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Published: August 12th 2011
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Baobab Tree
These are sweet. Real scary lookin, but the more I see em, the more there growin on me. I couldn’t wait to get to Shinyanga and start working. And after a week of being in Shinyanga, I’m still waiting to work. I’ve been to the villages twice, but have done nothing other than scope out the seen. There are a lot of obstacles in the way of getting things done here, and I am seeing and feeling the effects of this head on. I’ve already discussed the power, water, and road way situation and so you can guess how that slows everything down. But in addition to this a fellow employee of mine, one that speaks English, Swahili, and Sakuma – the language primarily spoken in the village – has disappeared. He’s gone AWOL. I haven’t seen my right hand man since Sunday, the day before we were to start working on our project. The longer he is absent, the more I am preparing myself to head to the village alone to start work. Luckily, I have friends here that are helping me deal with this new challenge and they have been terrific. I’ve made a few contacts with people who work with other NGOs in town and my ‘lost’ assistant’s family has been more than welling to support
Oasis
Seeing this was awesome. Out of all the dirt and rock comes this beautiful patch of green. The water is being used for drinking and farming. It is also, in books, a symbol of hope. me in any way they can. I start Swahili lessons tomorrow, and hopefully I’ll be able to learn some Sakuma too, or at least enough to introduce myself to the villagers and thank them for allowing me to be a part of their community.
But things in general go slower here than back home, and perhaps I should have known better. You hear about ‘African time’ or how people are lazy – but I still disagree. I’ve even heard it from locals, aid workers, and expats. I don’t see it. Sure, lazy people exist in all societies, but to call a whole society lazy is completely inaccurate and ridiculous. The vast majority I’d say work harder than we do back home, but their gains are much smaller. They work to survive, we work to thrive. We have industry, infrastructure, and safety nets in place to help out the citizenry. They don’t.
So they put in all these hours of hard work with little to show for it. Some see this and just ware out. Throw in the towel, no longer willing to give it the ol’CIS try. And it is here where I think the perception of “Africans
Acacia Tree
I love these trees. My goal is find a beauty spot, with one of these trees, and film the sunrise while singing Circle of Life. are lazy” comes from. I think this is what has happened to my associate and probably happens to a lot of people. The truth is the lack of ‘umph’ or ‘extra pep your step’ is caused by the impoverished environment itself. One of the things poverty does is that it really weighs on you. In my eye’s, poverty is akin to what losing is for say an expansion team or a struggling organization. If you always lose - and you hear this all the time - it becomes a part of the team’s culture. You go into the game with losing already on your mind and therefore have already lost before the first pitch, drop of the puck, or kick off. I could be wrong, especially with respect to my co-worker, but I do think this mindset exists. After losing so much, it’s hard to believe you will ever win. And although frustrated with the lack of progress we have made on the ground I remain keen and as positive as ever that this project will get under way eventually and be one that makes a difference. It will just take longer than I had imagined. But like they say
Mango Tree
This is what is used to make Mangostien! It used to found in the LCBO. back home, Stitty wasn’t built in a day, eh?
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