VCTs and Mango Trees

It rains everyday without fail now, it'll start off sunny and hot in the morning but by the afternoon a huge storm has rolled in and there is rain and lots of lightening and thunder. It definitely hasn't made me love storms any less.

Yesterday afternoon we had a cooking session with all the Tanzanian volunteers and in groups we had to cook Ugali, rice, beans and vegetables on charcoal stoves out under the trees and it was a lot of fun. I definitely learnt a lot but I still feel sorry for whatever Tanzanian I get partnered with. After we cooked the food we got to try everyones and our groups was definitely the best (Asante to Happyness and Dorice!) and then we picked mangoes off the mango tree and had dessert, they were really good!

We've had some really interesting sessions lately, lots of talking about sex, condoms, masturbation, contraception, HIV/AIDs and it's really great when the Tanzanian's are as open as the wazungu and we get to hear some Tanzanian experiences and views. Some of the Tanzanian girls who are volunteering are really awesome and im getting excited to start placement, even though it is going to be such a challenge. Tomorrow we are visiting a VCT (Voluntary Counselling and Testing centre) and I think we are all going to have HIV/AIDS tests! The perfect excursion I'd say.

Oh and I foundout that Sada or Saada is a muslim/swahili name that is the male version of Saiid and means "help" haha. Thanks mum! A lot of Tanzanian's think I'm making it up that my name is Sadha and they all assume I'm Muslim. It's extra hard to explain that I'm not religious at all and I'm scared of losing respect because of it, but I think the Tanzanians are pretty cool about it all.

We are planning a girly session with all the Tanzanian girls where we will talk to them about tampons (a lot of them dont know what they are) and the pill and paint eachothers toe nails and eat chocolate and talk about sex and stuff. I think it's hard for a lot of them to open up infront of Tanzanian and wazungu men in the main sessions so hopefully this will ease them into it. Should be interesting either way.

A bunch of the wazungu have gotten sick (another wave) but this time its like the flu and i think its because the weather is changing (getting much colder now) and we don't have any hot water so it's stone cold bucket baths every morning. If you walk along the verandah of our rooms in the morning you can hear a lot of squealing, especially from Julia! haha. Atleat in village we'll be able to heat up our own water.

Oh and another thing, just before my camera was stolen I had taken my memory card out for a random reason so I didn't lose any of my photos! I was so happy and it must have been fate!!!!

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