Hakuna Matata

Day 18 (7/5):

It’s Monday and we’re back to the old grindstone. Class was the same as usual. After being pleasantly surprised with how quickly my batch of postcards had gotten to their recipients the first time, I decided it was a good call to send out a second batch. During the break in class, I went with Libby and Emily to the bookstore and picked up postcards and stamps.

After class, Libby and Emily went to the Center to check email and do research. I came back to the hotel and checked email. Then, feeling hungry, I decided to reheat some of the pizza leftover from Pepe’s. The way the kitchen is set up, along the back wall of the apartment is a set of windows with the sink and metal drainboard on either side, below it. On the counter top is a microwave with a toaster on top of that, and below are cabinets and drawers for pots, pans, and silverware. Against the wall, to the left when you enter, is a small wooden stand where the convection oven sits, on top is an electric tea kettle. The convection oven has two burners on the top of it, but since we’d never used the oven, we just left the kettle there when we boiled water. Gathering some ingenuity, I figured out how to turn the convection oven on to preheat for the pizza. What I didn’t realize, however, was that along with turning the oven itself on automatically, it also turned the burners on top of it on, automatically. I had left the kitchen while it was preheating to write my postcards and after a while noticed a funky smell. I went to investigate, only to find that the plastic pegs that were attached to the bottom of the electric kettle had almost completely melted down from being directly on the hot burner. I reacted quickly and pulled it off, but the smell of cooking plastic is still in our apartment. I was able to turn off the burners so that only the oven was on, but I freaked myself out nonetheless. The kettle is fine, the pegs got the worst of it, but I’m definitely doing a more thorough inspection of any type of machinery next time, before I attempt using it.

About the time my pizza was done reheating and I was eating happily was when Emily and Libby got back from the Center. Libby hadn’t been feeling well so she was pretty much in until dinner, but I wanted to send out my postcards and go to the grocery store before everything closed for the day. Libby went with me and after dropping the postcards off in the mailbox, we hit the grocery store for Cassava chips, chocolate ice cream, wine, and juice. A successful trip in every aspect.

After getting back, Libby worked out and Emily and I talked on my bed for a while. Libby would join intermittently, in between exercises. A little before dinner, Emily and I cracked open the wine and had a glass. I know it’s silly, but it really is nice being able to by a bottle of wine and have a glass here, before dinner. I kind of like that freedom.

Dinner was good, we had fried rice, fish in coconut sauce, and chocolate samosas for dessert. Afterwards, I checked email quickly before Libby needed to get on. Her and I watched the HP7 movie trailer and then I just hung out while she did whatever she needed to do on the internet. I talked to Alex and Katy a lot, and we read up on the blog of a girl who had been here for the spring semester, and compared her experience to ours.

A lot of the things she said about three months in were things we were feeling right now, about harassment and feeling trapped and homesick. It was nice to know that someone else had felt that way, but also made me feel like a baby for complaining after only having been here for several weeks, and she had toughed it out for several months.

In any case, Libby and I headed back to the apartment and read. I’m reading the Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, lent to me from another girl in the group. It’s really good, I’m enjoying it a lot.

Around 11:30 Libby and I decided to go to sleep, and we switched off the lights and continued talking, as per our nightly routine. About halfway into a story I was telling about a family tradition, we thought we heard Emily (who’d been in bed for several hours) make some noise. I thought it either sounded like her crying or saying “Mom” and Libby couldn’t tell what she was saying. Either way, it freaked me out. The lights were out, and I wasn’t brave enough to get up and make sure Emily was ok. We lock our apartment every night, and the complex we live in is secure, I just got myself worked up for no reason. It didn’t help that there was a little wind that was rattling the panes of glass in my window and waking me up every time I got close to sleep. Eventually, after not being able to handle the idea of laying awake for the entire night again, I woke Libby up and had her go with me to close all the windows and curtains and close the doors so that the wind didn’t slam them closed. She was a good sport and humored me. I fell asleep almost immediately after we did that. Thank god.


Day 19 (7/6):

Today dawned cloudy, and unfortunately stayed cloudy and chilly most of the day. We’ve been lucky with really good weather here for a solid week and a half, two weeks. It was only a matter of time before it got chilly or rainy again. I’m just glad I’m not at home right now, in the 101 degree weather with humidity out the wazoo.

Class today was a bit different because we had speakers. The first speaker, from Heifer International, came and spoke from 9 to 11. He was awesome. His name was Mr. Msangya and he gave a really good presentation. I already had a little bit of background knowledge about the organization, but this presentation only opened my eyes to the amazing work it does more.

The basic premise behind Heifer International, for those of you who don’t know (for those of you who do, feel free to skip ahead), is that it is a primarily donor-based organization, as most NGOs are. The donations go towards an animal, and once enough money has been accrued for the value of that animal, it is sent to a third-world family. The beautiful thing about the organization is that they don’t just plop a cow in a village and leave, any family or village that is granted livestock from Heifer International (is first assessed for need) and then key members of the community are sent to a local Heifer International office location for 14 day training. They train them in being able to grow fodder for the livestock, and are given seeds. They are trained in the various uses of the animal, from reproduction to milking, depending on the species, and the various ways the community can make money off the animal. Once the animal has had multiple offspring, that animal is fair game for immediate consumption. In its essence, the organization is amazingly sustainable.

It also works on a community level and fosters commitment and obligation to ones neighbors. Every community or family that signs a contract to receive an animal or group of animals from HI, must sign, as part of the contract, a clause stating that the first offspring of the animal is given to a needy neighbor in the community. The impact of this is that even if HI only directly deals with a certain number of people or communities a year, the contract they make with their beneficiaries ensures that the “passing of the gift” continues.

Of course, with any organization, there are challenges, but HI is surprisingly prepared for most of them and thinks of innovative ways to combat those challenges. For one thing, the people they target and who need their assistance the most live in rural areas, and those people depend on the daily activities they complete to keep them alive (collecting water, taking care of crops). If a beneficiary cannot come out to the city for training, either they can’t afford the travel expense, or they can’t afford to leave their home village for that length of time, HI arranges for in-village training to take place.

Another key aspect of the sustainability of the projects is the health and well-being of the livestock and animals. Part of the training is basic veterinary care for their animals, but there is only so much someone can learn about the anatomy of the animal they’re receiving in 14 days, especially if they are illiterate. HI fights this problem by employing trained Community Animal Health Workers (CAHWs) who travel within the region, going to villages that have received HI livestock and making sure the animals are well-cared for, and if any of them have fallen sick, caring for them and getting them healthy again. Each beneficiary who goes through training is also given a basic Animal Health kit that should assist them with minor problems.

HI is all about working with the environment and making sure every project they engage in is sustainable. If a village that is chosen asks for a cow, but that region experiences regular droughts, HI gives them a camel instead, so that the animal they receive is well-suited to the climate and has a better chance of survival with the community. As I said before, the beneficiaries are also given seeds and trained in planting fodder for livestock, even if the region is a zero-farming region.

Innovative ideas are used with this organization, which makes it dynamic. They give some of the communities bees and train them to be beekeepers. Beeswax is highly valuable in many parts of the world, as is honey. With milk, eggs, honey, and other sellable products like that, not only does the community receive assistance and income, but they also gain a way to produce a product that is individually and solely theirs, and a product that they can be proud of. It is as much about empowering people as it is helping them survive. HI is also really good with follow up and is generally transparent as an organization all around. Specifically, they assess communities and determine whether there is a need for HI to come and assist, they interview the villagers, they take pictures, they spend several days with them to see what their routine is and how far they walk for water every day. Once a village is granted assistance, every six months HI checks in to make sure that the “passing the gift” condition of the contract is being met, and how the animals are doing. After 5 years of HI checking in regularly, and the community is deemed sustainable, HI only checks in every few years to maintain the meticulous records they keep.

The last thing I’ll mention about HI before I move off my pedestal about it, is that they target sensitive topics and peoples in their efforts to alleviate poverty and end hunger. They empower women, and provide communities with gender-equity-based tasks and projects for them to complete. They work with communities of orphans and grant them livestock based on their age and ability level, mainly, they give them dairy goats, which are low maintenance animals that bring in income with their milk. They also help disabled and albino communities, specifically within Africa, because they are so strongly stigmatized and ostracized on this continent.

The bottom line is that I love the organization and wish I could seriously work for them. Unfortunately, the local office in Arusha was not accepting any volunteers this summer, bummer, but it still made me want to get involved when I got back to the States. Good stuff.

After the first speaker was over, we had our usual half-hour break, and we all trooped down to Bamboo Café for a quick samosa. Samosas are these awesome fried triangles that have meat and vegetables and are spicy and they are SUPER cheap. We had some of those and then we headed back to the classroom.

Charles, our professor, lectured for a little less than an hour, and then our second speaker of the day came. His name was Donald Deya and he was the CEO of PALU or Pan-African Lawyers Union. He rocked. He was young and passionate and loved what he presented about. He made continental African law and the various organizations that govern and hold judiciary positions on the continent accessible and easy to understand. He also made the problems facing Africa as a global player interesting, and mostly attainable. I really liked hearing him speak. I felt like I learned more about the dynamic of African law and it’s governing organizations in the hour and a half he was there than the whole time I’d been here. I was pleased, to say the least.

After class I came back to the apartment and I’m happy to report that I finally had a bowel movement! After going out to eat on Saturday, I had three different, horrible cases of diarrhea. In an effort to stop the problem, I took Immodium. What I didn’t realize was how effective Immodium is. I hadn’t pooped in three and a half days, and I was starting to get worried. Thankfully, my bowels did their thing and I feel much more back to normal.

Other than having an awesome poop, I didn’t really do a lot today. I always seem to have small secretarial things to do on my computer or with my checkbook. I finished the last of my laundry. Had a glass of wine. It was a nice day.

After this, I’m going to dinner, and then watching the first semi-final game of the World Cup. Libby and I are super-stoked. We’ve been kind of lost without soccer every day to keep us occupied. In any case, that is what has been going on recently. More updates soon!

Love and miss you all,

Colleen