesson was over. It is really apparent that the kids do not know what they are saying when they recite letters or numbers, they could not tell you what 2 was or if you pointed to a random letter they would always say "A!". They are well behaved, for the most part, if not for the teachers who walk around as we teach and poke and prod the kids with their sticks until they are completely paying attention.

I am a lot more excited for this and after feeling helpless at Chawamaki I feel like I can do some good here. Teaching english will be a huge challenge for me but I can see the need. I am also excited to teach about running a business. I don't know much about this, of course, but even simple lessons like how to save and what loans are are extremely important. It is not the cultural norm in Tanzania to give back something that was given and so the idea of a loan is very foreign to the women. The loans are given to the women in the group as the head Mama decides in three increments: gold, silver, and bronze. The bronze loan is 20,000 tsh (about 20 us dollars), the silver 50,000 (about 50 us dollars) and the gold is 100,00 tsh (a hundred dollars). The money is generally used to by supplies for their businesses and have to be paid back in 3-6 months, depending on the type.

I am also excited to visit some of the businesses. The women (and most of the people here) choose one commodity to sell, usually at the side of the road. It is a totally different way of doing business. We are struggling to come up with ways to teach the women to save money because there is no expendable income, so it is not as simple as telling them not to buy that extra mocha or to not go out for dinner as often. Although this is a challenge, I am really amped for the opportunity. The women in Tanzania are the most amazing, inspirational and strong people I have ever met and it is a true privilege to work with them.