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A great deal has happened since I last updated my blog 4 weeks ago. I did plan on updating the blog once every week, but I am either busy with work for my placement or out gallivanting!
Things at my placement have moved on from my last entry in the sense that the leaders of TUPO, together with the volunteers came up with an idea of a small farming business to generate regular income for the organisation, as well as providing the members with much needed food. (You may remember that a brick project was mentioned in my last blog entry. This idea was ruled out as it was decided that the members are too weak physically to operate the labour intensive business of brick building). The main problem for those living with HIV/AIDS here in Tanzania appears to be a lack of food rather than a lack of medication. The Tanzanian government pays for the Anti Retroviral Drugs that our members need every day, but not for medication for “opportunistic” diseases such as TB, Typhoid and other diseases that play on the “opportunity” to target the weakened immune system of a person suffering from HIV. Food or lack
thereof is the main problem. Five of our members have died in the last few months, not from HIV, but from a lack of food. Extreme poverty means that many of the members cannot afford to buy even rice. Many people here are forced to live on less than $1 per day. Hopefully, we will be able to help TUPO get the farming project off the ground, but clearly this will take time. The first stage was actually discussing the proposal with some local businessmen in the community who are friends of TUPO’s. We had several meetings in the last few weeks, before even putting the idea to the members themselves. I was invited to speak to the members at their Annual General Meeting on 22 May about the business proposal. The aim was to gauge interest in the project as well as reassuring the members that the volunteers are not going to directly fund the project (primarily for reasons of sustainability). As usual out here I was out of my depth, and I was slightly nervous about this speech. Picture the scene - a Western style hotel conference room laid out with rows of chairs, water and top table
TUPO Daycare
This is our classroom for the speakers etc. Then in a collision of two worlds, all the members in their full African garb, an official photographer (I still don’t know what paper/organisation he was with), much singing, praying, general noise and chaos throughout. We volunteers had to sit at the top table along with two influential businessmen in the community. We were made to feel like royalty whilst the leaders of our organisation sat at the back of the room! The members sang to us and at one point (right before my speech) they all started to cry. Of course we had no idea what was going on as the proceedings were all taking place in Swahili. We thought someone must have died. When I eventually stood up to speak to the members, one of the businessmen (also at the top table) translated for me. It was a most surreal experience, and thankfully the members approved of the farming business plan. All of them voted that it should go ahead, and they agreed that simply receiving donations from volunteers would not assist them in the long term. The meeting has to come into my top 5 “TIA” moments. Those of you who have seen
TUPO Choir
Performing in the Tanzanian Assemblies of God Church in Patandi the film “Blood Diamond” will know that the abbreviation means, “this is Africa,” so what do you expect sort of thing?! Another amusing expression is “TFT” - “Tanzanian Flexible Time”.
I have attended several functions with my organisation’s choir in the last few weeks. We, along with lots of our other volunteers attended the opening ceremony of St Lucia’s new nursing home. We were honoured to welcome the First Lady of Tanzania, Salma Kikwete to the event. We also attended a Candlelight Ceremony at the Arusha Football Stadium to commemorate local people who have died of AIDS. Unfortunately, events surrounding HIV/AIDS are not that well attended due to stigma, but we were able to have some interesting discussions with local secondary school children about HIV education. There is not much education about HIV in schools because some religious leaders believe that such education will lead to promiscuity. In the meantime, an epidemic is raging.
In the last few weeks I have also completed a first draft of a general brochure for my organisation, as well as several template letters. These documents are in the process of being translated into Swahili. I have been researching grant giving NGO’s and
it is a very slow process. I have also been teaching basic English and Maths to the 40 children in the daycare. I have much respect for teachers. I think teaching is the hardest thing I have ever attempted to do!
We organised another soccer match between the volunteers and TUPO in order to raise some money for TUPO’s rent. This match was even more surreal that the last one as we played at Gymkana instead of the stadium. It was everything you would imagine an African soccer pitch to look like. It was dirt (instead of grass), covered in potholes the size of craters and the posts were wooden. There was no net of course. We had banana fields on one side and a local secondary school on the other. It was quite a picture. The referee was even more amusing than the last referee, kitted out head to toe in the neon yellow Tanzanian national football kit. Not biased or anything! We ended up losing 4 -1, and I feel responsible for missing a few tackles which resulted in goals! I managed to fowl one of my leaders, and he still reminds me about it!
In
terms of recreational activities in the past few weeks I have been doing quite a bit of hiking around lakes and waterfalls. Last Sunday, six of us went on a hike to Mt Monduli (in the heart of Maasai land) and hiked up to 2700m. It was slightly more difficult to breathe at this altitude and so I am still debating whether or not to attempt Kili in five weeks time. Bear in mind that the summit of Kili is 5965m!
I also visited Arusha National Park, and held a snake at Meserane Snake Park. Don’t get excited though. It was a tiny grass snake as opposed to the man eating pythons they had in glass houses. We went on a camel ride to a Maasai village where our guide gave us a history of Maasai tribal practices. It was not for the faint hearted, as there was a lot of talk about FGM (Female Genital Mutilation) and blood drinking! Poor Hayley (Bristol lass) almost passed out, and then on the way back, her camel tripped over!
There are so many other experiences to relay, but I don’t have much time left on the computer. You will have
to wait for the next installment!
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Caroline Gingles
non-member comment
Lovely Pic's
Hi Suzanne, That's great news about the farming project you are doing a good job there. Loved the pic's especially the one of you with the kids from the TUPO Centre. Dad and I are very proud of you. Love Mum x.