Hello!
I haven't had time to update my blog in a while! Every time I go to the internet cafe I don't have much time, since I need to working on other stuff for planning my classes. Last week was a pretty casual week. We still had classes and lots of planning to do, but nothing out of the ordinary.
On Sunday, after climbing the mountain, I was so sore! I hadn't worked out or done very much exercise up until the mountain climbing, so my body was sooo sore!
Jamie and I went with our family- Mama, Baba, Mama's brother and Mwendy to the Morogoro Hotel. We went for the afternoon to go swimming and play on the playground with Mwendy. The pool there was really nice, and we got some soda's as well. (it's cool here, soda comes in those old school glass bottles). There was a little baby pool and the big pool, we made Mwendy come with us in the big pool. But I felt bad for him, since it was a lot colder and he started shivering. He loved it though at first and was kicking his feet trying to swim. (He's only 4 and half, so we tried to teach him and he did okay). Then we went on the swing set and slide and just hung out for a while there. It was a really nice afternoon, and I felt like I was back in Canada the way the pool was and a grassy area with tall trees and the playground.
Monday through Friday were just regular days- going to classes, teaching and planning for other classes. Wednesday, we had the internet cafe, with our HBC kids, where we take them and do activities or practice using the computer, typing skills and how to use the internet. We met at the HBC building but only 3 of the kids were there. We waited for a while, but then just decided to start walking to the internet cafe. It was so funny, because as we were walking, more and more of our class ran and joined our little group walking to the internet cafe. So we started with 3 at HBC then by the end had about 8 kids who all caught up to us walking. For that internet cafe we helped the kids make email and facebook accounts. They were all so happy to do this! It was slightly frustrating though, because a lot of the emails wouldn't work because the servers (hotmail, google etc) were not allowing that many new emails within the same IP address. Some kids didn't end up getting their accounts set up.
On our class on Thursday with the HBC kids, we were all there, except for our translator who was a bit late. So we ended up just playing some games while we waited. They are all okay at English but we didn't want to start the lesson yet. We played duck duck goose with them, even though they are probably too old for that game (9- 15 years old). There's also no word for goose in Swahili so we changed it to duck, duck, chicken (in Swahili: Bata, bata, kuku). It was still so funny, they were running around and laughing so much so they had fun anyways. Then we started teaching English class.
Anyways, I have to go again now,
Friday- We left for our trip to Zanzibar! It was amazing!
I'm going to write my next blog when I have time about Zanzibar!
Love: Jenn
Monday, 27 June 2011
Monday, 13 June 2011
Uluguru Mountain!
Saturday-
We woke up early, and met at Coffee Corner- with Frankie and Baisa who were taking us up the mountain today. We left and started walking towards the mountain at 7am. We stopped to get some water, and sugar powder to help keep us going up the mountain.
The first part of the mountain was a paved road, while a steady slope upwards. Then it turned into dirt roads and the slope was getting steeper. We saw many people walking down this road with bananas and other fruits in baskets on their heads. They get all the food in the mountain, go into town to sell it, and then repeat this throughout the day. They are in really great shape, because walking uphill there was tiring, and while carrying stuff on their heads- it's amazing. So, I was tired already and we just started. I am so out of shape right now, so the beginning was pretty hard. Anyways, we kept going, and taking little breaks here and there. As we kept going I felt better- still exhausted but I felt like I could keep going despite being tired. We passed through little communities here and there, and by people's houses with kids playing everywhere. The view was already amazing as we were going up.
We passed by waterfalls here and there and I was sweating so much, so I completely drenched myself under the little waterfalls. It was so refreshing. Kept going, and there were really steep parts now. It was really challenging now. There was a part with long grass and the tiniest little path we had to follow and be careful since on the one side of the path there was a drop-off pretty much. It was very thrilling, and still tiring.
Finally we got to the jungle part of the mountain. This was about an hour away from the top- the jungle was amazing, I loved it, there were huge trees above us so the sun wasn't shining on us, making us even hotter. It was cooler now, but still huge steep slopes every now and then.
One funny part- was when Frankie and I were hiking along, Frankie made a random noise and yelled it out. Then literally 20 seconds later, we heard a monkey repeating pretty much the same noise back. We couldn't believe that actually happened. Frankie did it again, and it replied again- it was so funny! We didn't actually see the monkey though- too bad!
Soooo! finally we get to the top. It was a 1.6 km hike up the mountain, so not that bad- but pretty bad since it was steep and I was so out of shape.
I was so happy to get to the top!!!
There's a tower at the top for radio and communication lines. And a man who takes shifts at the top of the mountain to guard the top.
We had Ugali (maize flour and water mixed and cooked together) and Samaki (fish) for lunch! Delicious!
It was great to be up there- the only problem was that we were in the middle of the clouds- so we couldn't see anything below us. I really wanted to see the view, it would've been great, and we waited a while and hung out to see if the clouds would clear, but they didn't. So we didn't really get any good pictures from the top!
On the way back down, it was really hard too- since it was steep you could fall, so we had to go slowly and carefully. My toes hurt so much since they were sliding forward in my shoes from going down the mountain and trying to go slowly.
Finally got to town once again, I was so sore- and had little plants (like burrs) stuck all over me, and stuff in my hair.
We went to the supermarket to get more water and snacks, and then took a taxi home- too tired to walk the rest of the way home.
Frankie and Baisa weren't even tired, I couldn't believe it, but they've climbed the mountain many times before so I guess they are used to it.
Anyways, it's two days after the climb and I'm still sore. Hopefully my muscles feel better tomorrow!
Miss and love you all!
Love: Jenn
We woke up early, and met at Coffee Corner- with Frankie and Baisa who were taking us up the mountain today. We left and started walking towards the mountain at 7am. We stopped to get some water, and sugar powder to help keep us going up the mountain.
The first part of the mountain was a paved road, while a steady slope upwards. Then it turned into dirt roads and the slope was getting steeper. We saw many people walking down this road with bananas and other fruits in baskets on their heads. They get all the food in the mountain, go into town to sell it, and then repeat this throughout the day. They are in really great shape, because walking uphill there was tiring, and while carrying stuff on their heads- it's amazing. So, I was tired already and we just started. I am so out of shape right now, so the beginning was pretty hard. Anyways, we kept going, and taking little breaks here and there. As we kept going I felt better- still exhausted but I felt like I could keep going despite being tired. We passed through little communities here and there, and by people's houses with kids playing everywhere. The view was already amazing as we were going up.
We passed by waterfalls here and there and I was sweating so much, so I completely drenched myself under the little waterfalls. It was so refreshing. Kept going, and there were really steep parts now. It was really challenging now. There was a part with long grass and the tiniest little path we had to follow and be careful since on the one side of the path there was a drop-off pretty much. It was very thrilling, and still tiring.
Finally we got to the jungle part of the mountain. This was about an hour away from the top- the jungle was amazing, I loved it, there were huge trees above us so the sun wasn't shining on us, making us even hotter. It was cooler now, but still huge steep slopes every now and then.
One funny part- was when Frankie and I were hiking along, Frankie made a random noise and yelled it out. Then literally 20 seconds later, we heard a monkey repeating pretty much the same noise back. We couldn't believe that actually happened. Frankie did it again, and it replied again- it was so funny! We didn't actually see the monkey though- too bad!
Soooo! finally we get to the top. It was a 1.6 km hike up the mountain, so not that bad- but pretty bad since it was steep and I was so out of shape.
I was so happy to get to the top!!!
There's a tower at the top for radio and communication lines. And a man who takes shifts at the top of the mountain to guard the top.
We had Ugali (maize flour and water mixed and cooked together) and Samaki (fish) for lunch! Delicious!
It was great to be up there- the only problem was that we were in the middle of the clouds- so we couldn't see anything below us. I really wanted to see the view, it would've been great, and we waited a while and hung out to see if the clouds would clear, but they didn't. So we didn't really get any good pictures from the top!
On the way back down, it was really hard too- since it was steep you could fall, so we had to go slowly and carefully. My toes hurt so much since they were sliding forward in my shoes from going down the mountain and trying to go slowly.
Finally got to town once again, I was so sore- and had little plants (like burrs) stuck all over me, and stuff in my hair.
We went to the supermarket to get more water and snacks, and then took a taxi home- too tired to walk the rest of the way home.
Frankie and Baisa weren't even tired, I couldn't believe it, but they've climbed the mountain many times before so I guess they are used to it.
Anyways, it's two days after the climb and I'm still sore. Hopefully my muscles feel better tomorrow!
Miss and love you all!
Love: Jenn
Week 5/ Bonanza
Mambo Vipi!
Hey Everyone!
So, last week was a busy one! I didn't have time to update my blog at all! From Monday to Friday it was go go go. We had a lot of activities going on and the regular classes as well.
This week was all about malaria pretty much. Jamie and I went on Tuesday to teach the drama club about malaria so that they could use their new information for new skits they would create for presentations.
On Wednesday Anthony and I went to a rural village called Kinole. It was about 2 hours away driving. We went with other Faraja staff, and make some stops along the way, for their meetings they had to follow up with. It was an amazing drive there. We started on paved roads, but soon it turned to dirt roads, and the drive was really bumpy, and squishy (4 of us in the back seat). That day I felt pretty sick- just a headache and sore throat, but the view was amazing so I couldn't imagine sleeping. Plus, the roads were way to bumpy to be able to sleep. We were driving pretty much through all the mountains, and valleys and there were palm trees everywhere. At some points it was really tall grass on both sides of the road, so we were really in the wilderness. Then we would stop by a little community for the staff to have their meetings, and people were all over the place selling things, in their shops, carrying bananas in baskets on their heads and all looking at us driving through their little town. We also stopped at a little hospital- which all rural villages must have, and one of the Mama's with us was going their to have a meeting. We finally continued on our way and made it to Kinole. The purpose of this trip was for preparing for the big Bonanza we were having there at this primary school on Friday. It was going to be a big event- for students, community members, friends and family to all attend. The focus of the event was HIV/AIDS and Malaria and there were football (soccer) tournaments and a netball game. Anthony and I went to talk with the football teams and netball teams about Malaria to educate them, so that they could educate the rest of their teams and be prepared for Friday's event. It went really well, and then we drove home.
I went to bed pretty early, since I was feeling sick. Thursday I had health class at the Street Side School and English class at HBC. They both went well!
Friday, we left for the office, really early in the morning. We had to be there at 7am. No one was there when we got there, except for a few drama club members. So we went to get some breakfast- Mendazi- Like little doughnuts. We went back to the office, and slowly more people showed up. By the time everyone arrived and all the supplies, speakers and generator and prizes were all packed up, we left around 2 and a half hours later. Most people were in a huge open-backed truck, with all the speakers, music equipment, the Chamwino soccer team, drama club etc. We went in a Faraja car- and got there in an hour, which was a lot faster than last time.
Bonanza
We get there, but the truck was going to be a while behind us, since it is pretty big, and the roads were really bad, so they would be about 45 minutes after us. We got some chai (tea) and chapatti (crepe-type thing), and waited around. Frankie, one of our local volunteers, got a group of the primary school students involved in some activities, dancing and singing while we waited. It was really amazing to see all these kids listening to Frankie and singing along. The primary school was closed on this day, so all the students were there for the Bonanza event.
Finally the big truck arrived with everyone else. We started setting up. Unfortunately the generator wasn't working, so for about another hour everyone was just sitting and waiting around. The soccer teams were warming up. So instead of starting with the presentations, we started the soccer games. The games went really well- and so many community members were now there watching and getting involved. By the end of the day there were probably around 1000 people there- It was amazing!
The games continued, then a netball game was played. There were dancing competitions, music being played, it was great. We talked about malaria once again with the soccer teams, and another group talked about HIV/AIDS. During the half time or end of each of the games, we went over with our bananas and condoms and did a condom demonstration, since we were emphasizing using condoms to prevent HIV and STI's. Everyone was very interested in the condoms- which was good, since this was a rural community in the middle of the mountains, so they don't get much outside education all the time regarding safety and protected sex. We brought about 20 huge boxes of condoms and ended up giving away all of them, while doing condom demonstrations. It was really an experience, and I was happy to see that everyone was eager to learn how and why to use condoms. (These demonstrations were only done for the teams who were older-in their 20's-30's, as well as adult community members).
Anyways, the day went on, and everything was wrapping up. The drama club did their malaria presentations. There were songs sung by a group of students who are involved with HIV/AIDS and Malaria education and awareness. At the very end, everyone was crowded around- there was a presentation area with rope to keep everyone back a certain distance, but everyone was a lot closer now, since there were so many people. There was a table with 4 chairs at the front- with Norbert (a director at Faraja Trust Fund) and Mahkoti- our project manager, and then Devon and I ended up being asked to sit there with them. I really did not expect this, but we ended up being there, while prizes were given out, awards etc, and so they came up to shake our hands. Norbert asked me if I wanted to say anything- and I didn't really want to, since there were so many people. But then I all of a sudden had the mic in my hand, so I just gave a quick thank you speech, while it was translated. It was pretty scary, in front of all those people, but not that bad.
Finally, at the end, they made us volunteers come into the middle to thank us. But then they made us have to dance. It was pretty embarrassing/funny, everyone was watching us, as we just danced as best we could. Sooooo funny. And it's on video! Great! Anyways, at the end, everyone was tired, we took the car back and made it home. We walked home once we got to the office. Pretty tired after that day, and we had to wake up early the next day- to climb Uluguru mountain!!!
Love: Jenn
Hey Everyone!
So, last week was a busy one! I didn't have time to update my blog at all! From Monday to Friday it was go go go. We had a lot of activities going on and the regular classes as well.
This week was all about malaria pretty much. Jamie and I went on Tuesday to teach the drama club about malaria so that they could use their new information for new skits they would create for presentations.
On Wednesday Anthony and I went to a rural village called Kinole. It was about 2 hours away driving. We went with other Faraja staff, and make some stops along the way, for their meetings they had to follow up with. It was an amazing drive there. We started on paved roads, but soon it turned to dirt roads, and the drive was really bumpy, and squishy (4 of us in the back seat). That day I felt pretty sick- just a headache and sore throat, but the view was amazing so I couldn't imagine sleeping. Plus, the roads were way to bumpy to be able to sleep. We were driving pretty much through all the mountains, and valleys and there were palm trees everywhere. At some points it was really tall grass on both sides of the road, so we were really in the wilderness. Then we would stop by a little community for the staff to have their meetings, and people were all over the place selling things, in their shops, carrying bananas in baskets on their heads and all looking at us driving through their little town. We also stopped at a little hospital- which all rural villages must have, and one of the Mama's with us was going their to have a meeting. We finally continued on our way and made it to Kinole. The purpose of this trip was for preparing for the big Bonanza we were having there at this primary school on Friday. It was going to be a big event- for students, community members, friends and family to all attend. The focus of the event was HIV/AIDS and Malaria and there were football (soccer) tournaments and a netball game. Anthony and I went to talk with the football teams and netball teams about Malaria to educate them, so that they could educate the rest of their teams and be prepared for Friday's event. It went really well, and then we drove home.
I went to bed pretty early, since I was feeling sick. Thursday I had health class at the Street Side School and English class at HBC. They both went well!
Friday, we left for the office, really early in the morning. We had to be there at 7am. No one was there when we got there, except for a few drama club members. So we went to get some breakfast- Mendazi- Like little doughnuts. We went back to the office, and slowly more people showed up. By the time everyone arrived and all the supplies, speakers and generator and prizes were all packed up, we left around 2 and a half hours later. Most people were in a huge open-backed truck, with all the speakers, music equipment, the Chamwino soccer team, drama club etc. We went in a Faraja car- and got there in an hour, which was a lot faster than last time.
Bonanza
We get there, but the truck was going to be a while behind us, since it is pretty big, and the roads were really bad, so they would be about 45 minutes after us. We got some chai (tea) and chapatti (crepe-type thing), and waited around. Frankie, one of our local volunteers, got a group of the primary school students involved in some activities, dancing and singing while we waited. It was really amazing to see all these kids listening to Frankie and singing along. The primary school was closed on this day, so all the students were there for the Bonanza event.
Finally the big truck arrived with everyone else. We started setting up. Unfortunately the generator wasn't working, so for about another hour everyone was just sitting and waiting around. The soccer teams were warming up. So instead of starting with the presentations, we started the soccer games. The games went really well- and so many community members were now there watching and getting involved. By the end of the day there were probably around 1000 people there- It was amazing!
The games continued, then a netball game was played. There were dancing competitions, music being played, it was great. We talked about malaria once again with the soccer teams, and another group talked about HIV/AIDS. During the half time or end of each of the games, we went over with our bananas and condoms and did a condom demonstration, since we were emphasizing using condoms to prevent HIV and STI's. Everyone was very interested in the condoms- which was good, since this was a rural community in the middle of the mountains, so they don't get much outside education all the time regarding safety and protected sex. We brought about 20 huge boxes of condoms and ended up giving away all of them, while doing condom demonstrations. It was really an experience, and I was happy to see that everyone was eager to learn how and why to use condoms. (These demonstrations were only done for the teams who were older-in their 20's-30's, as well as adult community members).
Anyways, the day went on, and everything was wrapping up. The drama club did their malaria presentations. There were songs sung by a group of students who are involved with HIV/AIDS and Malaria education and awareness. At the very end, everyone was crowded around- there was a presentation area with rope to keep everyone back a certain distance, but everyone was a lot closer now, since there were so many people. There was a table with 4 chairs at the front- with Norbert (a director at Faraja Trust Fund) and Mahkoti- our project manager, and then Devon and I ended up being asked to sit there with them. I really did not expect this, but we ended up being there, while prizes were given out, awards etc, and so they came up to shake our hands. Norbert asked me if I wanted to say anything- and I didn't really want to, since there were so many people. But then I all of a sudden had the mic in my hand, so I just gave a quick thank you speech, while it was translated. It was pretty scary, in front of all those people, but not that bad.
Finally, at the end, they made us volunteers come into the middle to thank us. But then they made us have to dance. It was pretty embarrassing/funny, everyone was watching us, as we just danced as best we could. Sooooo funny. And it's on video! Great! Anyways, at the end, everyone was tired, we took the car back and made it home. We walked home once we got to the office. Pretty tired after that day, and we had to wake up early the next day- to climb Uluguru mountain!!!
Love: Jenn
Sunday, 5 June 2011
Weekend!
Sooo, after Girls Club on Friday, we went home showered and got ready to go to SUA- University of Agriculture for their event. They were having a big talent show type event, and a Mr. and Miss. SUA competition. It was really exciting to go to a university event, and it's not too far from where we live. There were 2 stages, and it was outdoors, with tables and chairs and everyone was really dressed up. There were really cool performances- singers, rappers, dancers and comedy. We obviously didn't understand anything- but it was still fun to watch the performances. The MC was this pretty famous rapper/singer in Morogoro, so we said hi to him when we first got there, we had met him before since he is good friends with Mahko (our manager).
Anyways, the performances were amazing, and the talent competition was really cool too. We stayed till the end, and I got pretty tired by then, and it started to rain a bit. But despite the rain people were still all dancing to the music and having a great time! So yeah, I'm glad we went to that event.
Saturday, I slept in- so nice! I haven't slept in for a while so that was good. Woke up, ate breakfast- chapatti (like a pancake/crepe thing). Then we just hung out around the house for a bit. We went to the market with our neighbours for bit, and just wandered around for a bit. Then I came home and did nothing. We had dinner, and then we watched a Swahili movie. Normally they have English subtitles so we can understand what is going on, but this time there weren't. But it was still easy to follow. Finally, got tired and went to bed!
Sunday, I slept in too, but not as late. We had Mendazi (not sure how to spell)- but it's like a little doughnut/timbit type thing. Really delicious, and I ate so many of them. Then we went over to Devon and Anthony's house to visit Devon, since he was pretty sick so we wanted to see how he was doing. Their Mama Abdul, ended up making us eat there too, so we had to eat once again, and I was so full, but their food was really good! Devon is feeling better too, so that's really good!
Anyways, I went to bed early yesterday, and just rested, I'm not sure why, but I was so tired yesterday. Then woke up early and now I'm here.
We have our weekly meeting soon that we are going to, since Friday it was cancelled. Then just more planning for tonight's computer class!
Not much else going on right now... But I'll update again soon!
Love: Jenn
Anyways, the performances were amazing, and the talent competition was really cool too. We stayed till the end, and I got pretty tired by then, and it started to rain a bit. But despite the rain people were still all dancing to the music and having a great time! So yeah, I'm glad we went to that event.
Saturday, I slept in- so nice! I haven't slept in for a while so that was good. Woke up, ate breakfast- chapatti (like a pancake/crepe thing). Then we just hung out around the house for a bit. We went to the market with our neighbours for bit, and just wandered around for a bit. Then I came home and did nothing. We had dinner, and then we watched a Swahili movie. Normally they have English subtitles so we can understand what is going on, but this time there weren't. But it was still easy to follow. Finally, got tired and went to bed!
Sunday, I slept in too, but not as late. We had Mendazi (not sure how to spell)- but it's like a little doughnut/timbit type thing. Really delicious, and I ate so many of them. Then we went over to Devon and Anthony's house to visit Devon, since he was pretty sick so we wanted to see how he was doing. Their Mama Abdul, ended up making us eat there too, so we had to eat once again, and I was so full, but their food was really good! Devon is feeling better too, so that's really good!
Anyways, I went to bed early yesterday, and just rested, I'm not sure why, but I was so tired yesterday. Then woke up early and now I'm here.
We have our weekly meeting soon that we are going to, since Friday it was cancelled. Then just more planning for tonight's computer class!
Not much else going on right now... But I'll update again soon!
Love: Jenn
Friday, 3 June 2011
Friday, June 3rd
Heyyyy
SO this week went by extremely fast! We were busy running around from class to class, planning and preparing and everything went really well.
Today I woke up, ready for our weekly meeting where we discuss how everything went, and if there were any problems. But our meeting was cancelled so we didn't have to go to that. We went to get some yummy passionfruit and watermelon juice from a restaurant called Ricki's. It was delcious. Then Anthony and I had life skills class, so we went, but there were no kids at the street side school. We found out they got sent home becuase the teachers were having a meeting and the kids were being to noisy.
So now I am here, but only have 30 secs left on the internet. We are going for lunch and then I have girls club tonight! So I'll be back on later!
Bye for now!
Love: Jenn
SO this week went by extremely fast! We were busy running around from class to class, planning and preparing and everything went really well.
Today I woke up, ready for our weekly meeting where we discuss how everything went, and if there were any problems. But our meeting was cancelled so we didn't have to go to that. We went to get some yummy passionfruit and watermelon juice from a restaurant called Ricki's. It was delcious. Then Anthony and I had life skills class, so we went, but there were no kids at the street side school. We found out they got sent home becuase the teachers were having a meeting and the kids were being to noisy.
So now I am here, but only have 30 secs left on the internet. We are going for lunch and then I have girls club tonight! So I'll be back on later!
Bye for now!
Love: Jenn
Sunday, 29 May 2011
3rd week/Play Day/ Rock garden
Hey everyone!
Another week has gone by... So 3 weeks now! It's crazy, I still can't believe it, time if flying. When I left I thought 2 months is so long, but it's actually going pretty fast.
Anyways this week went pretty well, and fast. We had a whole bunch of classes that all went really well, and now we are getting fully into all the programs and know what is going on, compared to the first week of orientation.
On Tuesday, we had a workshop for the rural community "Mikese" that we are working with for the next 2 months. We have prepared 5 different workshop presentations to adults living with HIV, in order to help educate, encourage and provide resources so that they can act as peer educators in their village from then on. The first presentation was Jamie and I, and we did a talk about STI's, and everything about them, and then after that the Mama's from Faraja Trust Fund, continued with HIV/AIDS group work, information and more. The whole presentation went really well, and in the feedback, everyone was grateful and learned a lot!
Wednesday, I had life skills class, where our topic today was on Self-esteem and building self-esteem. It went pretty well, but there are a lot of kids (35) and they can get pretty rowdy sometimes. Then we had the internet cafe session from 3-5, where we take our HBC youth living with HIV, to an internet cafe and have a lesson plan for each week. This was the first time, and a lot of our students have very basic computer skills. So we worked on a program that has typing practice so that they can get used to using a keyboard. They all enjoyed it a lot, and got better by the end of the class. I love these kids so much, and while we were waiting for computers to become available we were waiting on the balcony, and they kept taking so many pictures with my camera. They are all so funny, and were making funny faces or doing dances in front of the camera.
Okay, so then Thursday was Devon's birthday, which I already mentioned, and we went out for dinner and it was really nice, and lots of us from YCI all went together. We got Devon a really nice bongo drum, it's sweet!
PLAY DAY
Saturday, was play day, for really young infants up to young teenagers, and we all gathered at HBC. There were so many kids there it was great. I got out all of my colouring stuff, like coloured paper, markers/crayons and stickers and had a little group of kids join me, and we all coloured pictures together. They were all having so much fun. Others kids were playing with balloons, soccer balls, bubbles, running around laughing. It was a really fun time, and I loved playing with all the little kids. This Play Day is to help reduce the stigma regarding HIV, and so bringing so many kids and parents and friends all together enjoying the day really helps. We also had lunch there, which was served to everyone (rice, beans and cabbage). After lunch we just waited around for everything to get sorted, so we were still playing with the kids, picking them up, hugging them, tickling them, they love it all, and are so happy to get to play all together.
We had a dala dala that was taking us YCI volunteers and the older kids, to Rock Garden next. Rock Garden is amazing, it's pretty much a river through a jungle-looking forest, with little waterfalls running through it, and big rocks everywhere. The path towards the river was made of a whole bunch of rocks as well. It was so beautiful there. Anyways, we all went swimming/ wading through the river, climbing rocks and it was great. I have lots of pictures of this as well.
We all got sodas as well, so it was a nice little outing for everyone. We took the dala dala and got dropped off near our house.
Then we went to Magunda's (our local YCI volunteer) basketball game (at Bwalo). It was really nice to see him play, and to do something outside of our work schedule. I also bought a pretty colourful skirt while walking there in a shop (duka) along the way.
We got home eventually, and had dinner (wali (rice), bata (duck), mboga (spinach). It was delicious.
Today (Sunday), I slept in, until 11:30am, which was soooo nice! I haven't been able to do that in a while, and I'm not a morning person, so waking up early every day is tiring. My sleep was pretty good, despite all the loud bongo flava playing and our neighbour mtoto (baby) Maggi crying. We hung out at home, with Mama, Mwendy and Zabi, for a bit, had lunch and then met up with Jamie, Larissa, Monica and her boyfriend HP. We went to the market, which was amazingly busy today. It was the same one we went to with Mama last week, but we didn't go through the clothes section with her. It's so neat, there's shops all along side one another, with cardboard type roofs above us, and people everywhere and clothes everywhere. People yelling out prices of their products, some with mega phones, other singing songs. People standing up on tables trying to sell men's pants, holding them up, while people are watching and listening to them. Apparently, people steal quite a bit here, so we had to hold our purses really tight and in front of us. But nothing happened, and everything was fine. We found one table with some shirts, and ended up finding a lot of good stuff. It's really interesting, seeing all the brand clothing from Canada and the States all in piles of tables here in Tanzania. There was banana republic, old navy, gap, bluenotes, h&m and more, and it was just weird seeing all this, and I still wonder how it manages to get here, and in such good quality still. I ended up buying two shirts, for 2000 each Shillings, which is $2.50 approximately in total, so VERY cheap.
Anyways, it was a great experience to go there, and I for sure want to go again soon. We left, and went to a little restaurant, I didn't get any food, since I was still full but I got this juice (mango and passion fruit) it was sooooo yummy. This was about 30 cents Canadian for a tall glass of fresh juice.
Then I came here, (internet cafe). So yes, that's what happened this week.
We are going to leave soon, but we need to first go to a store and buy some food items for Mama (margerine, milk powder, mustard, tomato sauce- which is supposedly ketchup but not really at all).
Good bye for now! miss everyone
Love Jenn
Another week has gone by... So 3 weeks now! It's crazy, I still can't believe it, time if flying. When I left I thought 2 months is so long, but it's actually going pretty fast.
Anyways this week went pretty well, and fast. We had a whole bunch of classes that all went really well, and now we are getting fully into all the programs and know what is going on, compared to the first week of orientation.
On Tuesday, we had a workshop for the rural community "Mikese" that we are working with for the next 2 months. We have prepared 5 different workshop presentations to adults living with HIV, in order to help educate, encourage and provide resources so that they can act as peer educators in their village from then on. The first presentation was Jamie and I, and we did a talk about STI's, and everything about them, and then after that the Mama's from Faraja Trust Fund, continued with HIV/AIDS group work, information and more. The whole presentation went really well, and in the feedback, everyone was grateful and learned a lot!
Wednesday, I had life skills class, where our topic today was on Self-esteem and building self-esteem. It went pretty well, but there are a lot of kids (35) and they can get pretty rowdy sometimes. Then we had the internet cafe session from 3-5, where we take our HBC youth living with HIV, to an internet cafe and have a lesson plan for each week. This was the first time, and a lot of our students have very basic computer skills. So we worked on a program that has typing practice so that they can get used to using a keyboard. They all enjoyed it a lot, and got better by the end of the class. I love these kids so much, and while we were waiting for computers to become available we were waiting on the balcony, and they kept taking so many pictures with my camera. They are all so funny, and were making funny faces or doing dances in front of the camera.
Okay, so then Thursday was Devon's birthday, which I already mentioned, and we went out for dinner and it was really nice, and lots of us from YCI all went together. We got Devon a really nice bongo drum, it's sweet!
PLAY DAY
Saturday, was play day, for really young infants up to young teenagers, and we all gathered at HBC. There were so many kids there it was great. I got out all of my colouring stuff, like coloured paper, markers/crayons and stickers and had a little group of kids join me, and we all coloured pictures together. They were all having so much fun. Others kids were playing with balloons, soccer balls, bubbles, running around laughing. It was a really fun time, and I loved playing with all the little kids. This Play Day is to help reduce the stigma regarding HIV, and so bringing so many kids and parents and friends all together enjoying the day really helps. We also had lunch there, which was served to everyone (rice, beans and cabbage). After lunch we just waited around for everything to get sorted, so we were still playing with the kids, picking them up, hugging them, tickling them, they love it all, and are so happy to get to play all together.
We had a dala dala that was taking us YCI volunteers and the older kids, to Rock Garden next. Rock Garden is amazing, it's pretty much a river through a jungle-looking forest, with little waterfalls running through it, and big rocks everywhere. The path towards the river was made of a whole bunch of rocks as well. It was so beautiful there. Anyways, we all went swimming/ wading through the river, climbing rocks and it was great. I have lots of pictures of this as well.
We all got sodas as well, so it was a nice little outing for everyone. We took the dala dala and got dropped off near our house.
Then we went to Magunda's (our local YCI volunteer) basketball game (at Bwalo). It was really nice to see him play, and to do something outside of our work schedule. I also bought a pretty colourful skirt while walking there in a shop (duka) along the way.
We got home eventually, and had dinner (wali (rice), bata (duck), mboga (spinach). It was delicious.
Today (Sunday), I slept in, until 11:30am, which was soooo nice! I haven't been able to do that in a while, and I'm not a morning person, so waking up early every day is tiring. My sleep was pretty good, despite all the loud bongo flava playing and our neighbour mtoto (baby) Maggi crying. We hung out at home, with Mama, Mwendy and Zabi, for a bit, had lunch and then met up with Jamie, Larissa, Monica and her boyfriend HP. We went to the market, which was amazingly busy today. It was the same one we went to with Mama last week, but we didn't go through the clothes section with her. It's so neat, there's shops all along side one another, with cardboard type roofs above us, and people everywhere and clothes everywhere. People yelling out prices of their products, some with mega phones, other singing songs. People standing up on tables trying to sell men's pants, holding them up, while people are watching and listening to them. Apparently, people steal quite a bit here, so we had to hold our purses really tight and in front of us. But nothing happened, and everything was fine. We found one table with some shirts, and ended up finding a lot of good stuff. It's really interesting, seeing all the brand clothing from Canada and the States all in piles of tables here in Tanzania. There was banana republic, old navy, gap, bluenotes, h&m and more, and it was just weird seeing all this, and I still wonder how it manages to get here, and in such good quality still. I ended up buying two shirts, for 2000 each Shillings, which is $2.50 approximately in total, so VERY cheap.
Anyways, it was a great experience to go there, and I for sure want to go again soon. We left, and went to a little restaurant, I didn't get any food, since I was still full but I got this juice (mango and passion fruit) it was sooooo yummy. This was about 30 cents Canadian for a tall glass of fresh juice.
Then I came here, (internet cafe). So yes, that's what happened this week.
We are going to leave soon, but we need to first go to a store and buy some food items for Mama (margerine, milk powder, mustard, tomato sauce- which is supposedly ketchup but not really at all).
Good bye for now! miss everyone
Love Jenn
Thursday, 26 May 2011
SAFARI!
Mambo vipi!
So, on the weekend we did our first weekend trip, to Mikumi National Park for our safari. We woke up on Saturday, around 7:30am and got picked up by the safari driver around 8:30am. The drive to Mikumi was beautiful, it was a nice, sunny day and the mountains were surrounding us in all directions. They are so amazing to look at, and you can never get bored looking at them. The drive was about an hour, and finally we entered the park. Right when we crossed the sign for Mikumi park, there were baboons everywhere. Not sure if it's always like this, or if they somehow do that for the tourists. Next a little further away we saw giraffes, about 10. One of them was so cute, and close to us and just staring at us, so our pictures are great. We drove past the actual game drive entrance, went closer to Mikumi town and got some food for lunch later. Then went into the actual park for our game drive. We saw soo many animals, it was amazing: Tembo (elephants), Twiga (giraffe), mpala (antelope), baboons, simba (lion), wildebeast, water buffalo, a pretty fluorescent coloured bird, warthogs, hippos and more! It was so much fun. By the end of a few hours, around 5 ish I think, we went to where we were sleeping. The company we were with is called Bush Routes, and the overnight stay is at a campsite, with tents. The camp was off road, and the road was really in the wildnerness, huge potholes, pretty exciting. We got our tents, then a campfire was started. We all sat around the fire, it was nice reminded me of up North in Ontario, but in Africa.
We had dinner there, really good food, homemade soup, vegetable stew, chipsi and fruit (papaya, banana, pineapple).
Next day, we woke up early, ate breakfast, and then went off for another game drive. We saw a bunch of animals again, except today we didn't find any Simba's, too bad.
Went back to the camp, ate lunch and drove back to Morogoro.
Overall, the trip was great, I loved it, and the campsite was really good, food was good, so yeah, we all enjoyed it a lot.
Anyways, we got home from the safari, and hung out in our backyard with our family. It's so funny, because whenever we get home now, Mwendy (the little 5 year old boy), runs up to us screaming and is so happy. I'm glad he likes us now. Then we went to the market with Mama and Mwendy. It's very busy, and people everywhere, and very exciting. There are little sidewalk type things, but then all of a sudden a motorcycle (piki piki) will be right behind us honking, and trying to get by, while everyone is all walking so close to each other. It was exciting, we got some meat for dinner, and some mangoes and oranges. Mwendy also got a toy water gun.
As we were leaving, all of a sudden people start running by us, all in the same direction. It was really interesting to see, as people running from everywhere were going towards one direction, jumping over hedges, and with sticks in their hand. We asked Mama what was happening, and she said there is a thief, so they are all chasing him. The other day, we also found out that the way it works here, is that for justice, if someone does something illegal or bad in the community, everyone goes and "beats" the person. It all seems very crazy in a way, but we also found out that, the police aren't always there to help or might be corrupt, so the people of the community just have to serve justice themselves. Again, another big change for me, and especially to witness first hand. We were far away from the actual thief though, so we just saw people running in one direction. It can be very dangerous sometimes, and so there is no need to go look and see what is happening. We continued on our way back home after that.
As we walk down the street, music gets louder, and there is a huge crowd of people in front of us. There are babies, children, teenagers, moms, dads, all together listening to music together and dancing. It looked like so much fun, there were probably more than 50 people in that one little part of the street. I really enjoyed seeing this, as everyone comes together enjoying each other's company and dancing and singing. It was sooo nice to see, and in a way wished that happened in our culture.
That's another difference I've found here. The culture of time.
As we've been here so far, we were told before and it's been reinforced that time here is very important. What I'm trying to say is, everyone takes each moment of life and appreciates it so much. In our culture back home, we are used to routine, schedules, being on time, always rushed and in turn becoming stressed. IT is much more relaxed, laid back and each moment is special. That does not mean that work here is not taken seriously, everyone here works very hard from people pushing huge carts of heavy supplies like wood down the street in the middle of the day in the heat, to people in offices working hard to make change in community issues. The point is, is that people are very happy to meet others on the street, talk to one another, asked about each other's family, how everyone is doing and not be prone to rush off, because they are late for something. Therefore, one thing to get used to is schedules being changed, start times of events or classes being pushed back a few minutes, to an hour depending. People still think where ever they are going is important, it's just that they think every moment is valuable, and so to cherish all of them.
I really like this way of thinking, and this culture because of that reason. I don't feel stressed, I feel like everything works it way around things, and gets accomplished anyways. I am also happy that everyone is so friendly and welcoming.
Anyways, I am at the YCI office right now. I need to continue doing planning and preparing. I have life skills class tomorrow, and then Girls Club, so I need to do some more research. Then on Saturday we have Play Day, for the kids and youth living with HIV, to decrease stigma, and all be together playing. There is also a presentation for the older youth that happens about early pregnancy, condom use and general sexual reproductive education.
Also today is Devon's (part of my group) birthday, so we are all going our for dinner at this restaurant, we are going to have a cake and everything! So I'm excited for that tonight!
Alrighty, I will update again soon.
Need to keep working!
Hope everyone is doing great! Love and miss you all!
Love: Jenn
So, on the weekend we did our first weekend trip, to Mikumi National Park for our safari. We woke up on Saturday, around 7:30am and got picked up by the safari driver around 8:30am. The drive to Mikumi was beautiful, it was a nice, sunny day and the mountains were surrounding us in all directions. They are so amazing to look at, and you can never get bored looking at them. The drive was about an hour, and finally we entered the park. Right when we crossed the sign for Mikumi park, there were baboons everywhere. Not sure if it's always like this, or if they somehow do that for the tourists. Next a little further away we saw giraffes, about 10. One of them was so cute, and close to us and just staring at us, so our pictures are great. We drove past the actual game drive entrance, went closer to Mikumi town and got some food for lunch later. Then went into the actual park for our game drive. We saw soo many animals, it was amazing: Tembo (elephants), Twiga (giraffe), mpala (antelope), baboons, simba (lion), wildebeast, water buffalo, a pretty fluorescent coloured bird, warthogs, hippos and more! It was so much fun. By the end of a few hours, around 5 ish I think, we went to where we were sleeping. The company we were with is called Bush Routes, and the overnight stay is at a campsite, with tents. The camp was off road, and the road was really in the wildnerness, huge potholes, pretty exciting. We got our tents, then a campfire was started. We all sat around the fire, it was nice reminded me of up North in Ontario, but in Africa.
We had dinner there, really good food, homemade soup, vegetable stew, chipsi and fruit (papaya, banana, pineapple).
Next day, we woke up early, ate breakfast, and then went off for another game drive. We saw a bunch of animals again, except today we didn't find any Simba's, too bad.
Went back to the camp, ate lunch and drove back to Morogoro.
Overall, the trip was great, I loved it, and the campsite was really good, food was good, so yeah, we all enjoyed it a lot.
Anyways, we got home from the safari, and hung out in our backyard with our family. It's so funny, because whenever we get home now, Mwendy (the little 5 year old boy), runs up to us screaming and is so happy. I'm glad he likes us now. Then we went to the market with Mama and Mwendy. It's very busy, and people everywhere, and very exciting. There are little sidewalk type things, but then all of a sudden a motorcycle (piki piki) will be right behind us honking, and trying to get by, while everyone is all walking so close to each other. It was exciting, we got some meat for dinner, and some mangoes and oranges. Mwendy also got a toy water gun.
As we were leaving, all of a sudden people start running by us, all in the same direction. It was really interesting to see, as people running from everywhere were going towards one direction, jumping over hedges, and with sticks in their hand. We asked Mama what was happening, and she said there is a thief, so they are all chasing him. The other day, we also found out that the way it works here, is that for justice, if someone does something illegal or bad in the community, everyone goes and "beats" the person. It all seems very crazy in a way, but we also found out that, the police aren't always there to help or might be corrupt, so the people of the community just have to serve justice themselves. Again, another big change for me, and especially to witness first hand. We were far away from the actual thief though, so we just saw people running in one direction. It can be very dangerous sometimes, and so there is no need to go look and see what is happening. We continued on our way back home after that.
As we walk down the street, music gets louder, and there is a huge crowd of people in front of us. There are babies, children, teenagers, moms, dads, all together listening to music together and dancing. It looked like so much fun, there were probably more than 50 people in that one little part of the street. I really enjoyed seeing this, as everyone comes together enjoying each other's company and dancing and singing. It was sooo nice to see, and in a way wished that happened in our culture.
That's another difference I've found here. The culture of time.
As we've been here so far, we were told before and it's been reinforced that time here is very important. What I'm trying to say is, everyone takes each moment of life and appreciates it so much. In our culture back home, we are used to routine, schedules, being on time, always rushed and in turn becoming stressed. IT is much more relaxed, laid back and each moment is special. That does not mean that work here is not taken seriously, everyone here works very hard from people pushing huge carts of heavy supplies like wood down the street in the middle of the day in the heat, to people in offices working hard to make change in community issues. The point is, is that people are very happy to meet others on the street, talk to one another, asked about each other's family, how everyone is doing and not be prone to rush off, because they are late for something. Therefore, one thing to get used to is schedules being changed, start times of events or classes being pushed back a few minutes, to an hour depending. People still think where ever they are going is important, it's just that they think every moment is valuable, and so to cherish all of them.
I really like this way of thinking, and this culture because of that reason. I don't feel stressed, I feel like everything works it way around things, and gets accomplished anyways. I am also happy that everyone is so friendly and welcoming.
Anyways, I am at the YCI office right now. I need to continue doing planning and preparing. I have life skills class tomorrow, and then Girls Club, so I need to do some more research. Then on Saturday we have Play Day, for the kids and youth living with HIV, to decrease stigma, and all be together playing. There is also a presentation for the older youth that happens about early pregnancy, condom use and general sexual reproductive education.
Also today is Devon's (part of my group) birthday, so we are all going our for dinner at this restaurant, we are going to have a cake and everything! So I'm excited for that tonight!
Alrighty, I will update again soon.
Need to keep working!
Hope everyone is doing great! Love and miss you all!
Love: Jenn
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