A bit behind on blogs are we?

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Long one today folks...I'm a few days behind...

7/10/09:

Bonjour all (yes I know, I’m switching from Kiswahili to French, but I’m listening to some Edith Piaf, so credit it to that). I’m a bit behind on blogs, but luckily it’s been a fairly uneventful weekend, though not in a bad way. Starting with Friday…

I was extremely tired when I woke up as we had been out late at Via Via on Thursday (it was fun…a little too crowded for my liking, which actually caused us to leave one of our friends behind, which then resulted in Jessie and I RUNNING the half mile back to Via Via to collect our friend…whoops…TIA…) and I required an omelet and a very, very strong cup of instant coffee. I am growing very fond of instant coffee; I think I’m going to have to bring a tin of it home with me…anyhow. We were slated to have a speaker from the East African Law Society, the CEO Mr. Don Daye, speak to us. After a painful, but brief, introduction from Sipho, Mr. Daye arrived. Like most of the guest speakers we’ve had, his presentation was excellent, thorough and such a refreshing break from Sipho’s constant droning.

The East African Law Society (EALS) is composed of the five member countries of the East African Community: Tanzania, Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda and Burundi. It has over 7,000 member lawyers and is focused on good governance and human rights. Though it’s a law society, it also acts as an activist body and has a task force for HIV / AIDS. They advocate that the best approach for HIV / AIDS is to use a human rights, not a legal, approach. Most natives aren’t going to understand complicated legal jargon about laws, healthcare, etc. but they’re more likely to understand what their basic rights are, including health care. Unfortunately EALS isn’t too well funded, and their office here in Arusha can only support 10 staff members. It’s a shame because I think they’d be more effective with more funding, but all their money comes from corporate partners, which isn’t enough. I didn’t take many notes because I was just trying to absorb everything Don was saying, but he also spoke a little too quickly. But it was very informative and impressive; the guy was only 39, and already an accomplished lawyer and CEO of a legal society…even for American standards I’d say that’s pretty damn impressive. Don ended a bit early and amazingly, Sipho didn’t keep us until 12:30.

It was a rainy, dreary day and all of us were in need of some good food, so we trekked to a Chinese restaurant. I ate two veggie spring rolls and six dumplings and it was DELICIOUS! We stopped at a market on the way home and got wine and chocolate and spent the rest of the afternoon watching movies and napping. I did a quick workout before dinner, had dinner (which was very good…pasta and veggies) and got a quick skype session in with Alan. Some of the girls were going on a day hike of Mt. Meru Saturday morning, so we didn’t do much after dinner…just some wine and we watched Hotel Rwanda. It was really powerful to watch that movie while IN AFRICA and just a day after going to the actual ICTR. After being here, that movie means a lot more. It also makes one realize what an important role Arusha is playing in international criminal law.

That’s it for today…busy day tomorrow!

7/11/09:

Mammboooo!

I started my day around 9:30, with a lovely Spanish omelet, fruit and hot cup of coffee. I sat alone for breakfast (most people were off on a hike, which I couldn’t do because of my foot ☹ ) and it was great, I just read my book and relaxed. It was a BEAUTIFUL day, sunny, not to hott, nice little breeze flowing through the windows.

After breakfast I got some laundry done and some more reading, then I did a really, really hard workout for like a good hour. I also remembered to do my physical therapy exercises, something I haven’t done enough since I’ve been here. Around 1:15 Tom and I headed across the street to the school. It was the culmination of their sport week; essentially a field day. We arrived during the afternoon / lunch break, so we just played with some of the kids for a while, hung out with the turtle and took some pictures. The parents and teachers seemed happy that we were there, though sometimes I get the feeling that the parents don’t like me playing with their children. I get the feeling that I think their kids are novelties, because I am white and they are black, I am American and they are African. I wish I could explain to them that it’s not like that, that kids are kids to me, white, black, brown, purple, green…they’re all just children who love to play and learn and laugh. But I try not to let myself think about that, and I just love to run around with them and let them play with my hair and feel my skin and touch my jewelry.

After the lunch break it was time for the final events of the day, which was all about runs / sprints. All of the kids are split up into four different houses (kind of like Harry Potter) and each house is named after a former president of an African country: the white house was named after Kunyata of Kenya (I think), the yellow house was Mandela, obviously of South Africa, the green was a name I can’t remember but it was a Malawian president, and the blue house was Nyere, the first president of Tanzania. All the kids had their different color shirts on and there was a flag bearer for each house and after the break they all ran circles around the field each yelling their unique chants for their houses. It was so fun to see them so excited and acting in such a cohesive group. Boys and girls and age group set up the sprints; first was the 100m, then the 400m, then the 400m relays. It was frustrating because they only had a dirt and grass field to run on with nothing but chalk lines to denote the lanes…I wanted to wave a magic wand and give them a nice track to run on. A lot of them didn’t have proper athletic shoes either and some even ran barefoot. But it seemed that on this day, money and societal class didn’t matter, it was all about competition. Some of the kids were SO fast and athletic!! A few kids were real stars…makes you wonder if that could be their ticket to a college in America on an NCAA scholarship. Tom and I had such a great time watching all the kids and reminiscing on our field days and the days of me being a gymnast and diver, and him running track and playing soccer. Emily came over around 4:30 to join us. We left around 5:15, after the alumni students ran a 100m, as did the parents and the teachers. I got a shower in before dinner (a freezing shower may I add) and some Internet time. Dinner was sub par and I was still hungry afterwards so Emily and I walked up to the market for some wine and crackers (we wanted cheese, but the cheese selection here is essentially non-existent). We started watching Forgetting Sarah Marshall with the other girls, but they were so exhausted from the hike and I was actually beat from working out and playing with the kids, not to mention 3 glasses of red wine. I think I was in bed by 12:30…anyone who knows me knows that’s almost unheard of!

7/12/09:

Hujambo!

Didn’t wake up until about 10 today, but it was ok because I needed the rest. I had the usual coffee and omelet and then walked up to the center. I wanted to get as much done on my power point as possible so that when I meet with Mr. Kinsey tomorrow all I’ll have to do is add in a few slides. Let me explain a little bit more about my project and Heifer International…

The reason I chose Heifer is because my friend Carrie had a safari guide last year in Kenya that mentioned his dad started the Heifer International in Tanzania. When they met for ice cream a few weeks ago, he gave her his dad’s number if she wanted to use Heifer for her project. She was more interested in another organization so she mentioned it to me and I looked into Heifer Int’l. I was so blown away with the organization and how complete and thorough their website was, I decided to call Mr. Kinsey and set up an appointment with him. I’ll be meeting with him tomorrow to ask specific questions about Heifer-Tanzania, but in the meantime I’ll give a little background on Heifer itself (I’m going to just copy stuff right from my slides…I’m lazy today):

• NGO “dedicated to ending world hunger and saving the earth by providing livestock, trees, training and other resources to help poor families around the globe become self-reliant.”
• Heifer International (HI) was started in 1944 with the goal being to improve nutrition, health and household income.
• The HI approach is usually three fold: livestock and other materials, training and extension work, and organizational development.
• HI works with communities to rebuild families and neighborhoods, and to provide for sustainable futures.
• HI teaches environmentally sound farming methods, or agroecology.
• This is the “sustainable use and management of natural resources”, meaning everything works in unison to save the environment.
This is the best part about HI…
• HI practices something known as “Passing On The Gift”: “Families receiving animals agree to pass on the first offspring or an appropriate equivalent to another family and therefore this become the chain and touches thousands and thousands of people worldwide.”
So essentially, families in a given community will first receive training about agroecology, zero-grazing techniques, soil conservation / resource conservation, and sustainable development. Then they’ll get some form of livestock (could be a cow, a goat, a camel…it all depends on what the needs of that particular community are) and from that livestock they’ll get food, milk, income, etc. When that animal has an offspring (or when they can contribute significant resources), it will be passed on to a new family, who has undergone the same training. The “gift” will be passed from family to family, and the education will travel along with it. They have a great slogan… “not a cup but a cow”. They are not an organization that gives a short-term handout, but rather promotes long-term sustainability, in harmony with the planet.

I think it’s such an amazing organization and I’m so excited to talk to the FOUNDER of Heifer-Tanzania tomorrow. I have a million questions for him. What luck that Carrie had this guys son as a safari guide!!

Anyhow, that’s really all I’ve done today, work on the project and read my book. I’ve got about an hour before dinner so I think I’m going to upload some pictures and see if I can get a hold of Alan or my mother on Skype. If I’m feeling up to it I might do a quick workout after dinner, but I’m pretty sore from yesterday. I might just lay low and watch True Blood in the other girls’ room.

Hope all is well on the home front, only 23 days until I’ll be back in the ‘burgh!

<3<3<3

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Comments

[mom]

Who's the novelty?
Hi Mack: I got a chuckle reading about your concern that the parents might think you're treating their children as if they are a novelty. Clearly, you are the novelty with your blonde hair and fair skin!! It also seems lately as though you have been assimilating. Your blogs have definitely had a much more positive tone. I think the food has been more to your liking recently. I know how grumpy you can get when you're hungry. Only two more weeks in Africa. I think you will be sad when you leave. Love you, mom