8/13/10 Lets start a revolution

I am currently on the plane on my way to Cairo after a fantastic safari experience. Over the past few days since we have left Shirati, Melody and I keep sporadically coming up with ideas of what we can do. Immediately after our safari, we took a taxi into town and purchased cleats for the coaches (it was their single personal request), 2 more soccer balls (since 2 out of the 6 brand new balls that we originally bought exploded), soccer goal nets (the first set ever in Shirati), and cones (to facilitate practices). We also went to a digital print shop and had 55 photos printed of the group picture of all the girls to send back with Pili and Enock along with all the equipment. We also bought some small things for Junior’s mom and had a picture printed for Babu. Ideas keep streaming in. We were thinking about some sort of sustainable fundraiser that our girls soccer team could do in Shirati to help fund their future equipment and cut out reliance from us foreigners. Mel and I are also super motivated to help Junior and his family. I still think of Junior, a 10 year old, that spent his life locked behind bars simply due to circumstances of him having a mental disability and constrained resources in his family and in the entire country. I truly want to go back and raise awareness of mental disabilities in developing countries and how they are unrightfully neglected.

Since the beginning of our trek to Africa, so many of my perspectives have changed. I knew that I was idealistic coming in as a person in my early 20’s. Although it is sometimes difficult to face disheartening situations or handle reality, I still feel like my naïve outlook brings determinism. I was blatantly told by some adults that Junior’s situation is essentially hopeless and that I should concentrate on things more worthwhile efforts such as vaccinating lots of children. Those statements, although I realized their well-meaning intentions, angered and disappointed me leaving me feeling more helpless. If we decided that one life was not worth saving because it is not cost effective and not worth it, then why would we ever want to save a person with cancer or AIDS since we could just spend the money on vaccines. Nevertheless, I’m learning to channel that frustration to something productive. I am hoping to appeal to large U.S. non-profits in the mental disability field to help as well as consult with special education teachers. In a dream world, I would raise enough money to build and staff a special education school for children in Tanzania since there is only one right now. I know it is possible though, since leprosy wards have been built in Tanzania and the government covers all citizens with HIV or AIDS with medications. In my short life, I’ve learned that if I feel passionately about something and brainstorm a bit, it is totally possible to make a difference in that cause. I look at the ecstatic 50ish girls in our soccer program and it is so inspiring to know that if opportunities exist, willing and eager people will embrace them. I hope that the excitement that Babu expressed about his newfound clothes, bed, and school supplies will help him realize that secondary school and university are attainable things in his future that looked so bleak just a few weeks ago. I think that we are all capable of creating revolutions in small and large ways. It starts from an individual level whether it is somebody that is first in their family to graduate college or winning first place in a race. I believe that the same self drive can be expanded to encompass families, communities, and the world.

I was reading in “Half the Sky”, one of the most inspirational books I have ever read dealing with empowering women all over the world and battling issues such as sex trafficking and maternal mortality, that volunteering in developing nations is so essential. I could not agree more with that. Although some cynics may say that the amount of money that is spent on a few people traveling to Africa could be better allocated for funding projects, I (and the authors of Half the Sky) disagree. I feel that the reason is because the few that venture to poorer regions of the world are usually affected by what they discover: a world that exists beyond their own. A positive chain of events continues after that point whether it be that person lives their life knowing how to appreciate things and not waste or they may inspire others to become involved and further contribute. I wholeheartedly recommend that everyone should travel to a developing country and live with the people and learn if it is possible at any point in their lifetime. I know a lot of us have unwarranted fears about the illnesses, violence, and instability in poorer nations, myself included. In reality, its often much more unsafe in an American major city…Los Angeles has way more petty crime than Shirati in my experience. Once you work through the hesitation and nervous anticipation, you grow so much as a person and take away lifechanging experiences. Like they say, you can read all about poverty and culture in a book or watch it on TV, but until you are actually there, you will never fully understand it.

8/7/10 The last but incredible day in Shirati

Today is the last day in Shirati. I’ve definitely been dreading the end of my amazing time here. At 10am we went to the first girl’s soccer meeting at Mkoma primary school in a classroom to go over rules, soccer positions, and practice schedules. I was completely amazed when I showed up, the two coaches had over 50 girls from 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade sign up. The girls looked so excited to be there even on a Saturday. I wondered how all these girls were able to come to the meeting since I know many of them have so many duties like cooking, cleaning, and taking care of younger siblings. The two coaches explained the different positions, the 18 and goal area, practices that will be held 3 days a week, and the attire that they need to wear. When it came time for questions, the girls asked about who can shoot and where does defense start. One girl asked a question in Swahili and then Killion translated it. She wondered why is it that we wanted to start a girl’s team for them. The question surprised Melody and I. I was so filled with emotion that I started to tear up. We briefly explained that we wanted to give girls a chance here in Shirati to play sports, build sisterhood, and further their education. I was so touched that they would ask such a question knowing that a girl’s soccer team has never been started before and that this was an opportunity typically directed only at teenage boys. Towards the end of the meeting, we wrote down all of the names of the girls and their shoe sizes since Mel and I will try to somehow fit them all. I also decided to bring the clothes that I wanted to leave behind and raffle them off. I brought a pair of shoes, 3 pairs of socks, white pants, a white skirt, a t-shirt, and 2 pairs of flip flops. When I held up the white skirt, all the girls were super giddy, I suppose that was what everyone wanted. I really really wanted to give them all of my clothes and other pair of tennis shoes but knew I would need them later on. After the meeting, all of us took a picture together. I then called out for a team huddle where we put our hands in a circle and then shouted “Girls Soccer!”. I could not be happier with the progress we have made since our initial idea for the first girls soccer team. I really wish that I could be there for their first practice on Tuesday. The two German medical students living in our hostel went down to a city 2 hours away and they were able to pick up Tango soccer balls for us to have ready for Tuesday. All I know is that I need to come back soon and see the progress of girls soccer in Shirati.

Immediately after the girl’s soccer meeting in the morning, our car had arrived for our trip to Bwiri. Today is the day where we decided that we would distribute our remaining nets in a systematic order. We told the Bwiri village leaders to construct a list of 30 individuals with the highest need for nets whether they have a baby under 1 year of age or have multiple children without nets. We knew that we had such a limited number of nets that rationing is our only choice. When we arrived to the Bwiri community center, there was a line out the door. Apparently they had sent a notice to the town for all women with babies under 1 year to get a net if they did not already get one from us. It was very frustrating since we only had 63 nets and there were many women waiting outside as well as people on a list for which we promised them a net. A sub-village chairperson was also there requesting 18 nets for his subvillage since we did not at all survey or distribute nets there at all. At first the list that they had given us consisted of 75 people, Melody and I were not happy at all. This was the exact situation for which we did not want to happen where we would have more people that were promised nets than what we actually had. We were also afraid of double dipping with previous participants that already had nets or dishonest people that would bring someone else’s baby to get a net. After much debating among us, our translators, and the village leaders, we decided to split the remaining nets a few ways. We would reserve 10 nets for the far subvillage, save the 15 nets for people we had already promised, and also give nets on a first come first serve basis to the women that were waiting outside. Surprisingly, it worked out ok where we basically had just enough nets for everyone that waited outside after reserving a specific number of nets for people on lists. The day was definitely hectic and a bit stressful. I think that is the one thing that I have had to learn to deal with, everywhere I go or anyone that works with me such as our translators, we get asked for nets. This includes village people that didn’t get nets, those that got a net but want more, our driver, our housecleaners, our chef, doctors, strangers, children, and the list continues. I even got asked for nets by our own translators! Its definitely a game between keeping the nets for those that you feel need it most while trying not to make too many enemies by hogging the nets.

We ended our last day by having dinner at our hostel with our 3 translators. The rest of the evening we spent packing. I definitely have much much less stuff than when I arrived. I was barely able to carry my 3 pieces of luggage that were all maximized to the 50 pound limit. It was mostly due to the coloring books, surveys, crayons, and liquid products we were carrying to leave behind. Shirati has been the most amazing experience. I feel so different now than when I started. I remember being so nervous and not knowing what to expect. Sometimes it amazes how differently my life was readjusted from LA to Shirati. In LA, I often would spend money to eat out, have an active nightlife at clubs, drive my car around everyday, and sit poolside looking at the skyline in my apartment. Immediately in Shirati, we have no hot water but luckily have well water and electricity. Everyday I come back covered in dirt from the red sand that blows up from the dirt roads drenched in sweat after spending the entire day walking miles in the burning hot sun. Still I never minded any of it, in fact I loved it all. The landscape is amazingly beautiful as are the sunsets and the people. The children are so friendly and so adorable. I really enjoy walking house to house to see and understand how everyone lives. I definitely never realized the things I take for granted as well as all the unnecessary things that I have in my life. I appreciated the strength and resilience of everyone in Shirati, they seriously never ever complain about life no matter how difficult they have it or how painful something is. I have made so many local friends with our translators, secondary school girls, soccer team girls, people we meet in the villages, and random strangers that talk to us.

8/6/10 School visits and car disappointment

This morning Melody and I briefly visited the Zappe kindergarten kids and handed out mosquito net coloring pages and crayons. The kids were so adorable and we saw Babu again today after giving him his bed and backback last night, he looked really excited to see us. When we returned, we decided to take Pili and Enock with us back to Shirati primary school and hand out the massive amounts of crayons we still had left and coloring pages specifically to 1st and 5th grades since they were not included in our original activities that targeted 2nd, 3rd, and 4th grades. We quickly rushed back after giving the kids crayons and coloring pages so that we could make our 9:30am ride to Bwiri. First a bit of time passes then two hours pass before someone is able to reach a driver. A few more hours later, we realize that there is no driver coming since they were all not available. It was a huge disappointment because we had told many families in Bwiri to meet us at the village office at 11am to pick up their free nets. Since today was Friday, we really wanted today to be the last day that we go to Bwiri and do survey work so that we can rest tomorrow. That didn’t happen after many hours of trying to figure out if we can go or not. So we went to make some bags in Kibwana and then surveyed a few people that we lost to followup in Yakina.

At around 4:30pm, we heard soccer cheering going on and went outside to the nearby field behind our hostel. The games were much more crowded than I expected. I felt like I was back at a high school football game. There were two secondary school teams there from different far away schools. First there was a women’s handball match where they all played in long skirts. Then the secondary school boys had a soccer match. It was so cool, everytime someone scored, there would be a huge rush of people onto the field cheering and singing. Being the only mzungus at this large crowded game, we definitely got a lot of attention. Gotta love it when people keep trying to touch your hair since it is fascinating to have long hair. The kids were super amused by pictures and that they could see themselves on the digital camera. At one point, it was so adorable. I picked up a kid’s English workbook and I saw on the grass with about 7 kids while we read through different parts of the workbook. I would say the object in English and they would say it in Swahili. Moments like these are way too amazing. It makes me feel like part of the community being at the soccer game and playing with young children.

8/5/10 Amazing day with Babu

In the morning we were accompanied by Killion and the two prospective coaches. The coaches went with us to the primary schools to ask for permission from the teachers and headmasters to start a girls soccer team and recruit using the school. We first went to Shirati primary school and then went back to Mkoma to ask about soccer as well as announce the winners of the coloring contest and handed out crayons. We were getting really positive responses from the teachers and school staff. The two coaches continued to get names from teachers and interested 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders. As for the coloring book front, we didn’t realize how far 60 pounds of crayons would carry us. We gave about 3 crayons per kid in about 6 different classes and still had so much left over. After visiting Mkoma primary school, we went to Bwiri for a bit more of evaluation surveying.

After returning from Bwiri, we were finally able to drop off the bed to seal the deal on the Babu sponsorship business. We loaded up the bed frame, mattress, sheets, pillow, bed nets, and back pack for the little guy in our car. We drove to his new guardian’s house which is a nice brick 2 bedroom household. Just as I was thinking about how amazing it would be to see Babu while we gave him his first bed, there he was playing and chasing after our car. He was also wearing the clothes that we got him a week or two ago which thrilled Melody and I that they fit. By this time, we recognized us. It took a bit to set up his bed frame and bed net, but it looked so nice once it was done. The minute the bed was made, Babu hopped into bed and got under the covers while we were still trying to put up the net. Babu was also given a backback with pencils, a notebook, ruler, and pens. The little kindergartener was so ecstatic. We told him to study hard in school and that we wanted to see him go to secondary school. We ended our day with pictures as the most beautiful sunset was in the background. I could not have imagined a more perfect handover of the bed and marking the beginning of our sponsorship of Babu Aneti.

Tonight, we met again with the coaches and this time they came to our hostel to meet. They showed us the amazing list of 50 girls that had committed. We also planned to have a meeting on Saturday mostly for Melody and I’s sake that we get to actually see the beginning of the first female soccer team in Shirati before we leave. Sometimes we have our doubts about the coaches, but then again, who else would we use instead. I can’t help but wonder when the money and payment situation is going to pop up in the future…probably when I’m back in the U.S. Nevertheless, we plan on getting 6 balls from people going to Musoma and get the first practice started for Tuesday evening. It was determined that practice would take place 3 days a week on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays from 4-5:30pm. We are definitely making progress on this front.

8/4/10 Coaches

This week is definitely a bittersweet one where we want to get everything done and live up the last of our wonderful days in Shirati. Melody and I know that we are in for no sleep with all that we want to do between starting the girls soccer team, evaluating in Bwiri, following up in Yakina, giving Babu his bed, playing soccer with the locals, visiting primary schools, and whatever else. We started out the morning by going to Mkoma primary schools and handing out coloring pages and crayons for the kids to color and have a contest with our mosquito net images. Immediately after visiting the schools, we hop in our car to go further away to Bwiri to continue our evaluation surveys. Today was another long and hot day on the field but also slightly disappointing since most of our participants were still at a funeral. After returning from Bwiri, we again played soccer with Junior’s mom but this time we had a bunch of little kids. It was so fun since we were scrimmaging on teams. We played intensely for about 2 hours I think. It was so much fun and such a great workout.

In the evening, we pushed for Killion to get his two potential girls soccer coach friends to meet us at the Royal Price pub to discuss matters over some beer that Melody and I would cover. The four of us met and had quite a productive meeting. The two coaches were already willing to lead this effort and wanted to meet with the headmasters of two primary schools tomorrow. They have a plan to recruit about 50 girls total and form 4 different teams that would play each other in the two local primary schools of Shirati and Mkoma. The only negative aspect to our meeting was the fact that when we tried to reaffirm with Killion that the coaching would be done on a volunteer basis, he asked us to consider paying the coach. Being in Tanzania for 5 weeks, this comes as no surprise to me that someone supposedly doing something nice is expecting to get paid and our translator Killion is the human resources guy. I could tell that Melody was pretty upset about this. I tried to play off the situation which is a good tactic in Tanzania by telling Killion that we can maybe discuss stipends if they girls soccer team idea even takes off and is successful. Everybody assumes that we are made of money since we are mzungus. After paying for about 6 beers for the coaches and Killion, we hoped that something would come of this meeting.

8/3/10 Unexpected twists

Tuesday means it’s the first day going to back to Bwiri to start evaluating houses that we had surveyed about 2 weeks ago. It has start today since Saturday is when Seventh Day Adventists worship, Sunday is when other religions worship, and Monday is the large market day. We took 3 translators and had Pili survey by herself without us since she is super independent. Unfortunately there was a funeral so most of the people that I had to evaluate were not home. Bwiri days are always long days, we leave around 9:30am and get there at 10am to finish around 5:30pm after walking slash hiking in the hot sun the entire day. Its amazing how large Bwiri is and how spread out the houses are. Since the roads are so bad getting to the village as well as within the village, not many people come up here to distribute government programs. You can tell that the health of people here is worse than in the main Shirati area. Lots of kids have some sort of fungal infection on their scalp and there is no nearby means to a hospital if an emergency were to occur.

After surveying in Bwiri, we went to play soccer. Of course we were super late arriving back to the hostel at 6:30pm. All of the secondary school girls that we normally play with left. The most unusual thing happened. Mamajunior, the mother of Junior the boy that is mentally disabled and locked up all day, walked by the field and I passed her the ball. She started to join us as well as another random man. Mamajunior was laughing hysterically and playing soccer barefoot. I realized just then how powerful soccer can be as well as just having some recreational time. Here was a woman that I think I despised at one point before knowing her for how her son Junior lived. Now I was laughing and playing soccer with her knowing that she probably had a million responsibilities for her 3 children after this. I realize now that she is just a person and a mother that had to make hard choices in her life. She is a single mom with a son that has a disability that has no resources to help him develop. I decided a bit ago when I first saw Junior and his terrible life locked up that I wanted to raise awareness and at least try to help establish some sort of special education institution or curriculum for children like Junior. Tanzania does have a place and school for people who are blind or have leprosy, but nothing for mental disabilities. The society leaves little choice but to shun these vulnerable groups away or have them locked up.

8/2/10 Simon Says, proposals, and mattresses

Today we returned to the primary schools. Over the weekend, we had a few of our friend judge the coloring pages that the kids colored on Friday and determined a winner for each grade. They were all girls and the prize was a net. We then gave 3 crayons to every student in the class. Melody and I originally wanted to leave the crayon with the teachers to be distributed, but quickly learned from our translators that anything left to teachers is usually stolen to bring back to their own families which is very sad. Melody and I also decided that since we thought it was horrible that some classes did not have teachers at all for hours, we played Simon says with the class in an attempt to teach the primary school kids basic English body parts. The kids loved it and we did too. I totally wish that I was staying longer and would love to teach a class.

In between visiting these primary schools to teach a bit of English and encourage mosquito net use, we went to the large Monday market. Pili, Enock, Melody, and I were ready to take piki pikis (motorcycles) to the Obwere market center, but we were randomly picked up by an old driver that brought us to the far village of Bwiri. This guy is funny, loud, and drives too fast. He also had his wife sitting in the front seat. That didn’t stop him from asking me in Luo to jokingly be his second wife…at least I think he was joking. I just told his wife “pole” which means I’m sorry for you haha. Once we were dropped off, I immediately bought 3 machetes for souveniors to take home. After finishing at the market, we wanted to take pikis back this time since the driver was not around. Usually taking a piki costs 500 Tsh but the drivers wanted 1,000 Tsh because apparently they had to take a longer back road to avoid the short main road since apparently traffic police was on this main road and the piki drivers do not have their licenses. Yes it makes a lot of sense for us to pay double so that we can take a longer route and use non-licensed drivers. So the four of us decided we could walk instead. Melody and I had Pili and Enock ask the bed and mattress shops along the way about how much a bed frame and mattress would cost for Babou. Mel and I stayed somewhere out of sight while our awesome translators bargained. We got pretty good deals but didn’t have enough money at the time so we headed out. As we were walking out, our driver from before picks us up.
So Killion, Melody, and I return to the school to complete our education and apparently the school was let out early today. Interestingly, all the girls in primary school were cleaning. They were sweeping the floors, taking out the trash, and washing the chalkboards including 1st-7th graders. The boys were sitting around talking. I couldn’t believe that the sexism starts so early. On a daily basis we see men just sitting around all day while women in town are carrying things heavier than their body weight on top of their heads and working very hard. Its unfortunate that not more girls go on to get a high education since they are so hard working and diligent.

After the brief school visit without any classes or education, we took Killion back to the mattress and bed shops. He gets us a great deal on a bed frame, half of what we were quoted at one point, after bargaining and making sure us mzungus were not in sight. Killion might have also reminded the shop owner about a favor Killion gave him once lol. We pick out a bed frame but since it wasn’t assembled, the store owner was going to assemble it. I guess he must have realized that it did not fit so he goes to construct new wooden panels. After 10 minutes of watching him trying to make it work, we decided it would be a better idea for him to take his time and we would return tomorrow. Well we got a mattress and pillow and backpack for Babou. Killion thought that it would be a better idea to take this on a piki or bicycle rather than asking for a car even thought we tried to protest. So the guy on the bicycle was going to charge us 3x’s the amount of a piki to bring this very light foldable mattress a few km down the road. We get the price down to a satisfactory level, but instead of taking the stuff on a bike, the guy walks all the way down. Then Killion decides to ask all of the people that he knows driving by if they would give us a ride. So we are riding in the car and we pass the guy carrying our stuff. Its quite funny since we probably could have brought the stuff in this car ride had we known we would be taking a car. So after this ordeal, we played some soccer with local kids and ate delicious mashed potatoes and cabbage.

7/31/10 HIV Clinic, First time on a motorcycle, and Samaki Bar festivities

This morning Melody and I went to an HIV testing event for children of positive parents. It was so interesting, I didn’t realize that there is a rapid test kit where a drop of blood is placed on a plastic reader and in 10 minutes the test shows whether the blood contains HIV 1 or 2 antigens. We were only there for a brief while. By the time we got there, they event had registered 72 children and two had . tested positive for HIV. One little girl in a pretty pink dress was one of them. She was about 7 years old and was smiling not realizing entirely what was happening. Her mother did not seem to react to the news, probably because she knew that the HIV status could be passed to her daughter. I was a bit sad looking at this beautiful young girl and trying to imagine the hardships that will inevitably come her way in the future. Having HIV is associated with a negative stigma here as it is in most places around the world. I wondered how the girl will continue through school, stay healthy, get married and raise a family. In Tanzania, I do feel there is hope. For one, the testing makes her HIV positive status known so that she may start treatment. The government apparently pays for all HIV treatment for adults and children as well as follow up with a dozen of educational classes. I know like in the past, I definitely want to get involved with HIV/AIDS work again…maybe prevention or health education on how to manage the disease.

Later on that day, we decided to ride piki pikis (motorcycles) to Obwere where the main market area is to get some clothes made. That was my first time on a motorcycle and it was cool. The ride saved us about 40 minutes of walking and cost 500 shillings which is about 30 cents. Once in Obwere, we were looking around at mattresses and bed frames to buy Babou and were being severely ripped off. We found 2 seamstresses and bought fabric so that they could make us traditional African clothes or whatever we wanted.

After all this shopping, it was soccer time. There were not as many students here as on weekdays, but there were still a few people. Since I really wanted cones to try to create drills or create makeshift goals, I took our large Dasani bottles and filled them with rocks and dirt which surprisingly made an awesome cone. None of the girl were here this time, but we did play with the local high school aged boys. We did some small scrimmaging but had a great time. When dinner time rolled around, we went to Dr. Magati’s house to celebrate David’s birthday who is a Dutch medical student. He apparently had a sheep killed earlier today and it was quite delicious. After the birthday party, we all went out to the bar. Tonight was a crowded Saturday night at the Samaki bar. The Serengeti beer company was hosting music and having a beer special. So the music comes on and all the men go to dance. They are like shaking their hips and booty much like how girls would dance in other places. The women actually sat at table. It was just literally men dancing all night on the dance floor which was hilarious.