Almost...

So,I'm back home now and it was a bit of a shock the first day. It feels like I left home and came back to this city full of sky scrapers. I've come to the conclusion that the reason I liked it there so much is because I'm the type of person who likes being in a place where I know my neighbors and sit on the porch and say 'Hi' to people and have the community know when something is wrong with me and wish me and my family best wishes.

My last few days in Tanzania were great Friday I taught the women at Jipe Moyo about black American culture - about CP Time which gave them a laugh since its similar to there TFT Time; about food and family reunions and dating and body types. Then they dressed me in kanga and carried me around shrilling lilililillili!

One group also prayed for me... for a long long time. I think that was my fault because I told one student Grace that I was not Christian. tsk tsk tsk.

After that we went to Makwaiya's house which is really nice except that her husband's family claim that the children aren't his and may take it away from her at any moment) and to see her kids at school.


That afternoon I went to the Kili Center orphanage and played with the kids there. I taught them the hand clapping game and song to go with it. They have had a ton of foreign volunteers so they know all games and etc. so it was so cool to teach them a game/song they DIDN'T know. My sister will remember this one b/c our cousins taught us when we were little "Ronald McDonald had a hamburger..." It was so cool b/c Manka, the little girl in the picture I'll post was like 'Faster!' just like we did as kids. funny.



On Saturday I met with Lule to set up a face book page. He is a fantastic painter so I'm hoping to help him advertise his work online so that he can sell it and send it from there. ( If anyone's interested in seeing a few pieces let me know - they are pretty cheap considering how beautiful they are).

Then I hung out with Amani and had the greatest time just walking through Moshi with him talking about Tanzanian culture, American culture - dreams, etc. I told him he could be a translator professionally and get paid a lot of money but that he should really go into International Relations (I'm going to send him some magazines and books about that to increase the strenggth of my hints)

On Saturday night Beth and I had our 8 pm hot chocolate tradition. I don't know how that started but just like our friendship it just sort of did. Then we WALKED (risky business - no one walks around at night) to Malindi b/c it was so close and taking a taxi seemed ridiculous.
We arrived to meet Amani, Living and Kileo watching football (soccer)with hundreds of other men and no women and us dressed or the club in our kimpy dresses. Yes there were stares. I was like 'Amani, ummm I'm going to sit behind you thank you'. Mancester United was playing and won so it was a good night for the soccer fans.

Then CyPy came and joined us after taking the girls who had been in the accident on safari. He said he was so nervous and needed to get a little tipsy early so he could then take us all to the airport later that night. So we went to Laliga, did shots and danced. Then CyPy and I went out and talked in the safari truck until Beth came out of the club and took her to the airport. It was a loooong night. We left at 3:30 and waited with her until she left at 4:30/ 5. We were so sleepy - I was aking CyPy stupid questions on the way back to try and keep him up. When I got back to CCS I just crashed... on Beth's going away card with glitter over it. So I had glitter on me the next day :D

Sunday I didn't do much. I met CyPy and had an odd time but think that he has got a great life - seriously he's got it made. I think people here probably strive for what he has yet they wouldn't realize it to see it. Anyway I also walked around in the heat for a long time - tried to see if Amani was playing soccer and then Athmani drove me to the airport.


Now that's the end... except that I think I'll go back next year :D in fact CyPy was like 'See you next year!'

The End

In the airport now and will update this last posting later. But had a great time Saturday - helped Lule the artist start a facebook page for networking, walked with Amani around Moshi and got to know him and Tanzanian culture better. Went with Beth to Malindi (to watch football with the boys... uhhh that was a little uncomfortable when we first walked in) then to Laliga with CyPy, Beth, and Kileo. Danced until 3, when we left to take Beth to the airport - boy what a long night! Sunday was a little bland and most boring day. Don't make you're last day in Tanzania a Sunday, things are dead! OH taught Jipe Moyo about black American culture since in a year and a half Amani has only seen 3 black volunteers - no men. OK yall, peace out.

Fundraiser

The Jipe Moyo fundraiser is tomorrow - I dreamt about it all last night. I hope it goes off without a hitch. 3 pm it will begin and we will be shuttled there after a picnic. More tomorrow!

Today was a national holiday honoring TanZania's first president. Since some of the other placements were closed Amani brought his friends, Kileo and Living to class. They introduced themselves in English and made the students introduce themselves. Then we practed at the market. Today I finally got an African outfit finished so I looked Mwafrica (an African/Tanzanian) today. The CCS staff's reaction was sooo funny Mama Grace and Sara were shocked and kept complimenting me and teasing me as did Mama Judith - I'm really going to miss the people here they are just so friendly. I think I'm planning to come back January 2010, any takers?

Anyway this afternoon was my fundraiser and the Mamas welcomed us by screaming llululululull!! and with Karibus and music. We danced I sold - though I thought they would be since we had practiced. I gave the other volunteers a tour of their office and made an opening speech about how great this group is. We had a goal of 160,ooo and we made 171,000 woo hoo! It was awesome - we danced and OH I just love these women!! I filmed a lot of it so hopefully you can see why. All the volunteers were so impressed by their positivity and English. I love these women so much I'm really going to miss them.

I had a long talk with CyPy at lunch, his contract ends Friday which is good so then I won't feel bad about leaving b/c I probably wouldn't see him much more now that he 'll be working for safari instead of CCS.

Tomorrow I think we're going to Arushi to go to court and see the war crimes tribunal...

Soccer Game House Visit

Yesterday Beth and I went to Amani's soccer game. The team name is Amani (which means peace) and Amani, Kileo, Kiving, and Isaac all play on the team. Amani he said he played for another team too and led them to championship and to the National competition. Yesterday was a tie game 2 to 2 it was awesome I brought a water bottle with rocks in it (mom, Cynthia I'm representing you!) and yelled and screamed. It was a great game. I had my camera with me and the kids came to watch the film of the baby elephants play fighting on it.



It was good that Amani was back today - the students said that didn't understand all that I said last week. Amani asked if I could extend my time here but I told him that I have to go back to work but I want to come back maybe next January, though he may be a famous soccer player or in college at that time. :) Today was only my second house visit. I wish I could do many more. Amani was back today so I had a fluent translator - he's very good, he says he's so used to translating now it doesn't bother him at all. When I translated into English and Japanese - I got a head ache! First we went to see Joyce who now has full blown AIDS - her body itches and there is nothing that can be done about it until her immune system is back to 100. The medicine they take for AIDS only needs to be taken when your blood count (?) is 150 or less - she should have taken it earlier but she was already sick with yellow fever and a weak liver. She looked like she had chicken pox on her head and arms. She said she can't sleep because her body itches so much. I wish there was something I could do to help her. She was even scratching a little when we were there. She says she doesn't know how she contracted the disease - she is from Dar and is now living in Moshi with her sister and her sister's family.

The next house visit was to an 80 year old woman. She was sooo cute. She was of course shocked that I wasn't TanZAnian, thinking that I was from the Tanga region, where she is from on the coast. Oliver, Amani and I visited. Oliver is like a tom boy and such a jokester - even this Mama was saying that sometimes when she sees Oliver she thinks she's a boy. Oliver (pronounced Olivah) always wears pants and men's shirts and a hat. Anyway this Mama and Oliver were talking about how I should stay, or go back to the US for 4 months for work and then come back for good. Oliver said she would hook me up with her brother or they would snatch me and take me to my new husband as they did in the old days. This Mama said that when she was young sometimes they would get girls in the night and take them to the man's house that she would marry after deciding and paying the dowry price - or they would go to the market and the girl would be carried off. They said maybe they should do that to me. They were so funny. So many jokes and Sia (Mama Bruno) says to Amani ' ahhh Andrea has a good African figure!' I tell him - yeah in black America too. He seemed surprised.

Kili

Yesterday I took a day hike to Kili. Musa was supposed to take me but had to bail at the last minute so Edward took me instead. We were smushed onto a daladala (a converted minivan or small ambulance, that is now used as a bus). Edward is very tall for a TanZAnian ( about 5'11) and we were not looking forward to the 45 minute ride that would take us to the base of the mountain but fortunately people got out early so that we had space. We arrived to Marangu and took a taxi to the gate. We passed Edward's grandmother's place on the way, his father's family is from that village.

We took the 'coca cola' route instead of the 'wiskey' route. The views are better on the latter but it's steeper. The 'coca cola' route is said to be easy enough that you can walk and drink a cola. After climbing it, there was a little rum in that cola but it Was easy enough. It was a good hike 12:30 to 5:30 and we saw a small (b/c its the dry season) waterfall which was cool. Plus it was just Edward, me and a guide (b/c Edward forgot his license) so it was quiet and I got to get to know Edward who is a really intelligent interesting guy - I can see that he will go far in life.

Running out of time more later...

TanZAnian culture: Marriage, Maturity and Birth/Pregnancy

In the first two weeks of CCS volunteering you get language and culture classes everyday after your placement. Yesterday we learned about marriage, pregnancy and maturity in Tanzanian culture. It was fascinating and Sara, who is this mtundu (mischievous) and funny CCS staff, explained it to us - we didn't want to stop talking about it. And she was sooo open about her own life (since she didn't follow the rules of her culture) which was great! I forgot to bring my notes here so I'm not going to start talking about it until next time, but be sure to check this post again, this was totally interesting!

Tonight I'm going to Arushi with CyPy, the cute TanZAnian driver who used to have dreadlocks and misses them. Tomorrow morning I'm going to Kili on a day hike with Musa, who took us on safari. I decided not to do a weekend hike because frankly I'm too tired. It's been a busy week.

I noticed that I haven't spoke about any of the other volunteers and none of the wonderful staff and local volunteers. I also haven't taken many pictures of them - I'll do that this weekend.


I room with two nice girls, Chris and Jen. Chris is from Costa Rica and is a 38 year old bikini company owner. Jen is a 27 year old nurse from Canada - boy can she talk! :D
Danni - the 18 year old from Canada, 'the quiet designer'
Kayle - the 18 year old from Michigan, 'the wild designer'
Katie - 21 year old from Kansas City who arrived later than the rest of us
Brian - the 23 year old who dances all the time and one of two of the only foreign men here.
Ken - 58 year old man, really sweet, who lost his hearing a few years ago. He can't hear a damn thing and now thinks it was a blessing in disguise since he'd have never volunteered around the world if not.
Shari - the 40 year old cancer survivor.
Irma - 38 year old from Holland but lives in NY with her boyfriend and his children
Ellie - 53 year old woman, who looks like a yoga instructor
Megan - 40 year old lawyer from Seattle who is also volunteering with a woman's group
There was a group who was already here - 7 of them went on safari 2 weeks before we arrived and got into a car accident on the way there in which 1 of them passed away. Because of that this group is very close and very hurt - they are still in the process (a month after the accident) of trying to get a refund for the safari they never went on and the medical bills for the hospital visits. They would like to use that money, to start something in the name of the girl who died during the trip. I don't know all of these girls well because the groups were very separate and odd because of the accident.

Beth is the person I know best probably of everyone here and is from this previous group (though not on the same safari). She is Australian 18 years old and probably my favorite person here, she's very laidback and her placement is in the juvenile detention which I would love to go visit because she speaks so highly of the boys there.

Mama Grace - Mama Grace is the Manager of CCS Moshi, she knows everything. She is warm and loving and just a wonderful person. She says when she comes to America she would like to try black American food not Mzungu food, so mom, get ready! There will be more to come about Mama Grace b/c she's awesome.

CP - stands for an Italian name (Ciprano?) he loves music and specifically Raggae. He is so much fun he's like the person you'd love to have on the dance floor with you b/c he LOVES to dance ( in fact he's dancing all the time) yet he's not all skebe (come on folks Japanese word for lecherous) when he dances, so you can just have fun. He is on contract now with CCS who made him cut off his dreadlocks but usually he is a driver and guide for safaris which is what he went to vocational school for.He wanted to go to college but is the oldest son and is helping his mom but his younger brothers into school (His my looks like my mom's mom except for the lighter). I think he should go into music though - he Always has his ipod with him - he's very funny.

Amani - he's like a little brother to me. He accompanies me to Jipe Moyo (except this week, b/c he had exams). He is SOOO sweet - on Monday I went on a house visit to see a man with AIDS who had a stroke, Jumane. He cannot walk and depends on the kindness of his mother and the community to help him. I think I said in a previous post how Amani took him to a couple of soccer games and considers him a good friend - how many guys in the States would do that? He's great.

Musa - Muslim, our guide, not part of the staff, but also sweet. When we went to Laliga club any man who stepped on me or pushed me, Musa was like 'hey watch it'. He also goes to the orphanage and helps kids and has taken them on safari and camping.

ok more later, off to get gussied up for Laliga tonight :)


Birth/Pregnancy

If you're married and get pregnant your mother in law takes care of yuo unless you have no mother in law AND your sister in laws assist instead of your mother and sisters. Asking your own mother for advice would be rude because when you're married you move in with your husband and it is he AND HIS FAMILY that are now responsible for your well being.

Also neighbors in Tanzania become your family so a Mama (woman/ mother) your mother's age you can ask advice like you would your mother, same as your Kaka (brother) or Dada (sister). Children's names are influenced be either religion, family or a situation. For example Sara was first name Mligo after someone in her family (she is still called that but some in her village she says) but she was baptized at a year old and her parents (father) changed her name to Sara and that becomes her official name that she signs, etc. Other kids could be named 'trouble' because the mother had a troublesome birth with the child or 'Happy' (seriously, the English word Happy) we have a local volunteer here who is named Living. Oh, also Andrea here is a boys name and children generally take their father's first name as their last like Amani Andrea (who is the volunteer I work with). Also a child born or conceived during Ramadan might be called 'Ramadan'.

The female children are taught how to cook and take care of their brothers from their mom and the boys are taught to get food and protect their sisters from their dad. Until puberity where they consider that a girl has learned all she can from her own mother and then her aunt (from her dad's side) teaches are things about puberity, etc.

Marriage

When a woman gets married she takes the husband's first and last name as her middle and last name, so my dad's name is Roy Walker if my parents were Tanzanian my mom would be Shirley Roy Walker. There are 3 types of weddings - Traditional (can marry any nbr of women based on what the man can afford), Religious (Christian or Muslim[can marry up to 4 women]) and Judiciary (a govt. wedding) The latter is usually for people of 2 different religions who don't want to convert to the other's religion (Sara of CCS will have this type of wedding) but this is uncommon. For many of these marriages the girl's family still accepts a dowry - so if you have many boys you could be broke! (Mama Grace's dad was pretty progressive, he didn't accept dowry for Mama Grace and she married for love). In the villages there are some arranged marriages but that is rare. In the city it is not too different from America - women even where short skirts, etc. If your husband leaves you and two have kids then is the responsibility of his family to take care of you and the kids.

It is not acceptable to have kids before marriage, in Tanzania they don't really date. Tanzanians rarely go out to eat, its weird to them and Moshi doesn't have a movie theater. Usually you like your neighbors and date them and get to know each other that way. Even though it is unacceptable of course it happens, when a girl gets pregant w/o marriage it makes her mother, who taught her, look badly and since she is part of the husband's family it reflects negatively on him as well. Sara of CCS had a child at 16 and was kicked out of the house and sent to an Aunt in Arusha and I think she was disowned for a while. She was lucky and this is rare that she was accepted back into her family (this may be partly b/c she's from Dar [Dar Es Salam] the big city instead of from a smaller town). Many women in that situation end up throwing their babies away in the street because their families never accept them back and they cannot afford to take care of themselves much less a baby.

You are also not supposed to live with a man, our Sara, the rebel, of course lives with her boyfriend, though her parents don't know. But she has neighbors she has people who are like her mother and father.

I was asking Edward about dating yesterday and guys generally make the first move and I was asking what they do to impress girls but I didn't really get an answer from him, I'll have to ask CP.

Marangu field trip

Yesterday we went on a field trip to Marangu, which is a town at the base of Mt. Kilimanjaro. This area of Tanzania (Moshi included) is similar to the Bay area in that there are almost micro climates. It is much cooler and more tropical in Marangu than in Moshi (30 minutes away). We went to see blacksmiths - and i got to take a chance keeping the fire burning for one of them. They told me that the Chagga tribe make spears for the Maasai but they do not know how to use them ( and Maasai do not know how to make them).

We went to a cave where Chagga people would hide a long time ago because then the Maasai believed ALL cattle belonged to them and would fight the Chagga to take it from them and since they are known as good fighters the Chagga people and small animals would hide in the caves and they would hide the cattle up on Kilimanjaro until the threat moved away.

We saw a traditional Chagga house, which is much like a Maasai house now in that it is circular with a grass roof. (Previously Maasai had square houses with windows which look more modern than their current dwellings). Since Maasai would steal cattle, Chagga people lived in the house with their cattle (the house is not that big so I can only imagine) and their children until the time their children reached puberty and the father would make a new house and move he and the boys into it. Unlike the Maasai, Chagga men make houses not the women. There are pineapple bushes surrounding them to prevent snakes (since the thorns on the pineapple leaves would hurt them). There would also be a hole in the grass above the door of the house where the owner would put a Yuka (I think?) leaf - tied if he would not be back all day or longer;folded if he was going to return if you just wait. If he and the wife were doing the "hokey pokey"then he would put a spear in front of the door and the visitors would know they weren't to be disturbed. hee hee. We were told this information by a Chagga historian at the Chagga museum who was really great, they even have the family line of the Chagga chiefdom and how they began in Kenya.

After that we went to Marangu waterfalls where the water from the top of Kili falls. It was beautiful as all water falls are and cold due to it being from snow.