Monday 2.9.09

Today things became official. Following the same routine, Living met us with a taxi around noon and we scooted off to Jiendeleze to meet with the three children and their grandmother. Ramadani had an emergency and wouldn’t be back until Wednesday, but the kids had most of their uniforms at this point. We are just waiting on a shirt and new shoes for the kids.
We stepped around back to the house to find that Fatuma (the grandmother) had cleaned the place immensely, most likely in anticipation of our visit. She was dressed in her best shiny shirt and gave us a very warm welcome. The kids stripped down to change into their uniforms for the walk over to the school and they were so cute. Their little bellies stuck out so far in comparison to their skinny little legs and arms. I just wanted to scoop them up and wished I could make their life a thousand times easier.

While they were changing we handed over a few pairs of shoes and some clothes for Abeidi and Saumu that went over with big smiles. It was just a few outfits each, but they were happy. One pair of shoes had the lights on the side, and Abeidi stuffed his little feet into them. I know they were tight, I could feel his toes hitting the ends, but he swore up and down that they fit. I couldn’t take them away. He still had another pair of shoes and some sandals we brought, he would be ok. For the rest of the afternoon he stomped as often as he could to see them light up. He was so happy.
They showed off their uniforms for us, and looked so proud. We took a few family photos and took off for Ngoro Primary. It’s only a quick jaunt down the street, but in that time the three of us (Chelsea, Jennifer, and I) found a drunk friend who wanted to marry at least one of us. We just chuckled and kept on walking.
At Ngoro we were invited into the office of the headmistress, Lenonia Mkurie. She seated us all, and the talking began. I’m really beginning to wish I knew more Swahili, and intend to buy myself the Rosetta Stone set as soon as I am home. First there was a discussion about Zubeda(the older sister). Apparently she didn’t actually attend Njoro, but Chem Chem, the school next door. We decided we would head over there later, but first try to get Abeidi and Saumu into classes. I think there was a discussion about admitting the students so late. The school year started January 14th. After a few moments the tension in the room broke and everyone was happy. Living looked over at me and said “She said she will let them come to school.” I couldn’t help but smile myself. It meant this was really happening. We paid the school fees (14,200 tsh per child, which is less than $14) and wrote down a list of supplies and books the kids will need this year. We have decided that Abeidi and Saumu will be able to share books, as they will be in the same class. Most of the kids at the school don’t have their own books, but this will allow them to study after school and on the weekends. Fatuma also mentioned to us then that Abeidi missed a lot of school because of a rash on his head, that it causes him a lot of discomfort. After closer inspection I think it’s most likely ringworm or something similar. I told her we would find something to take care of him. After all of this we headed over to Chem Chem to meet with the headmaster there.
Zubeda was sent home from school today for not paying the fees. She also had said that her backpack of books and supplies was taken and she would not get them back until she paid. We were again warmly welcomed into the office of the headmaster, and the discussion began. Luckily he spoke a bit of English and was able to talk to us on his own. We were told that Zubeda owed school fees of 10,000 tsh from last year, as well as the 20,000 for this year. For her to be admitted she would owe 30,000. I mentioned something about her bag being taken away, and was given the story that she “left it at school.” That story I don’t believe, as her bag was tucked away in the headmaster’s closet. Things that make you go “hmmmm…..”
Again we paid the fees at Chem Chem and everyone was happy. For what little bit of Swahili I understand, the discussion between the grandmother and the headmaster was that of many thanks. Thanks to god for sending us to her and it was a miracle that we were there. Maybe I’m not the most religious person all the time, but the gratitude and happiness in the room was almost overwhelming for me. I felt a part of something that I would never fully understand. From my point of view I know I am changing lives, but I don’t think I will ever grasp the enormity of it all.
We walked the family back home and said our goodbyes. I couldn’t repeat the words from Fatuma even if I thought until my brain burst, but I know she thanked me from the bottom of her heart. In a culture where I am the one who is supposed to be paying her the highest respects, it is very humbling for her to be thanking me the way she did.
We took living out to lunch afterwards, because when he gives us his time, he ends up missing the free lunch at CCS and I feel guilty. At lunch I told him that we would like to be paying him for all the work that he has done for us, and would continue to pay him if he keeps track of the work he will be doing over the next year. He said that we didn’t have to pay him. He would be happy to do it for free. I told him that it didn’t matter, we were going to pay him, and I could see the little sparkle in his eyes. Though he wouldn’t admit it, probably even under torture, he will be glad that he is getting paid…even if he would be content to do it for free.
After lunch he walked us over to the bookstore where we bought most of the school books we needed for the kids. We also sent Living off with some money, and he said he would pick up a belt for Abeidi and backpacks for Abeidi and Saumu. He has to go to the market for those, and if any of us wazungu were to try and do it ourselves we would be charged outrageous prices. We would be drowning without his help.
We sent living on his way and ran over to the pharmacy to see what we could do for Abeidi. My experience in the hospitals over the last 4 years have come in handy. Well, that and the ability to buy nearly everything over the counter here. We grabbed a few bars of antibacterial soap, and three tubes of antifungal/antibiotic/steroid cream for Abeidi’s head. Who knows what he has going on there, and maybe hitting it from all directions will help him out. I’m thinking about taking a much more personal approach to this project and making sure that the family has everything they need. Hopefully in the next couple of days I can hit up the market to buy a load of beans, rice, flour, and sugar to make sure that the kids all have the food that they need for the next while. Maybe when they’re done with school they will be able to pay it back, if not to their own family, but to the community in general.

Tonight, I am happy. Again.

This weeks photos

Hanging with the kids at Watoto Rau



Alleviating worries with cookies before interviewing the kids at Jiendeleze.



Living interviewing Saumu, Abeidi, and Mussa.



Abeidi



Saumu



Saumu and Me in Ramadani's shop



Crossing the tracks on the walk back to town from Majengo



Talking business with Living at Deo's



The infamous Chips-mayai



The whole gang-Amani, Deo, Chelsea, Living, and me at Deo's



Ending the day with a beautiful full moon

Saturday 2.7.09

My last post may have been a little bit dry. I can't stress how great of a day I had yesterday, and how much I am looking forward to finalizing things on Monday afternoon. Seeing all of this come full circle reminds me of why I worked so hard to come here.

Last night the three of us went over to Deo's, a little pub/grocery in the village of Rau near the old CCS home base before it was moved into Shanty Town. Finally, after a year of waiting, I had some chips-mayai. Basically, a french fries covered in eggs. It was just as delicious as I had imagined and more than worth the years wait. We had a little bit to drink, which is always nice for unwinding after a hard week, but we also had a chance to talk with Living and Issack (even if he was there only a short while).

I had been meaning to speak with Living about how much he has been a big asset to this project. Not only is he a translator, but he has been offering his time freely. I didn't want to assume that this would always be the case, as he is supposed to start school again on Monday afternoon. For this project I am looking for someone who would be willing to check up on the students once or twice a month and report back to me grades and attendance information, as well as other issues that come up. Maybe even some tutoring on the side if necessary. Luckily, when I brought it up to him, he said "I was going to ask you if you needed my help. Of course I will do that." I think that in the back of my mind I half expected him to say no, and I told him over and over that if it ever became too much work to let me know. It would be ok if he could not do it. He said he was happy to do it. I am happy that he is happy to do it.

After a great night's sleep we slogged through breakfast and hit the town this morning. I love that the weekends here are not conducive to working, and that they force me to take a break. I think these last few months of non-stop work are finally catching up to me. As soon as I got over my stomach bug, I now have a full blown sinus infection. At least it's still leaving me on a level that I feel I can function. I am eagerly awaiting Monday's work.

This afternoon Living stopped by to pick the three of us up to watch his soccer game. It was a big tournament game for his local team, and he was really excited about it. They needed to either tie or win to be able to continue on. It was good to be able to see a game of his, but the stares by all of the local students were almost unbearable. I felt so out of place, and more awkward than I do on any normal day of my life. Knowing that our being there made him happy made things bearable. He has done a lot to help us out in the last few weeks.




We made it back to the hotel just in time for sunset but noticed that the power still hadn't been restored from this afternoon's outage. Jen and I were a bit grumpy and just about ready to get to the room and go to bed when the lights finally came back on. Instead of heading out again for dinner we decided to have dinner here at the hotel. We met one of the other Mzungus staying here, Mike, who was curious about why we were still here. Most people at the hotel are here only to climb kili and stay a day or two. He has been here the whole time we have. Jen and I stayed up pretty late chatting with him. He is here working with an engineering company bringing water from springs off the mountain into towns. He seemed maybe just a tad bit bored as he was mostly on his own and there wasn't much to do on the weekend. We invited him to head over to Aroma for coffee with us in the morning and maybe over to the Tuleeni Orphanage in the evening when we go. It's fun to meet people and break out of our little bubble, and to expose them to a world other than the mzungu palace that is our hotel...

2.6.2009

I would have updated hours ago. As far as we all knew the power had been out for hours and we were roasting. We saw lights on in the courtyard and wondered why our fans were no longer working. Apparently, the electricity to our floor is controlled by a single switch at the end of the hallway. Sigh. Maybe the power outages haven't been quite as frequent as I had thought.

I was very nervous heading into today's work. Nervous enough that I had contemplated taking some of my leftover valium to calm the jitters. One moment I feel so calm, happy, and in control of what I am doing here, then I realize that I have to get in front of people and ask hard questions, and I wonder what draws me to do this. By the end of the day this usually resolves itself.

After placement Living came to our hotel with a taxi to take us back to Jiendelze. We pulled up to see 5 children in the classroom, Furaha, and a few mamas. My instinct was right, the word was out that there was a group of wazungu in town with some money to share. We were seated and first told by Furaha that this mother was here because she could not afford school fees for her child. The child was only five years old. We were definitely put in an awkward position right off the bat. We mentioned the fact that the child was not yet old enough for primary school and that our mission was to focus on primary school students at this point. Next year we would consider sponsoring her child. Unfortunately, that did not make the situation any lighter, nor did it alleviate the burning stares. She said she could not afford even the nursery school fees this year, and wanted help now. It broke my heart and I felt terrible, but we had to tell her no. Where do you draw the line? How many people do you hand out money to before it spirals out of control and you are left with nothing? We had asked to be alone in the room with Living and the three children: Saumu, Abedi, and Mussa. The mother and her child lingered making things uncomfortable, but eventually left. I think I may have felt even worse had she not been dressed in really nice clothing.

The interviews started with Living telling the children that they could answer the questions and know that what they said to us would be kept a secret. It didn't seem to relax them much at all, and I got the impression that they felt interrogated. Even my offerings of cookies did not seem to help.

While interviewing Mussa we noticed some things that caught us off guard. Ramadani had told us Mussa was an orphan. I suppose by the Tanzanian sense, yes, he is an orphan. His mother is not in the picture, but is father and step mother both live at home. They have running water and electricity. He eats meals of rice and ugali. We began to doubt that there was a pressing need with this child. Abedi and Saumu were another story. These two were definitely the kids I remember from last year. They grew up in Dodoma, and recently came to Majengo after their parents died. They now live behind Jiendeleze with their grandmother. The grandmother does not work. They have no running water or electricity, and often only eat ugali after school.

We had decided to hold off on the home visit with Mussa until we could speak to Ramadani about why he suggested that he needed help, and stepped behind Jiendeleze to meet Saumu and Abedi's grandmother. She is a woman I remember from last year, not too tall, old, and very painfully thin. She welcomed us into her home warmly and sat us down on the one couch. Her home was nothing more than a mud building about 8 by 8 feet with one bed, a dresser, and a couch. A small window did nothing to light the room, and did not provided a breeze that I so strongly hoped would come. We were all in the room, Chelsea, Jennifer, Living, and I as well as the two children, Furaha, Ramadani, and the grandmother. We started asking questions about how she came to take care of the children. She brought Abedi and Saumu from Dodoma a couple of years ago, and more recently brought their older sister to live with her because of trouble where she was at. She lives on basically nothing, and is supported by Ramadani bringing her soap and flour when they really need it.
The older daughter was not there, as she was in school. We questioned the ability to send one child to primary school but not the others. It turns out that Ngoro Primary has been asking for the school fees to be paid*, and if they are not paid by Monday the girl will be turned away and sent home. After some light conversation we told her then that we would like to help her send these children to school. For Abedi and Saumu we will be paying (not all at once) for their primary education from Form 1 to 7 and for the oldest daughter from Form 5 to 7. We would provide all supplies, books and uniforms, however this was not a free ride. We let them know that they needed to study and to go to school every day, and that we would be checking up on their progress. Ramadani said that he would make sure they went every day and would check up on them. I'm really beginning to like the guy. We set a meeting for Monday afternoon to meet with the grandmother and to head over to Ngoro to pay the school fees. We left with many of the most sincere thanks I have heard in a long time. Ramadani took measurements of the children (yes, he's a jack of all trades) to send to the seamstress to that the children's uniforms would be ready by the time we came back on Monday, and they would be able to attend school right away.

Then we talked about Mussa. It turns out it is not in the culture to pay for a child that is not yours...in some instances but not others. Apparently, his father brought him to live in the house that already belonged to the step mother. We were told that the electricity and water were there when he moved in, and was not his fault. His father runs a small business, it is the step-mother that has the money, but refuses to pay the school fees for Mussa. We said that all of this seemed a little off, and we felt that our money would be better spent on families in situations similar to Abedi and Saumu. Ramadani said he would make some house visits this afternoon and he will have two children waiting for us to interview on Tuesday afternoon!

*The school system in Tanzania is definitely a complicated thing. By law, families are required to send their children to school or risk a fine and possibly jail time. Also, primary schools here are technically supposed to be free. Unfortunately, the government made those laws without providing the schools with any significant amount of funding to allow the school to take on children. Therefore, each year the schools hold meetings to determine how much they need to charge per child to make up for the money they don't get from the government. So, while the law says the families should not have to pay, the reality is that they do. It's just the way things are.

I'll post some photos to the blog soon, and have managed to upload just a few to my picasa site: picasaweb.google.com/meghanmeghanbobeggan look for the "Moshi-2009" album. I'll add captions when I get home, as I can't seem to get the page to load here anymore.

I hope most of this is clear. By the end of the day I am exhausted and end up typing as fast as humanly possible to get the blogs posted before the internet goes out. If you have any questions send me an email or post a comment. I'll get back to you.

Now it's off to Deyo's for some chips-mayai (sp?) Until next time...


Abedi and Saumu's measurements being taken by Ramadani at Jiendeleze

Thursday 2.5.2009

I think it’s best to start my day with the assumption that I know nothing, and should not attempt to make any sort of plans here. With that said, today was awesome.
I am feeling much better after yesterdays bug and managed to make it out of the room today. We were to meet with Living after his CCS placement to head to Majengo. I was really nervous for this meeting with Ramadani (the headmaster at Jiendeleze) as I never got much of a “warm-fuzzy” feeling from him last year. Living came to our hotel and we grabbed a taxi. Along the ride things became more familiar to me and brought back a lot of memories. By chance, because everything works out well here, we passed by Furaha (sp?) the teacher at Jiendeleze on her way home from school. She hopped in the cab and we pulled into the school.

Ramadani came around from the back and, though Living beat me to it, I stood up quickly to greet him with a “shikamoo” (a term of great respect here). It’s amazing how one word can soften a person. He invited us into the classroom and we all sat down to talk. I asked if there were any children attending Jiendeleze this year that should have been enrolled in primary school, and if there were any children from last year that are no longer at Jiendeleze but that are not going to primary school.
With a little back and forth we were given a list of students. Two students are currently attending Jiendeleze that should be in primary school, Abedi and Saumu. I remember them both from last year and have no doubt in my mind that they are in need of help. They are brother and sister, orphaned by their parents, living with their grandmother right near Jiendeleze. My assumption that they would go to either Majengo Primary or Shori Moyo Primary was wrong. There is another school, Ngoro Primary that they should attend. I asked Ramadani if they came to school often so that I may catch them soon, but he said that mostly they are embarrassed to be the oldest kids in class and are not always there.

There is another orphaned boy Mussa who was a student last year, and unfortunately I cannot put name to face, but he is staying at home and not attending school this year because his family cannot afford it. If he were to go to school, he would be placed at Ngoro Primary as well.

Ramadani offered to walk to the children’s homes this afternoon to tell the children to meet us at Jiendeleze around noon tomorrow. (How awesome is that, right?) There we will conduct interviews with Living and the children to get a good feel of their life story, living conditions, etc. After our interviews with these three children we are going to make home visits to be certain that the families are not wasting money on unnecessary things instead of sending their children to school.

Hopefully Monday we will be able to meet with the children and parents, or just the parents to walk to Ngoro Primary to enroll the students and to get a list of books and supplies they will need. We’ll have them fitted for uniforms and hopefully get to see them off to school before we leave Moshi.

We were also given a list of two more orphans, living with “foster families” who might currently be in school, but we are not sure if their school fees have been paid yet. This school year has just started, and the students are given a couple of weeks to come up with the money. We are told that these two children only have a few more days of class before they will be kicked out if the fees have not been paid. Unfortunately these children are attending a different primary school, so we have decided to delay meeting with them and their families until we are a little more accustomed with the process.

I had been so nervous about today's meeting, but it went really well. I am beyond excited to see these children tomorrow and meet with their families. Though we have a lot of seriously hard questions to ask I have no doubt I will be walking away with a smile on my face.

Maybe it's the wine I had at dinner, but I finally feel like this is the work I was put on this earth to do. My days are exhausting, and nerve-wracking and put me so out of my element, but by the end of the day I am so happy to be doing everything I do, and to have everything I have. I hope it feels like this forever.

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...

Monday 2.2.2009

After Saturday night's chat with Living I was feeling really excited about where we were going to go and what we were going to do with the resources we have. The three of us crashed pretty hard that evening, and for the first time managed to get a full night's rest.
We had planned on sleeping in and having breakfast here at the hotel, stopping out to get coffee, and maybe heading over to the Keys hotel to go lounge by the pool. Instead we woke up pretty jazzed about our project and spent most of the morning and afternoon discussing the options.
It turns out that we were all having some negative feelings about helping Upendo and we needed to acknowledge them. When we emailed the sisters, they would mostly ask for money, and when we were clear that we would not be handing out money, but only offering to pay school fees and supply books and uniforms, we were ignored. When we did not respond with what they wanted to hear, we were ignored. The three of us also feel like our money could be spent more efficiently in other places where there is a greater need.

To start, Living has switched his placement with CCS from working at Jiendeleze (the nursery school I taught at last year) to being the headmaster at Watoto Rau. Watoto Rau is a community school much like Jiendeleze, where the students come from poor families or orphanages, and are allowed to attend for free. He told us that there are three children from the Tuleeni Orphanage that do not have uniforms. Seeing as how they are only 5-10 dollars a piece, we offered to cover that expense. We agreed to meet Living this morning at Watoto Rau to meet the children and to have them fitted for new uniforms.
Stepping inside the school brought back a flood of memories from the days at Jiendeleze. We were up in front of the class singing songs and repeating the alphabet. Recess was a mob scene as usual. Before school ended Living ran up the street to find the seamstress and she came to the school to measure the kids for uniforms. Instead of there just being three children, there were nine, but the smiles on the faces of the mamas was worth every bit of time and money.



The plans for helping Upendo are mostly out the window at this point. We are still going to return there to drop off clothes for the children and a small amount of money as to not leave them in the dust. As far as continuing the relationship with them, we feel that once we let on that we will not continue to provide funds that any bridges will ultimately be burned.

Our new project plans are slowly developing, but I am beyond ecstatic about them. We are going to pick out 5-10 students from the Majengo district to put into primary school this year. Where will we find these children? Well, it just so happens that Jiendeleze is in the Majengo district and I happen to know 5-10 deserving students to send to school!
Sending a child to school sounds easy, but it's going to be a lot of work. At times I feel incredibly stressed at how much work there is to do, and how little time we have to do it, but I remember where I am at and things move polepole here.
Tomorrow I will be heading over to the "mzungu bar" across from the CCS home base to talk to Mama Marie and ask her to assist us in going to Majengo Primary School to talk with the headmaster. We need to make sure that the students can still be accepted into school since classes started on the 15th.
If all of that works out the plan is to head to Jiendeleze to find the students and visit their houses one by one to speak with the parents and offer the "scholarship."
Needless to say, I can't wait!

Tomorrow is going to be a big day.