Wednesday 2.4.09

Yesterday was a big day.
After breakfast the three of us walked over to CCS to visit all of our old friends. It was really good to see everyone, even if they really only remembered Jennifer. We sat and talked to Mama Grace for quite a while and got some really good information out of her on how we should take our next steps forward. We have a LOT of work ahead of us, and I am really excited.

The next stop was across the street to the Mzungu bar. It has really changed in the last year. Now it is covered with a tent and not as breezy. There's a pool table across the way, as well as a curio shop and a snack shop. A building for "shakey shakey" is in the works. A lot of the charm has been lost.
I had originally intended to speak with Mama Marie to ask if she would come out as our "translator," help us make it through the primary schools, and to find kids at Jiendeleze who needed help. The time did not feel right, but things all worked out. Living had been sitting across from me and asked if we would need someone to come speak to the headmaster at Jiendeleze and offered to take us after placement on Wednesday. Things magically fall into place here.

That afternoon a woman, Misty, came over to give us a lot of tips and information on her Rau Foundation. She does mostly scholarships for secondary school students in Rau, a village just outside Moshi, but also funds the primary school there. She has been through all of the trial and error that we are experiencing now, and had a lot of great advice.

I was really stoked to get over to Jiendeleze this afternoon. I know that many of my students are not there, but I couldn't wait to get back. Unfortunately, my body has been aching for the last 12 hours, I hardly slept last night, and am not feeling like roaming too far from the hotel room. Its very frustrating to be sick when there is such little time to get work done.

As you probably noticed our attention has shifted away from Upendo entirely. We find out more about them every day and have come to the realization that they are quite "well off," and our supplies, time, and money will be better spent elsewhere. The bags of clothes I have brought over are going to be taken over to Tuleeni orphanage where the staff and the children live on very little.

As far as the money I have raised:
We are going to sponsor probably around 5 children from Majengo (the area of Jiendeleze) to complete primary school. We will be talking to the headmaster at Jiendeleze to find out which families are most needy in the area. From there we will "surprise" the children with interviews and then immediately take them on a home visit so that we can see their true living conditions. Misty has said that it is possible we will be taken to someone else's home that is worse off than theirs. The surprise visits will help eliminate a lot of that.
From there we will interview the parents and see who works, who doesn't, what they eat, and how they live. When we make our decisions about who we will sponsor we will call a meeting of the parents and THEN let them know that we are offering their child a scholarship.
Well, this is the plan anyway. Not everything works out the way we plan.

The reason we will be sponsoring so few children this year is due to funding. With those children we must make the commitment to follow them all the way through school, and not leave them hanging after a year. At this point, we have the money to cover all education expenses (school fees, books, uniforms, etc) for 7 years for approximately 5 children. Next year I look forward to raising more, and seeing this project through.

Lets hope James knows I'll be visiting Tanzania often...