Putting up the data posters

John talking in Sakuma, asking about what the mamas think


weighing


this is one of the charts- the goal of the program is ultimately to have all the children in the green!

Back to Buhumbi

Yesterday was a successful day! (don't get philisophical and say well what defines successful...) Jan Micherhuizen and I went out early to the village of Buhumbi to present the information that we had gathered from interviewing individual mama's(about rainfall, harvest, types of food eaten in which months, sicknesses of kids in which months etc)about 2 weeks ago. I had made posters and we posted them on the wall at the clinic, where the mother's who are part of the health program come to wiegh their children. It was a weighing day so there were many mothers with babies- I'd say more than half were nursing- nursing is nothing to hide here...I am contemplating writing a descriptive paragraph about it, but just opted not to. I think my blogs go on for too long sometimes- well briefly there were breasts coming out of dresses from all directions. HA! okay. Also going on this day was a dental 'camp'- there are about 6 dentists in training from the UK doing a two day clinic in Buhumbi- so needless to say, there were ALOT of people at that clinic yesterday. So John, one of the community health volunteers went through each poster and added any changes that the women had to add (eg- 1996 there was more sickness than that chart shows). For the most part the charts stayed the same. There was discussion and interaction though, so this makes me feel like the information we have is as accurate as it can be for the methods we are using, and for what we need the info for.
Even though I can't understand much Kiswahili (and NO sakuma (the language they were using for the most part)), it was good to sit there amongst the people. Of course not all the mothers participated because of crying babies...but it was good nonetheless. I am impressed with this way of collecting information. It has been fast, and it is from the community- a well of knowledge.

My Day

This is a picture at the village Yamatala this afternoon. This week and next I am working on visiting different NGOs to interview and see what they do. Church of Christ is a Church working in Tanzania to evangelize and also support churches that are in beginning stages. The Sakuma people (a major tribe in Northern Tanzania) are receptive to the gospel and eager to learn. So this village had begun a church on their own, and had a choir and everything and sang when we came. Church of Christ was asked by them to come and support them in learning more about the Bible and understanding what it means to be a Christian. They are hoping to do baptisms next week and teach about the Lord's supper! Definitely a new experience.
So today marks the end of Ramadan fasting for about 50% of the population here. I contacted a friend and was able to (kind of but i like to think not so much) invite myself over because I wanted to see what types of things Muslims were doing. So David, who was a worker for Streetwise (the NGO I support by living at this guesthouse), took me to a friends house. Unfortunately I got there kind of late because of going to the village Yamatala with the Church of Christ this afternoon. But it was interesting. The family, at least the family I visited tonight, here in Tanzania is not as much of a nuclear unit as it is in North America. Girls who aren't your first sister are still called sister or daughter and same with boys. I was a little confused, but came away with the conclusion that families are much bigger; the terms sister and brother, mother, daughter etc. don't necessarily mean what I think they mean. Again, hospitality is so important here, so even though I arrived after they had been cooking and had eaten, they sat me down in their house (concrete walls, tin roof, kind of a shared courtyard deal in the middle of about 5 rooms/houses, and the cook'room' which was very small) in the living room. The rooms are generally very small with big chairs and furniture all kind of crammed in, and decorated with nice crochet coverings or other cloth coverings with embroidery. This family was living okay I think because one of the daughters is going to Uganda for university in January (university there is much cheaper though than in Tanzania. By the way- they say Uganda like "oogaanda"). They gave me rice cooked with really good spices and beef in sauce, they said it was Arabian cooking. I felt like SUCH a spectacle walking in as the TALL white girl and everyone looking at me...i should have prepared some more swahili sentences!! haha! o well. The people here are so gracious it really doesn't matter as long as you make sure you say the right greeting to your elders and say asante sana (thank you) alot!! i was glad to be able to experience some of the more Tanzanian night life. Then I was escorted back to my house because I said I brought no money for a taxi (I'm so cheap) but it was fine, a short walk, but it was funny because David wouldn't let me carry my bag- he was very concerned I wasn't watching it carefully enough. I was blessed to have escorts.

Well another week has passed already. Time continues to fly and daily activities tend to keep taking longer than I think they will! It HAS started to rain though, and the temperature sure drops when it does- its wonderful! It has only sprinkled for about 10 minutes on a few afternoons, but people say that with the amount of humidity in the air and how hot it is, it should start raining more soon.
Yesterday we were on our way to go out to Buhumbi village when Jan discovered that bracket that holds the truck battery in place was broken- hmm, good time to find that! It is good she did though- better to be in Mwanza at a garage than in the middle of the country being the only car around! So my day yesterday began in the garage rather than at the village presenting to all the mothers the info we gathered last week. This is fine, and the way things tend to go around here- it is nothing to get all anxious about.
I have been learning this week to have patience and give all my burdens up to God. I so want to be an authentic Christian in what I do and say, and it can be so difficult. I have been thinking about love, and how would Jesus see people around me, and what would he think of what he saw. I had the opportunity to go work with streetwise again and spent time with the kids- they range from about 7 to 14 years old generally. Some of them cause so many problems and are tough for others to get along with. But they all deserve love, everyone does. I don't really have anything concrete to say here, I just wanted to put up a bible verse. I feel like I'm seeing alot and hearing alot that I don't know how to put it all together- like there are so many thoughts and experiences jumbled in my mind!
1 Corinthians 13
Love
1If I speak in the tongues[a] of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames,[b] but have not love, I gain nothing.



Last week we hiked up to a place called dancing rocks. The rock I was sitting on was so huge and flat, maybe thats why its called dancing rocks- an area to dance. I love watching sunsets and seeing God's creation.

community development

this is the 'sickness calendar' Mama Leticia made for us. (women here with children or married are 'mama' to all. older women are 'bibi' and I am 'dada'- sister). The months are along the bottom, and sicknesses go up the side, such as malaria and hookworm. She showed us which months are usually the worst and best for which sicknesses in children.



This is Mama Leticia Pauline working on the calendar, with one of her daughters beside her, and a village health worker. The Growth Monitoring Health Program, or Community Based Health Care, is run by the people of Buhumbi Village. It was started in 1993 by (now this is hard to get clear, but i think this is correct) the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Tanzania, which also worked with ELVD (East of Lake Vic. District) of the AICT (African Inland Church Tanzania). Now CRWRC works as a partner with Buhumbi and its District Magu (which is a District in the region of Mwanza (the city I am living in). I have been going over lots of quarterly reports about programs that have gone on in Buhumbi. One thing important, that seems rather obvious but I'm writing it anyways, is that in community development it is so important to allow the community itself to do the work. Not to allow them to think they cannot do something on their own, and need someone (with white skin perhaps?) to bring money and build things. Sustainability comes from allowing the strength within the community to show itself. Also from having hope because of Jesus Christ- hope that there is more, and not having fatalistic attitudes that things cannot change, or that they were not meant to be changed.

First Day of PRA

Well I am perty tired right now but was just looking at my pictures of today and thought I would not delay in posting at least 1 picture. Today was really amazing and I'm so glad I had the opportunity to take part in it. Although I was thanked along with Jan for coming and told that what we are doing is great and Karibuni (all welcome) and Ahsante sana (thank you so much), I feel that they gave alot today as well. Communities that live as this one does, know alot- they are full of information that they may not even realize they carry with them. Today we visited 4 different women to gather information. They caught on pretty quickly, and I was suprised at how fast they got info onto the ground- I still a little leery of it, but I know that we can trust it, and we also will be presenting the information we have gathered to the community to open it up for discussion and agreement. It was squelchering hot today, but we were shown the utmost respect and brought chairs to sit on at each house, in the shade of a tree- like a big mango tree! It is VERY dry and ready for rain around here, and I could see that the life of these people really depend on getting good rainfall. Currently they have cassava and sweet potatoes growing for the most part, and have to walk a few miles to get water from a tap in another village. Apparently Cassava (they eat the root and sometimes the new leaves) is high in cyanide and therefore maybe should not be eaten in high quantities.

This picture is of the rainfall trend. We visited Mama Esther to get this info, who became a part of the GMHP in 1995, and her kids have 'graduated' from the program (they are over 5). We used sticks to represent rainfall, each stick going to the right is a year consecutively following 1995. Top stick= short rains, bottom stick= long rains. (each year there is a season for long and short rain, and a harvest to go with it)

This picture is of Mama Leticia Pauline.- (Okay internet not letting me post pic's anymore- this will be the next one posted) She used beans in squares drawn on the ground to rank the amount of sickness over a typical year. There were five types of sickness discussed for children: malaria, worms, diarrea, skin problems (like ringworm), and eye problems.

I found everyone to be very welcoming, and I enjoyed my day. At the end we were served boiled fish with Ugali (staple food, kind of like play doh in the sense you mold it in your hand so you can scoop sauce or veggies or fish) and cooked cabbage. We were not expecting that treatment but it was a great experience sitting there at a wooden table under a tree by a mud brick house with a grass roof...haha! We go back tomorrow for another round!

This is one of the views from the waterfront of lake Victoria, sunset time! wonderous.

koinonia

well HUJAMBO! (you say SIJAMBO- all is well, basically). so today we have the generator on- hence me feeling maybe i should put an update on here. I generally feel that i have so much to say that i just don't say anything. I am also much more of an emailer, hence taking so long to post an entry on here...hmmm another learning experience for lindsay: just put more on here and email less= less time needing power. the power here does not come on during the day at all, just at night- which is good, because then i can turn on the fan and make supper with electric light!
I hope this finds everyone well. Another week has gone by, hence a big hole in the supposed continuity of this blog. well what happened this week?
-i went to the hospital to be tested for malaria ( a prick of the finger but for those of you who know me i tend to be able to make myself faint for even the smallest things, so that was an adventure to "be strong lindsay - seriously DO NOT FAINT. i didn't). Test- negetive- what the heck- i feel so sore and tired- apparently you test negative if you've been on anitmalarial pills- so i requested treatment anyways- then decided against it and to hold out. i stopped my mal. medication and started a new kind yesterday.
-the hospital is run by hindu's- another cultural experience. they are very helpful AND talk english!
-I had my last 2 swahili classes this week- learning about how to connect more nouns with verbs. oy. overwhelming. one word at a time, and maybe i will just end up sounding like many ppl here who attempt to talk english- hmm, not so bad.
-drove around town a bit- if the car from streetwise is going down i like to hop along- its better than walking in 35 degree sun baking weather- so various outings with flaget, the woman working here at streetwise and the treehouse- she is new so i (being new myself) have gone with her to attempt to help anyway i can.
-everything takes TIME! days FLY by! difficult to plan a day because i don't know what will happen in terms of power etc.
-i started working on the data entry! yay. that is one of the main reasons i am here so that was great to start. of course i am not as computer savvy as some really smart people (yes, i am o so smart- HA! right.), but i am enjoying learning the ins and outs of this, and realize that this is really the only reason i would succumb to learning this practice of data entry. and i'm sure it will be usefull for the future.
-we met with Mr. Pamba! (pamba means cotton). This man is much more amazazing than cotton i assure you. Through Steve and Jan (crwrc) and I, we laid out our intended plan to go to the Village Buhumbi (near where he lives, and is a community with which he works through CRWRC, and The Lutheran Church as a "development officer"). He is very very integral to this project as he is so knowledgable about the community and its history. He understood the interview processes we wanted to do with women from Buhumbi (I'm SO excited- we will draw various charts in the dirt (soil i should say in respect for Au Sable) to allow the women to rank thing over typical years such as harvests of crops or what types of sicknesses there are in the children. For example, by using a certain number of beans they can rank each month of the year by placing a number in each square) I intend to take lots of pictures.
-I also went down into town to work with streetwise- this is the organization I support by living at the treehouse- everyday they work with 10-20 street kids by reading, doing math, generally showing the kids are cared about. so i went and sat down with one boy about 12 named Carlos (yes sounds spanish, i assure you he was Tanzanian) and he and i went through a story book about a boy in the serengeti. i tried reading the kiswahili and then we proceeded to inform eachother the names of each animal in eachother's respective languages. nothing so amazing, but something that leaves you with an amazing feeling! It is sad to see the kids though, but encouraging that there are organizations that are working with them. These kids will steal from you- anything to sell to make money on the street- either for food or drugs. I can't say much more because I am not in the situation enough to know more. But this organization works with the kids to encourage them and also attempt to reunite them with family- close or far- if it is suitable. Sometimes a streetlife is much better than home life.
-Last night we had a fellowship night with many missionary families. It was great to meet people, to talk, eat, sing and read scripture. Hence the title KOINONIA- community, a fellowship, God provides us with people to encourage us and share in hardships and joy. How wonderful to know that he provides. We read from Philippians- i love Philippians.
-Now it is saturday and I am going to try and get some more work done- as every day this week some form of -can I use this term- Koinonia (?)/ help for me, me helping others came up and hence took from the work I otherwise would've got done!

Keep in touch! I will try to update about the coming week's activities assuming they happen.
Thanks for reading.