Water Buffalo

A busy week of school visits with the names of Olaleni, Mandaka, Mrereni, Ifati, Rukima and Lombeta, to review the progress and in some cases challenges of various students. Margareth Mboya from Mandaka village is doingvery well despite finding herself in a class of 60 students at Mrereni school and when we visit she is wearing the donated shoes and backpack I gave her that morning.She has passed with C's and B's which is better than many and Tanzania has seen test scores drop across the country this last year. Not enough well trained teachers and classroom size as well as demands of family and work outside of school. Jenipher Mehenge failed his year with a 29% average and Augustine tells me she lives with five others in a dilapidated hut with no windows or doors. Olaleni will not allow her to continue so we need to figure out where to send her as she really wishes to continue to try and learn. Vocational training likely though the headmaster at he vocational school complains that too many consider it a second choice but he and Tanzania need the best brains to create a competetive tech and trades sector. Sephen Lyimo is desperate for me to allow him to board so he doesnt have to walk so far and lose study time to getting feed for the cows or other chores. So individual needs assessed.

After the week filled with interviews, anxious students and parents and the collection of impossibly complicated fee forms it was time to hit the banks. It was hectic last Friday in banks and busy markets, 'to do' list in hand and racing against time to get as many school fee payments made as possible so I dont get behind. Our first stop was to a newly opened CRDB in Marangu, a sparkling new edifice in the middle of banana trees and the general rubble of Marangu Mtoni with Sr. Clarissa the head of Kilema hospital, Ireni and Sunday , who work the orphan program. At CDRB the floors are marble, the workmanship excellent, the glass polished and the place generally empty. Locals began to trickle in and everyone whispered as if in church, in awe of the gleam. To remove 400,000 shilling of your own money at the instabank it costs 5,000 shilling. The banks appear to be doing well with those that have money.
After Marangu we dropped Sr. Clarissa back to Kilema and bumped down the mountain to Moshi to hit further banks. Each school has an account at one of a variety of banks and school fee payments are made into the child's name at the correct branch. The receipts are then returned directly to the school or to the student to carry to schools farther off and confirm enrollment. By the end of Friday I had completed 1/3 of deposits and with no tales of drama to tell as in other years.

Saturday started with dash through the gauntlet of touts/hustlers at the bus station to catch a local bus to Usa River near Arusha, with the plan of visiting tiny Arush National Park, nestled between Mt. Meru and Kilimanjaro. Travelling with another young Canadian, Sarah who works at Kilema Hospital, we got as far as Usa River before the details of our plan became sketchy. How to get the remaining 20 Km up to the park. Young fellows on piki piki's ( motorbikes) coaxed us to ride with them, 2 on one and 1 on the other bike. Sasha was the voice of reason and resolutely refused while Sarah and I considered the option. Twenty miles of dusty road ahead in a taxi had us shaking our heads and Sasha got his first (of now many)10 points for good decision-making. We arrived to retro Momella Lodge, site of John Wayne's movie Hatari and little has changed since then. The sincerity of the welcome and the location between spectacular mountains made up for a sense of decay in the structures. A walking safari to within 50 feet of a herd of water buffalo had Mama quaking though our armed guide Paolo shrugged. " It is the solitary buffalo like the one over there that you have to worry about", as he pulled the kalashnikov off his shoulder and readied it. Later that night we were awaken in our cabin by clatter of hooves and a tearingof grass. Two mighty buffalo outside the window and we lay in the darkness listening to them grazing and brushing up against trees. Animals come right onto the grounds and the next morning we walked out toward acacia trees where 6 giraffe were at work for tender shoots between the thorns and zebras grazing. Exilarating to be in the presence of animalsh with ones own feet in the deep grass.
We were a tight fit on the bus ride home from Arusha on Sunday, locals dozing next to us, kids sneaking glances, fabulous headdresses on stunning women, Christian, Muslim, Maasai the wonderful Tanzanian mix. With the dry air Sasha's nose began to bleed and being on a distant corner I could only rip newspaper and hand to hand it was passed over head to him. Then I saw a young woman mop Sasha's bloody face with her own damp handkerchief, and another Mama called out the window for a seller to bring her a cold bottle of water and passed it along to Sasha, calling out instructions to him. All the passengers clucked and watched over him til the bleeding stopped. So it'is in this way that Tanzanians takes care of us.

Tutaonana baaadye(see you later)na Asante Sana
Stephanie and Sasha
Sorry pictures a bit difficult to send will create an album if I can






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Tanzy Back to School Report

Of course 10 days ago our arrival to Kili International, with that sensaton of warm air infusing the cabin of the plane, seems a long time ago now. Sasha and I both noted how dark the landscape was as we circled and on landing looked out the window opposite of the terminal to the vast African darkness. Amsterdam had been lit up like a cake and that difference is what makes working here so endlessly fascinating...how to advance objectives in the face of failing infrastructure. The days so far in Tanzania are full and each one organized to get as much done in the short time we have. I learned again how to operate my cell phone, a critical work tool here which allowed me to communicate and plan ahead people while stuck in the back of the jeep. The mind is kept nimble thinking of ways to problem solve using the cell and I cant imagine how impossible it must have been before. The locals have helped retrieve my chip with all my contacts from the bottom of a garbage pail and numerous other things.
Swahili too is coming back slowly and thanks to a prescribed pingpong of greetings I am able to practise again and again once familiar phrases. Everyday more comes back to me though Emelianna the cook says Sasha cannot speak at all as if I have failed as a mother. But more patient and jovial people wouild be hard to find and they coax us along like children. It is wonderful to be back into the fold of community and friend and colleagues at Kilema hospital.
At my first morning report the shy nurses recite a summary of the night shift as usual. Sister asks if there was any problem in the night and the shy nurses say as they say every morning that"there were no problem in the night" and there is a pregnant pause for "admissions, suggestions, clarifications" where everyone, doctors and nurses, remain mute. But at the end of morning report I have a chance to say greetings to everyone and see some great smiles in the group. When its all over everyone relaxes and the real greetings begin... truly heart warming. Everyone asking after Dr. Chris, Lockie and Eva, Fiona, Rita and the girls who were here last year. They remember everybody. So Mama Nyaki is fine as is Mama Kessy and Sr. Mary Krista who has a great laugh. Dr. Mbando is on call and so tired one night he sleeps through the church music playing all night. Of course souind travels and the church bells still ring off at 5:30 then again at 6. Dr Julius is looking crisp and smart as usual......
The short rains have come so the landscape is green and quite lush, different from the deep dust this time last year. Up at Kilema the temperate is cooler and the breeze starts up at about 5pm causing all the shutters to bang on our house. The trees sway and birds dart and if this convinces anyone that they might like to visit Tanzania, maybe teach English or set up computers it is always immediately clear that that would be a good thing. Especially English.

Jolly Rotarians are here finishing a classroom building project at Kilema Primary school and their contribution to the infrastructure in this district is truly remarkable when you count it up. Their aim this year is to nurture the community in prioritizing their own projects and future plans and amazingly 20 people from the larger community have banded together to start a new Rotary group at Kilema which will open up lots of new links with other groups globally. There is much discussion, sharing of information, filling in the blanks and together we create a composite of whats happened and what are the issues at Kilema in the last 11 months. The Rotarians have added so much to my experience here and even Sasha says" Boy , are they funny!" And they like their Safari beer baridi cold!

My work arranging school fees and supplies for 55 children started with a bang this past Monday largely due to Sunday's advertising my arrival. I called or met with nearly ever contact and many students themseves and began planning for the school year ahead. It is hard to describe how central schooling is to children absolutely all encompassing. I'm working with Ireni and Sunday Shalala in the OVC( orphan and vulnerable children) office and they are fabulous, listening, counselling, receiving a seeming endless line of children in need. They admit they are stressed because there are no more resources but here people will still let you speak to your needs though they have nothing to help you. Ireni and Sunday oversee 210 children in the program and I carry 55 and while that is significant and welcome it still seems a drop in the bucket. Dilemma after dilemma but these two can still burst into laughter and tease often. By day two I am saying" no " to new requests quite flatly trying not to feel overwhelmed.But the community here is grateful and the children registered to us show much less stress. I am so grateful to all my donors of money and materials, bags, shirts, shoes and dresses who have allowed me to offer so much to children here. There is great pleasure on this side when shoes fit. All the small dictionaries have been given out to Margareth, Deo and few others. The bags are a hit. Dresses might be given out discretely at Easter so as not to cause a riot- difficult to distribute at times. They talk and 50 more will come! Thank you everyone though, for all your warm feelings and generosity!
Sasha has been intrepid and after an initial adjustment period has fallen into the greetings and reunions with old friends in a familiar way. He wiped out on the soccer pitch and has a abrasion filled with red clay currently trying to heal on his back. He has compared muscle mass with friend Godfrey and has lead Rotarians out of nearby Mkyashi village in the dark! Sorry Grandma! Sunday has been wonderful to Sasha and I'm trying to get a photo of the two fellows weightlifting at Sunday's house. The Rotarians are trying inspire Sasha to write a book,' Travels with my Mother' . And I think Emeliana is beginning to forgive him for forgetting his Swahili. He is a fine fellow and I'm very proud of him.
Will report more next week. Internet is hopeless at Kilema but I relish the texts from Chris and family and the call this morning from my book club friends. Thank you.