Week 18

Monday, December 3rd, 2007
Meaghan and I started our morning with our blog reports, putting together an employment contract for the new translator, and the English lessons for the day. We called the Principle of the Secondary School in Buswelu to see if the cards sent with the WHE faculty were signed by the students yet. He dropped by but said that he would put them together for next week. We photocopied the English lessons and got ready to go into town.
We had to pick up the passport photos of the Mamas for the NGO application, use the internet and go grocery shopping before the English lessons at 3pm. We were able to accomplish everything with a bit of struggle, the internet has not been great over the last little while.
We went into Mabatini and had a good English lesson. We then went straight to yoga at Tunza and everyone was really tired or sick. For dinner, we had plans to go to a friend’s place to attempt to make sushi again. This time it worked out much better because they actually had all the proper ingredients, except for the raw fish which was substituted with canned spicy salmon and tuna.

Our Mamas making yogurt in the Mabatini Kitchen.

Tuesday, December 4th, 2007
This morning was a bit slower than usual because most of our projects are waiting on others to contact us for the next stage. But we were productive in using the internet and making the English lessons for tomorrow. Meaghan and Mama Joyce typed up some meeting minutes regarding the TASAF application to build a cow banda and supply dairy cows for the Mamas.
We went into town and tried to use the ‘fast’ internet but it was down and so we headed to the Regional Commissioner’s office to meet with Mr. Ndassa about our NGO application. We brought all the necessary documents with us for the application and Mr. Ndassa will review it and hopefully send it to Dar es Salaam. He was just newly appointed to this position and so is unclear on certain steps but he is getting advice from Mr. Kiamba (the former NGO director).
After visiting the Regional Commissioner’s office we stopped by the internet café shortly before going to our Swahili lesson. Meg and I went home after our lessons and got ready to go out and treat ourselves to a dinner at Tilapia.

Wednesday, December 5th, 2007
Meaghan and I got up early this morning to attend a meeting at City Council with Mr. Luanda. He took us and Mama Elizabeth to see 4 possible plots in Nyamongoro for the Mamas to purchase. We were only interested in 2 of the 4 because they were closer to the main road. The pieces of land are quite large (over 4,000m2) but will be good for the future if the project needs to expand or rent out shops for extra profit.
We dropped by Mr. Ngowi’s office to hand in some TASAF meeting minutes and to inform him about the new WHE intern, Stephanie Irvine, who will be taking over the Tuwamuane project in January.
We stopped by the internet café and then came home to rest a little before going to Mabatini for the Mama’s English lessons. Most of the Mamas are getting much better with their English (some still struggle with basics because they do not have much schooling, even in Swahili) but I think they could use more oral lessons. It is difficult to implement this because only a few Mamas are at the Kitchen when we are there and so handout sheets of homework are more practical.
In the evening, Meaghan and I were invited to a family gathering of the bride and groom’s relatives. The wedding is on Sunday and most of the relatives have arrived from the UK, Kenya and India. It was amazing to see all the traditional Indian attire with all the vibrant colors. Everyone was singing and dancing, it was such an amazing atmosphere.

Left to right: Jodi, Anya, me, and 'Uncle'.

Thursday, December 6th, 2007
Happy Sinter Klaas!
Both Ruben and Meaghan celebrate the Dutch Christmas and so I was lucky enough to get my shoe filled with goodies this morning.
We started the morning with project work at home and using the ‘slow’ internet downstairs. We made the English test for tomorrow and followed up with meetings scheduled for next week.
We went into town and ran a few errands before going to our second last Swahili lesson. We had a very good lesson and then made our way to Tunza for yoga lessons. Today’s class went much better than on Monday and I felt much more energetic. I made a quick visit to a local tailor nearby to check up on some items and then came back to Tunza for dinner with a group of friends.

Friday, December 7th, 2007
One week until my mother comes to visit!
The electricity was out for most of the morning which made project work at home a bit difficult. We were not able to print or photocopy the English lessons and my computer’s battery life is really bad. I did manage to do some work on my internship and orphanage report.
We were able to print the English test but were unsuccessful in getting them copied so we just went to Mabatini and gave the Mamas some Shillings to print it themselves. When we got to the Kitchen we saw Mr. Ndassa there making corrections onto the Tukwamuane Women’s constitution. I was a bit frustrated but also grateful that he had some insight to writing the constitution better. I was frustrated because we had gone to his office 2 times with the constitution and he said it was fine, so we made 5 copies of the 34 pages and had it bound (costing ~20,000 Tsh) and now there were errors in all the copies. However, it is better to have it done the correct way than to have it sent back from Dar and having to re-due it afterwards.
We then picked up yogurt for the Forever Angels orphanage and spent some time with the toddlers. They were a bit grumpy today because they had their naps much earlier than usual and were getting very tired by the time Meg and I came by, but they were still so cute.
We came home and rested a bit before getting ready to go to the henna party. Many of the guests to the wedding are invited to get henna done. It was a great experience and I was really impressed by how quickly and beautifully the ladies apply the henna. The evening included an amazing buffet and dancing for the evening.

The henna party at Tilapia.

Getting my henna done.

Kiran's intricate henna on her arms and legs.

Saturday, December 8th, 2007
Meaghan and I were able to sleep in today but we felt very badly for Ruben because his flight was delayed. I woke up and wrote in my journal and had breakfast before going to the internet café. We then headed into town to pick up some souvenirs for when we go home to Toronto.
We then came back to the apartment and watched a very festive movie, ‘Elf’, before getting ready to go to our friend Riian’s birthday party. Ruben arrived just before we left and had bad news that his luggage was left behind in Dar. Despite his unfortunate situation and being extremely tired from his travel delays, he decided to join us at the birthday party. We didn’t stay out late because we knew tomorrow would be a very busy and full day of weddings.

Sunday, December 9th, 2007
We got up early to get dressed for the wedding ceremony. We were lucky enough to borrow some Indian clothing to not stand out too much. The temple was beautiful and the gowns were even better. The bright colors are amazing to see all together and are tailored with so many beads and sequins. The bride, Kiran, had an amazing skirt and top on with colorful beading everywhere. The ceremony was different than anything I’ve experienced before and it was lovely. We had a quick lunch reception and went home to rest before the dinner reception in the evening.

Showing off my henna.

The wedding dress.

In the temple.

The bride walking into the temple.

The after-wedding gifts.

Meg, Claire and I got our hair curled at the saloon below the apartment and it turned out very well. Meaghan, Claire and I all wore dressed made by local tailors and they turned out very well. The evening was very nice but a lot of the relatives were completely exhausted from all the partying in the previous week leading up to the wedding, including the bride and groom.

Week 17

Monday, November 26th, 2007
Meaghan and I spent the morning working on our blog, writing up the English lessons for the afternoon and finishing Stephanie’s VISA letter. Stephanie is the next WHE intern that will be coming in January, 2008. I was still not feeling very well and so I went into town to go to a small clinic and get checked for Malaria. Thankfully I do not have Malaria again and am wondering if I had it the first 2 times because I had very similar symptoms as the last times.
I met up with Meg at the Pizzeria and had a quick snack before going to NIMR for our meeting with Mr. Temu and his staff. Mr. Temu is the director of the microbiology lab and is in charge of preparing the probiotics to go into our milk. We had a very productive meeting sorting out the days of the week that all the deliveries, culturing and pick-ups will happen. Unfortunately, one of our mamas was late coming to the meeting but she came in time to speak with Mr. Temu to clarify what day and at what time she is supposed to come to pick up the milk at NIMR.
We then went to Mabatini to give the Mamas their English lesson, to get the Tukwamuane Mama’s constitution and to get Mama Paskwalina to sign Steph’s VISA letter. At the Kitchen, the Mamas invited us to eat ugali with dagaa (small dried fish). It was very good but very filling too. We decided not to go to yoga today and stayed in with a movie.

Tuesday, November 27th, 2007
Meg and I started our morning getting our meetings for the day in order. We then headed into town to use the internet before our meetings. I was able to post my blog and pictures and read my very full inbox before going to our meeting with the Vice President of the Tanzanian Chamber of Commerce, Mr. Batenga (former Chairman). We had a few questions about distribution of yogurt products in Mwanza to send to Ivan LeMintier from Danone.
We stopped by World Link to inquire about flights for Stephanie afterwards, then headed to City Counsel to meet with Mr. Luanda. Mr. Luanda is the replacement for Mr. Tukay while he is away on business trips. We were informed that the new piece of land in Nyamongoro is allowed to have 4-5 non-grazing cows on site. This was very good news to hear because we will be able to build the cow banda that TASAF will support on our new plot of land. Mr. Luanda told us he would have quotes, sizes and location of the new plots ready for next week and that we would complete the purchase of it within one month. We left his office and went straight to see Mr. Ngowi (TASAF coordinator) to give him the good news. We found out that our TASAF application would have to be pushed back until January because it requires us to own the plot of land first before getting our application approved. This will mean that if it is accepted construction will begin in early March.
We then went to our Swahili class for 2 hours. The evening was spent at our friend’s house, Tini, because it was her birthday. We brought some Champaign and flower for her. She cooked an amazing dinner of pea soup, tomato pasta, zucchini pasta, risotto, and ice cream with a mango puree.

Tini's birthday dinner.

Wednesday, November 28th, 2007
I am very excited because my mother is leaving to come visit Africa in 2 weeks today. The morning was spent organizing our expenses and making the English lesson for the day. We made plans to meet with Mr. Kiamba (director for NGO application) for the afternoon.
We went into town and booked Steph’s flight from Dar to Mwanza for January 4th, 2007, which means that I will have about a day to show Steph around Mwanza before I leave to start my journey home. We went to the internet café for a little while to send out update reports home. We had a quick bite to eat then headed to the Regional Commissioner’s office to meet with Mr. Kiamba. We were informed that he no longer was in charge of that department and so we were brought to Mr. Ndassa. He went through our Constitution and it seemed in order and we only had a few things to complete before we could apply for the Tukwamuane Women to become an NGO.
We then went to Mabatini for the English lessons and to pick up yogurt for our friends and us. We then went to Isamilo for a swim because we had missed our normal swim yesterday. We made a very good noodle stir fry at Claire’s before going home.

Half an hour of heavy rain.

Thursday, November 29th, 2007
This morning we made the English test for tomorrow and set up a meeting with a potential translator this morning, Gracie. I spent a while photocopying and binding the Mama’s Constitution for their NGO application and required 5 copies of a 34 page booklet. Meaghan sent some email home at the internet café near our apartment. Gracie came over just as Meg and I were both finishing up and we had an interview with her. She is a very qualified individual and speaks English very well. She has just recently moved to Mwanza because her husband got a job here, actually working with a close friend of ours in the agricultural department, and is currently unemployed. Meg and I will draft a contract up for her and hopefully she will be able to help Stephanie out with translations with the Mamas especially because she is coming by herself.
We had to also refill our gas tank this morning which turned out to be more difficult than we expected because all the stores have now changed the canisters for the gas and our current one is too old. So Meg and I had to run around town trying to find the best price and also having to take out money to pay 110,000 Tsh (~$100) for a new tank and gas. We were finally successful and came home with our new tank. We had lunch at home before heading back to World Link, to pay for Steph’s flight, and for our Swahili Lessons. We went to Tunza afterwards for our Yoga class and stayed for dinner.

Friday, November 30th, 2007
I cannot believe that it is already the end of November and our time in Mwanza is closely coming to an end. I am sad to be leaving but feel proud that Meg and I have put in progress so many big steps to start expanding the Mama’s project.
We made plans for Mama Elizabeth, Paskwalina and Joyce to meet at our apartment for 9:30am this morning, but as usual they were a bit late. We had plans to walk through town and distribute yogurt order packages at various restaurants and hotels, get their photos taken for the NGO application and look for various fridges to purchase for the Kitchen because they are running out of space to hold the yogurt. We accomplished it all before the afternoon and went with the Mamas to the Kitchen in Mabatini afterwards. We picked up 6L of yogurt to bring to the Forever Angels Orphanage. We spent a few hours volunteering at the orphanage and then had to come home to cook a huge dinner for Pendo, her mother and her 8 children. It turned out that she had 11 children come (not all hers) and they had a great time with the coloring books that Meaghan had brought with her from Canada. Meaghan, Pendo and I made cooking bananas in a tomato sauce, rice, and fish. It was a great meal and a great way to thank Pendo for all her hard work and for inviting us to her mother’s place for dinner last month. We were very tired after they all left and stayed in for the night.

Meaghan cutting cooking bananas.

The children having a great time with the coloring books.

Our delicious dinner.

Group 'timer' photo, which I clearly missed.

Saturday, December 1st, 2007
Today is ‘World’s Aids Day’ and our Mamas are joining with Kivulini at the CCM Kyrumba Stadium to sell yogurt and celebrate the festivities there. We will join them later in the day.
We started our morning supporting our friend Jenny for a soccer tournament that she organized for students at various schools. There were 6 teams in total, 4 boys and 2 girls. The spectator stands were full and everyone was having a great time watching and dancing to the music being played.
We had a quick lunch and then headed to the Stadium to visit our Mamas. Unfortunately by the time we got there they were just packing up but it was still great to see all the HIV testing stands and live performances. Meg and I then took a dala-dala to Tunza to relax a bit on the beach. We went to Yun Long Restaurant for dinner and then stayed in to watch a movie.

Jenny and her girls soccer team.

World Aids Day.

Sunday, December 2nd, 2007
We woke up early again today to go to church in Mabatini with Mama Paskwalina. The church is always very crowded but it is a very lovely service. We went home after dropping by the Kitchen and having chai with the Mamas and packed our things to go to Tunza for the day.
I went for a run at Tunza and then got to work painting the entrance wall for the bulletin board. Meaghan helped paint but it was difficult because they had just put in some plants in front of the wall and we were trampling around them to paint. It turned out very well and we had a nice afternoon there. We decided to go home for dinner and a movie so we would have an early night before our week began. Ruben left this evening to go to Dar to get his residence permit and will be gone until Friday if all goes well.