Week 7

Monday, September 17th, 2007
Meaghan and I began our morning with some project work at home despite the beautiful weather outside. We then stopped by the bank to withdrawal some Shillings, to the market to pick up a few fresh vegetables, and then to the internet café to upload my blog and send out some emails. On the way to the internet café we dropped off some pictures to be developed off our USB key and picked them up on our way home. We got home and made a quick lunch before heading out to Mabutini to teach the Mamas their English lesson. The streets were more empty than usual and we suspected because many Muslims celebrate Ramadan and stay home during certain hours to pray. In the evening, we went to Tunza for yoga on the beach and then went home right after to make dinner. I had brought with me some seaweed and with all the fresh produce that we bought earlier in the day Meaghan, Claire and I experimented with sushi! We put cucumber, avocado, hot dogs, tuna, and a spicy sauce into the roll and it was surprisingly good. We stayed in for the night and watched Ratatouille and went to bed.

Our sushi dinner at home

Tuesday, September 18th, 2007
Meaghan and I have begun preparing for the WHE faculty, coming to Mwanza in mid October, but their main objective is to begin a similar yogurt project in Kenya. They will be sending a few of the Mamas to Kenya to teach the women there how to make probiotic yogurt properly. We were able to get to the internet café again today to finish up our emails and to upload a few more pictures onto our blogs. We then headed to our Swahili class to write our test and have a 2 hour lesson. Right after class Meaghan and I rushed off to catch the daladala to the airport to pick-up our new roommate, Ruben. When we got there Ruben had just arrived and we brought him to his new home so he could settle in and have a shower before we took him out to dinner. Ruben has been to Mwanza for a month a couple years ago and stayed with former interns (Jamie and Ellena), and so many of the locals within Mlango Mmoja recognized him and greeted him warmly. Meaghan and I took Ruben to Tilapia for dinner (the place where we went on our first night here) and we had a great time getting to know each other. We had all met briefly before coming to Mwanza at Meg’s and my commencement ceremony at Western Ontario.

Wednesday, September 19th, 2007
I woke up early today and had a great workout on the roof. The weather has been looking much better than last week’s rain. Meg and I let Ruben sleep in as much as possible, although his time change is only 2 hours from the Netherlands where as Canada is a 7 hour difference and a much longer flight. We began the day with project work at home and then took Ruben to the city to pick up a few supplies for his clinical trial work. He was fairly familiar with the area because he has been here before, but it was still good for us to help him get a few things done a bit more efficiently. We came home after picking up a few groceries and I made fried rice for lunch. Beatrice joined us for lunch and then was kind enough to accompany Meg and me to the Yogurt Kitchen to speak to the Mamas about pricing, deposits for containers, and the application for TASAF. We had generated a few possibilities for price changes and left it up to the Mamas to decide which one would be plausible for the local communities to afford while still making some profit. The Mamas were also interested in starting a deposit charge for people who do not supply their own container to carry the yogurt in. They are finding that many people take them and do not return them and the containers are becoming scarce. The TASAF project is a program, that if accepted, would allow all the HIV/AIDS patients in Mabutini to receive the probiotic yogurt for free and the expenses to pay for these individuals would be covered by the project for 1 year. There are many steps before our application can be approved and informing the street leader to gather and have at least 70% of the community giving support to these HIV/AIDS patients to receive the yogurt is only one of the steps.
We came home after a long meeting in Mabutini (without even giving them their English lessons) and had a short rest before we went with Jody (a Canadian Kivulini employee) to climb to Bugando and visit some of the boys that are supported by Kivulini. Meg and I refer to them as the ‘popcorn boys’ because we thought that they were in charge of the popcorn stand across from our apartment, but we were told that they had a popcorn stand but the police stopped them from selling because of their location. The boys were street teens but have raised money to put each other and other street children through school and their English is very good. Bugando is at the top of the hill just across the main road from our apartment and it is a beautiful view. The boys walked Meg and I home and we stayed in for the rest of the night.

Some of the 'Popcorn Boys' at their homes in Bugando

Thursday, September 20th, 2007
Meaghan and I woke up a bit tired from the long day we had yesterday but began project work right away. We had a meeting at the City Council building set up by Mr. Mlinzi (Mayor’s assistant) with a lady in charge of SACCOs and with the man who video taped the Minister’s visit. We spent a while waiting around and trying to find the right people to visit with, but when we actually met up with them the meetings were very brief and we did not get much information in the end. SACCOs is a program designed to help organizations set up loans with a bank to be distributed and paid back with interest within the group. The Yogurt Mamas already have an account where they do this, but it isn’t recognized and it would probably be beneficial to be part of SACCOs in the future if the group wanted to take out really big loans for project expansion and growth. Currently, the Mama’s group is not big enough (~10 Mamas) to be a part of SACCOs (20 member minimum).
Ruben has been busy meeting up with his supervisors at the Sekou Toure’s Hospital, but we managed to bump into him on our way to the internet café, which was not working at the time. So we decided to grab a bite to eat at a small restaurant before heading to our Swahili lesson. After our lesson, Ruben met up with us again to go to yoga at Tunza and he actually participated in the class and liked it. We stayed for a little while and introduced Ruben to most of the Tunza crowd.

Friday, September 21st, 2007
We headed off early in the day to Mabutini to teach the Mamas their English lesson from Wednesday and to hand out their tests for the week. We picked up 6L of yogurt for the orphanage and another 2L for us. Meaghan and I took turns carrying the bucket on our heads and we were making quite a scene walking down the main street.

Carrying the 6L bucket of yogurt the traditional way

with Mama Elizabeth helping me out.

Claire met us at home and we all set off for the Forever Angel’s orphanage. Ruben’s stomach was not feeling well so he decided to stay home and maybe go to the market later in the day. We spent a good portion of the afternoon at the orphanage with the children and it was a really hot day. When we got home I had a quick snack and then took a walk into the market by myself. I had a bit of an eventful trip because the market was closing just as I got in and the gates were being closed to stop people from getting in and allow the store keepers to put away their produce. I had a bit of trouble getting out, but managed to use the little Swahili I know to escape the market. On my way home, the daladala station was empty because they were on strike and there were pick-up trucks taking passengers home. Ruben and Pendo were making us a very nice dinner of cooked bananas in a tomato sauce with rice, I was very impressed. After dinner, we sat down and played a Dutch card game that Ruben brought for us called Koe Handel (Cow Trade). It was very fun and I was too tired to do anything else but watch a movie, and even then I fell asleep.

Saturday, September 22nd, 2007
Meaghan and I have been trying to plan a day to sit in the sun and do nothing, but the weather had not been agreeing with us, but today was the day! We spent the morning walking through the market and buying some fabric to make clothing and bags from. We then had a quick lunch and headed off to Tunza for a day at the beach. I was a very enjoyable day and in the afternoon we had a barbeque with chicken, vegetable kebabs, roast beef, coleslaw, fruit salad, and a chocolate cake. We made a bonfire, roasted marshmallows and lay at the beach all night. We had decided to sleepover on the beach by the fire and it was actually a very good sleep despite the early rising of the sun.

Sunday, September 23rd, 2007
Jan (the owner of Tunza) put us to work early in the morning and our task was to design a pattern to paint on the entrance booth into Tunza. He had a few ideas of what he wanted and I improvised with the colors that he wanted to include. One coat of paint took all morning, but we stopped for breakfast and lunch.

Painting Tunza's entrance wall

During the painting, there was a huge funnel cloud over Lake Victoria coming inland, but thankfully it died off before reaching any land. I have never seen a funnel so defined, close, or big in my life, it was amazing.

The funnel cloud at Tunza Lodge.

After lunch we took a short hike over large rocks to a peninsula on Lake Victoria, and it was a great view. We were planning on going out in the boat and possibly doing some wake boarding, but the water was too choppy so we enjoyed the beach instead. Meg and I came home for dinner and made chipati with a tomato sauce and vegetables and had a very early night’s rest.

Week 6

Monday, September 10, 2007
I woke up this morning feeling very tired and slow. I tried to get a workout in, but was sweating so much without doing very much. I got ready for the day and started with some project work before heading into town to run errands. On the way, we passed a couple of Muzungus (white people) who looked lost. We stopped to help them and found out that they were from Spain and were trying to find the city market. So Meaghan and I took them there and they were very grateful. After our errands, we came home for a quick rest before going to Mabutini to teach the Mamas their English lessons. (During that time we got some light bulbs and we now have light in one of the bathrooms and in the pantry. We are still working on the other bathroom and the kitchen because the sockets are broken. Very exciting.) We stayed there for quite a long time and by the time we got home we were both very tired and decided to make a nice pasta dish and watch a movie at home, The Constant Gardener.

The Yogurt Mamas doing their homework

Tuesday, September 11, 2007
I was feeling a little bit better this morning after having a good night’s rest. We had a full day of project work around the city and spent most of it walking. By the time we came home we had just enough time to grab some dinner ingredients, bathing suits, and Swahili books. We went to our Swahili lessons and then for a quick swim at the International School’s pool and then to Claire’s place to make dinner. Some very exciting news that we heard was that Matt Damon and Ben Affleck were visiting Mwanza for the next 2 days and were actually staying at the Tilapia Hotel. We were very tempted to go there to see if they were having dinner at Tilapia, but decided not to be celebrity stalkers. After getting home that night and changing into our pj’s, Meg and I got a text message saying that Ben was going to Tunza and that we had a ride there if we wanted. So seeing how this was now our second chance to meet a celebrity, we jumped on it and got dressed quickly. At Tunza, we kept our distance from Ben because he had tons of people going up to him and harassing him. I was again feeling very tired, but at the end of the night Ben and I were standing next to each other and he turned to me and introduced himself. That was pretty cool, but I didn’t have the guts to ask him for a picture. I was exhausted when I got home, but happy to have gone out to see my first real celebrity in person.

Wednesday, September 12, 2007
I was not feeling well when I woke up this morning. It felt like the beginning of a cold, which I get at every season change. Throughout the day I felt worse and worse so while running our errands in the city I stopped by the Nyakahoja Clinic to get checked out. I had Malaria (2 rings) which explained my tiredness over the last few days, and also a sinus infection. I’m not really sure if I actually had a sinus infection though because the doctor only felt my glands and looked at my tonsils saying, ‘they’re a little pink’. So I took the Malaria and anti-inflammatory medication by stayed away from the other ones prescribed. The interns here before us warned us of misdiagnoses just to sell more drugs and make a profit from patients.
Some of the errands that we had to do included getting signatures from Kivulini, Tukwamuane, and a doctor from Sekou Toure Hospital for a grant proposal to expand the yogurt project to Mahina. When I got home from the clinic, I had a quick turn-a-round to head to Mabutini to teach our English lesson. I wasn’t feeling too bad, just tired with a sore throat. When we got home we stayed in for the night and watched a movie with our dinner and headed to bed nice and early.

Mamas making buns to sell with the yogurt

Thursday, September 13, 2007
I had a slow start this morning, feeling a little bit worse and the rainy weather outside didn’t help. We spent the morning trying to fax the signed letters for the proposal but the numbers we not working and we ended up scanning the files and emailing them, which actually was a lot cheaper than faxing (up to 3000 Tsh a sheet, ~$3/sheet). Meaghan was also not feeling that great because her throat was randomly tightening up, making hard for her to breathe and eat. So I forced her to go to see a doctor and he gave her some anti-inflammatory pills which seemed to help. While Meg was seeing the doctor I had gone to a new internet café to scan and email the letters home. The internet was the best I’ve seen so far and the place was empty. It was great and even though a bit far from our apartment, it is close to a grocery store and our Swahili class, we will definitely be going there again. After getting the letters sent home, Meg and I went home to grab a quick snack before our Swahili lessons. We learnt all about verbs in the present tense. After our lessons, we went to Tunza for our yoga lesson on the beach and some archery lessons with some of the Massai. I brought Janine and Jan (manager and owner of Tunza) some yogurt to sample, and they really liked it and want to begin serving it to their customers for breakfast.

Friday, September 14, 2007
There was a huge thunderstorm last night and the rain was teaming down on the roof above us. I have never heard rain coming down so heavily for the entire night. It was a relaxing sound, but also made it difficult to sleep because it was so loud. This morning the repair man came with Pendo (our housekeeper) to change the light sockets and bulbs in the kitchen and bathroom. Afterwards, we headed to Mabutini to drop off the Mamas English tests (we are planning on doing lessons on Mondays and Wednesdays and having a review test for the Friday). We also had to pick up 5L of yogurt for the children at Forever Angels. The container was quite heavy and Meaghan and I took turns carrying it, but for my turn I carried it on my head like a true Tanzanian. We had lunch at home and then set off to the orphanage for the afternoon. We spent the evening on the roof of Claire’s place with a bunch of her CRS co-workers watching ‘Derailed’ on a projection screen. It was a very enjoyable evening.

Saturday, September 15, 2007
Today started off very slow, but I was feeling much better. I made a big breakfast of crepes for Meg and I and procrastinated having a cold shower. We finally got out to the supermarket to restock our very bare shelves. We were waiting to hear about our potential camping trip for one night. We finally got the call and Claire, Meg, and I met up at Tunza to go camping with Major and Jan. There were supposed to be a bunch more coming that evening, but they all decided not to come. We camped in Igombe at a historic site on Lake Victoria, only 45 min. out of town. We bought some fire wood, set up our tents, made a stew, and cooked some tilapia fish. The night was a bit wet and cold, but inside my sleeping bag I was nice and toasty.

Getting some fire wood from a local resident

By the fire while camping in Igombe

Sunday, September 16, 2007
We woke up to another rainy morning and decided to sleep in for a while and have instant noodles for breakfast. We took a while to pack up and clean everything before heading back to Tunza. Once there, we gave the new-born pups their first bath and it got us very wet as well. They are so adorable and have grown so much in one month. Jan was nice enough to offer us a hot shower in one of his resort rooms, my first hot shower!! It was amazing. We stayed there for a little bit and grabbed a quick snack and hot tea before heading home to experiment with a home-made apple crumble that turned out to be pretty good. Meg and I were both very tired from the camping trip and so we went to bed early to rest up for another busy week ahead of us. Ruben (a Danish medical student) will be coming to stay with us on Tuesday until we leave in December.

Giving the pups their first bath

Week 5

Week 5

Monday, September 3rd, 2007
Meaghan and I began the morning with a very intensive meeting in Mabutini with the Yogurt Mamas. We brought with us our dear friend Beatrice to help translate the meeting. We spoke mainly about the Mamas views of the Minister’s visit and preparations for more promotional events to bring acknowledgement to the project. The Mamas are going to be participating in a trade fair to promote the Fiti Yogurt along with the brochures (that we put together) to explain the benefits of probiotic yogurt. After the meeting, we went with some of the Mamas to the bank to take out funds to pay for their bills, including gas, electricity, milk, transportation, and coal. After the bank Meg and I went home to type up the minutes for the meeting and finish up project work. We also made a very nice zucchini stir fry and we are very proud of our creative/experimental cooking. Later that evening we headed over to Tunza for traditional South African beer bread and hot pot all made at the beach with a coal stove. The Masai were practicing shooting their bow and arrows and allowed me to try once, which landed just at the base of the target!

Beautiful sunset in Kijereshi

Tuesday, September 4th, 2007
Meg and I didn’t get much sleep last night because of the very loud rainstorm and random noises coming from our neighborhood. Many of the local residents have told us that the rainy season starts in November so I am hoping that all the rain we’ve been having over the last few days is not indicating an early rain season. We started the day off with project work at home and then went to the internet café to send emails home. The internet was especially slow today and Meg and I barely got anything done. After our lunch of couscous and a cucumber salad, we went to our Swahili lesson near Isamilo. We had a very exhaustive class because we are just getting started with sentence structure and grammar. The Swahili language consists of six noun classes that have different prefixes for the singular and plural forms of the nouns: ki-vi, m-mi, ji-ma, m-wa, n, and u class. The noun prefixes also correspond with the adjectives that they are being described by, very tricky at first but I’m sure they will start getting easier with practice. After our lesson we came home to meet with Joseph Mlinzi (Assistant to the Mayor) about the Minister’s visit. While waiting for Mr. Mlinzi to arrive, we had a student drop by, Mercy (Melissa and Jackie had given her funds to send her to school). Mercy is 14 years old and goes to school near our home, she lives with her aunt because both her parents passed away because of AIDS. She had not eaten in three days because her aunt accused her of stealing and was punishing her. Mercy denied the accusations and was feeling very hungry so we gave her some food to eat and take home with her. It is difficult to imagine going without food and not having any money to buy any, but it is a reality for so many children here in Africa. Many are without parents, a home, or food and are reluctant to enter into the accessible shelters or get a job because begging brings in more money.

Claire, Meg and I

Wednesday, September 5th, 2007
The morning started off rainy, once again, and so Meg and I began our day with project work at home. We had protocols to retype, files to prepare for the Mamas and also their English lessons in the afternoon. There is a computer printer and photocopier conveniently located below our apartment, and we have become very friendly with them as we are regular customers. Once the rain appeared to have stopped, Meg and I set off for town to buy a thorough English-Swahili dictionary and send off some mail at the post office. We were a bit mistaken about the rain, because we ended up getting very wet by the time we had reached the post office. We then walked to Mabutini to give the Yogurt Mamas their English lesson, which took about 45 minutes to get there and was a great chance to see the Southern part of the city. After the lesson, we picked up some yogurt to give to ‘Forever Angels’ orphanage as a taste-test to see if the toddlers enjoyed it as a snack to incorporate it into their diets. Many children in Mwanza lack the proper dairy consumption, and with the added probiotics will hopefully help the children battle certain diseases that attack the body’s immune system.
Walking around all afternoon made Meg and I very tired and we decided to stay in for the evening and get an early night’s sleep.

Thursday, September 6th, 2007
Meghan and I set off to the Forever Angel’s orphanage this morning and played with the toddlers and babies till their nap time at 11am. I was able to drop off the yogurt for the kids and will hear back shortly to see if they liked it. All the children are amazing and have a great appetite, so I have high hopes that they will like the yogurt as well. The orphanage has a wonderful collection of clothes and costumes and today many of the children had fancy dresses on (even the boys). After the kids were put to bed, Meg and I set of back home by walking 30 minutes to the main street to catch the daladala.

Mwita dressed up as Snow White at the Forever Angel's orphanage

At home, Meg and I made great sandwiches with salami, avocado, sun dried tomatoes, mayonnaise and a garlic chutney sauce. After lunch we went to drop off beakers at NIMR and then to our Swahili class for more grammar lessons. There are usually 4 students in our class; Claire (England), Christian (Germany) and Meg and myself. We have become very good friends, especially with Claire because she is the same age as Meg and myself. We, along with Claire, have made a habit of going to yoga at Tunza after our Swahili lessons on Thursday and it is a great way to meditate after a long day of work.
Today is also Meaghan and my one month anniversary from the day we left Canada to come here to Mwanza!

Friday, September 7th, 2007
Meg and I were abruptly awaken this morning to Mama Joyce banging on our window and yelling ‘Maggie’ (Meaghan). We got up and let her in and all she wanted was our phone numbers, which we gave to her several times before. We got ready for the day and prepared some notes for our meetings at the City Council this morning. Mr. Mlinzi had set up several meetings with representatives for TASAF and SACCOs today to get a bit of information about the programs and to see if the Tukwamuane women could be possible candidates. We also met with Mama Joyce again to give her the admission fee for her to take part in a SIDO training session about proper preservation for yogurt. It is a 3 day course and she will come back and teach the other Mamas about preservation. For lunch, Meg and I treated ourselves to lunch at the Pizzeria and then went home to get our things together for a nice swim at the international pool with our friend Claire and made a very good pasta dish and garlic bread at her place for dinner.

Saturday, September 8th, 2007
The weekend started with our 3rd attempt at making chipati. The first time we used maize flour, which is really to make ugali. The second time we used wheat flour and it made a very nice crepe but no chipati. Then, the other day we were shopping in Lavena and found Chipati flour (what a concept). And it was a success. I got a recipe from a chef at Tunza and it worked out great. Meaghan, Claire and I spent all day making chipatis to share with our friends at Tunza, along with a guacamole dip. In the afternoon we finished cooking and headed to Tunza for a nice boat ride out to the Tilapia Hotel. We all wanted to try wake boarding in the waters and I had never done it before. In the bay, however there have been several sightings of crocodiles that have eaten humans, so I was not eager to learn in that part of the water, maybe another place and time. That night we watched ‘the Phantom of the Opera’ and I was singing all the songs all night long.

Sunday, September 9th, 2007
Today we made a trip out to Kijereshi again (near the Serengeti). We made a few stops along the way at Speke’s Hotel, the Stop-Over, and at a small community outside of Kijereshi that Meaghan and I named ‘Mishkaki corner’ (Mishkaki is a meat skewer that is grilled and tastes amazing). Along the way we got a flat tire and this was my first time changing a flat. We took another game drive later in the day and because of all the rain earlier in the week, the land looked very different and greener than the first time we went. Unfortunately we did not see many large animals, but the scenery was still very nice.

The flat tire we got on our way to Kijereshi

Week 4

Monday, August 27th, 2007
Today has been one of the most hectic days so far in the project, trying to get prepared for the Minister’s visit tomorrow. Many of the events that we thought were taken care of turned out to be only plans and all of the booking had to be done today. We began our day at Kivulini for a meeting with several of the employees in charge of the events for the Minister. We planned out a schedule of events and wrote all the guests that would be attending. Kivulini had assumed that WHE would be paying for all the costs, but because of the nature of this project our budget was very tight and so they were kind enough to pitch in some funds to make this event the best possible given the limited circumstances.
We had to plan for tents, chairs, and the transportation to Mabutini, where the Yogurt Kitchen is located. We had booked two entertainment groups, but ended up only able to afford one. There had to be enough food and drinks to feed 100 people (including all guests) but under such a tight budget could only afford for 35 people, so we had to be very careful in deciding who was to join the meal at Kivulini Kitchen (KK). Meg and I organized getting the food and drinks for a reasonable price and also the transportation to KK. We were able to borrow the PA system from Kivulini, which saved us a good portion of funds.
To make things a bit tougher, that morning Kim and Missy weren’t feeling very good and Kim went to the clinic to find out that she has Malaria and an amoeba. However, she was able to meet with us at 1pm at City Hall to discuss the itinerary of the day, including the order of speakers and the afternoon events.
Meaghan and I were busy the entire afternoon running around town taking out money, ordering the food, ordering the drinks, contacting the entertainment group, printing up a pamphlet for the probiotic yogurt, finding the PA system, finding a video tape to record the events of the day, getting gasoline for the transport vehicles, finalizing the itinerary and emailing it to respective guests, and contacting the NGO’s that will be organizing the afternoon events. All in all, today was extremely busy and we hoped that all our efforts would result in a great visit from the Minister.

Tuesday, August 28th, 2007
Today began very early (6:30am) to prepare for another very long and busy day. We began at Mabutini to decorate the Yogurt Kitchen and set up the tents and chairs at the local school yard. The Mamas were very cute putting up balloons and kangas around the room, and they also all wore their matching WHE t-shirts and kangas. The dancers were getting into their costumes and setting up the PA system while many of the school children and local community were enjoying the many visitors.

Local school children in Mabutini

At around 9:30am, the Minister arrived and the Mamas and interns greeted her at the door of the Yogurt Kitchen with a very energetic cheer and a ‘vigele vigele’ noise (high pitched cry while wiggling your tongue back and forth) which I eagerly joined in with. The Minister proceeded into the Kitchen, signed the guestbook, and had a taste of the yogurt that the Mamas made. There was a brief discussion about the project and our goals for future expansion and stabilization tactics. We then headed off to the school yard where the tents, chairs, and entertainment were set up. The entertainment consisted of singers and dancers that were keeping the guests and spectators amused. There were speeches prepared by Joseph Mlizi, Kimberley, Mama Joyce, Mama Paskqwalina, the Mayor, and the Minister herself. There were intermittent singers and dancers to keep the festivities exciting, and at one point the Mamas, interns, and the Minister got up and began dancing in the middle of the crowd, it was very fun.
After the ceremony, the Minister, interns and Kivulini staff headed to Kivulini to visit the stationary store, legal office, and main office for a quick visit while the food was being prepared. There were approximately 35 guests for the lunch/ meeting at KK and Missy and I doubled as servers as well as guest to help get the lunch out quickly. Most of the meeting was completed in Swahili, but Meaghan did her best to keep good notes and obtain contacts to get the missing information. The Minister was very pleased by the proposal letter that Meaghan had prepared the night before and she seemed very excited to help expand our project. The lunch consisted of 16 fried chicken, 35 fried bananas, and potatoes, delicious. The afternoon was organized by the Kivulini staff to have the Minister visit TAHEA and MWDA organizations. Therefore, our part of the day ended up being extremely successful and all our hard work had paid off.
As if Meaghan and my day wasn’t tiring enough, we hurried off to our Swahili lesson at 3pm, having a test as well as a 2 hour class. We learnt about giving directions to certain buildings (and we have actually used it quite a lot while in taxis). We walked home and only had enough energy to prepare a pasta dinner before going straight to bed.

Meeting with the Minister at the Mabutini Kitchen

Wednesday, August 29th, 2007
We had a bit of a late start this morning after the last few long, tiring days and the rainy weather did not help encourage us either. Missy, Meg and I went to the Yogurt Kitchen for Missy to say goodbye (she leaves on Friday morning) and then to meet up with a friend at Bismarc Rock for lunch at Yun Long Chinese restaurant. Directly after lunch we made a trip to the Forever Angels orphanage and spent a few hours with the infants and toddlers. We went home still exhausted from a busy few days and had a nice quiet dinner together before going to Tunza to say goodbye to Kim. She has her flight to Dar early the next morning. We made an instant chocolate cake at home and brought it to Tunza, it was really good.

Thursday, August 30th, 2007
Kim left early this morning and Missy is to leave us tomorrow morning. Meaghan and I wanted to get a few last things done that required Missy’s help, but for the most part we wanted her to enjoy her last day in Mwanza. We started off at the clinic to get Missy’s results for a last check-up and for her to pick up Malaria medication in case she gets sick during her long trip home. It is more difficult and expensive to get anti-malaria drugs in Canada because it isn’t very common, so it has been recommended that visitors pick up medication before leaving the country to go back home. We then took a nice walk through the main city to pick up some souvenirs and a power converter from European outlets to American ones. We also picked up some fresh vegetables and fruits at the city market to make guacamole for lunch. It was delicious and I am very proud of us for being adventurous and creative with the fresh produce.
Meaghan and I went to our Swahili class while Missy decided to climb a tall hill just behind Mabutini. The climb was a great way for her to reflect on her trip without many distractions. She then met up with Meg and I at the International School, after our class, with a few other friends that we have made to go to Tunza for yoga on the beach and a celebratory night for Missy.

Friday, August 31st, 2007
We sent Missy off at the airport this morning and it we were all very emotional. Even our housekeeper, Pendo, came with us. It was hard to say goodbye and to realize that it will only be Meaghan and I for a month until Ruben (Medical school student from Holland) arrives at the end of September. Missy, Jackie and Kim were so great at helping Meg and I get settled into the apartment, around town, and with the project and we’re so thankful that they were here. We took the daladala home and had a quick lunch while proofreading a paper prepared by a Kivulini staff member. We made the English lesson for the Mamas and set off to the Kitchen to teach. After the lessons we came home and met up with a volunteer from Kivulini, Beatrice, who has been really great with helping the interns translate between English and Swahili with the Mamas. She is a university student at Dar, but lives in Mwanza. She is leaving this Tuesday to go back to school and she invited us to her home near Nyakato for dinner. We helped her prepare an incredible meal of fresh Nile Perch, bananas, rice, and beans. It took a while to prepare on the coal stove, but the end result was very good.

Saturday, September 1st, 2007
I can not believe that it is already September. Time seems to be flying by with all the busy project work. This morning we were able to sleep in a little, but began right away with cleaning and organizing the apartment. Meaghan and I moved into our new rooms and are feeling very independent now that all the other interns have gone back home. The afternoon was spent watching the sun set at Tunza and enjoying a bbq and get together at a friends place.

Sunday, September 2nd, 2007
I was very rudely awaken this morning by screaming children running around the balcony of our apartment and also an uninvited guest hanging onto the inside of my bug net, a big cockroach. After the elimination of my pest, Meaghan and I got ready to go to church. We decided to go to the Nyakahoja Catholic Church and it was a very nice service. We picked up some groceries and fresh produce on the way home. The rest of the day was spent inside the apartment finishing up project work and resting up for another busy week ahead.

Week 3

Monday, August 20^th, 2007

Today we started our day at NIMR to speak to Simone about ordering milk for the probiotic cultures to be put into the yogurt that the mamas make. We are starting with 2L of probiotic milk that will last for one week of yogurt production and will slowly increase when the yogurt production increases as well. The cultures take approximately 18 hours to be prepared, so Meg and I will have to drop off the milk, or get it delivered, and pick it up the following day. After NIMR we dropped by the International Language Training Center to inquire about starting Swahili lessons immediately. The classes are on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 3-5pm and a test to be picked up on the weekend that takes about 1 hour to complete. We made a quick stop at the internet café to print off some documents for the Mamas and then went to the Yogurt Kitchen in Mabutini to teach English.

Tuesday, August 21^st, 2007

This morning Missy, Kim, Meaghan and I went to the Yogurt Kitchen to purchase the milk for Simone at NIMR. Kim and I went to NIMR, while Missy and Meg went with the Mamas to the bank. Kim and I were given 2L of milk in a lidded container and an empty 1L beaker. When we got to NIMR we realized that they needed another 1L container that could be used in an autoclave machine (one that won’t melt at high heat and pressure), so we set off to the Victoria Laboratory Supplies to buy more beakers. (It seems to be that there are a lot of small issues that I would never think to prepare for, but have to be resolved immediately.) After we resolved the small matter we met up with Missy and Meg to finish up financial issues and to take out money for ourselves. We made a quick stop at the post office and had lunch at the Pizzeria. Meaghan and I spent an hour at the internet café before going to our first Swahili lesson! Our teacher is Mr. Gaudence and he’s very nice and makes us laugh throughout the class. We learnt about numbers, telling the time (which is very difficult because they use sunrise to sunset as starting points of the day, a six hour difference), some greeting phrases, and a few basic rules to noun, adjective and subjective prefixes. It’s a bit overwhelming so I will have to study a bit before the test comes at the end of the week. The night ended with a nice BBQ at a friend’s place with some lamb, pork and salad.

Very excited to see a hedgehog

Wednesday, August 22^nd, 2007

I began this morning with a nice workout on the roof top of the apartment and then quickly got ready to go to NIMR to pick up the bacteria cultures with Meaghan. Missy and Kim went to the Yogurt Kitchen first thing this morning to speak with the Mamas about the First Lady (Minister of Gender and Children) coming to visit on Tuesday. Kim has set up this meeting and is responsible for her interest in building a new factory for the Mamas to produce the yogurt! This is a great opportunity for the Tukwamuane organization and the yogurt project to expand. After Missy and Kim left the kitchen, Meg and I showed up with the probiotic cultures in the 2L of milk, which unfortunately spilt a bit during transit on the bumpy roads (we will have to work getting better containers to transport it). The Mamas made us a wonderful breakfast of deep fried buns and chai tea. Afterwards we made another trip with some of the Mamas to the bank to withdraw some money to pay for their bills, but there were some problems with our request and we had to come back the next day to complete the transaction (one word that is frequently used here is ‘kesho’, meaning tomorrow, because nothing is ever done right away but rather tomorrow, kesho). After the bank we made a quick stop at home to prepare an English lesson for the Mamas and then headed directly to the Kitchen. The Mamas are always excited for the lessons, but today they were also eager to show us the labels that they have chosen for their yogurt that they produce. We are hoping to get 100 labels made next week. We came home after an exhausting day with handfuls of groceries and yogurt, prepared a simple meal of pasta and stayed in for the night.

Thursday, August 23^rd, 2007

We had great success at the bank today and the Mamas were able to take out funds to pay their bills and update their bank card. One of the Mamas (Mama Elizabeth) who was with us this morning was feeling very ill, having both Typhoid and Malaria. It is very common to get sick here in Mwanza, for both locals and visitors, but because it is so common the treatment is relatively cheap and readily available. The symptoms are also usually easily recognizable because so many people have had multiple incidences. Luckily however, I have remained healthy and hope to for larger part of my trip here (knock on wood). Meaghan and I had our Swahili lessons again today and it consisted of saying polite requests, asking about how someone is doing, and naming the days of the week and months. We met a new friend in the class, Claire, and she actually was sitting next to Kim on the plane coming from Dar (what a small world). After the class we headed straight to Tunza for the yoga class on the beach and a nice boat ride while the sun set. The view was better than anything I could ever imagine. I felt as though I was in a fairy tale or a postcard. Sunset at Tunza Lodge

Friday, August 24^th, 2007

This morning turned out to be a bit more relaxing compared to the previous days of the week. Meaghan and I were able to brainstorm various strategies to help develop the project and bring in more income for the Mamas to be able to sustain the business without external aid. We also found a great internet café that is just outside of our apartment and the management is very kind and the place is clean. So far it hasn’t been too crowded, which is seen at many of the other cafes in town. In the afternoon Meaghan and I went to the Yogurt Kitchen to give the Mamas their English lessons. We are going to the Kitchen on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday afternoons and taking our Swahili lessons on Tuesday and Thursday, it is working out great so far. I am hoping to get to the Forever Angel orphanage at least once a week, but it is a fair distance away from our apartment and therefore takes a while to get there and back. In the evening, there was a going away party at Tunza for a Master’s student studying witchcraft and so we dressed up as witches and had a great time.

Saturday, August 25^th, 2007

We began the weekend very relaxed and were invited to Tunza for the day. Meaghan, Missy and I were able to go out on the boat for a while and we found a great island with amazing boulder formations on it, and named it ‘Hangkip’ (Afrikaans for ‘hanging rock’). We got off the boat and found one huge boulder that was being suspended about 2 feet off the ground by smaller boulders and was able to slide underneath for a very cute photo. We went back to the beach, had a nice lunch and a quick nap before going to a friends place for a bbq.

'Hangkip' Rock

Sunday, August 26^th, 2007

Kim and I went to church this morning at 8:30am. Kim has been playing the piano at the St. Nicolas Anglican Church for about a month now. The service was very nice and great that it was in English. When I got home, Meaghan and I spent a bit of time finishing up project work and then had a very nice walk to a small market not too far from our apartment. We picked up lots of fruits and vegetables for our dinner and the next few days: oranges, bananas, a huge papaya, cucumbers, tomatoes, sweet potatoes, and bread. We made a great dinner of pasta salad (pasta, tomatoes, cucumbers, and balsamic vinegar) and mashed sweet potatoes. The dinner was amazing while Meaghan and I snuggled up to ‘Because I said So’ and ‘Pretty Woman’.

Week 2

This week has been busy organizing project accounts and preparing for the transition of the past interns to leave and for Meaghan and I to take over specific tasks. Jackie is leaving this Saturday, so Meaghan and I were able to accompany her to various project sites that she has been affiliated with so she could say goodbye.

Mon., Aug. 13, 2007
While the other interns were feeling slightly under-the-weather, I started my day with a workout and a long walk around town to get myself oriented with the city. Kim had gone to the clinic with Missy and found that along with her worms she also has Malaria, pole sana (very sorry). After returning, Kim and I went to the International Language School to inquire about Swahili lessons. We have been recommended by several past interns that Mama Salala (a large German woman) is an excellent teacher and we are planning on meeting with her early next week.

TunzaBeach

Tues., Aug. 14, 2007
Kim left very early this morning to go visit a hospital in Bumbire, where she will be volunteering next summer. The trip there is 7 hours long and she will be back on Thursday, we wish her a safe journey. Jackie and Meaghan went to the clinic because they weren’t feeling well, while Missy and I went to U-Turn to pick up groceries. You can pick up a lot of similar canned and bottle foods in Mwanza however they can be quite a bit more expensive ($12 for a box of Frosted Flakes). Mwanza is about the same size of London, Ontario which means you can pretty much walk everywhere, and with the intense sun and hot weather this can get exhausting.
When Meaghan and Jackie came back from the clinic we found out that Meg has an amoeba and Jackie has Malaria. With everyone, but me (knock-on-wood), being sick we decided to keep the evening quiet so everyone could rest and feel healthy again.

Wed., Aug. 15, 2007
I went for a walk this morning with a woman who works for Kivulini, Beatrice, and I came across a young boy that I met at the Yogurt Kitchen. His name is Singeah and he does not attend school. When asked about his parents he told us that they were both deceased and that he lives with his grandmother. When asked why he didn’t attend school he said that his grandmother cannot afford to buy his uniform or books. This situation is seen with so many children in Mwanza and the inability of a young mind to have the opportunity to gain knowledge it is a very difficult reality.
In the afternoon the girls and I visited the Yogurt Kitchen to have a brief meeting with the Mamas about the project. We are working to have a very open relationship with the Mamas and to help them to become independent of WHE. One of the main goals for this project is to have the yogurt production and distribution be sustainable on their own and also have profit coming in to strengthen the community. This includes having a strong relationship with each other and the organizations that they rely on. There are also business aspects of accounting and book-keeping which are necessary to maintain a strong business. These are only a few of the matters that we are working with the Mamas to ensure a strong, efficient, and proficient business.

Thurs., Aug. 16, 2007
We were able to take a walk through the busy market today and I really enjoyed the electrifying feeling of the many vendors selling their fresh goods. I am considering using the market as a resource for part of my independent study, but it seems like it would be a difficult task to ask the vendors questions in such a hectic environment. I will have to rethink my project tactics. Missy and Jackie also took Meaghan and I through an area they call ‘Fabric Land’ because most of the stores sell either Kangas, scarves and/or material to make clothing and bags. There are an incredible number of fantastic seamstresses in Mwanza and they produce beautiful pieces. The girls have gotten several shirts, skirts, dresses, and over-the-shoulder bags made for such little money, relative to Canadian prices. I am very excited to have some pieces made for myself and friends back home.
At around 3pm the girls and I set off to an orphanage that Jackie and Missy volunteer at called ‘Forever Angels’. The project is run by Amy who self-funds the entire orphanage. Her program is very well organized and puts great emphasis on having local adoptions. I am hoping to work with her for my second part of my independent study where I will be monitoring the children before and after they consume the probiotic yogurt (Fiti) that the Yogurt Mamas make, on a regular basis. Amy has ensured that the children have their measurements taken weekly, which will help me plot the changes in health and growth for the children taking the yogurt. Many children at the orphanage generally get a well-balanced diet but do lack intake of dairy and therefore Calcium. We are hoping to start giving them the yogurt as soon as possible. The children are adorable with a total of 19 kids all under the age of 5 years old and they are working to expand the space to hold up to 40 children and infants.
Kim arrived home later this evening and she had an amazing experience helping out in the hospital and giving HIV tests. We met up at Tunza Lodge for another nice evening of yoga on the beach even though the weather was slightly overcast.

Forever Angels Organization

Yoga at Tunza Beach

Fri., Aug. 17, 2007
We were finally able to take some time from project work to get to an internet café today. Even though we were there for 1 hour I wasn’t able to get many emails out because the internet is so slow. It does get a bit frustrating when we are used to the fast pace life of home, but it is also nice to take some time to reflect on your own and have time to keep detailed journals and blogs. Afterwards we went to the Yogurt Kitchen to meet with the Mamas and go over financial issues. It is remarkable to see how hard the Mamas work and how well they interact with each other. The Kitchen seems to be a popular place because there is always someone coming in to buy yogurt. The Mamas had special visitors that day from Women’s Rights Organizations around Tanzania. They came by to see what some of the women in Mwanza are doing for their local community and how they are empowering themselves. It was great that the Yogurt Mamas are getting recognition for their hard work.

Sat., Aug. 18, 2007
We woke up early this morning to drop off Jackie and Kim at the Mwanza airport. Jackie was going back home to London, Ontario and Kim was going to Dar es Saalam for an Indian wedding. Kim went to school with a friend from Dar and her cousin was getting married and invited her to attend. She will be back Monday afternoon and I can’t wait to see the amazing pictures from the wedding.
Missy, Meg and I then took the daladala (public van bus) into town to use the internet quickly and to pick up some groceries. Later that day Danny (local marine engineer) took us to ‘Dancing Rock’ and the view was absolutely gorgeous. We stayed up at the top for a while trying to see the sun set, but a storm rolled in and we got totally drenched on the way down. After cleaning up at home we got ready for a night of dancing at Villa Park, it was very nice to have a night out.

Meaghan and me at Dancing Rock

Sun., Aug. 19, 2007
I was able to sleep in today and made myself a big breakfast of eggs, hot dogs, and toast. I also had some freshly made popcorn, one of my favorite snacks because it is made by local boys across the street from our apartment and the money they make goes to their organization that is part of Kivulini. Their organization supports against domestic violence against women, raising money to send street children to school, and to support the community. Missy, Meg and I were invited to a bbq that was quite far away from our apartment and so took a bit of organizing to get there. We ate delicious curry chicken and a huge piece of bbq’ed lamb that we all shared. There weren’t any utensils so we really did feel like carnivores chewing off this huge chunk of meat.

Week 1 in Mwanza

Meaghan and I have finally made it to Mwanza, safe and sound with all of our baggage. Thank you to all my family and friends for all their best wishes and gifts before I headed off, they have been a blessing for me. I apologize for the lack of communication with home because the internet at the apartment is still not working yet. Things take a bit longer to get fixed and done here in Tanzania.

Mon. & Tues., Aug. 6&7, 2007
We had a bit of a rocky trip departing on the night of Mon., Aug. 6th to Heathrow airport, which is so huge and confusing. We then had another red-eye flight to Nairobi, where I was feeling a bit under the weather, but surprisingly we didn’t run into any major problems. Our next flight had an unexpectedly long delay at the Kiliminjaro airport and we had difficulty getting a hold of the girls to let them know of our tardiness. With all of the confusion, we did arrive safely in Mwanza on Wed., Aug. 8th and after all the baggage checks and visa validations we were warmly welcomed by our new family in Tanzania.

Wed., Aug. 8th, 2007
Kim, Missy, and Jackie have been amazing at giving us a tour of the area and letting us know the ins and outs of living in Mwanza. After a long trip and only sleeping about 5 hours in 2 days, Meaghan and I headed home near Mlango Mmoja and jumped in the shower before heading to Tilapia for a good meal. We tried our best to stay up as late as possible so that we could get adjusted to our jet lag.

Thurs., Aug. 9th, 2007
Meg and I woke up early this morning to go to NIMR (National Institute for Medical Research) with Jackie and Kim to drop off the mother culture and CO2 packs with George. We are still looking into getting a freezer to hold the cultures at -20oC and keeping them sterile from the other blood and urine samples. Jackie, Meg and I then set off to Mahina, a community just outside of Mwanza that receives the probiotic yogurts for many of the HIV/PLWAs (people living with AIDS) patients. Many individuals living with HIV/AIDS have a difficult stigma against them because of the lack of education about the disease and the misconception of the way HIV is transferred. Jackie had a couple of enlarged photos and female condoms that were requested by one of the community members, whose husband would not wear condoms and is suspected to have HIV already. It was great to see the area and get an idea of how the members are living.
We then headed to Mabutini, where the Yogurt Kitchen is located, by the daladala (local van bus). Driving is pretty crazy and scary here because there aren’t always side walks and speed limits don’t exist. The horn is used to warn pedestrians and cyclists that cars are coming. Also, cars drive on the opposite sides of the street and takes a bit of getting used to. We dropped by the Kitchen for a quick meet-and-greet with the mamas that were working the kitchen and got to have a try of the yogurt being made, trademarked as Fiti. It is a plain yogurt, a bit sour, but very refreshing on a hot day.
Meg and I will be starting our Swahili lessons as soon as possible so that we are able to communicate with the mamas and with the locals on a daily basis. It will also make teaching English to the mamas much easier, however I am very impressed with the amount that they know already.
After lunch Meg, Missy, Kim and I headed off to the bank to take out some Tanzanian Shillings (Tsh) to use for groceries, transportation, and to purchase a cell phone which we went to go pick up directly after the bank. We stopped by the internet café briefly to send out a few emails and then went back home to get ready for a nice evening at the Tunza beach of yoga and dinner, it was amazing and a really great welcoming. We met a bunch of missionaries, locals, and volunteers visiting Mwanza: Major, Jan, Jenny, Danny, Laurene, Janine, Hank, and a bunch of German volunteers.

Fri., Aug. 10, 2007
We woke up early this morning to go to the Yogurt Kitchen in Mabutini for 8:30am. Jackie was interviewing the mamas for her project and asking several questions about their biographies and what WHE has done for them and their community. All the responses were very positive, including their own personal education about HIV and for their families, personal empowerment with running the yogurt project, and also to help strengthen the community both financially and physically. At the Kitchen, there were many kids running around and only some in school uniform. Jackie informed me that even though school is free for everyone, the costs of uniforms and books prevent many children from getting an education. It is a frustrating situation because many of the children are eager to learn and have such potential for great things.
We had lunch and then headed to NIMR so that Jackie could interview Joseph Mwanga, (Senior research scientist with a PhD, MSc and Honors BA). It was a great chance for Meg and I to get acquainted with him and get a bit more information about the project at NIMR.
Meaghan, Jackie and I went back to the Yogurt Kitchen to teach some of the mamas English. It was a lot more difficult than I expected because of the language barrier, but the mamas did a really great job picking up the grammar lessons. The lesson was also a good way to get to know the mamas and see how far they have come in learning English.

Sat. & Sun., Aug. 11&12, 2007
This weekend we were lucky enough to be invited to go camping at Kijerashi, just outside of the Serengeti National Park and we were able to see several wild animals: Zebras, Springbucks, Baboons, and Ostriches. We were driven in Majors truck with Missy, Jackie, Meaghan, Janine, Hank, Laurene, and I. We indulged in a fabulous diner and next day lunch of instant noodles on pieces of bread and peanut butter.