ALISON HEADS EAST: Week 8

Monday, September 24, 2007

Meaghan and I spent the morning doing project work, English lessons for the Mamas and writing up our blogs for this week. We then headed off to the internet café to send some emails and updates out and post our blogs. We picked up some groceries on our way home and were exhausted when we returned home because of the hot day. We had a very quick lunch and then headed off to Mabutini to the Yogurt Kitchen to teach the Mamas English and check up on the yogurt production. We bought some yogurt for the house (we usually pick up about 4-6L of yogurt per week now that Ruben is living with us). When we got home Beatrice (a Kivulini volunteer) was helping Ruben translate a questionnaire for his project work. After dropping off the yogurt, Meg and I went downstairs to the internet café around the corner to finish up some of our tasks that we couldn’t get done in the morning, but the internet was very poor. For dinner, we made a delicious chapati pizza with tomato sauce, zucchini, lunch meat, and cheese. We had a quiet evening in and started my second journal book.

Mama Leah, Paskwalina, Elizabeth and I at the Yogurt Kitchen

Tuesday, September 25, 2007

I received a very nice phone call from a friend this morning. It’s always nice to hear from home once in a while and get some bearing on what is going on in Toronto.

Meaghan and I made a trip into town to get cups to sell yogurt at the trade fair for the Mamas this weekend and went to a supermarket (Lavena), a drugstore, an Indian supermarket and finally to U-turn, where we were successful in finding the correct size of cup. We also stopped by a few airlines to get quotes on trips to the Serengeti, Zanzibar and for faculty air flights. Meg and I stopped by the Pizzeria for a small snack of a plate of fruits and scones. We spent that time brainstorming about creating packages to send to Hotels and Restaurants to purchase the Mamas’ yogurt on a regular basis. We will include an order form, brochure about the benefits of probiotics, information about the Tukwamuane group, and a list of recipes that use yogurt as a main ingredient. We also did some last minute cramming for our Swahili test later today. We then set off to the supermarket again to pick up some groceries for our Mexican dinner tonight at Claire’s. Afterwards we went to the ‘good’ internet café near the International Language School to upload pictures and send more emails home. We had our Swahili class at 3pm until 5pm. Meg and I went with Claire to the International pool to swim a few laps before our Mexican dinner of fajitas with ground beef, vegetables, tomato paste, guacamole, and of course yogurt (to substitute for sour cream). We brought Ruben some left-overs home and finished some project work for the hotel/restaurant order forms and went to bed fairly early.

Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Meaghan and I woke up feeling very tired this morning because we were awaken by random banging noises on our roof very early this morning. We began our day with typing up the Swahili notes from yesterday’s lessons, finishing up the Mamas’ English lessons for today, and cutting up squares of tin foil to use as lids for the cups of yogurt being sold at the trade fair (Saba Saba). I cut almost 300 squares for the cups and despite the easy task it took most of the morning to do. Afterwards, Meaghan and I made another trip to the Lavena supermarket, our kitchen tends to be empty all the time and it will take a little getting used to living with an extra person who can eat a lot. Ruben made plans to go to the city market to buy some fresh produce. Meg and I treated ourselves to a lunch out at Aspen Hotel and the food took a very long time to get prepared, but it was very good. I ordered whole Tilapia with spaghetti and vegetables and it came as 2 large plates full of food for only 4000 Tsh (<$4.00). We rushed home to drop off our groceries and left over food, and headed to Mabatini for the Mama’s English lessons. We brought with us the cups and tin foil lids and did our best to go over all the necessities for the trade fair (ie. Cooler, container, transportation, banners, pricing, documentation of sold yogurt, etc.) We told the Mamas that Meg and I would take care of the banner if they supplied us with the information to be painted onto the sign.

On the way home, Meg and I picked up some fabric to give to Pendo as a gift for Ramadan. Unfortunately, Pendo has Malaria and tried to show her appreciation for the gift but was feeling very under-the-weather. Meg and I stayed in for the evening and the Bugando ‘Popcorn’ boys came by for a short visit. They like to look through my music list and pick out songs to listen to. Ruben then came home with lots of produce from the market and we made a very nice dinner of pasta with lots for vegetables in the sauce.

Thursday, September 27, 2007

I got up early this morning to start the day with a good workout before getting ready to attend an opening ceremony for a new Secondary School in Mabatini. Meg, Ruben and I were invited by the Mamas and we were there from 9:30am till 12pm. The sun was extremely strong and Meg, the Mamas and I were sitting directly in the sun. Meg was not feeling very good later that day and I think she may have got a little sun stroke. The organizers for the event invited us to sit in the VIP area, but only a few seats were under the shade. A large majority of Mabatini came to the event and I could only imagine how hot they were, pushed up against each other and in the sun as well. We were very fortunate to have the Prime Minister of Tanzania attend the event along with many other speakers. The occasion was similar to when we organized the Minister’s visit, but the entire presentation was in Swahili and a bit difficult to follow at times.

The Prime Minister's visit to the opening

of a new Secondary School in Mabatini

After the event, we went to the Kitchen to cool off with some yogurt then headed home. We had a little snack, recovered from being dehydrated all morning, and got ready for our Swahili class. Directly after class we went to Tunza for yoga on the beach and to use their paint to make the sign for the Mama’s trade fair. Drawing out the lettering took as long as it took for our dinner to come. We decided that it would be a bit difficult to actually paint at Tunza because of the wind blowing dirt and leaves onto the wet paint and also the dogs trampling over the fabric, so we decided to go home and do it indoors. Meg and I spent the night finishing the painting and left it out over night hoping that it would dry in time for the trade fair (we used oil paint).

Meaghan and I working on the Trade Fair sign

Friday, September 28, 2007

Meaghan and I were very tired this morning from our eventful previous day, but we had lots of project work to do this morning and had to be up early. We met with the Mamas to go over financial matters for the entire morning. Unfortunately there are many issues to consider and people to wait for before getting things accomplished and therefore can take a long time to complete certain tasks. Sometimes work can get very frustrating here in Mwanza because you are relying on other people to do their job first before you can complete your own.

Our water and electricity has been turning off sporadically through out the day and it was making working and eating quite difficult but at least we have a gas stove and can cook some things. We spent the afternoon finishing some financial work, writing an English test for the Mamas, writing up our Swahili lessons and journals for the day. We decided not to go to the orphanage today because of all the work we had to do, but we will go earlier next week to deliver their yogurt to them for the children.

Meg and I went to the internet café and just as websites were coming up the power went out and we had no idea for how long we would be without electricity. We came back home and started to make an early dinner and thankfully the water was back so we could boil water to wash the vegetables. We breaded some eggplant and made a tomato sauce for dinner. We went out to Tilapia for a little while to listen to some live music and relax with a few friends.

Saturday, September 29,2007

I was able to sleep in a little bit today and really needed it from the busy work week we had and the busy one we will have next week and the following one as we are preparing for the faculty from Western to come. Meaghan and I spent a lot of the morning cleaning up the kitchen and washing an huge bucket full of dishes. Tonight we are attending a ‘J’ party at the teacher’s loft near the International School in Isamilo. It is Jason’s birthday (a teacher at the International School) and all the guests are asked to be creative and dress up as anything beginning with the letter ‘J’. Meg and I went shopping in Mlango Mmoja (second hand market just across from our apartment) and found a few pieces of clothing that we could use for our costumes. Meaghan was dressing as ‘Jane of the Jungle’ and I was being the rap artist ‘Lil Jon’. Our costumes were very fun to make and we had our friends Claire and Lauren come and get ready with us as well, they were being a jellyfish and a janitor. Before going to the party we had dinner across the street at Aspen Hotel and the food took a very long time to come (1 hour) but again was very good. After dinner we finished getting our costumes ready and Claire drove to the party. We had a great time and there were some very creative costumes: Julius Caesar, Jack and Jill, Jelly beans, a Journalist, J. Lo, a Jungle (they wore huge leaves), and a bride that was jilted.

Meaghan and I dressed up for the J-party

Sunday, September 30, 2007

We woke up early this morning to meet Mama Paskwalina at the Yogurt Kitchen to walk over to the Mabatini Catholic Church for 9:30am. The service was in Swahili and so was difficult to understand, but the live music and choir were absolutely beautiful. After the service, we went with Mama Paskwalina by the daladala to the trade fair at Saba Saba (in the direction of the airport). When we got there, the mamas had set up everything from the day before and had the sign up behind them with their table with displayed yogurt, they looked very professional. Meg and I brought the brochures for the Mamas to give to potential customers that described the group, what probiotics are and why they are beneficial to a person’s health. The Mama’s table was one of the busiest with customers and Meg and I were so proud and happy that the Mamas were representing themselves so well. It was really good for the project because there were businesses from all over Tanzania and they were able to make connections and display all their hard work. Many businesses were very impressed by the yogurt with probiotics because dairy products are very scarce in Tanzania. It was a very hot day outside and that may have helped the Mamas sell the yogurt because it is so refreshing.
Meaghan and I stayed there for about 4 hours and had lunch with the Mamas and looked at all the different booths before walking to Tunza for a very short visit (30 min). We had run out of gas for the stove today and so preparing a dinner was going to be very difficult for us. Luckily, Claire offered to have us over and we eagerly accepted. Meg and I went home right after dinner and after finishing up some project work and scheduling for the upcoming weeks, we headed off to bed.