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