Habari yako?

It is been a while since i posted last time. A lot has been happening here and there is much to talk about. I probably won't be able to share everything with you in this post so expect another one later this week, maybe even two more!

About a week and half ago I had a difficult time here with some of things I saw. Down the road from the Nursery school is a secondary school run that provides a free education for about 147 students who either an orphan or comes from a low income family, or both. This is actually the school that I volunteered at the first time I traveled to Tanzania. When I arrived there I was told that one of the students was very ill and at a free hospital in Moshi called Mewenzi. I was told that the student was infected with malaria and, at the time she was brought to the hospital, was vomiting blood. After I was done volunteering for the day one of the women who helps me at the nursery school took me to visit the student in town. The hospital is quit big and is very spread out. There are concrete buildings spread outside in no specific order. All of the buildings were connected by concrete paths. If I would have went alone I would have surely ended up walking in circles. When we arrived in the ward were the student was being treated I saw that the room was flooded with patients. There were about 2-3 patients per bed. It looked like a photo of a refugee camp. It was hard to see at first as it is hard to accept how the differences in the world I live in at home to their own. On the upside, all of these patients were here because they didn't have to pay. The girl I was visiting was being looked after by her younger sister. The sister had run out of money and could no longer pay for her sister's medication or food. I didn't hesitate to help them by payng for the rest of the medication and food. Soon after I did this I left in silence.

This was a hard situation for me to swallow. At times it is easy to be pulled down by how much more there is needed to be done. The reality is that this is the what the lives can be like for a some of the people here, but not all. There are Tanzanian doctors, teachers, pharmacists, and more. Yesterday I ate lunch at Nursery school teacher's house. It was a great time! She lives with her husband and they have two children. Their house had a tall fence and steel gate, a garage, living room, dining room, 3 bedrooms, and a bunch of other rooms. Her husband works at a bank in Tanzania and has spent a year in Germany taking classes. The living room had two couches, a table, chairs, stereo, tv, vcr, and dvd player. The teacher, Lilly, chose to become a teacher because she wanted to stay active. It was great to learn about her life and I was very happy to be invited into their home. They were living without having to fight to live. If one of their children were to get sick, well then they could afford to take them to a hospital other than Mewenzi.

No matter what the socialstatus of a person is here I must add that the spirit of Tanzania is very much alive. I had read that the people of East Africa have been rated some of the happiest people on the planet (i wish I could give you the source for this). I have not witnessed any cases of depression, exhaustion, or anything else. I have yet to hear anyone complain. It is not to say that there are no problems here but the outlook on life is different. This is something that I hope I can absorb as much as I can before I go home. And someone might ask how an orphan out of money and severely sick with malaria can live a life of happiness. Well because today I saw her back at the Secondary school, attending class, and happy and thankful to be well. Of course she thanked me but I don't think there were any words i could have used to thank her for how much she has done for me.

Check back again soon for another post as I am starting to tie up my volunteer projects. As this is my second time in East Africa and I have only seen Tanzania, I have decided to embark on an adventure to travel overland in Rwanda and Uganda. I'll be on that trip from December 5th to the 15h. I will return to Tanzania for a few days and then i fly home on the 19th!

A day in Tanzania

There are many different types of volunteering in Tanzania. Some people chose to do one on one work with children and this my include tending to orphans every morning. There are other people who conduct research, for example, studying the impact impact of HIV/AIDS on pregnant women in a local town.

My volunteer experience doesn't include research but it does entail some one on one care everyday. Most of the time I am coordinating the nursery school and clinic projects.

This morning, I walked with some other students who live in the same hostel as me to an organization that work at called Kiwakkuki. The goal of Kiwakkuki is to eradicate HIV/AIDS in the Kilimanjaro area while also mitigating the impact of HIV/AIDS of those who already have it. I wanted to meet with them because they have many different community outreach programs which includes free informational sessions about HIV/AIDS and free HIV/AIDS testing and counseling. Working with this organization will be very important for the future of the clinic I am helping to open. the clinic and nursery school I volunteer at everyday is run by the Uwawayaki women's group. Next week I plan on bringing the Uwawayaki leaders to meet with Kiwakkuki so that these two organizations may work together in combating HIV/AIDS and other public health issues.

Now after I met with Kiwakkuki I went and had a little Tanzanian snack at a local coffee shop. From there I walked to a food market in central moshi to buy thirty oranges for the children at the nursery school. I then walked 45 minutes to the school and delivered the oranges. Then children left to go home soon after and I then sat with some locals at the school and clinic trying to converse in Swahili. I'm trying to learn as much as I can before I head home. After that I walked 45 min. back into to town to write this blog post and email other people about my volunteer projects. After this I will grab another snack and head on back to the hostel. I will then do a little more volunteer work and planning, study Swahili, SHOWER, read, eat, and then fall asleep.

Now my time is running out and so I must log off.

Thank you!

I wanted to start of by talking quickly about the donations. There was a total of $1190 USD in donations given to me for various volunteer projects here in Moshi. The total amount raised for Newland Orphanage was $690 USD. Those donations have now all been donated! The funds went to the boys dorms to help pay for the installation of electricity, concrete for the outside of the dorms, new bunk beds, and windows with mosquito nets. Thank you, Thank you, thank you, for everyone who donated and I will post more photos of the dorms as they come close to being finished.

The clinic is slowly coming along and there will be new steel doors on Monday to keep everything locked up and safe. After that I plan on purchasing tables, chairs, a big cabinet, and then finally, and basic medication to stock a small pharmacy. I am very excited about this project!

Tomorrow I am leaving Moshi to go hiking in the Usambara region, it mostly consists of a mountain range in Northeastern Tanzania. The whole trip will only cost about 20USD per day and the hikes should be very flush and beautiful. It will be a nice break from Moshi.

Will post again next week.