Saying goodbye...

As my time living and working in Tanzania draws to a close, I have been reflecting on the better part of the past year. These reflections illustrate acutely to me how strange of a thing time is – in one sense it seems as though those first months learning Swahili, becoming familiar with the culture, and settling into a new life were eons ago, as I feel that I have grown a great deal, mentally, emotionally and spiritually, to the point of not fully recognizing the person who came here in September. At the same time, I am in disbelief that my time here has already passed; as it progressed from anticipation, to preparation, to actually happening, the whole experience now, looking back, seems like one big blur. I suppose that is the nature of picking up and dropping yourself in an entirely new situation; they say the three biggest changes in life are a change in job, change in location/home, and change in relationship status. On top of those three add a new climate, culture, language, and social circle and you have a good reason for things to seem somewhat surreal. Time is relative as most of us well know – days can crawl by, while months and years come and go faster than we would like. I think that living in a foreign country just amplifies this phenomenon.

As for what I have learned, I think that most prominently in my mind the fact stands out that we are so privileged to live in Canada (replace Canada with any “Western” style “first-world” democratic country if you like). Not in the sense that I know I am lucky because someone has told me that somewhere else there are people who don’t have what we do, but in the deepest sense, to the point where I am dreadfully aware of the fact that my life could belong to anyone else, and thus I am making a statement by how I live it concerning how our freedom of opportunity should be used. I feel honoured that I have had the opportunity to “give back” to people that are less fortunate than myself, not through any merit of my own but through the generous support of CIDA, Emmanuel International, and those of you who donated privately towards this endeavour. I do truly believe that my work has had an impact on the people here, and that they will come away from the centre better equipped to live healthy lives, and even more importantly, to teach others how they can live healthily. That said, before we came we were told that the experience would impact us on an individual level more than we would impact those around us. I don’t know how anyone could actually measure such a subjective value over such a wide range of situations, but the idiom still rings true. I feel that the experience I have had has impacted my paradigm significantly and in doing so will alter my path for the future.

Anyhow, before I get to wishy-washy (or maybe it’s too late) I would like to tell you about the more practical side of things here. In the coming week I will be teaching lessons about HIV/AIDS; that is, what it is, how its spread, prevention, treatment and living with the disease. There is a great deal of misinformation that goes around here about this disease so it is very important to set things straight and dispel some of the myths. Iringa town, being a hub for transport between Dar es Salaam and the niegboring countries of Malawi and Zambia, has the highest HIV infection rates in the country. The national average infection rate is about 8%, whereas in Iringa it is closer to 13%. This may not seem overly high, but one must keep in mind that the numbers refer to people of all ages. If we actually look at the stats for those between 15 and 30, the infection rate is more like 60%. Needless to say this is a huge problem. And it is compounded by false beliefs about the disease and its prevention (such as the myth that the condoms here don’t work or are poisoned by Americans – if this shocks you know that there are many more myths that are equally if not more shocking, but they are not suitable to print here, and furthermore I have yet to obtain an exhaustive list as of yet, much of what I know is hearsay). After the lessons, on Friday I will be doing a seminar to review the topic and to answer any questions they may have, hopefully the majority of the time will be devoted to answering questions. The following week will be a repeat of the initial survey that I gave the students, and hopefully we will se a marked increase in their understanding of health issues. Aside from the lessons and seminar I am busy saying goodbyes and tying up other loose ends, as we are scheduled to fly out on the first of June (which is coming up surprisingly quickly). So thanks again for all of your support, and wish me luck in the next 2 weeks as I try and get all of the things done that need to be before we head back to Canada. Cheers.

The Warm Heart of Africa

Last week the Emmanuel International Tanzania team took a trip down to Malawi to join up with EI Malawi in their annual retreat. The retreat took place at Cape McClear, which is a beautiful beach located on the southern shores of Lake Malawi. We all packed into our Landcruiser Prado and began the long drive down, stopping our first night in Mzuzu, but not before hitting a calf that decided to run out in front of our vehicle at the last second. It was a pretty tense moment as we knew we had to pay the villagers for it but were new to the country and had no idea how much it may be worth. We ended up paying a decent price and were not ripped off too much, and I am happy to say that was the worst thing that happened to us. That was the second time I had been in a vehicle that hit a cow, luckily both times no humans were hurt. Anyways the first evening we went out for a lovely dinner at an Indian restaurant, which was much classier then anything we have in Iringa so it was a treat. The second day we stopped in Nkhata Bay for a look around, as people tend to rave about it being one of the nicest places on the lake. It was quite pretty, but there wasn’t much of a beach, just grass and rocks on the shoreline, but we didn’t go to the place which most people recommend, Butterfly Lodge, so I can’t judge too much.

That day we drove all the way to Cape McClear, arriving a day before the rest of the EI people were due to arrive. That was nice because after 2 full days driving it was good to have 3 days on the lake. Cape McClear is an amazing place, the waters are crystal clear (as the name implies), and instead of it being a stretch of high end resorts it consists of a few small resorts interspersed within a village of about 12,000 people who live and work on the lake. The resorts tend to do development projects for the village such as the Chembe water project which brings water from the lake, treats it and disperses it throughout the village via a number of clean water taps. Cape McClear, to me, is an ideal place for couples and honeymooners, as the tranquility is unparalleled. That said, with a group of backpacking friends I think one could have a great time as well.

On Friday we went out kayaking for the afternoon, tried to circle an island but it turned out to be too big, so we settled for going half way and then out to Otter Point, where there is a protected marine park. We saw a number of fish eagles looking very majestic as eagles should, and the scenery was beautiful with large granite boulders dotting the shoreline. That night the rest of the people arrived for the retreat, and it was great as we got to see old friends and meet new ones. While the beach was awesome, it was really the connections forged with people that made the weekend. There is something to be said for sitting on a beautiful beach in the warm heart of Africa sharing a sunset with someone you connect with in a real way.

On Saturday some of us decided to go for another kayaking trip, and this time we went around another point to find a secluded beach. I remember watching my paddle breaking the clear blue water with smooth stroke after stroke, and gazing around at the majestic view, with the picture in my head of looking down from space and realizing exactly where I was and how lucky I was to be having such an incredible experience. We stopped and went for a swim, climbing up a white rock which turned out to be white because it was covered in hundreds of years of bird poop. Luckily it was perfect for jumping off and we were quickly made clean again in the cool water. That night was again filled with great conversation and on Sunday we had one more session and then hung out on the beach swimming and playing Frisbee until the afternoon before leaving.

The EI Malawi office is located in Zomba and we were able to go and visit for two nights and a day to see how things are done in Malawi, where EI has a much larger operation than we do in Tanzania. We got to hang out with the other interns and see where they live and work. We also met a guy who is cycling from Switzerland to Cape Town; he has been on the road for 22 months and is now stuck in Malawi waiting for a part to be sent out in Germany. He had some amazing stories and showed us some news clips about his journey. I highly respect the courage and endurance required to do something like that.

For our one day there we went out to see some disaster risk reduction projects, which aim to reduce the risk of famine in the event of droughts or floods in the areas around Zomba (which occurs often – this year floods wiped out thousands of peoples crops leaving them with little to no food). The first project we saw was a crop diversification pilot, where they villagers plant different crops that can withstand a wider range of growing climate conditions such as bananas and cassava. Normally they only grow maize, which isn’t ideally suited to the region and often ends up a ruined crop. The villagers were very happy to see us and told us about how the project had improved their lives. Aside from reducing the impact of disasters the project also increases the nutritional content of their diets and thus leads to stronger, healthier people.

The second project we went to was a cooking demonstration project where the locals are taught different cooking techniques that save firewood and incorporate these new non traditional foods into their diets. This was very interesting because it was exactly what I am teaching about right now at Amani. They cooked a huge range of dishes including rice, cassava, sweet potatoes, bananas, beans, relish, greens, and eggs. It was the best meal I have had prepared by locals in Africa, and I guarantee it could rival any posh restaurant for variety and richness of flavour. The people were so welcoming; as we arrived they broke into song and dance to welcome us and did the same to send us off. They are much less reserved than Tanzanian people.

The next day we began the long journey back, driving all day and stopping at a nice lakeside resort for a swim during sunset. It was so peaceful sitting on the veranda, listening to the waves hit the shore and journaling about the weekend. We awoke the following day for the most amazing sunrise I have ever seen in my life and then drove back to arrive in Iringa in time for dinner. So overall it was a near perfect trip, and I defiantly want to return to Malawi one day; if you ever come to Africa I highly recommend it as a destination.

Busy Busy

Sorry that the posts have been lacking of late. As you can imagine, as time has progressed, so has my language ability and correspondingly my workload. I have been spending every weekday out at Amani for the past several weeks and when I do get to town on the weekends things have been hectic. The teaching is going well; we have covered many topics including basic human biology, hygiene and sanitation, mother and child health, water use and SODIS, nutrition and diet, and malaria. Next week Andrew and I will teach about cooking techniques and environmental awareness, and then the whole crew will be headed down to Malawi for a week long retreat. We will be meeting up with the EI Malawi people including the other interns who we went to training school with so it should be a good weekend. After we return I hope to spend the final weeks of the internship covering respiratory diseases, diarrheal diseases and HIV/AIDS. Also I would like to facilitate a few seminars which will serve to build on the student’s knowledge of what they have learned and to answer any questions they may have. Anyhow I just wanted to give a quick update, hope that you are all doing well in your respective countries!

"FISCH"ers of Men

The Future for Iringa Street Children (FISCH) program is a grass-roots program designed to give the street kids around the Iringa region a safe place to go and get a good meal, as well as possibly a new lease on life. Anyone that spends a decent length of time in Iringa cannot help but notice the large proportion of street kids in and around the town center. They are especially visible to wazungu because they often will come up and beg when they see a foreigner, for two reasons, one, foreigners tend to have a lot of money and two, foreigners tend to feel pity for these very obviously deprived children and thus are likely to give money. This has been a challenge for me ever since I got here, because it is difficult to say no to a group of kids wearing dirty tattered clothes and asking for food when I have a basket full of food right in my hand. I usually tend to give the kids a few bananas or mangoes instead of giving money. This is because many of the kids are addicted to various substances, from alcohol to drugs to glue, and will not use the money in a constructive manner. The other reason for not giving money is that they become dependant on these handouts and will actually make more begging then they would if they got a job.

A few months into my time here I found a better outlet for helping these kids and started volunteering with FISCH. A friend of mine in partnership with a couple of NGO’s and some local Tanzanians had started the FISCH program; it began with what we call the “Saturday Program” in which every weekend we organize a good nutritious meal for the kids and then play games or do other activities. This program quickly caught on and soon we had days of up to 70 children from around the area coming to the program. Some of the activities the kids like to do include playing soccer, playing basketball, drawing and acrobatics.

Each child has his forte and some of them are very good at what they do. In the acrobatics these kids look like professionals and will be seen running and leaping into a myriad of cartwheels, flips, and spin maneuvers; they are incredibly athletic. It is like those street runner people you see on TV back home – really amazing. For the drawing we sometimes vote on the best pictures and give prizes. After a while the program extended and now we take the names and general information about each child who comes. As a group we then identify the needs of the child and this can go from buying them a pair of shoes to actually determining a solution for his living arrangement. I should mention that all of the children are boys. The reason usually cited for this is that the girls will tend to have a relatives house to stay in and are essentially used as a slave by that family to do housework and work in the shamba (farm plot).

Anyhow, if the child is found to have parents or other relatives some of the Tanzanian staff including a social worker will try and determine if it is plausible to get the child back in with the family. Sometimes this is successful and sometimes it isn’t. We have had cases where the kids have reconciled and gone back and are still living at home, and we have had other cases where the kids have run away a few weeks later to go back to the streets. If the child is deemed to have no relatives then we look into the option of sending them to a foster home, which again has had some successes and some failures. When the kids do integrate back into home life the FISCH program will often cover their school fees and get them back into the education system. I have really seen some amazing progress here with kids begging one week and the next walking around in school uniforms with books and a smile on their faces.

One really great story is that of Alex, a 17 year old who was the leader of one of the street kids’ gangs when we got here. He was pretty hostile and aggressive in his begging but he always remembered our names and I often saw him in the market leading a pack of kids around begging for money and food. Since he has been attending the FISCH program he has been placed in a foster home and began going to school. I saw him and he was much happier and would proudly show us his tests with lines of red check marks down the columns. When I returned from Thailand I had begun teaching one of my health classes at Amani and was very surprised to see Alex walk into the class of the first year vocational students. It turns out he had the dream of being a carpenter and the FISCH program agreed to pay his room, board and tuition at Amani in the carpentry program. Now he is a great student and is involved in all aspects of life here at Amani. It is amazing to see him with a smile on his face looking healthy running around in the football field with myself and the other students, laughing and joking and generally enjoying life. It is such a contrast between how he was when I first met him. When I ask him about his new life he credits God for making it possible for him to change and have hope for the future. I can see through his example that if he can make such a complete 180 degree change in life, anyone can with a bit of hard work and determination.

Life at Amani

After just over a week I have fully settled back into life at Amani Center. The health curriculum is now in full swing and I have also taken on teaching English classes as well. The students are keen to learn about different health topics as most of them have never been taught about the subject formally – all they know is what they have heard from other people in the villages. It has been tough jumping right into teaching after being away for 3 weeks, especially since it is all done in Swahili, but the language comes back surprisingly fast when you are forced to use it to communicate.

It is nice for me because I live in a concrete block house just at the back of the compound near the other staff houses – which means that I only have about a 5 minute walk to the classrooms in the morning. When I am not eating with the students I cook using either a kerosene or charcoal stove, and have a small sink and counter to wash up dishes in. My house used to be a school house for the children of past volunteers. It was equipped to have a teacher living here also, so there is a bedroom and bathroom. The former “classroom” is now a large (and therefore sparsely furnished) living room. The place is a home away from home now, and I feel very comfortable here. My only complaint is the cold shower, every morning it is a test of wills to get under the shockingly cold water; hot showers are by far the creature comfort I miss the most.

I usually go to town once a week and on weekends. To get there it is about a 15 minute walk down a dirt road to the “main” road, which is also dirt. From the turn off I can usually walk about 5 minutes to a small village market area where a dalladalla (minibus) will be waiting, but sometimes it isn’t and then I keep walking until one drives by. On the way to town we pass through a huge cemetery, which is being used for funeral services about 9 times out of 10 that I pass it. This serves as a solemn reminder of the high mortality rate present in this developing country (or as my friend put it in his blog: ICD - Impoverished Cesspool of Oppression; he refuses to use the euphemism “developing country.” Not to worry, ICD is not a put down to the country; he places the blame entirely on colonial Europe). The bumpy dalladalla ride is then usually about 20 minutes (and only costs about 20 cents) to town depending on how often we stop, and then it takes me half an hour to walk to Gangilonga (where our intern house is). So on a good day it will take me about 1 hour to get there, but more often then not it can take 1.5 - 2 hours because of the randomness of life here – that is, the bus breaks down, someone decides to load some livestock/fish/vegetables/furniture/doors/rebar/car motors in, our driver gets in a fist fight with another driver etc. - use your imagination.

In Iringa I can use the Internet, buy food for my Amani house, see wazungu friends, and eat in a restaurant, among other luxuries. Not that I am complaining by any means; the other interns only get to come to town once every 2 weeks, so comparatively I am very lucky. So I have gotten to know and love both aspects of life in Africa, the rural and the urban. Even now I struggle to pick out things that would be interesting to write about because I am so used to everything here; it is amazing how easily strange things become normal. That is why I would like to put forward the request for any questions about life here, suggestions of topics you would like to hear more about, or any other comments in general. It is nice for me to hear from those of you who are reading this as it inspires me to keep writing and gives me ideas of subjects to explore.

Guess Who's Back

So I arrived back in Iringa this past Sunday after a 24 hour journey from Ko Samui, Thailand to Dar es Salaam, via Bangkok and Dubai. I stayed with my Canadian friends Quintin and Sara in Dar for the first night and then Andrew met me on Saturday and we stayed at a guesthouse. On Sunday morning we picked up his parents from the airport and headed to the bus station. We were not sure if we would be able to get around Dar as President Bush was arriving in Dar on Saturday, a fact not as widely publicized in the West as it has been here of course. It is a huge event for Tanzania, as he is the first sitting U.S. president to visit the country, ever. It was quite strange to drive the chaotic and rundown streets of Dar which are now decorated with American flags, giant billboards of Bushs’ face in front of Kilimanjaro, and hand painted cloth signs with slogans such as “We Cherish Democracy,” “We Cherish Human Rights,” and “Tanzania is a Peaceful Country.” Definitely didn’t expect all that when I got back. The even more interesting thing is that over the past 5 months, whenever I talked to people about Bush, they had nothing but bad things to say about him. For example my American friend Paul was constantly harassed by people who called him “mtoto wa Georgi Bushi” (Child of George Bush), and “Georgi Bushi ni kali sana” (George Bush is very aggressive/mean). I heard another time of an American getting stopped at a police checkpoint, and the police officer said to him (in what was probably the only English he knew) “George Bush is an evil creature.” Aside from this I have heard many people talking negatively about the war in Iraq, the hanging of Saddam, and the hunt for Bin Laden. Amazing then, that Bush announces he’s giving the country 668 million dollars for infrastructure improvement and coming to visit, all of a sudden everyone I talk to loves him! Now people are saying how he is very generous and a good president etc. Even the newspapers are jumping on the bandwagon. Before now all I read in the Tanzanian papers were negative stories and editorials about Bush and the American Empire, and now all of the articles are glowing reviews of what he is doing for the country, usually with a one sentence blurb at the end saying something like “Many people are critical of Bushs’ foreign and domestic policy record, but that is always up for debate.” I have been here long enough to know that this is the Tanzanian way in some sense; people desire to avoid confrontation at all costs. Therefore, if something is bothering you about a situation or a person, you would never tell them, you would just act as though everything is all fine and good when the subject comes up. I am going to guess once all the hoopla dies down, people will retain their original views on him, but maybe not. If this really has changed the perceptions of an entire nation, maybe these diplomatic tours are really doing their intended job. I am not going to get too far into my personal views on the subject, as I am not prepared to write a book at this point.

Anyhow, I should say that it is great to be back in Africa, I have realized that the people here must be some of the friendliest, most welcoming, and most hospitable people in the world. I love that conversations constantly strike up between strangers, and people really have a “we’re all in this together” mentality. It is a stark contrast to the Western individualism that we experience in Canada and other countries, where people avoid contact with strangers at great length. We have a lot to learn from this worldview, as I think that Westerners may be much better off if we willingly tried to adopt more of a collective mentality. One statistic that I find irrefutably illustrates the backwardness of our culture is the fact that studies show that nearly one third of the population of North America is on antidepressants. That is over 100 million people on our continent alone. The numbers are less for Europe but they are climbing steadily. Now is it just me or is it crazy that the most privileged, enlightened, richest group of people with the highest quality of life ever experienced on this planet is depressed, presumably about their life situation? Doesn’t this indicate that there is something wrong with the current world order? I meet people everyday that are paid less money per year then we spend on one meal in a nice restaurant. Logic says that these are the people who should be jaded, cynical, and worn-out concerning the problems of life, but to the contrary, these people are by far some of the happiest people I have ever known. They revel in the simple things, a hard days work, dinner with the family, being in good health for one more day; in the West, people are so indoctrinated with ideas that material wealth brings happiness, but it is consistently shown in studies that wealth and happiness do not correlate, in fact, in some cases they have been shown to be inversely proportional (that is, the richer one is, the less likely that person is to report themselves as “happy”). My theory is that, in the history of humans, we have always been living day to day, that is, struggling to meet our basic needs of food, water, and shelter. Now, only really in the past 100 years, we in industrialized countries have found ourselves with all of our needs met, and plenty of spare time to fill up. Sometimes that time is used productively, but often it is not, and when that happens, people start to really question life. Why am I even here? What is my purpose? Who really needs me? These questions can sometimes lead to great things, but often people begin to feel useless and get into a downwards spiral, filling their lives with negative influences which only serve to exuberate the problem until they declare that they “need help” and thus turn to antidepressants or other means. So, what can we do about this? I am not going to pretend to have all the answers, but I think just realizing how lucky we are, not just to have all of our basic needs met, but also for the opportunities we have to find fulfillment in life though higher means. Some examples of what I am talking about include: spending quality time with family and friends, spiritual development, health and fitness, intellectual development, connecting with nature, charity/volunteering, various hobbies, etc. It is easy to say all of this and much more difficult to do, I know. Many of you may have heard of the new bestselling book “the Secret,” and I want to point out that there is a reason why this book is so popular – all that it says in a nutshell is “positive thinking is good”. It may seem humorous that such a simple notion can be created into a multimillion dollar book and movement, but that it has been so successful illustrates the state of our society. People feel that they need to be told what is right before they can act on it themselves. I know that the book has positively changed many people’s lives, and that is great, but do we really need someone to tell us that if you set goals and work towards them they will be fulfilled? Isn’t this inherent in human nature? It is by this maxim that our species has accomplished so much, and will continue to do so into the future. Well now reaching the end of this I assure you that I wasn’t planning this entry to turn this way but hey, sometimes spontaneous ideas are the best ones.

Reunited

So we have been in Thailand for a few days and it has been great. It is really awesome to see my family. The country is beautiful and everything has exceeded expectations. We have just been doing a lot of relaxing and catching up with each other. I feel very blessed for having the opportunity to come here. I hope that everything is great in your part of the world, wherever you may be.