Tanzania

Re-entry and what is next

2011-04-15T13:55:00.001-07:00

The re-entry has been easier this year. We had the wonderful benefit of sleep on the flight out of Dar es Salaam. We each had three seats to stretch out on! We went shopping a few days after our return and it wasn’t the overwhelming experience we had last year. Maybe we are getting adapted to this.

We have had wonderful news since we are back. The Tanzania Agriculture Productivity Program (TAPP) organization went out to a meeting of the Datoga/Hadzabe (DAHA) group and presented moringa. These are people who have not farmed in the past, but they are excited about the potential of moringa. Perhaps as hunter/gatherers, the idea of a tree with so much to offer is not so foreign. Two village members offered three acres of land to get the project started. This is the kind of local commitment that is necessary for these efforts to work, so we are very happy about that.

WellShare sponsors a marathon in Karatu to fight malaria every April which has been taking a lot of their time. Now that it is over, they will be able to focus again on the income projects we’ve developed. The chickens that we promised to one village are on the way, thanks to our donors and another village will be getting a sewing machine.

Here in Minneapolis, WellShare has asked us to participate in fund raising efforts and a board retreat in May. There will also be a phone call to the organization in California that visited us in Karatu. They have assured us again that they want to provide funding, so we will talk about what they are willing to support and how to proceed. We are hoping this will result in the financial stability to continue some of WellShare’s important work in Karatu once the USAID project ends in September. We are also looking for additional supporters. If any of you have ideas about foundations, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) or individuals who can make significant contributions, please let us know.

When we first looked into doing this kind of work we didn’t know what to expect, but we never would have imagined the kind of challenging, fulfilling experience we have had. We have learned a lot about development, Africa and Tanzania, and the challenges of living in a developing country. We have seen the problems but also the assets that reside in these cultures and it is wonderful to see the energy and enthusiasm that these people bring to opportunities to improve their lives. We hope we can return and continue our work and relationships there.

Emotional Conflict

2011-03-19T09:30:00.000-07:00

Now the hard part. Just like last year we don’t want to leave/we want to be home. Since we can’t be two places at once, we’ll have to get on the plane this Tuesday. Leaving will be hard.

The last two years when we arrived in January, it took us about 15 minutes to feel comfortable here again. Last year when we returned to Minnesota and our wonderful life, it took about a month to adjust. Very curious.

The last two weeks have been very satisfying. We’ve solidified our partnership with Tanzania Agricultural Productivity Program (TAPP). They will deliver the basic agricultural materials our target population wants. These include seeds, fertilizer, and drip irrigation, plus critical education on propagation, uses and eventual sales of high value crops. The centerpiece will be moringa, the remarkable trees we have been investigating.

TAPP is a strong advocate for moringa because of its nutritional value for humans and animals, its ability as a legume to improve soil, the potential for commercial sales and its surprising ability to purify water. Our focus last week was in the southern part of the district (which has a history of cholera outbreaks); villagers are excited about moringa. The enthusiasm for a new crop has surprised us. Although moringa won’t be a substitute for current crops, it is still very difficult for a farmer to risk raising something new (if it fails his/her family may starve). The seeds are known for their traditional medicinal properties, but few know of moringa’s other benefits.

TAPP will at first focus on WellShare’s Survive and Thrive Groups (STGs). As mentioned in previous postings, these consist of young single mothers without adequate educations or income-generating skills. The objective of starting the STGs was to provide health education to improve health through pregnancy, delivery and child rearing as well as improving newborn health. An additional challenge these women face is their financial survival. Karatu is a tourist area with many guest houses, restaurants and bars. Young women often are attracted to town jobs since they usually have no means of support in the village, but the move can lead to prostitution and abandonment of their children (“orphans”). The group members are excited about agricultural techniques that can provide improved nutrition and an opportunity to earn money.

On another trip to the field, Sharon and staff headed out to visit villages that have VICOBA micro savings groups. WellShare created a relationship with this organization after they caught our attention last year. Facilitators deliver comprehensive financial literacy training. The program is for one year, with 16 weekly meetings followed by monthly sessions. Materials are culturally sensitive and allow for language variations and even illiteracy. Most importantly, the program is completely free, and all money stays in the villages.

Unfortunately, true to form, Sharon got her usual village food reaction and had to leave. However, we left the camera and list of questions with the staff and they had wonderful results to report back. Four groups were started and universally the women were thrilled with the program. Each village had saved a remarkable amount of money in only 9 months, and all had taken loans and paid them back. Some had used the money for agriculture, others for opening shops or restaurants. All have made a profit and want to continue once the first year ends.

Others in these villages also want VICOBA groups. (Sharon stopped at one village last week that had a different micro savings program, but they want VICOBA because, as they said, “it works”. They specifically mentioned the extensive, high-quality training.) The women in this area would not have gotten this program without the help of WellShare; VICOBA had no plans to be in this area because of the distances and awful roads.

We take a great deal of satisfaction in having discovered VICOBA, TAPP and moringa; we see how they are transforming lives in this very poor part of Tanzania, and will continue to do so. While there is still much work that needs to be done to expand these programs, we have a very capable staff person who will follow up after we leave. It is easier to depart when we know things will not come to a halt once we get on that plane. Moringa has also become an innovative cornerstone of WellShare’s new grant proposal to USAID for a program in western Tanzania.

We could not have done this work without WellShare’s wonderful support and willingness to let us explore options. And, we have lots of work to do when we return to Minnesota. We would like to see the programs continued in this district after September when the USAID phase of the project officially ends. We are returning full of ideas and data with hopes of successfully submitting some grant requests to other NGOs, foundations and individuals to support continuing this important work. If anyone knows of possible funders, please let us know!

Again, we must say “kwaheri sasa” (goodbye for now) Tanzania. We will miss you!

Safari Njema (a good journey)

2011-03-06T04:43:00.000-08:00

This last week we had a wonderful journey, filled with fascinating events and great animal viewing.

Up until recently, most of our time has been filled with the following activities:
•Finding the best agricultural training and resources through partnerships with other organizations for the Survive and Thrive Groups (STGs) WellShare has created.
•Developing proposals for alternative or additional funding to expand the STG program, and address the challenges of the Hadzabe (the last hunting-gathering community in east Africa).

Lately we have added assisting where we can on WellShare’s new proposal to USAID for funding. The current project here in Karatu officially ends September 30. The goals have been met and continued funding here from the U.S. government isn’t possible. (That is the reason we are looking for alternative funding mentioned above; a scaled-back, low-cost effort here in Karatu could build on the successes of the last five years and have a big impact.)

The new USAID proposal is for Bariadi, a district west of Serengeti National Park and near Lake Victoria. Funding is very competitive, so the grant application has to outline innovative programs. The brainstorming sessions and draft writing have been very interesting.

To have credibility, the proposal has to be supported by the local government, and so we headed west with Jolene to find that support. To get there and back we had to go through the Serengeti, an area about the size of Connecticut. The animal viewing was amazing – lions, zebra, cape buffalo, wildebeest, giraffe (two kinds), impala, Thompson’s and Grant’s gazelles, topi, waterbuck, baboon, vervet monkey, elephant, hippo, warthog, vultures, jackal, hartebeest, mongoose, along with ostrich, white stork, hornbill, secretary bird, ground hornbill, and many more birds. We saw tens of thousands of animals!

Throughout the drive Jolene was reminding us she had never seen a cheetah (hard to find) or a leopard (very hard to find). This has been a running joke over the last three years. As we were driving, a cat walked across the road. Because of the lighting, it appeared to be a lion, but when it got to the other side, we could see its spots. It continued to stalk something in the tall grass and was hard to see. There was a nearby tree and Sharon was hoping it would climb it, which it did! Then it proceeded to relax on a limb and stare at us! This was a beautiful leopard, and a thrill to see.

The serious work was revising the presentation, and the meetings with government officials. We were thrilled that the main meeting included all the district leadership, including the district executive officer and the lead officers for health, planning, education and agriculture. They are completely supportive to the ideas Jolene presented. The visits were a complete success. This gives Jolene what she needs to help sell the ideas to Tanzania national government officials.

There are many challenges in this district. It is very hot, being at a lower altitude, and the malaria risk is higher. Many men have 6-10 wives (pastoralists with many animals might have 20!). The average number of births per woman is over 6 (we were told that when women marry, they agree to have a certain number of children, with men wanting large families). Not surprisingly poverty can result, leading to poor education and health. Both last year and this there have been cholera outbreaks (part of our proposal is to use seeds from moringa, the tree we have been investigating, to clarify and dramatically reduce bacteria). We interviewed a few local women and were shocked to learn they have no latrines in their village, people use the river and fields, and they don’t wash their hands. Dealing with these simple issues could dramatically improve the local health. There are precious few trained health workers in the district to address even the most curable problems, and this is where WellShare’s proposal is the most innovative and exciting.

The origination of working in this district came from a meeting between a priest and WellShare back in Minneapolis. Father Paul (79) is originally from Wisconsin but has lived in Africa for 50 years, mostly in Bariadi district. Over the years he has built and staffed an impressive clinical facility complete with an incredible manual file of all of his patients. The latest projects are a larger lab that will include a blood bank, along with housing for doctors/nurses. He is laying the groundwork now for a 150 bed hospital, returning to the U.S. this summer to raise funds. All the buildings are equipped with solar power for lighting and medical refrigerators. (Electricity is even more limited than in Karatu; the town of Bariadi has none between 10AM and 6PM). In addition, Father Paul is a wonderful host. There were comfortable rooms and great meals for us, including perhaps the best popcorn we have ever enjoyed. Father Paul has acted as his own contractor on his projects and has learned by doing along with his workers.

Besides Jolene we had two other travel companions – Kombo, our always-entertaining driver, and Amy, an emergency room doctor and WellShare volunteer. During our time we met a friend of Father Paul’s, Father John. In the “small world” department Amy and Father John discovered they have in common family roots from Dubuque, Iowa. The amazing coincidence is that Father John had dated Amy’s grandmother, including taking her to the high school prom!

Of course, we had to eat elsewhere besides Father Paul’s. We enjoyed wonderful fish dinners several nights, fresh from nearby Lake Victoria, the second largest freshwater lake in the world. We have never seen tilapia so large; it was served in slices and there must have been about five large pieces per fish. Our driver was happy to get his favorite, the head.

Roads in Tanzania can be punishing on vehicles, and especially on 16 year old Land Cruisers. Kombo worked minor miracles on this trip. We found out that when radiators start leaking, Serengeti drivers add tea leaves, which expand and reduce water loss. People here are very innovative.

During the Serengeti we stopped to help another vehicle with two flats, plus a flat spare from a previous incident. During our multiple stops to deal with the radiator, invariably others made certain we were alright before going on. Driving in wild animal country with only one place for repairs in an expanse the size of Connecticut requires everyone to help.

We are having a wonderful time!

A (Fake) Disaster

2011-02-26T05:06:00.000-08:00

A (Fake) Disaster Strikes

On Wednesday another volunteer, Amy, an ER doctor, worked with the District Medical Officer to put together a mass casualty event. Health workers from the local hospital and clinic joined district staff and treated the “victims” (WellShare staff and volunteers, along with some of the medical participants) of an earthquake. There is an active volcano in the area and earthquakes do occur.

We had broken necks, ribs and limbs, concussions, sucking chest wounds, abdominal lacerations with spilling guts, anxiety reactions, injured babies and pregnant women. Everyone was made up appropriately and we were told how to respond when touched. It was quite a production. The medical people seemed to really get into it, which they should have since so many of us were screaming. There was a discussion afterwards about what was handled well and what needed improvement. Jolene gave out wonderful medical books that had been shipped by Books for Africa and people clearly valued them. Lunch was served. Amy is planning on leaving them with other scenarios so they can do more of these in the future.

An Educational Village Visit

On Friday, we were part of a wonderful event at Bassodawish. This is the local village that our friends Welcome Jerde and Dan Berg have adopted along with the 14 people who traveled with them last year to safari and do a service project in Bassodawish. When they left they asked the village what they could do to help. They were told, among other things, primary school uniforms and secondary school books. Since Welcome will not be back until next year, and the leaders of Bassodawish know we are friends, they invited us to be Mama Welcome’s representatives at a ceremony to distribute uniforms and books.

We were very honored to be there and know how much Welcome and Dan would have liked to accept these thanks in person. Bassodawish invited the ward chancellor and the district education officer so this was a very big deal. Since the officials were late, the primary and secondary children took turns singing songs for us. When everyone was present there were introductions and speeches. We told them we were honored to be there and that Mama Welcome and her Minnesota fiends said hello. (Mama Welcome na marafiki wanasema Hamjambo.) We told them we were so happy to see the children in their new uniforms and hoped they would take good care of them, but more importantly, that they would study hard. The village chairman charged the students and parents to take good care of these uniforms because there would be no more. For the books, we urged them to make good use of them and become leaders in their village and country.

Then proclamations were read in very good English, even by the primary school student. They said that they now also have benefactors from Belgium who were going to provide them with lab equipment for their new science building. This village is really making strides! It shows the power of good leadership. Now, they would like to get electricity and a water catchment system.

They provided us with printed copies of these statements of thanks to take to Mama Welcome. (I keep wanting to say Mama Karibu since that is welcome in Swahili.) Finally, a secondary teacher thanked us again for all the benefactors have done in their village. He had tears in his eyes. It was all very moving.

Jolene also presented secondary books on English, science, math and social studies for their community library which had been sent by Books for Africa.

It was a great afternoon.

And Other Activities

We have continued to work on ideas for proposals other than USAID. We would like to find some potential funders when we return, but we know money is tight in the non-profit world.

Sunday we leave for Bariadi. This is a area on the other side of the Serengeti, so hopefully we will see wildlife along the way. Bariadi is an area that WellShare is exploring for a new project. We will try to do some village surveys as we did here last year. It is a much poorer area, but they have better roads so it will be easier to get around. The population is much denser also; there are 200 villages rather than 48 and they are closer together. It will be interesting to see this area just south of Lake Victoria where we have never been.

Building Partnerships

2011-02-18T06:23:00.001-08:00

We’ve finished up a very busy week.

While out in the field two weeks ago meeting with the Hadzabe and Datoga group, we videoed our interview with two teachers. This week we finished up a presentation DVD to complement the concept paper we wrote for a visiting NGO.

And, just in time. They came for a visit on Tuesday and it was quite Tanzanian. Their arrival was about three hours late because of heavy rains that allowed the mud road to hold fast to the wheels. They had to abandon one vehicle. The other was pulled out by tractors. Eventually their transport company brought in another vehicle and we were all together.

We visited the village of one of the best Survive and Thrive Groups (STG), an innovative effort by WellShare. The women started their income project by learning from Jolene how to make banana bread, a tricky proposition over the equivalent of a charcoal camping stove. The visiting NGO had been there last June and was impressed. The women now have a tea shop and served us lunch, including banana bread.

The reason for this return visit was to show their board members what a self-sustaining program looks like. When we visited them in California last December, they told us how impressive the June visit had been. The NGO is used to groups saying “if you give us money we can do…. Our STG didn’t. They simply said “we are going to do…”

And so, the development of the STG’s business impressed them more. Questions were asked:
1. “What do you do with the profits?” “We purchase vegetables to sell and earn even more.”
2. “Where do you sell your bread?” “We’ve moved beyond the confines of the shop to visiting other locations in the village and market days.”
3. “Are you experiencing any problems?” Frankly, we were now holding our collective breaths. Would they now ask for financial help and burst the self-sustaining bubble? The answer was no. “We have had theft problems. So, because the village loves our bread so much, they are giving us a building by the village office, along with the fruit tree and vegetable garden to expand our business.”

This is one example of building self-sustaining programs in the district.

As for obtaining funding from the NGO, we won’t know for several months, but we have a wonderful relationship and it looks promising.

As for our Moringa tree project, we’ve had additional developments that are critical to our effort. Tanzania Agriculture Productivity Program (TAPP) surprised us with a visit. We weren’t expecting them for several weeks, but they seem eager to get going. Another potential partner, Tanzania Horticulture Association called and asked for another meeting. It is likely they would only be involved if the Moringa project grows enough to be commercially viable, a long term goal.

Today we had a meeting with a Canadian NGO we highly respect, CPAR. The discussion centered around Farmer Field Schools (FFS), their main program here. Some of you have been very generous by contributing financially to this effort, and we hope to have something settled soon. We’ll let you know.

Also today, the group finished brainstorming on a proposal for USAID. The current funding for WellShare in Tanzania will finish September 30th, and it is time to again ask for support.

This has been a fascinating week for us.

Education

2011-02-16T10:47:00.000-08:00

Education

Education has lately been big news in Tanzania. Only 50% of students in Form 4 passed national exams, down from 72% the previous year. What does that mean to them? What does it mean for the future of Tanzania?

First a little background. The grade levels here is heavily influenced by the British system. Primary school is seven years (Standard 1 through 7). All subjects in public schools are taught in Swahili, except English. Swahili is often a kid’s second language, the primary one being her/his tribal language. Private schools we have visited teach in English at all levels.

The next step is Ordinary (O) level, or secondary school (Form 1 through 4). If a kid’s progress isn’t interrupted (illness, family not being able to afford the fees, etc.), then she/he would be about 17 years old when finishing Form 4. Starting in Form 1, all classes are taught in English (for most their third language), except the one class of Swahili.

At the end of Form 4 students take national exams. This determines whether they can go on with their education. If they pass, the student goes on to Advanced (A) level for two years (Form 5 and 6). “A” level is similar to our junior college system. If the student fails the Form 4 test, there is virtually no chance to continue their education. The Form 4 exam is a BIG deal, with the exam itself and the grading controversial.

For example, we’ve been told by teachers of technical classes (physics, chemistry, math) that sometimes the questions are unsolvable, such as having missing or wrong data. Teachers have said that the grading can also be a problem, with wrong answers used for grading. Sometimes “trick” English is used. Results on these national exams can defy logic. There were kids who passed chemistry but failed all their other subjects. Chemistry is hard, especially since the test is administered in English. Swahili should be much easier, yet they didn’t even get a D.

The day the test results came out, it was almost impossible for us to get onto the internet, since that is how students find out what their future education will be. We talked with Tanzanians who are outraged that so many failed. There is talk of remarking the exams. It is a terrible situation because parents often sacrifice a lot to keep their kids in school. Now they see that this may have been in vain.

The reasons for the problem are being argued here, and if we ask, everyone has an opinion. For example, we talked with a very successful Tanzanian who has remarkable English. He comes from a poor background, but early in life decided English would be critical to his future. It was his good fortune to meet people who passed on books so he could practice and learn. He studied hard, and his father sold land to allow his son to go on. Now our friend is helping his younger siblings through school.

Our conversations are with Tanzanians whose English is very good, and we haven’t talked with a broad cross section of the people, so our information may not be representative. Within that group there is a strong desire to start with English in pre-school.

This is in part because Tanzania is a member of the East African Union (Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi), a group trying to come together to build their economic strength. Kenya and Uganda’s language for business and government is English. Rwanda has moved away from French and is now teaching in English. Without good English education, Tanzania could suffer.

In addition, the transition from all classes in Swahili to all classes in English starting at about age 14 is very difficult. We’ve met students whose English is at best rudimentary. And, how can they learn chemistry, biology or physics, which have a challenging vocabulary to start with?

There are other issues that will seem familiar to Americans – how to attract and develop the best into teaching, especially in hard to reach rural areas; how can school be made more affordable to the poor; how can enough quality materials be made available? We’ve been in many schools covering all ages, both public and private. Books are hardly ever seen, and those we have looked at are poorly done. Teachers don’t have proper materials. They are scheduled for 7 periods a day. Their pay is such they often seek other income opportunities to supplement their teacher’s pay, diverting their time away from the classroom.

As in the United States, there will be debates about what the best direction for education should be in Tanzania. It seems obvious that the English controversy is by no means the only issue. What seems clear to us is that Tanzanians know that eliminating the possibility for further education for half the 17 year olds here is a problem that must be addressed.

Holiday

Today (Wednesday) is Eid al-Moulid, Mohammed’s birthday, a national holiday. The eastern part of the country is predominantly Muslim, while the further west you go Christianity becomes the majority religion, with native religions scattered throughout the country. We haven’t seen or heard any evidence of religious intolerance. Politically there are splits, including between Zanzibar and the mainland, but religion doesn’t seem to be a force in that divide.

There are more than 120 tribes in Tanzania, along with religious diversity, yet we find the people friendly and very accepting.

Making Progress

2011-02-10T10:54:00.000-08:00

It’s hard to believe we have been here four weeks already. There are now many volunteers here: two physicians, a young woman from Canada who is teaching English to a group of HIV positive women, and a Minnesota nutritionist who has been volunteering with WellShare in Uganda. She is waiting out the election there because the possibility of violence is always present during times like that.

We spent time this week putting together a slide show on the moringa tree for presentation to people in the villages. This will be translated by staff into both Swahili and Iraqw, which is the largest tribe in this area.

Laying the groundwork
We wrote concept papers for both TAPP (TZ Agriculture Productivity Program) and TAHA (TZ Horticulture Association) outlining what we would like them to do. We also developed questions for Anna, the Hadzabe teacher that we videotaped on Sunday. This will be used to create a summary of the issues in the Hadzabe and Datoga tribes to present to possible funders. The NGO we met with twice in CA and who twice visited our program last year will be stopping again next week. They have been very impressed with what is happening here and hopefully will help fund income generating activities and education for WellShare.

Market day drama
On Friday, we went with the drama troop to market day in the village of Endobash. Each area here has market on a different day, always the same date of the month. In that way vendors can make the rounds of all the markets.

There have been some issues in this area with domestic violence, so Jolene asked the drama troop to put together a new skit about the problem. They started in the food area of the market with a dispute between a man, his wife and his girlfriend. As they argued with each other they moved through the market and attracted a huge crowd that was following and hollering comments. They led the crowd to the performance area where it finally became obvious to the crowd that his was a staged drama. A policeman recruited to participate finally “arrested” the man. The crowd was large, with audience participation about the issue. There was also a skit about a man with multiple wives and children, and the conflict this generated. The performances are interspersed with dance, drumming and singing, making the whole event entertaining as well as informative. Although most of the discussion was about the misbehavior of husbands/boyfriends, the men stayed around. It was a long and very successful performance

Hadzabe/Datoga meeting
Sunday was another amazing meeting with the Hadzabe (the last hunter-gatherers in East Africa) and Datoga (pastoralists). At the end of our trip last year we were able to witness a moving meeting. Both tribes previously denied they needed help when WellShare first started their project; now they are asking for help with health care and education. (Please see last year’s entry for information about these tribes.)

They formed the Datoga/Hadzabe Association (DAHA) through which they could organize and learn how to influence government to provide the services they need, save money and develop the resources to solve some of their problems. The Hadzabe don’t have a cash economy and in the past couldn’t financially contribute to the group. This year there is a new sign saying that tourists who visited these tribes, many to experience the lifestyle of the Hadzabe, needed to contribute $5 each to the village fund. This will provide cash for the association.

Last year we learned that the tribes got paid very little from the tourists, who were paying guides high fees to visit them. Some guides would ask the Hadzabe to provide “cultural” experiences, make drinks from their honey, or even to have their children run around naked, to look more “primitive”. Then, the guides would say the tourists didn’t have any money to pay! The organization has now decided to only work with guides that don’t exploit them.

It was clear at this meeting that these people have found their voices. The agenda involved electing representatives from each tribe to an executive council, with leadership training provided by WellShare. When the nominations began and a couple of Datoga men were recommended, the Hadzabe participant who clearly was viewed as a leader said no, they would not allow it because these men were liars! Talk about frank political dialogue! Next, they were to elect an adviser to be the accountant. A Datoga was selected, but the Hadzabe said they would not participate if they didn’t also have a representative. This was quite amazing since the Hadzabe tend to be a quiet people. It was wonderful to see democracy in action. We feel so lucky to be a part of these momentous events that will shape these tribes for years to come and hopefully ensure their survival.

Then Silvery from WellShare presented information about the moringa tree to the tribes. Many were familiar with it for medicines, but had no knowledge of its nutritional value or water clarification qualities. They are very eager to get training and seedlings.

After the meeting Jolene and Silvery asked each tribe about domestic violence; if it is okay to strike a child or wife, etc. It was very interesting how the different tribes dealt with a drunken, abusive husband and under what circumstances a woman had a right to leave or when it was okay to strike a child.

Once our meetings were finished it was time to buy their crafts - lots of jewelry, bows and arrows, and gourds. We were swarmed! This was obviously an important meeting, many of the Datoga women dressed in beautiful beaded leather dresses.

Making Connections
As we left, the leader of the group told me he was so grateful for our efforts to bring more resources to the area. I told him we could not guarantee results but we would do our best. And on Monday that process began! We met with Dorothy from TAPP, who already has a successful moringa project. We were delighted to find out that she was very interested in providing the training and supplies to get small holder farmers in our area involved with moringa and vegetable cultivation for their own nutrition and for export. In our proposal we suggested seven villages and two schools as a start. We are very hopeful that this can move quickly and take advantage of the coming rainy season. TAPP also does drip irrigation and water catchment systems, which would also be wonderful, especially for the schools.

We are now working on editing videotaped interviews as part of the presentation to our NGO visitors when they visit next week.

New Connections

2011-02-02T03:38:00.000-08:00

We have had another eventful week! We continued our work with Moringa trees; they are drought resistant, with very nutritious foliage and seeds. A road trip to Arusha, about two hours east of Karatu and the main city in the northern part of Tanzania, proved very worthwhile.

We met one Tanzanian who teaches farmers to grow the trees, then buys the leaves and seeds from them for processing and export. He makes cooking and massage oil from the seeds, ground leaf powder and ground seed powder as a nutritional additives and for natural healing. The seed cake that remains is sold for water purification and animal fodder. The organization has been recognized by the president of Tanzania. It is exciting to see someone who is not just exporting raw materials, which happens too often here, but is processing and then exporting. The country needs a lot more of this.

Next, we tried to find a woman who initiated a program of moringa growing for HIV women. The phone number we had wasn’t correct and we received no response to email. So we tried to track her down, which is always a challenge in a city where there are few street names and all directions are by landmarks (similar in some ways to Japan.) In the process we found the office for TAHA, Tanzanian Horticulture Association. They are like a farmer’s cooperative, a Tanzanian organization partially funded by USAID. Part of their focus is training small farmers on agricultural methods, how to work together, and finding ways to market what the farmers grow. TAHA members also include medium and large farmers along with suppliers.

They expressed real interest in coming out to work with the groups in our neediest area, and we are meeting again next week to better define how we can work together. This training might be free; we also need a long-term commitment so that the program builds local self-sustaining operations. So this was our second exciting meeting.

From TAHA we found out where the organization we were originally looking for is located. However, the woman we wanted to meet with had just had surgery, which may have explained why she didn’t answer her personal phone either. We are meeting with her next week; the organization already has a robust Moringa project and could be an even better fit for our goals. Up to now we have identified five potential partners for this project, organizations with the expertise and resources we need. Hopefully next week we can firm up which organization(s) will be the best fit.

On the Road

We had a little adventure on our way home - a flat tire. This was a bit ironic because we were on the only paved road in our area, a beautiful stretch of highway installed by the Japanese government a few years ago. All the other roads are dirt; most eroded from rain. Fortunately, a tour driver stopped to help as Rick was struggling with the jack, which didn’t have enough lift to replace the tire. Then a lorry stopped. The driver was from Bassodawish and recognized our car. Because of WellShare’s excellent reputation in his village he wanted to help. He had a huge jack and made it easy work.

On the same road we passed a bus flipped on its side on the curvy road coming out of the Rift Valley. Although there are new speed bumps every year, people still drive too fast and recklessly. While we were changing the tire (on the traffic side of the road, of course!) the tour driver would warn everyone to get well back whenever a lorry or large bus came by. He clearly didn’t trust those drivers!

Weather

For several days the dust was tremendous. It is always hot in Arusha (the closest city to Karatu), but the dust was particularly bad this trip. As we drove back through the Rift Valley we could see clouds of it moving against the distant mountains. Where does all the top soil land?

The TAHA people have decided that the short rainy season in Nov.-Dec. is history. The past two years there have been about two weeks of rain in Jan. and then nothing until March. There has been no short rainy season in 8 of the last 9 years, so it makes sense to assume that this climate change is permanent. This brings to mind additional benefits of the moringa trees; they are drought resistant and of course they could help prevent soil erosion.

Moringa trees

2011-01-23T07:31:00.000-08:00

Life is very comfortable and simple for us here in Karatu, Tanzania. Some of you have expressed concern about our personal safety, given the news from some places in Africa. We feel no sense of danger here; even the wild animals are in the distance! Tanzania isn’t prone to the same political, military or personal violence that makes headlines in the U.S.

There are two houses, one for Jolene, the country director, and the other for volunteers. A wall surrounds the property. This keeps down the number of people stopping to ask for money, and petty thieves. At night there is an unarmed guard, and Jolene has a couple of dogs.

We can walk anywhere, with nothing worse than children occasionally asking for pens or money. Sometimes kids who might be in secondary school will practice their English, and that is fun. At night we do limit the area in which we walk, but during the day we feel perfectly comfortable taking long walks, exploring the town and area.

The volunteer house has three bedrooms and two bathrooms, one western and one eastern. There is a modest kitchen without a refrigerator, but we use space in Jolene’s. We shop in local stores that are quite small but packed with goods, or go to the market for fruits and vegetables. Since we there isn’t a lot of variety here, we brought along provisions and spices to fill in some gaps.

Our office is about ¼ mile away, an easy walk. We are busy during the day, come home for lunch and have the evenings free. In addition to the books and Kindle we brought, Jolene has a wide variety of books and movies at her house, and past volunteers have left supplies of the same. It is a very simple and very relaxing way to live.

We currently have a housemate who is volunteering with another organization, and in February there will be two more volunteers for WellShare. That can make organizing cooking time and other activities interesting, but we’ve done it before.

The simplicity of living here reminds us of a TED presentation we saw on the internet about the problem with too many choices in our American society. There are so many opportunities, so much we can purchase, so many TV stations, that our lives can become far too complex. Unless we can find the right balance, the richness of our environment can make us miserable.

Here, those aren’t the problems, and for us that makes life very comfortable. However, outside our protected environment, it can mean something else. For example, agriculture is the dominant way of life (even though we are in a town of about 15,000 people, cows or goats frequently are grazing outside our office window). Farmers depend on a short rainy season (November and December), and a long one (March to May). As with farming the world over, when the rains don’t come as expected, it can be terrible for the farmers. In eight of the last nine years the short rains haven’t come, and the long rains have been unpredictable.

For subsistence farmers, this can lead to terrible challenges. Resources are limited, but people are resourceful; they have to be or they wouldn’t survive. Last year when we were here the government was distributing seeds because of the terrible drought the year before, but the supply wasn’t enough to plant a typical field.

And yet, we aren’t surrounded by a sense of gloom and doom. The people are wonderful, warm and welcoming. The staff we work with is great, and villagers we visit are enjoyable to be with. For example, we were in Basodawish today. This is a village that has been adopted by our friend Welcome and her group in the U.S. The village leaders were there to greet us, and gave us a two hour tour of the projects they are working on to improve their village. In every village we visit kids come to see us, laughing and smiling.

Of course, there are huge challenges. At independence in 1961, Tanzania had very few college graduates. In spite of the effort to develop teachers, doctors and so on, it is still difficult to find enough professionals to serve these rural locations. It is similar to what the U.S. faced in the past, and to some extent still does when it comes to doctors in rural areas.

How do they educate children without enough teachers, with a shortage of textbooks, without electricity or reasonable access to the internet? These problems aren’t unique to Tanzania, and these wonderful people are working hard to address them, step by step. Basodawish is a shining example.

We have a guess as to why it doesn’t feel oppressive in comparison to our lives back home. Here, as in many areas we have visited in the developing world, lives are relatively equitable. There are some who are better educated, live in much nicer homes, have cars and can send kids to private schools. But there isn’t the stark contrast between the ultra rich and everyone else that there is in, for example big cities. Or, in places where there are tourists staying in the pampered isolation of very expensive hotels, with most the citizens living a hard-scrabble existence. Karatu is in the heart of safari country and luxury places exist here, they just aren’t as visible as other places we have visited.

We don’t in any way mean to diminish the challenges many face here. Or, for that matter, can we ignore people in many places who face starvation, or the violence of war, sexual exploitation and economic slavery. It is just that our experiences have been surrounded with warm, kind people that make our time here very rewarding.

The past week, was very interesting, and we think, productive. We worked hard on the concept papers mentioned in our last blog entry, which will be used to try attracting financing for two projects. For some background on one, you might find it interesting to visit wikipedia.org, and type “Hadzabe” in the subject box. We are hoping to get funds to put together several programs for them and the neighboring Datoga tribe. These projects are based on requests coming from their communities because they recognize the inevitable changes they face.

In addition, we spent some time investigating the possibilities of villagers growing moringa trees (actually moringa oleifera; we know that information is important information to you). They are drought resistant, with very nutritious foliage and seeds. Moringa are high in protein and a range of vitamins and minerals. They grow quickly and also can provide natural fencing and firewood. Many see them as a solution to malnutrition. They are grown and used extensively in Asia. Nearly every part of the tree is useful, including for medicinal purposes and water purification and thus have the moniker “the miracle tree.”

One possibility is to have moringa planted as an additional crop. This could provide animal fodder, especially during the dry season. In other places in Tanzania and the world, people eat the leaves, flowers and seeds, either fresh or dried. The possibilities are very attractive, and we expect to visit a commercial site soon and hopefully meet with someone at the university in Dar es Salaam who is doing research on the plant.

We hope all of you are well.

Rick and Sharon

Back in Tanzania

2011-01-16T08:49:00.000-08:00

Sunday, January 16, 2011

Hamjambo familia na marafiki, (Hello family and friends),

We received a wonderful welcome when we arrived; lots of smiles, hugs and “karibu tena”s (welcome again). It is so wonderful to be here in our second home with this welcoming, warm group of people.

OUR WORK
Our first few days here have been very exciting! WellShare received an exciting email that day from an organization in California that we visited in ’09 and again last December. Our goal was to establish a partnership with them, to help fund and expand some of the income generation projects we have been working on.

The Executive Director, Project Manager and board members are going to be in Tanzania in February and would like to come to Karatu to see more of the project. Organization members visited twice last year. When we visited them in December they indicated they would not be coming to Karatu and might not even have time to meet us when they were in Arusha, so clearly something has changed. In addition, they invited us to present a concept paper to them for possible funding of STG (Survive and Thrive) groups’ income generating projects. These are the groups of young single mothers who are receiving health education. Our role has been to help them identify and begin income generating projects. We are very excited with their growing interest in WellShare’s work here and look forward to showing them how incredibly effective this program has become.

In addition, we want to present a second concept paper to them. Last year we attended (and blogged about) a fascinating meeting with two tribes, Datoga and Hadzabe. Their respective ways of life can create conflict. The Datoga are pastoralists, similar to Maasai. Hadzabe are the last full time hunter-gatherer tribe in Africa, with estimates of their population ranging from 500 to perhaps 3,000; no one really knows, in part because of their wandering ways. As pastoralists like the Datoga, and agriculturalists expand, the Hadzabe are losing areas they can forage and hunt.

The meeting exposed the problems that the two tribes face. They need outside help for public health education, health service delivery, and education. For the Hadzabe, who are beginning to recognize their way of life is coming to an end and who don’t have a cash economy, education has been particularly difficult. They need help with school uniforms, shoes, and trying to develop a school to meet their special needs.

WellShare has already made an impact with their public health programs, but more needs to be done. We have in mind a comprehensive program that would be based on the Hadzabe’s requests, adding more public health and health care, financial literacy (a surprising number of tourists go to live with them for short periods to experience their way of life), improving their income so they can contribute to solutions, help to educate both children and adults, and developing agricultural alternatives if they are interested. In addition, their hope is to develop a cultural center, which could attract more tourists and allow them to continue at least parts of their way of life. All the while the programs have to be designed to eventually become self sustaining without outside organizational support.

Elsewhere in the district, the micro savings groups that were set up as a result of our efforts last year are going very well. The women have managed to save much more than we expected, and have moved into developing profitable businesses. The groups have thanked WellShare for providing this important education and empowerment program for them. We hope the organization WellShare is partnering with will get continuing funding so we can expand to more villages this year.

OUR ENVIRONMENT
The weather here started very differently from prior years. The short rainy season in Nov. and Dec. has not occurred, but there has been lots of rain this month. It rained about three times a 24 hour period since we have been here, often a deluge. We are told it is more rain than the rainy season usually produces. Of course the famous Karatu mud has been a challenge. Rick nearly slipped twice and driving is just like being on icy Minnesota roads. But the dust is down! The last two days have been glorious. As in the past the temperature ranges between the high 60s F and about 80 F, with low humidity (we just had to rub it in for all of you in the northern U.S!).

We went to the market Saturday. While buying vegetables, a tall Maasai standing next to me started a conversation. He introduced himself as Alan and told me he was Maasai which I told him was obvious (from his attire). He said he was born in Ngorongoro Crater and now lives on the rim. (The government allows them to herd in the crater but they can no longer live there.) He asked where we were from, why we were here and for how long. His English was excellent and we asked where he had learned it. He had finished high school and was hoping to go to University when he had the money. The Maasai are very wealthy in cattle, but they will not sell them for any reason. He looked to be well off but would have to find the cash for school. He was quite a bit older than college age, but it is very common here for people to leave school to work and then return, sometimes repeatedly. So some of the Maasai too are changing, getting educations, but preserving their dress and culture. The dress of women in Karatu has also changed over time. We saw few women in pants our first year, but it is becoming more common.

We look forward to getting out to the villages again next week.

Kwa heri sasa (goodbye for now).

Sharon and Rick

Returning to Tanzania in 2011

2010-11-03T13:30:00.000-07:00

Reflections – November 3, 2010

Lasting change or dependency?
The question above is often raised these days about efforts to help the impoverished in places like Africa. How do we make certain what we do results in “Real Good, not Feel Good” support (this is the title of a very interesting paper by Martin Fisher of KickStart. If you would like a copy we can email one to you.)

WellShare, the organization we have volunteered with in Tanzania (East Africa) the last two years, has had their project evaluated twice by outside parties, and the reports were highly favorable. In addition, the feedback about our efforts the last two trips has led us to understand we have been able to make a real difference. And so, we are returning to Tanzania this coming January.

Our experience over the past 2 years has been very educational. We began preparing for our first trip to Tanzania by reading about the country and culture, including novels. This background gave us some idea of what life would be like there.

Our first two months were spent understanding the project, getting familiar with our new “home” and spending time in remote villages to see the project’s work on the ground. Having lived in Africa most of her adult life, Jolene, the country director, was a wealth of knowledge. We learned a great deal about Africa, Tanzania, development work, culture and government. Our work focused on helping to create income generation skills for young single mothers. We created tools and materials to help educate them on how to run and organize their small ventures.

These first two months helped us understand we needed to learn so much more if we were to have a bigger impact. There were the seeds of some ideas on income generating activities that might work for the young village women, but we needed to do more research to try to determine what might be viable. Another focus was trying to locate other NGOs working in Africa who could share their expertise and perhaps partner with us. While in Tanzania we had started reading about the issues around aid and development. We learned a lot about unintended negative consequences that can result when individuals or organizations try to help solve a village problem. This pursuit continued when we got back. We found that many experts believe that the dependency caused by aid is the reason Africa continues to be so poor. Sustainability is the key to effective aid, and is so often missing.

Aid and good intentions can create lots of problems that are not understood by those of us who have little experience in these countries. Sending cases of some product, say for illustration purposes, soap, seems like a worthwhile endeavor for those in the rich world trying to make life easier for village people. But what is probably not understood is that such a move may put the local soap producer out of business. Local livelihoods are lost and when the soap is gone there is no local producer to provide this product for the village. One must always question the impacts of any action taken with the intention of hoping to solve a village problem. Organizations sometimes come in to provide a solution without working with the villagers to identify problems the locals see and would like solved. In addition to ascertaining what the villagers want, adequate education must go with the solution. Without a sense of ownership and understanding of maintenance requirements, the village may get a new latrine, cistern or well, but no one will know how to maintain it and it will not be used. We were shocked to find out about the many unused wells in Africa despite the tremendous need for water.

As a result, we believed it was very important for these young women to have financial literacy, skills in the specific area of their project, along with marketing and business understanding so they would be empowered and truly prosper. One of the NGOs we met with in California seemed to be a good fit, but it wasn’t clear that they would be willing to work in our Karatu. During our second year in our district, through both purposeful and chance meetings, we were able to find some good connections with NGOs working in Karatu to get this process started. Because of our research, we were clear about how any partner organizations would have to function.

We discovered the importance of flexibility too. When we left here this January we had some ideas of what might be worthwhile projects. But once we got there, asked lots (and lots) of questions, and did the local research, we found that these ideas were just not feasible at this time. We did go with the intention of trying to find local partners and that is the piece that ended up working. We found it was important not to fall in love with our ideas because it is too easy to try to make something work that will not be sustained.

Sustainability
One of the WellShare staff spoke last year of his commitment to the organization. He said he had seen other groups that came and went with not much lasting effect. He felt WellShare was really making a lasting difference in people’s lives because they were thoroughly educating people, improving their health and behaviors, and that knowledge and change would stay with them and their villages long after WellShare was gone. We applied the same criteria. How will our efforts change lives over the long-term? How do we make ourselves unnecessary to these young women? How do we empower them to improve their own lives? When the WellShare project ends and the staff are gone will these women still have improved lives that impact their children and even their villages?

As an example, one type of project we are working to partner with is Farmer Field Schools, which are run by a couple of NGOs in Karatu. These projects provide extensive training in farming but the approach is classic adult education—the individuals in the group, with support from trained farmers, generate ideas or experiments to determine what will or will not work. They also form buying and selling groups to get better prices. So in addition to learning about farming practices to improve yields, they feel empowered, learn how to work together and see the importance of cooperative marketing and purchasing.

These basic life and business skills have been shown to carry over into other areas of village life. The participants have improved lives on many fronts as a result of having participated in this training. We heard of one evaluation that found family violence declined for those participating in this training since half of the group must be women and they now were viewed with respect. Once the NGO leaves, the skills learned and the new ways of working will stay as part of village life and have ongoing impact.

This is the kind of solution we wanted to be able to provide to these young women. And, it appears we are on the way to doing this. We feel very fortunate to have found an organization that has given us so much encouragement to explore efforts not in their original mission.

What about you?
If you are drawn to international volunteering, be clear about what you want to get out of it. For example, there are many wonderful organizations that offer international volunteer experiences whose major purpose is cross-cultural understanding. In evaluating any endeavor where you are looking to have positive impact, you should consider: need to ask: “Is what I am doing something that could be done by local people who need the work, if I just sent the money so they could be hired?”

With Habitat for Humanity the local people are required to put in sweat equity beside the international volunteers, creating a very powerful program. But we were in Peru after the earthquake and saw local men sitting around the square with nothing to do while the international volunteers were rebuilding. Two other important questions: “Will the people be left with any skills or resources that allow them to support themselves, change their lives, etc. without ongoing outside support?” “When the NGO leaves the location, will the benefits be sustainable or will they end?”

Now What?
Well, we are returning to Tanzania this January for 10 weeks to continue our efforts with the young women. We have found out that in four remote villages the microsavings organization we connected with is providing training in financial literacy and the women are saving for their projects, and other successes are blooming as well. There are 48 villages in the district, so there is still a lot of work to do. We will try to find other local groups or individuals who can help these women start and manage viable businesses.

Several people have asked about making a financial contribution. We would like to be able to provide the seed money for farmer trainers, seeds, chickens, etc. For example, we have estimated that it would take about $200-$300 to fund a village’s farmer field school for about 30 people. It seems such a small price to change a village’s life. If you would like to make a tax-deductible contribution, please send it to:

WellShare International
122 West Franklin Avenue, Suite 510
Minneapolis, MN 55404

Please make certain the memo line says: "Tanzania STGs"

If it is easier, our you would rather send the check to us, that is fine also. However, please still make the check to WellShare with the memo line shown. Our address is 2010 Yorkshire Ave. St. Paul, MN 55116.

We will then be able to draw from that account as needed while we are there. In our blog we will write about how and where the money is specifically used. When we get home, pictures will be posted on line and, with luck, we may even be able to mark the locations on Google Earth!

A surprise

2010-03-21T11:11:00.000-07:00

It is difficult to say goodbye to our WellShare family. We had a nice dinner Friday night with staff and shared toasts. Staff said we should make this our first home, not our second (it isn’t going to happen). We received beautiful gifts to treasure always. While we miss family and friends, there is also a strong pull to this beautiful country and its wonderful people.

That same day we had an amazing surprise. As you may remember from our last entry, someone squeezed through a window to steal our two iPods, binoculars, and our (fortunately) backup camera.

With a long face, Jolene told us there was a problem getting our police report. Then her expression turned to a grin as she told us why. Culprits broke into the home of a government official here, and he went into high gear to track down his goods. The good news for us is his thieves were our thieves.

The Karatu police recovered our stolen items and returned all but the camera on Friday, and the camera is on the way! We were told by a couple of people the police would find our goods, but we were doubtful. What a nice cap to a wonderful trip!

Last days in Africa

2010-03-18T23:01:00.001-07:00

An ancient place -

We left out of our safari post our stop at Oldupai Gorge which is considered the birthplace or cradle of man. In layers of volcanic deposits 300 feet deep archeologists have peeled back 2 million years of history. In 1959, Mary Leakey found a 1.8 million year old hominoid skull and later at Laetoli south of the gorge, she found hominoid footprints 3.75 million years old. Scholars have traced the probable migration routes from here to populations all over the world through DNA testing.

In our last post, we mentioned a meeting with the Hadzabe tribe, which live in an area south of Karatu. It is the only tribal remnant of ancient Paleolithic times on the continent and believed to be the most ancient tribe in Africa.

Nairobi -

Now, back to this most recent week; in the fall while we were in CA meeting with possible NGO partners we had dinner with Martin Fisher, the CEO of KickStart, an appropriate technology NGO whose main products are irrigation pumps. We have known of them and supported them for a long time, because Aaron did his Stanford MBA internship with them in Nairobi and then went to work for them in San Francisco after he graduated. (Martin has a PhD in engineering from Stanford, hence the connection.) Sharon offered to do volunteer work for them when we return to the US. So after reviewing her resume, Martin and others at KickStart decided that they could use her help with training. We went to Arusha on Friday, spent the night, and took the bus up to Nairobi on Saturday. Because of road construction (by the Chinese) the trip took 7 hours.

We were picked up by Bitenge Ndemo, a friend of Bill Drake and Anne McLaughlin. He went to the U of M and lived in MN for about 11 years. Bill met him through the International Center and helped him get a job at Medtronic. After returning to Kenya he completed a PhD in England. He was a university professor in Kenya when the government picked him as Permanent Minister of Information and Communication. Ndemo is very dedicated to improving the lives of people in the country, especially those in rural areas. He and his wife Pamela were gracious hosts, welcoming us to stay in their beautiful home, and taking us to the oldest country club in the city, dating to 1906 when of course blacks were not allowed. We met other relatives and also got some real exercise for a change, walking on the country club track. Unfortunately, Pamela was not feeling well, but Ndemo played tennis with Ruth, Barak Obama’s step mother, as they do every Sunday. Afterwards, we had a nice discussion with Ruth, who is from Boston but has lived in Kenya for 45 years.

We went to the KickStart guesthouse on Sunday night and had a pretty intense two days. We visited farmers who were using the pumps and described how it had changed their lives. One man was growing herbs on 1/6 of an acre and watering with a bucket. He got a pump and now has ¾ acre and of course more than one crop a year. He can afford to have his three high school children in private schools. Another woman had a nursery and she has expanded greatly since she saw a pump demonstrated and bought one to replace her bucket irrigation. We met a couple of dealers and with several staff people at KickStart. This is a very impressive organization whose employees have a very high level of skills. Sharon is hoping she will be able to provide them with useful tools as they are growing very quickly.

Nairobi was a bit of a culture shock with all the industry, large population (4 million), terrible traffic, diversity of wonderful restaurants, and showers with pressure and hot water!

Back in Karatu -

It was a nice homecoming to Karatu on Wednesday. We made it in time for the 30th birthday party of one of the ex-pats and it was great fun to realize all the friends we have made here. It is a second home.

Rick is back to editing videos and Sharon is orienting our “replacement” volunteer. Ellen moved to Tanzania six months ago intending to spend two years here with another organization. That has not worked out and she has decided to work with WellShare and continue our efforts with the women’s groups. We are thrilled to know there will be someone here to follow up with the partnerships that are coming together and continue to find other avenues to get training and income generation to these women.

It has been a busy and satisfying time here. If things progress as we hope, we can be comfortable knowing that we have indeed made a difference. What a high that is!

Vanishing Tribes

2010-03-08T09:27:00.000-08:00

At the end of our trip last year we had the really amazing experience of going to the pre-wedding ceremony for one of the staff. (And now, he and his wife have a baby!)

This year we had another unique experience. On Saturday, there was a meeting of two tribes called by the ward chairman in an effort to address their problems. There were about 160 people there, mostly men. The tribes were the Tatoga, a pastoral tribe similar to the Maasai. They had been forced off their good lands by the Maasai who were more fierce.

The other tribe is the Hadzabe, a very small tribe of 500-2500 people, depending on where you draw the line of ethnic purity. They are the only hunter-gatherer tribe left in Tanzania and as you can see by the numbers they are dying out fast. Hadzabe too have been pushed off good hunting lands and squeezed by farm development and pastoralists until they are left with little land and it is very poor. They are having great difficulty finding enough wildlife to survive and it really shows. While most of the men seem fairly healthy, many of the women are very thin. We were told the men go out to hunt and may find small birds which they eat on the spot. However, they don’t bring a kill home unless it is something big, which is rare, so the women and children suffer. Because of this, many died last year during the drought. Some of the old Tatoga women also were skeletal.

The Tatoga were obviously wealthier with their beads, brass jewelry wrapped up their arms, legs and around their necks, beaded hair (on the men) and cell phones. The Hadzabe men dress in shorts, with fabric or leather tied over one shoulder, carrying their bows and arrows. The meeting was held in Swahili and translated into the tribal languages.

After official presentations, the people spoke, often quite passionately, about their problems and needs. In the past it has been difficult to get the Hadzabe children into school. The children have to attend a boarding school because it is so far away. They talk in terms of the government “taking” their children and worry about losing their culture. It sounded rather similar to the issues of Native American and Australian children. In addition, they have traditionally moved around constantly. However, now their territory is smaller and, as it is more difficult to eek out a living, they see it is critical for their children to have an education as they will have to live a different life. That was their main concern; how to get a school in their area so the children can go home at night. Plus, while primary education is free, uniforms and shoes are expected and they have almost no income to buy such things. If they go to school without them, the children feel embarrassed and are teased by others. The Tatoga also worry about cultural dilution and uniform costs, so both tribes would like a school in their area.

The other issue they raised was health care. The facilities are far away and they lack funds to get there and pay for services. They cited an example of a problem delivery. It took so long for aid to arrive that the baby died and the mother was in grave danger. The Hadzabe had been pretty protected from HIV, but it has begun to show up. Experience with other isolated groups is that it arrives late and then spreads very fast. So there is deep concern about what will happen to these nutritionally compromised people with little access to education that may protect them or to necessary health care.

The tribes decided to make monthly contributions to a fund for a school and health services. However, they are struggling to find a way for the Hadzabe to contribute since they have almost no cash income. Tourists come to visit the tribe or go hunting with them, but while the tourists pay a handsome fee, the tribe only sees 15,000Tsh, about $11, for a whole group of tourists and it must be shared by all the tribal members who participate. In addition, tourism, especially in this area which is a distance from the wildlife parks, is reported to be down. Hopefully, they will organize and demand a better share of the funds!

The needs of these communities are great, and additional funding will have to be found to bring very basic health and education services to them.

Lights! Camera! Action!

Suddenly Rick has become a videographer and editor. WellShare periodically hires a local drama troupe to put on skits and creatively deliver health messages, such as during market days.

They are now developing videos to show during educational meetings. Since most villages have no electricity, using media like this is extremely popular. Last week they recorded a variety of scenes to teach sanitation, with Rick operating the camera. It was an all-morning affair and great fun. This week will be busy editing the material.

As we experienced last year, new tasks we never anticipated come up that help us develop new skills (how does this camera work?), use skills we didn’t expect to need here, and make our time here so interesting. Every day is a new experience.

Rick has also been able to offer lots of help with computer problems. He has been very valuable in the office.

We feel things are coming together. Now, organization leadership will need to make connections so microfinance and farm projects can get started. It looks like some of the women’s groups will soon be able to start training and begin on their path to income generating projects, and hopefully, a better life for themselves and their children.

We have also had our first encounter with the polisi (that wasn’t on the road). We went home for lunch to find our ipods, camera and binoculars missing from our locked house. All the windows except one are barred. The one that is not is in our bedroom and it is an emergency exit. Unfortunately, we have not felt compelled to keep it locked. It is in a secluded place and the dog had probably snuck out of the yard. We could not believe that anyone could get through the little window, but on closer inspection, we could see footprints where someone had landed after jumping out of the window. Today it wasn’t muddy enough to have good footprints! It was probably a kid. He must have climbed the tree outside out window, jumped over our concrete fence topped with iron spikes and been able to scramble back out again. Another lesson in diligence, I guess. Fortunately, we had the good camera and GPS with us and he didn’t take the voice recorder, which we have been using for interviews.

Back to work

2010-03-01T11:07:00.000-08:00

Back to Work

Back from safari, we are again working on our project. And, that has us reflecting on our circumstances.

First, Minnesota International Health Volunteers (now WellShare International) has been wonderful to work with. They see possibilities. They understand the relationship between health and financial circumstances.

Our two months last year was a chance for us to understand their program, focusing on maternal and child health. We were so impressed with the relationships they had (and have) in the villages. More than that, the impact has been truly impressive. As required by their funder, an independent evaluator came last summer to measure the program goals against accomplishments. The report delivered a glowing assessment.

We developed some thoughts of what we could do beyond our stay in 2009. These ideas were not in the original program goals, but again, the organization saw possibilities. We were encouraged to explore our ideas, meet with other organizations to find out how other programs work, and even if partnerships might be possible. We were hoping to find synergy in the different strengths of two organizations.

We’ve learned a lot, been excited about developments and sad when some failed to materialize, made many mistakes, but are excited about how the work is progressing.

Second, we’ve discovered a special freedom working as volunteers, working for free. After all, what can they do, fire us? (Well, yes they could.) It does require an organization willing to let volunteers use their individual talents, and we have had that opportunity. It makes it enjoyable to go to the office, or get into a vehicle for sometimes challenging drives to be with villagers. It has been fun!

Third, we love Tanzania. We have had phenomenal experiences in one of the best wildlife areas in Africa. The weather has been fantastic. But most important, the people are truly wonderful. There is a strong Tanzanian staff here, and it is so interesting being in the villages, finding out as best we can, how they work. Guidebooks often encourage doing some cultural tourism. We’ve had a special opportunity that most don’t get.

Since our safari we have been very busy meeting with several organizations, exploring if their programs could work with ours. We are seeing some interesting partnership possibilities including: saving and loaning money (microfinance) to help the village women gain financial literacy and funds to start a business, and farmer field schools to develop agricultural or animal husbandry and marketing skills. We are hopeful we can make connections soon and have the project on its way by the time we leave.

In addition, there have been a number of other tasks we have been involved with including helping with computer presentations, brainstorming incentives for behavior change at the village level in the areas of health and sanitation, and fundraising.

We do have a social life, and one night in particular stands out. An American has a get together every couple of weeks with a theme. Last Friday, the day niece Lynnea and Kyle got married in Mexico, she had a burritos and Margarethas night. Perfect timing. Congratulations from all of us Lynnea and Kyle.

Safari Adventures and Misadventures

2010-02-20T10:57:00.000-08:00

Ouch! Oh, sorry. You caught us pinching ourselves again, checking that what we have been experiencing is real. We’ve returned from four days on safari, and to our amazement, it was even more stunning than what we experienced last year.

It started with our first trip to the Serengeti. This vast national park has an amazing diversity of wildlife. The challenge is to be in the right place at the right time. People can drive for hours and see nothing but pretty birds (a worthwhile experience on its own; the Serengeti has more than 530 species of birds). For most people, the goal is to see the most elusive species, including lions, cheetahs and leopards, especially the last two which are often not seen.

The first afternoon we spotted a leopard in a tree. A short time later we saw another prowling in the grass. It was an exciting start. This day and the following we saw elephants, hippos, giraffes, zebras, wildebeest, several varieties of gazelles, hartebeest, topi, eland, impalas (not the car!), reedbuck, dikdik, crocodile, jackal, hyenas, warthogs, baboons, monkeys, and an amazing variety of birds, including ostriches.

This was a camping trip. Our organization has tents, sleeping bags, air mattresses and the other necessities. We had a guide and cook, making this a bit decadent. The first evening we sipped wine and watched as they set up our equipment. Sharon organized the menu, and we supplied the food to keep the costs low. However, the cook wasn’t used to the choices we made (not surprising, some of you will say who know our tastes), and so Sharon had to do a lot of coaching.

We also had two other travel companions. Dorothy is the finance director for WellShare International, and was visiting to introduce the office here to new accounting procedures. She quickly signed on to the trip. In addition, we brought along Rehema, our invaluable coworker for the village assessments we are doing. She is from a larger city east and south of where we work, had never camped, and had never seen an elephant in the wild, let alone some of the other creatures we saw.

The first evening, a group of elephants wandered by our campsite at dusk, one less than 50 feet from our tents. They got Rehema’s attention, and she didn’t sleep much. That night, with a new moon, clear skies and less atmosphere since we were at about 5,000 feet, the stars were astounding.

The next day was probably the highlight of our trip. We went by a group of six adult female lions and two cubs. They were well hidden in the grass and didn’t seem about to move. So, off we went to see more of the Serengeti.

We were surprised by the diversity of the landscape. From movies and other images, we thought it was a vast, flat savannah, endless grasslands dotted with acacia. It is certainly that, but so much more. There are the remnants of ancient volcanoes, hills, areas of forest, and something called kopjes. The latter are sudden outcroppings of rock that surprised us each time we saw one, looking so out of place poking through the flatlands. The amazing sunlight in this part of the world is even more pronounced in the Serengeti. The film “Out of Africa” captured this caressing, glowing quality of the light very well.

After a couple of hours and of course more views of so many animals, we returned to where the lions had been resting in the grass. We were the only vehicle, and they were now alert. What appeared to be the lead lion was very interested in a herd of cape buffalo (yummy). The lions began to creep forward and it appeared there might be a hunt on. However, the buffalo seemingly sensed danger and nearly all of them fled.

Rather than drive off, our guide decided to wait. After some time, the lions apparently decided hunger was setting in and it was time to act. Instead of waiting for the buffalo to wander closer, they moved forward; much to our surprise it was more like a line, rather than a pack. The lead lion finally made her move, all alone, and the chase was on as the buffalo were off in a cloud of dust.

For whatever reason, when the lion stopped her chase, a number of the buffalo went after her! A new chase was on. Then, the pursuit was reversed, and she was chasing her pursuers. Again, there was a change, and the buffalo chased her. It was fascinating.

Meanwhile, to our curiosity, the rest of the lions had held back. Fortunately, Sharon turned away from the various pursuits and looked back. One buffalo had stayed behind from the pack. We had noticed this and found it curious. Suddenly, another lion went after this loner, and Sharon called our attention to this amazing spectacle. The lion jumped the buffalo, and over time, she brought the victim down. Animal Planet couldn’t have gotten a better view. The rest of the lions joined in and brought the inevitable to a conclusion.

This may sound gruesome, but somehow in that setting it doesn’t seem so; it is simply how life is on the Serengeti.

By now we had been joined by another vehicle, who radioed others, who talked with others, and now there were more than 40 vehicles watching nature unfold. It got crowded.

The next day, we were fortunate enough to see a cheetah. They are elusive and beautiful creatures, and we were very lucky.

Alas, it was time to leave the Serengeti. On the way out, we passed by the site of the kill. In a tree were four of the lions, now with very full bellies. Nearby were two males, yawning but otherwise overseeing the carcass of the buffalo, having done nothing to help with the hunt. Oh my, did the women in the group have something to say about males!

Next, we drove across the area between the Serengeti and Ngorongoro, retracing our steps. Here, there were tens of thousands of animals, truly countless. There were wildebeest, zebras, Thompson gazelles, Grant gazelles, impalas, elephants, giraffe, and thousands of storks. It was an amazing site.

That night we camped on the rim of Ngorongoro crater, with a beautiful view. It is the world’s largest, intact volcanic caldera not filled with water. It was quite cold, and we were decked out in stocking caps and gloves. It is a lovely place.

The next day in the crater (called the Garden of Eden by A Thousand Places to See Before You Die), we were again treated to wondrous sites. Because of the steepness of the caldera along with rich grasslands and available water, there is a rich diversity of wildlife that mostly stays year round. For example, located here is the endangered black rhino, with only 30 in the crater. We saw five! We were fortunate to see another cheetah, along with many thousands of animals. Here we were, again in a zoo, except we were in a cage called a Land Rover, and the animals were free. The whole trip was phenomenal.

And the misadventures? Well, we were doing it on the cheap, and the provider sent along a wonderful guide with a truly awful vehicle. There probably had been no maintenance in a long time. Soon, we found that to start it, we had to push the Land Rover so the driver could pop the clutch. Imagine that in lion country! The list of other problems is long, but there are some funny stories along the way with pictures. If you are curious, we will be happy to ramble on when we see you.

Now, we are back and plunging again into our project. It feels as though we are having an impact, and making progress. But this entry is too long, and so that report will have to wait until our next update.

Talking with villagers

2010-02-08T01:04:00.000-08:00

Sunday we visited Karatu market, a bustling, dusty, noisy place full of smoke from rice, sweet potatoes and meat roasting on open fires, hawkers with bullhorns and vendors shouting out their prices. Cows, goats and sheep are traded so there were many Maasai there. A special treat that day was honey being sold by a Maasai woman in robes and beads. To keep the bees away she had a small pile of cattle dung smoldering at her feet.

The major villages have this type of large market once a month. We went to another on Saturday which was smaller but just as noisy and boisterous. Of course, the young men want to sell us jewelry, carved Maasai figures, kangas (fabric), and follow us around hoping we will change our minds. You can also choose from an amazing variety of used clothes and shoes, electronics, kitchen needs, hardware including used bolts and hinges, and so much more all spread out on the ground on plastic tarps. We visited these markets to ask questions of the sellers and buyers in our continuing effort to gather information on how the economic life for villagers in this part of the country works.

Jolene, the country director, calls what we are doing an asset assessment. What do villagers have, how do the seasonal changes affect them, what would they like they don’t have now, what are the challenges, and what are the niches that the women’s groups we are working with can find to generate income?

And so, we created questionnaires to fit a variety of roles villagers perform, in an effort to get a better understanding of their lives. Jolene feels we are getting good and useful information about village life and the economics. But we find when we get back to the office to compile the information, we need to continue modifying our questionnaires. Sometimes it is difficult to convey the intent of the question to our interpreter (who is excellent) due to language or culture differences and sometimes the question apparently does not have much meaning to the village person. It has all been so very interesting.

This past week, we were back again in the villages. Many of these seemed wealthier; in one, most of the farmers had a plow! We visited on the day government food aid was being distributed, as a result of the lack of harvest in the drought last year. As we drove up to one, a meeting of the villagers was going on with many people, mostly men, sitting under the trees and listening to the leaders. It seemed to be a very spirited meeting about who would get the free or low-cost maize and beans.

This village had a spring and the water was piped to some of the fields for irrigation. The spring’s pressure was amazing and the water was carried quite a long distance; we hadn’t seen anything quite like it in Tanzania before. They had also created a lambo, which is a shallow pond. It is an important resource for cattle and goats, some herded long distances to drink since the surrounding areas where they aren’t able to irrigate are very dry. In village after village, water access is a critical issue. This village with its spring was unique in our experience here. Last year, in another area, we saw large irrigated fields, but it seemed only the large farmers had the irrigation.

We have discovered that a few of the villages have an agriculture expert who travels the village and advises farmers on issues of modern seeds, fertilizer, pesticide and herbicide use, and plant diseases. We have also seen field terracing that was taught by an NGO, and demonstration plots led by Farmer Field Schools (Makiko knows all about them) through another NGO here. It has been helpful that Sharon has a family background in farming and Makiko has tried to educate us about the work of FFS. The farmers reading this would be shocked to hear that some get only ½ liter of milk a day from their cows. This surprised us until we realized it is from meat cows, not the diary breed which can give up to 20 liters. The quantity varies dramatically depending on whether it is the dry or rainy season, and if they are grazed, which most of them are. Some of the dairy cows are in zero grazing programs at least some of the time which means they are contained and fed, and their output is higher.

Last week we had a meeting with some of the microfinance providers in the area to learn what has worked and what the challenges are. We are really most interested in finding a way for the women to save money so they can grow their enterprises and have funds for emergency needs once they get started. On Saturday we were out with the District Medical Officer and happened upon a community meeting of just such a group. Thirty people were meeting in the village office as they do once a week to make a contribution to a joint fund which is then used for emergencies or business loans. It looked to be a very cost effective approach and we are looking forward to learning more about how they work, and how the model might be applied to the groups we work with.

Last Saturday we took a long walk up the local hill that sprouts three cell phone towers. It was quite steep; we felt like goats. We generated quite a few stares because we don’t think many wazungu (foreigners) make this trek. It was fun to get out of the town a little and see what goes on in the local “suburbs”. It was a great view despite the haze and we could see Lake Manyara, the heart of a major wildlife park.

We are planning a camping safari to the Serengeti next week. It is migration and birthing season for the Wildebeest, when there are 8,000 births per day. We will probably revisit the Ngorongoro Crater, a wonderful wildlife area. Another volunteer went to the Serengeti a few weeks ago and found out in the morning there had been a pride of lions outside all night. Of course, being such a light sleeper, Sharon would have known about it.

As we mentioned in our last post, it had rained and was very green when we got here. However, it seems we have brought the sun. Although there have been a few night showers, the farmers are again badly in need of rain. The hot wind blows every day. It feels warmer to us this year than last. It has thundered and black clouds loomed, but it seems to have rained everywhere but in Karatu.

Back in Karatu

2010-01-27T02:02:00.000-08:00

It feels like coming home to return here. It was wonderful to see Jolene, the country director, and the staff again and be greeted as familiar friends. It is so beautiful here. It is warm, sunny and breezy; perfect Minnesota days. There has been rain so it is green, unlike last year. The rolling hills and mountains are a wonderful contrast of red and green. Some of the trees are blooming, and of course the birds are amazing.

We plunged right into our project. We had sent the questions we wanted to ask in the villages and Jolene and Innocent had organized them and made some changes. So we started from there, and had it translated by a very talented young woman, Rehema. Her English is excellent and she could quickly translate the documents. She happened to walk into Jolene’s office the week before we arrived looking for work, which was so fortunate for us.

We were eight in the Toyota Land Cruiser going to Endobash where we spent the week in the guest house there. We visited a different village each day, and each village was different.

When you visit a village you sign in with the village officer. We were able to interview these men, several farmers, traditional birth attendants, young single mothers in the Survive and Thrive Groups and some shopkeepers. We saw several schools and visited the wells or pumps. The village people were, as last year, happy to see us and most generous to spend an hour with us answering detailed questions about agriculture, transportation, water issues, family, work and other aspects of village life. Our days were long, but very interesting.

Some of the issues that stand out: schools are generally overcrowded and understaffed and resourced. One primary school we visited has 800 students and 8 teachers. They use benches with attached tables for desks, which is common here but the children were so crowded that I don’t know how they could write. Still there were not enough desks for the 118 students in the room so many had to stand at the back of the room. In one village a TZ NGO had planned to build two classrooms. But the village chairman was very effective and organized village labor so they were able to get three rooms for the cost of two.

In talking with one of the farmers who had good English, he asked how big farms were in America. When I told him several hundred hectares, he said “That is not a farm, that is a plantation!” Some farmers here are lucky enough to be able to plow with bulls, but once the crops are up the fields are full of men and women with hoes working very hard.

The last village we visited was very isolated. They were about 6 kilometers off the road. The village road was clearly washed over during the rains. Several stretches were just rock jumbles. We were one kilometer from the meeting site when the road ended in a drop off into a dry gully. Often the car can drive down into these and up the other side, but it was so steep and deep that we could not cross. So we walked the rest of the way. But this means the village is cut off now, even when it is not raining. How do they get a pregnant woman to a clinic? The houses here were very spread out, so it seemed very sparsely populated. The water source, a spring, was about 3 kilometers from the site of the office and the only one for the whole widespread village. Life there is clearly very hard. Yet this is the place we saw many white butterflies flitting among the flowering shrubs and trees.

We had a new cultural experience. Rick got up Monday morning to find a goat hanging from the tree outside our room in the courtyard of our guesthouse. They proceeded to skin and slaughter it right there. Then on Wednesday, they did it again. Our tree had a crook in the branch at just the right place, I guess.

Another interesting experience: we stopped at a Catholic mission in one village. There were women sitting under trees in groups waiting to have petitions heard. We walked over to one group of about 12 to interview them. Soon, the women were migrating from every direction; I suppose to see what was going on. Soon we had over 60 women and even some men in our group. Some were very outspoken in answer to our questions and clearly wanted to be heard.

We also enjoyed some stimulating after hours discussion with staff about various issues in the country and the challenges they face.

This week we are in the office translating Rehema’s notes, compiling the information to see what we know. Then, it will be out to the field again.

Returning to Tanzania

2010-01-10T19:04:00.000-08:00

On January 11th we are leaving again for Africa and returning to the US March 23rd. We are excited about the trip and the goals we have set for ourselves.

The organization is WellShare International, formerly known as Minnesota International Health Volunteers. In Tanzania they focus on the health of mothers and their children. Maternal health has long been given poor attention in the developing world, with most organizations concerned about the children. Of course, if there isn’t a mother to care for them, the health of the kids may be in jeopardy.

A part of WellShare’s effort is developing Survive and Thrive Groups (STGs). Here, young mothers learn more about taking care of themselves throughout their pregnancy and after delivery, along with the health of their child. These groups are led by traditional birth attendants (TBAs) who receive education to improve their skills from WellShare.

Our last trip focused on the effort to develop income-generation projects for the STGs, so these women have the financial resources to keep themselves and their child healthy. In addition, time and again across the developing world, and perhaps worldwide, it has been shown that women spend their income wisely on the family and its well being, rather than entertainment, alcohol, and so on.

For several months we have been doing research on what strategies work in assisting women to earn income. This included meeting with several NGOs (non-governmental organizations) here and in CA. It has been a fascinating process and we (hopefully) have learned a great deal about what works and how it might be sustainable. We also looked at specific issues such as water sourcing, clean water and lighting to determine if there might be income opportunities related to them.

During the first month we will meet with various organizations providing services in Tanzania, including agriculture agents and micro-finance projects. We expect to spend a great deal of time in villages, trying to understand as best we can how they function, how their economy works. We developed an extensive questionnaire which WellShare’s staff in Tanzania has been translating. The staff is wonderful, and we know we will learn a lot from spending time with them, along with the village visits.

In mid-February we will take a week or so off for a trip to Kenya. We will be meeting with KickStart, the organization Aaron worked for as an intern and then after graduation from his MBA program. KickStart has a very successful model of selling appropriate technology products, such as irrigation pumps, that have transformed lives as people go from subsistence to profit-making farming. We also expect to meet with an NGO in western Kenya that specializes in helping women develop enterprises in remote villages.

There will be periodic updates to this blog about what we are learning and doing. And, we are always happy to hear from you if you have the notion to send us an email.

Saving the Best for Last

2009-03-24T16:20:00.001-07:00

Our final week was perhaps the best, and our description will work backwards, starting with the last two days in Tanzania.

One of the staff members, Honest, was married March 21st, unfortunately after we left Tanzania. However, in preparation for the wedding, a reception was held in the village of his bride, Natalia. It was in Byno, a village in Mbulu district south of Karatu, about 3-1/2 hours over the usual nasty roads.

Mbulu is quite different than Karatu. The rolling hills reminded us of areas in New Zealand, minus the sheep. It appears to get more rain as the landscape is a beautiful green, with pastures and cultivated fields. Karatu has suffered from lack of rainfall in recent years and the fields reflect that.

The reception was the ceremony for the family to give Natalia to Honest, and the only opportunity for most if not all of them to celebrate. Honest and Natalia are getting married in Moshi, near Mount Kilimanjaro, more than six hours by road away from Byno, the latter having no public transportation.

We were the only non-Tanzanians at this event and were treated like family. We were the first to eat, had a special place in the temporary shelter where the wedding party sat, and had the best view during the entire celebration.

The evening was filled with song, villagers coming into the shelter to congratulate the bride and groom to be, apparently passing on advice with good wishes, and eagerly having their pictures taken by us.

Unfortunately it started about 8 PM, so many crammed into the house of Natalia’s family. Eventually, because of the rain, a significant number had to stay the night, and we were fortunate to be given the only bed.

The next morning featured a procession out of the village, with family members walking with the bride back to our Land Cruiser (there is no road to the part of the village where the celebration took place so we had a 15 minute walk up and down a slippery, muddy path). Again there were songs, this time accompanied by tears as the family said goodbye.

Our two months in Tanzania were filled with wonderful experiences, but these two days were the highlight of our time there. We felt privileged to be a part of it all.

After reading our previous blog entries, someone asked if all we did was have fun. Well yes, because our volunteer work was fun, and we did have things to do in the office, going every day from 8AM to 5PM. More or less.

To summarize, MIHV is in the Karatu district of Tanzania to help improve the health of mothers and children under five. Part of that is creating Survive and Thrive Groups, designed specifically for young single mothers and their children, who have very few resources and are very vulnerable to health problems. A goal is to develop income-generating activities for them, and our time was focused on that. As you perhaps read earlier, we spent time in the field to get a feel for the project and the culture in the area. From there we designed training materials to help with marketing, and developed tools for running the businesses. We also created an Excel training to help improve the skills of the MIHV staff, who use the software for data gathering and analysis.

The days leading up to Honest and Natalia’s reception were spent in the office, finalizing these projects and spending more time with staff going over the materials we left. The last day we brought in lunch and showed pictures from our travels in Asia, Australia, New Zealand, Peru and the United States.

Before we went to Tanzania, it wasn’t clear how we might contribute to the project, since it is a public health organization and that isn’t our background. MIHV is doing wonderful work in Karatu, working hard to make the project sustainable after they leave. At the end we hope the resources we left behind will add to that effort. Beyond that, the opportunities to experience the culture, to visit the villages, and peek into a slice of life there was amazing. In addition, we saw some beautiful parts of the country, and were in some of the most famous places in Africa for wildlife safaris. Sharon has described the whole experience as “phenomenal”, and it was.

Thanks for joining us on this adventure.

Last update from Tanzania

2009-03-09T05:01:00.000-07:00

We are in our last week here in Tanzania, leaving Sunday. If you are still reading along, thanks for joining us on the journey. We’ll have some final thoughts to add after our return to Minnesota.

Yesterday (Sunday) we spent in Tarangire National Park. It was time for one more animal fix before leaving the country.

Tarangire is reputed to have the highest concentration per kilometer of elephants in the world. It is also beautiful, located in the Great Rift Valley, with some of the classic vistas seen in movies. Trees include the acacia, with the widespread flat-topped canopy so identified with the Africa savannah, and baobab trees.

The latter have a shape like a fat-stemmed mushroom. The trunk can grow to 33 feet diameter in only 100 years. “Only”, because tests suggest some live to more than 3,000 years. Baobabs’ trunks can store large amounts of water, which get them through droughts. Animals, especially elephants, sometimes help themselves to the precious liquid when rains fail to come.

Our main reason for going there was animals and we found them. Supporting Tarangire’s reputation, we did see a lot of elephants. At one small water hole we came upon a group of at least 35, from small babies to the big bulls. They were all trying to spray themselves or lie down in the wet mud to cool off. It was an incredible sight! There were many more scattered throughout the park and we never tired of seeing them. We even witnessed what appeared to be a sibling fight, finally broken up by mom.

Unlike the other parks we visited, giraffes were also plentiful and they too had babies. They are amazing to watch, walking or even running in that swaying graceful fashion you’ve likely seen in movies or nature shows. Giraffes eat the leaves of acacias from the tops of the trees, which have long, sharp, nasty needles. They can do this because of a remarkable tongue, and it was fun to watch them feed.

One surprise was to see lions running by us, three females and a young one. When we arrived we were told that the lions were elsewhere and we wouldn’t see any in the park. When our driver reported back the sighting there was disbelief, but we have the photos to prove it.

We also saw a wide variety of gazelle-like animals, including topi, waterbuck, impala, eland, dikdik (VERY small), and some we couldn’t identify. There were many so-ugly-they’re-cute warthogs, including babies, all running with tails sticking straight up in the air. We did see a battle between two males. In addition there were baboons, ostriches (and many other birds), wildebeest and zebras.

We do need to make a correction. Previously we had referred to “water” buffalo. In fact we have been seeing cape or African buffalo. The former can be domesticated, the latter can’t.

This week we are finishing up our projects, including working with the great people on staff. Our expectation is that there will be continued work for us after we return to the United States.

R & R in Zanzibar

2009-03-04T08:00:00.000-08:00

A week away in Zanzibar and Dar es Salaam gave us another perspective on life here in Tanzania. It started and ended with bus trips across the country.

It took us about 12 hours to reach Dar. We drove along the pretty Pare and Usambara Mountains, past fields of corn and sisal (a plant that looks like aloe vera & used for making rope and twine), seeing places where farmers were making charcoal, and a few places thirsty for rain.

Passing through three cities we saw a very different slice of life than in Karatu, a town of perhaps 15,000. Nearly every road in the cities is paved and every main street was packed with cars. Karatu has only the main highway through town paved, and it never seems busy in spite of all the tourists passing. In the larger cities, as in the U.S., the pace of life is faster.

The next day we ferried across to Unguja, the main island of the archipelago and what many non-Tanzanians think of as Zanzibar. Our goal was the east coast and three days on the beach. We enjoyed snorkeling each day, including a great afternoon at an atoll. However, the water near shore was too hot to be comfortable for long.

Our beach was protected by an off-shore sand reef, creating at low tide a lagoon. This is when women harvest seaweed for eventual export. The have “fields” of stakes that stick out of the water with twine between the stakes under water. The twine is for the anchorage-dependent crop, which is ready about every two weeks. At high tide the women leave, the stakes disappear, and it is time to snorkel again.

Back to the west coast of the island we stayed in Stone Town, a World Heritage Site. It is the heart of Zanzibar’s reputation as a convergence of many cultures. There ships stopped while heading east and west. There it was discovered to be an ideal place to grow spices, still today an important part of their economy. The sultanate of Oman moved there because of the riches that trade provided. From Stone Town traders moved through the mainland, selling and buying goods, and unfortunately, people.

All this activity brought about the spread of the Swahili language through east Africa. In Tanzania there are more than 120 different tribes. To facilitate communications for commerce, Swahili became the lingua franca, a common or commercial tongue among people who speak different languages. It is Bantu based, but with so many influences it has many borrowed words from other languages. By one estimate as much as 40% of the vocabulary is Arabic based. Swahili is now an official language or widely spoken in Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, parts of Congo and small portions of Somalia, Mozambique, Madagascar and Comoros.

As traders from different parts of the world came, some started families, creating a rich rainbow of influences and colors. Islam is dominant, but Christianity, Buddhism and Hinduism are present along with influences from the original indigenous faiths.

With attacks from the Portuguese and later the British, the sultanate was slplit between the islands and Oman. In Zanzibar the sultans were “guided” by the British until independence and then a revolution overthrew the sultan in 1964.

As a result of its interesting history, the architecture of Stone Town is a mix of Arab, Persian, Indian and European influences, with a maze of streets and alleys that are fun to wander. The government has struggled to maintain Stone Town. Unfortunately most of the buildings are in poor condition, which made the experience a bit depressing. There is an obvious effort to save and rehab, but to us it will require an enormous amount of money and careful work.

Back to the mainland we spent time in Dar es Salaam, the economic center of the country. Dar bursts with activity. It doesn’t have the character of Zanzibar, but was fun for us to wander none the less. We spent time in an outdoor Village Museum, where we could see the variety of village housing used even to this day.

We took the bus part way back, then met Jolene and rode the rest of the way with her. We had to be careful because of the ostriches hanging around on the side of the road, and the crossing by several zebras. A little different than Minnesota. The evening light and scenery were gorgeous.

We are back in Karatu, back in the wonderful weather here, back with the great people of the area. It was a good week away but great to be “home”. The coast is hot and humid, and this ideal weather has refreshed us.

Four weeks left

2009-02-16T03:40:00.000-08:00

We are half way through our stay and time is flying by. There are several projects to be finished and in some ways it feels we should be here several more months, but we hope to be back next year to continue our work.

This past week was spent in the field in an area called Mang’ola. The landscape is very different there. The elevation is lower, perhaps 4,000 feet instead of the 5,000 feet we are used to here in Karatu. In Mang’ola the temperature is warmer and the rainfall less. There is a large spring nearby. The water is pumped up to reservoirs, and then allowed to be diverted to different areas as irrigation water. This gives the contrast of scrub plants surviving in dry areas, next to lush irrigated fields of corn and red onions. The latter are shipped all over Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda and other countries.

Mang’ola is smaller than Karatu town, and challenging to reach because of the road leading to it. There is no electrical service, although a few of the businesses use small solar panels to power a few fluorescent lights. Most use kerosene lamps. The nights were spectacular because the streets are so dark so the visible stars are so numerous and bright. The guest house we stayed in had all the wiring, switches and outlets necessary, even a TV satellite dish. However, it is all useless because the power grid doesn’t include the town.

As with so many experiences, being on location has much more impact than reading about what life is like there. We continue to be in awe of what MIHV has accomplished in just two years. As we drive through remote areas, people eagerly greet us because the staff has made such a strong investment in building relationships and training. Add the factor that we two white people are in the car along with staff, and we sometimes felt like we were celebrities in a 4th of July parade in America, with kids running out to wave and yell friendly greetings.

The challenges to improving the health of mothers and children under five are daunting. For example, in one village about 23 kilometers/14 miles from Mang’ola, an hour’s drive, we found a young mother who had been bitten by a poisonous snake the day before. She went to a traditional healer to get medicine, who didn’t have the right one. The woman was told not to go to the hospital in Mang’ola because they would simply cut off her leg. When we arrived she wasn’t doing well. The staff convinced her that the hospital wouldn’t cut off her leg. While two staff people were meeting with other village members, our driver took the woman to the hospital, got the right medications and brought her back, leg intact.

We were told about another incident when complications developed for a woman in labor. The plan was for her to deliver in the village with a traditional birth attendant, but it became apparent she needed to be taken to a hospital. There was no vehicle available, so she was carried on the backs of village members six hours throughout the night. The result happily was a successful, healthy birth.

MIHV seems very skilled in dealing with the wide range of education found in the villages. In one training session, the participants ranged from an individual with no formal education to one who spoke eight languages, including very good English.

The focus of this trip was training specific village members on why and how to collect data on pregnancies, illnesses, births and deaths. Data can be a powerful tool, helping to identify the causes of health problems that can lead to a course of action. The government is keenly interested, but doesn’t have all the necessary resources, so MIHV in cooperation with the district authorities is helping. In one case the data they collected was turned over to the Karatu District Medical Office. They described the problem and presented the supporting data to a local business who pledged to fund a program to help solve it.

The people we met fascinated us. The afore-mentioned man who spoke eight languages was an engaging conversationalist. Tanzania has at least 130 different tribes, and such individuals as this gentleman have learned to converse in a surprising number of the traditional languages. As we said in a previous blog entry, given our poor performance in Swahili and previous language efforts, it is humbling. We’ll have more to say about education here in a future blog update.

We also met a 75 year old shaman/traditional healer, dressed in her tribe’s traditional clothing. Although she spoke no English, she was eager to learn a few phrases.

The week also helped reinforce the need to be patient and take things as they come. In the town and the various villages we visited there is no electricity. The roads are difficult, and in some areas will be impassable during the rainy season. Fortunately, mobile phones have revolutionized communications because there are almost no land lines.

Even with the mobile phones, scheduling these sessions is extremely difficult. Because of the roads it is a little difficult to know when we will arrive. Participants have the demands of family, farms and other responsibilities. So, something that is planned to start at 9:00AM may not begin until 11:30. Emergencies such as the snake-bite incident can pull us away from what has been planned.

In our last blog entry we mentioned a Valentine’s luncheon put together by MIHV for leading women in Karatu. The goal was to listen to their views on what should be done to help women and children in the district build income-generating activities. It was a wonderful success, with most pledging money, training and other support and deciding to meet monthly to make solving the problems an ongoing effort. It is impressive to see how government, organizations like MIHV and community members are working together.

This next week we will be in the office. We have developed some training materials for Excel and will be using them in sessions with the staff, along with members of another non-governmental organization. We will also continue working on a marketing training program for staff so they can train the village women.

We hope all is well with all of you.

Our Third Week (such imaginative titles)

2009-02-08T08:31:00.000-08:00

Today (Sunday) we went to Ngorongoro Crater, called by "A Thousand Places to See Before you Die" the Garden of Eden of Africa. It is the largest intact volcanic caldera not filled with water in the world (don't you love all the qualifiers?), over 12 miles in diameter. The lakes, grasslands, swamps and forests make it an ideal environment for a wide variety of animals. The steep sides help discourage migration for many but not all. The edge also provides wonderful vistas in all directions.

We took four staff members with us along with the three-year old son of one, who was a little afraid of us, perhaps wondering what was wrong with two people who had lost all their color.

We saw wildebeest, zebras and water buffalo by the thousands. A lake had tens of thousands of flamingos. Also for our viewing pleasure was a rare black rhino, hippos, elephants, serval (a small cat), waterhogs, eland (a large deer-lake animal), various gazelles, hyenas, jackal, monkeys, baboons, ostrich, various storks, egrets and cranes. We also saw a number of lions. At one location was a wounded water buffalo, hunkered down in a hollow with several lions waiting. The next time past the buffalo was dead and the lions were feasting. It was an incredible day.

Saturday we went to a large open market on the edge of town. This happens on the 7th of each month, and is aimed at Tanzanians. There is an animal auction, varieties of foods to buy, handicrafts, watches, and nearly anything imaginable. Clothes? Chances are items you donate to ARC or the Epilepsy Foundation get bundled up and sent overseas, ending in markets such is this. It was being unbaled on the spot. Every kind of used clothing seems to be here, from Columbia jackets to underwear. There is also a profusion of the colorful fabrics women and sometimes men wear.

As for our work, this last week we spent our time in the office getting prepared for future activities. Jolene, the-ever creative country director, is inviting the leading women in the Karatu community to a nice lunch on Valentine’s Day and we are assisting with that. She is always looking for ways to generate ideas from the community and collaborate in the process of improving health. Everything MIHV does here needs to be sustainable, continuing past the time the project ends.

We are continuing with activities aimed at developing income generation for the Survive and Thrive Groups. This includes creating a marketing training program for staff so they can train the village women. There has also been a lot of brainstorming on what items can be made that will appeal to tourists.

This week we will be in the field again with staff, who will be recording data and doing training. One of the stops will be in an Hadzabe village. They are a hunting-gathering tribe whose lifestyle is being impacted by modernity.

Time is flying by and we continue to be fascinated by the people and places.

Our Second Week

2009-02-02T08:05:00.000-08:00

Our second week has been a wonderful mixture of nature and culture. We started with a day safari to Manyara National Park, about ½ hour from our place. We saw baboons, different kinds of monkeys, gazelles, giraffes, hippos, water buffalo, wildebeest, zebra, elephants, and lots of birds, including storks, egrets, hornbills, flamingos and many more. It was a great day.

On the culture side, an integral part is languages. Swahili is the lingua franca, with most people having a local/tribal one as their first language. It seems nearly everyone speaks two languages, quite a few three (including our coworkers who speak English), and some four or more. Given how little progress we have made in our poor attempts at other languages (Japanese, Spanish and Swahili), we are truly humbled.

The other issue with language is how it limits our understanding of our surroundings. Our coworkers are wonderful, but there is only so much they can convey in trying to translate what we are experiencing. As we wander through the open markets and the town of Karatu alone, fumbling with our limited Swahili, our experiences are obviously filtered through our lack of language, Midwestern perspectives, the relatively small part of Tanzania we are seeing, and the short time we are here. So, we offer the following and future information with the knowledge that the slice of life we are experiencing is very limited, and we will make corrections later if new information changes that perspective.

With that, here goes. This last week has mostly been spent in two villages. In both cases staff was building Survive and Thrive Groups (see 9th paragraph from our previous entry). This involves two days of training with traditional birth attendants (TBAs) and a third day with the TBAs and young mothers. (We will try to limit acronyms to only two – MIHV for Minnesota International Health Volunteers, our host organization, and TBAs as above).

The TBAs are truly remarkable women. To put this into perspective, we had to drive between 45 and 60 minutes to get to each village, which is only 20-23 miles away. The roads are unpaved, often rutted, rocky, very rough, and should only be driven with a decent size four-wheel drive vehicle. Ours is a Toyota Land Cruiser. When the rainy season comes, some villages become isolated as the roads become impassible.

The village homes are widely spread out among fields, with sub-villages. In the second village we visited there was no electricity and we didn’t see a car or truck. Cell phones work everywhere, but to get anyplace, people generally either walk or use a bike, the latter being beat up versions of the old bikes we grew up on. Even with a mountain bike, the roads would be extremely challenging.

Although the Tanzanian government and MIHV are working hard to encourage women to get to clinics for deliveries, for many of them this is impossible. The reasons include the roads, long and sometimes difficult distances to clinics, needing to plan ahead for the delivery and hoping the due date is accurate, along with the impossibility of leaving family behind.

The TBAs are not paid for their work, expect if the delivering mother and family can afford to offer a chicken or other goods. Sometimes the TBA is buying supplies from her own funds. Some have even been known to take in a young mother and child if the woman is unmarried and the family is not able to care for her. As you might imagine, TBAs often have to go long distances, sometimes in the dark of night where wild animals could present a danger. Add to this that they teach women of all ages before and after delivery on health and safety issues, and their roles are challenging.

Traditionally, TBAs’ knowledge was passed on from one woman to another within the village. It is obvious they are eager for the training they receive, and happy they can bring more tools to their work. Some have limited literacy or less than adequate Swahili, yet they show incredible motivation to learn.

The TBAs we saw have already received training from MIHV on antenatal, delivery, neonatal and maternal care. What we witnessed was additional education and help in starting their Survive and Thrive Groups. The latter will help unmarried mothers learn more about care for themselves and their children. The mortality rates for both are high, with a large percentage of them preventable. For children under five, 51% of deaths are from acute respiratory infections/pneumonia, 31% from malaria, and 3.6% from diarrheal disease. The education provided by the government, MIHV and other non-governmental organizations can eventually reduce the numbers dramatically.

As mentioned last time, MIHV wants to introduce a system for income generation in these groups. By doing so, the young mothers will be able to help support their families, hopefully help TBAs cover their costs, employ good health practices and encourage the mothers to stay in their villages rather than seek their fortune in Karatu town. The income generation aspect of the Survive and Thrive Groups is the focus of our time here.

Karatu is the gateway for Ngorongoro Crater, the Serengeti and other famous parks nearby, with an estimated 500,000 tourists each year. The town has only about 15-20,000 people, and most of the handicrafts sold in the tourist shops come from Kenya. The women of Karatu District produce traditional crafts, including baskets and bead work that can be sold to visiting tourists. The goal of MIHV is to develop skills in the groups to perfect the crafts, help the women start agricultural projects or small animal husbandry, provide the knowledge to manage these small businesses, and have the enterprises self-sustaining. Our hope is to contribute to that effort.

On the nature side, next weekend we go to Ngorongoro Crater, which is said to have the largest concentration of mammals in all of Africa.

We are having a wonderful time.

Now, for all of you in the northern climates of the US, a weather report. The temperatures here have so far been nearly perfect, with low humidity. Days can be like that perfect summer weather in Minnesota. In the evenings we sometimes have to put on a light fleece. Sleeping temperatures are just right.

The down side is precipitation. Karatu didn’t get the rains expected in November and December, so it was dusty. The soil here is a burnt orange color, and when the winds blow, the dust rises and delivers a fine coating on everything.

A few days ago the rains started, usually in the latter part of the day and sometimes at night. Then the soil turns to a slick mud because of all the clay. Riding in the Land Cruiser feels like being on a winter road in Minnesota, slithering along. And of course the mud is quick to grasp our shoes and not let go.

However, 90% of the people here live off agriculture and need the rain, so the combination of sunlight during much of the day and needed rain later is just what they need. And, we do love the temperatures.

Our First Week

2009-01-23T10:30:00.000-08:00

Hujambo (how are you?) from Karatu, Tanzania. Our trip was long but uneventful, and Jolene, the energetic and upbeat country director picked us up. So what have we seen and done so far besides getting over jet lag?

From Mount Kilimanjaro airport we had a beautiful drive through the Great Rift Valley to get here, mountains on both sides. The trip included an overlook to see Lake Manyara, where we will probably do our first safari to see the wildlife in the park. We happened upon a wedding party that was taking pictures there which was great fun.

On our drive through the valley we saw many Maasai with their cattle and their family huts around the bomba which holds the cattle at night, a classic African picture. The fabrics worn here are beautiful and varied and men wear them too. There are several versions of a “Hongera (Congratulations) Obama!” Kanga (color cloths) which the ex-pats have been snapping up. We have gotten to know many of them already, starting with a brunch Jolene hosted the second day we were here.

For the inauguration (here it was 8pm) we gathered with a group at the home of a couple from South Africa to watch the ceremony. Just as Obama was walking to the podium, the power went out. The day before had been a bad one for power, but maybe that night everyone was watching and overloaded the system. It came back a few minutes after the speech was finished! But it was thrilling to see the crowds and the ceremony.

Of course the election of Obama has been a very big deal in this part of the world. But, we should mention that George Bush is very popular in Tanzania. Bush pushed for two major programs that directly affect the country, funding for HIV/AIDS and malaria prevention. In addition, he was the only sitting US president to visit this country.

The Karatu area, our new home in northern Tanzania, is beautiful. The hills are green (despite a drought) with deep red soil. The contrast is striking.

MIHV is developing self-sustaining programs here for pregnant women, along with mothers of child-bearing age and children under five for the 45 villages in the district. The issues are complex and the effort is comprehensive, building on the work already done in the community.

We have seen only one paved road, which carries tourists to and sometimes through Karatu to Ngornogoro Crater, one of the most famous wildlife sites in Africa. Roads are dusty when they are dry and sometimes impassable during the rainy season. Even without the rain the distance from the village to a health facility can be a significant barrier. The government has mandated health care centers in every village to try to deal with this.

One aspect of MIHV’s effort is developing Survive and Thrive groups, for young single mothers. Our main focus will be on helping to develop ways for these groups to sell products.

Jolene and her staff have done a remarkable job in only two years here.
They have been warm and welcoming, helping us to settle in and find our way as we have begun our work. And, the receptionist has kindly offered to be our Swahili tutor.

We visited a private elementary school and we received a royal tour. They teach only in English and have both day and boarding students. It had great energy and we met the headmaster, manager, several teachers and many students who greeted us in one case with a couple of songs. This was the idea of the receptionist, who plans to take us more places in the future.

Friday we went with some staff to a village and met with the traditional birth attendants and the village health officer to follow up on their record keeping of pregnant women, their birthing plans, etc. We also visited two homes with newborns.

It feels very comfortable here and MIHV has a nice home for volunteers. The birds are beautiful and varied, coming to visit each day. The foods here are wonderful, with lots of fresh fruits and vegetables. The pineapple and mangoes are the best we have eaten and plentiful. And, we’ve never seen such huge avocados!

The week has flown by and yet it feels like we have been here a long time. Monday we leave for six days visiting villages and learning more about the program. We’re excited.

Leaving for Tanzania

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Sharon and Rick are spending two months in Tanzania, from January 16th until March 15th. We will try to post updates to this blog weekly.

We are volunteering with Minnesota International Health Volunteers (MIHV). The organization develops self-sustaining public health programs in developing countries, and in Minnesota. You can learn more about their work by visiting their website - www.mihv.org. We don't know what we will be doing yet, but check back on future postings.

In Tanzania they are developing a child survival project. One of the poorest countries in the world, more than half of Tanzania's population is children, and about 11.2% of them die before the age of five. And, more mothers die of pregnancy-related causes than the vast majority of other countries.

As the map shows, Tanzania is in east Africa, south of Kenya. The MIHV office is in the northern city of Karatu, about three degrees south of the equator, at an elevation of over 5,000 feet. It is near Ngorongoro Crater to the west and Arusha (a major city) to the east, and in the area of the Great Rift Valley. Tanzania is four times larger than Minnesota, with its own great lakes of Lake Victoria and Lake Tanganika. Famous sites include Mount Kilimanjaro, the Serengeti, and the previously mentioned Ngorongoro Crater, which is said to have the greatest concentration of mammals in all of Africa. Zanzibar and Dar es Salaam are also in Tanzania.