Lyamungo and Miliesita

Today we visited the Lyamungo area, which is in the foothills of the mountains.  The area as a whole receives more water than the Moshi region, and is much more lush with vegetation, ravines and hills, banana groves perched on steep slopes, coffee estates and research areas, and more tiny little shambas (farms) than one can imagine.  The region is beautiful, with stunning vistas of the higher mountains.  It is also pretty impoverished.

First stop was Miliesita Primary School where we sponsor a lunch program.  The school has 393 students.  Asante is able to afford to feed these kids ground corn and beans 4 days a week, with rice and beans one day a week.  The rice day is the most popular, and if the kids know in advance which day is going to be rice -- there are bno absences!!  So the headmistress serves the rice randomly, which keeps the kids coming every day, in hopes they will be lucky.

The ground corn is like dried corn that is crac ked or crushed rather than ground into meal.  Thje cook at this school, who has been here for 20 years or so, can't properly prepare the ground corn meal (ugali) which cooks up into a thick porridge.  She cooks it all in one big pot and uses a rough-cut paddle to stir it.  She just isn't strong enough to stir the ugali.  So they use the crac ked corn.  The mixture of corn and beans is a nutritious one -- grains plus legumes -- a complete protein.  All the corn is cooked in one large kettle, on a wood or charcoal open flame fire.  The fire is built directly on the ground and is encircled by 3 bricks placed in a triangle.  The pot is balanced on the bricks and wood is added or removed from the fire to control the temperature.  Beans are also cooked on a second fire in a large kettle.  Sometimes they are able to add greens from the school gardens, but right now is planting season, so there aren't too many greens available yet.  They have the additional issue of neighboring livestock getting into the garden, so we are exploring how to raise some money to provide fencing to protect their crops.

After we left the school, we climbed up and down the hills to reach the micro loan ladies.  First one is a knitter; she was awarded the contract to provide sweaters for the school uniforms at the local school, but she didn't have the capital to purchase the yarn necessary to fulfill the contract.  She used her loan to purchase yarn which she can now knit into the sweaters and sell to the school to fulfill her contract..  Second woman used the money to purchase chickens to raise -- both for eggs to sell and to increase the number of chickens in her flock.  Raising chickens is an important source of income for many of the people in this region.  Even the folks who  have jobs in town will keep chickens and raise bananas.

We also had the opportunity to stop in and say hi to Janet and Julie's dad, who is 92 and still a practicing physician in the village clinic.  He is quite remarkable!  His lab consists of a small rickety table with a microscope.  He has a small examing room and an assistant who helps with injections and dressing wounds.

Whjen we returned to our hostel, we hiked up the hill a couple of miles to the El Rancho restaurant for . . .. . Indian curry!  and COLD beer.  It was quite deliciouis.  Tomorrow, more micro-loan ladies and another school lunch.

Micro Loans and School Lunches

Blog for tues, march 12

This post is out of order . . . I hit "publish" a few days ago, but evidently it didn't happen, since I noticed it was still in draft.  So the events in this post happened before the post entitled Lyamungo and Miliesita.  Love this internet  :-)

Met up with Julie and Janet for the day.  Sometimes I forget that this is Africa, and as a result, don't adjust my thinking accordingly.

Julie has taken off work for the week so she can spend the time with us. She is the woman who oversees and administers our school lunch programs and our micro loan program.  Over the past few years, she has done a remarkable job of pulling together our ideas and fumbling attempts to make something work here in Tanzania, and she has turned them into very functional programs,  well organized, well administered and successfully fulfilling the missions of both.

When we travel to TZ, we like to visit the schools where we sponsor lunches; we also try to include visits to some of our micro loan recipients.  So our time with Julie is limited to the time she can get off work, and the schedules of everyone else.  Yesterday, we wanted to settle our itinerary for the next few days first, before we moved on to other discussions.  In my mind, this was a 10 minute process: list out where we want to go, map it out and be done.

But my mind neglected to take into account the tea, visiting, and discussion that accompanies any decisions. So, to make a long story short, we spent almost 3 hours settling the itinerary for the next couple of days.  But we were out on the porch of Julie's home, in the garden with a nice breeze and birds singing, so it really was not a hardship!

Julie has organized a kind of community bank, much like the VICOBA concept of Floresta.  The people who have micro loans meet once every three months.  They have elected three people as officers.  The officers are responsible for collecting the loan payments, depositing the money into the bank, and approving new loan recipients.  Julie is the head honcho.  She has a ledger page for each participant, complete with photo and description of the project the money is used for.  She and the other elected folks meet each month to discuss any new loan applications.  It seems to be working quite well; the only real delinquencies we have had on micro loans are the ones Asante made before Julie took over!  We will visit some of the women tomorrow and Wednesday

Since Julie also manages the school lunch projects for us, she reviewed those programs.  Obviously school lunches are near and dear to my heart so I always enjoy hearing about how these projects are working in the villages over here.  We will visit the schools tomorrow and Wednesday.

The rest of the day was spent discussing some sizing issues with new skirt and jacket patterns, presenting Julie with a brand new laptop from Asante and hearing from a woman and her daughter who are requesting a partial scholarship to help her finish the equivalent of high school.

All in all, quite a productive day as well as a pleasant one.

From Moshi to Ketumbeine And Back Again!

It is always an inspiration to viait the Freiburgs in the Maasai village of Ketumbeine.  Steve is the doctor for the whole area and is involved in so many aspects of the people's lives.  His wife, Bethany is the coordinator of the NAAPOK bead project, among other things.  They are missionaries sponsored by the ELCA and have been in Tanaania for several years.  For a review and bit of background on both the Maasai and the bead projects, see the previous posts from my last visit here : Maasai (2/6/2011)' Maasai Primer and Ketumbeine Secondary School (same date, I think),

The road from Moshi to Longido, which was under construction and renovation 2 years ago is great!  It is all completed and nice and smooth (all the way to Nairobi, actually).  And the long gravel road out to Ketumbeine has also recently been graded and isn't too bad either.  Once we arrived and washed up and had lunch at Bethany's house, we set out to visit 4 of the new homes in various stages of construction.  Some of the homes we visited last time have been completed and several new ones have been started, all thanks to the sales of the beadwork that the women produce.

It is really quite wonderful to see the progress the women have made in their homes and in their lives. We met up with the mother of one of the students we sponsored for additional schooling, and he currently has a job in the village with World Vision, helping them collect and coile data on preschool children in the region.  He is blossoming and his mother is so very proud of him. She is self confident, happy and into the new house she built a couple of years ago, with the money she earned through her work with the Project.  She is one of the more accomplished headers in the project, and her home is one we visited on our last trip.

We also returned to the secondary school, where Asante provided funds for a new boys latrine.  It is nearly finished, and everyone at the school is delighted with a clean, new, sanitary latrine facility. Pit latrines really are a much more sensible option in an area with limited water, especially when most of the kids don't have any prior experience with toilets requiring water to work properly.

Much progress and improvements have been made at the school since it was new in 2007 and I visited it on my first trip to Ketumbeine.  Unfortunately, not so much progress has been made by yours truly in iPad operation.  I seriously am requesting assistance in creating a Picasa web album on my iPad.  I created the album, but when I copy the link into the blog, it opens to my own personal google+ account.  How is that for a public confession of tech-illiteracy?  I have great photos,but need help sharing them.  Sigh . . .

More later.  Thanks for reading.

Just 5 days and already adventures!

Arrived safely after 3 very long, exhausting but uneventful flights.     Arrived at Kilimanjaro Airport at just about midnight and then began the interminable wait to get through immigration.  But even that was finally realized and we went to baggage claim.  And lo and behold . . . All our bags arrived.    Since the Uhuru Lutheran Hostel is full for the KilimanjaroMarathon, we are at the Umoja, where Mary Ann and I stayed on our first trip.  

Last time I stayed here, the shower and sink flooded the bedroom every time the water was turned on . . . This time there wasn't any water to flood anything !  A bit of water  in a pail, so at least I could have a camp bath, to wash off the 31 hours of travel grime.  Didn't think I would be able to sleep, but I completely crashed until the Imam woke me up at 4 a.m. with the call to prayer.  I could have slept longer, and did, at least, fall back asleep.  Most of Sunday, we wandered around Moshi, trying to convince ourselves we were getting over our jet lag.  Visited some of our favorite curio shops and then dinner at an Indian restaurant.  Moshi has certainly grown in the last couple of years.

Monday, Janet picked us up after  breakfast and we went to her house.  Met with Mrs. Mobutu, Mama Harrison, Glory, Mama Light, along with some folks from Colorado Springs and Janet's pastor friend from Germany.  All of the Tanzanian women we gathered with are those who do the tailoring and sewing for Miichi Women and Asante.  Tea first, of course, with samosas, chapatis, tea and coffee.  During our discussion, we relayed our concerns with quality control, consistent sizing, etc.  We were also able to get an idea of how much of each person's income is generate by their sales to AN.  

Early Tuesday we headed back out to Janet's for a get together with Puzo, one of the main artists for the wax batiks.  Again, we talked about color, new designs and subjects for the wax batiks.  I purchased some little dolls that I thought Mama Light mighty be able to make, plus some other craft items to give Puzo and the women some new ideas.  They are so creative that they only need some new ideas as to what might sell in the US, and they can produce some wonderful things!

And Tuesday night, my body rebelled and decided to purge itself of anything I may have eaten or drunk in the last several days.  First time I have ever been sick here in any of my a visits.  So Wednesday was a waste . . . Thank God for Kathy and Stan who were such a blessing in helping me recover.

Enough for now.  Waiting for Emmanuel to pick us up for transport to Ketumbeine and the Maasai.  More later.  

Kilimanjaro Marathon!

Just found out that there is a marathon, half marathon and 5 k fun run in Moshi-town on March 3.  The marathon runs up into the lower reaches of Mt. Kilimanjaro . . . not that I intend to participate or anything.  But I'm thinking the 5 k fun run might be just that -- fun. 

Moshi is where we always stay when we first arrive in Tanzania.  Many of our friends live there, as well as many of the women who produce our wonderful batiks.  The hostel where we have stayed in the past is completely booked up with runners and fans!  So this will be a new adventure in a lot of ways.

Found my suitcase finally, and am now beginning to organize my thoughts as to what to pack and what to leave.  Set out everything I think I want to take; next day reduce it by half; and then reduce it by half again.  Then pack! 

WOW!  This trip is shaping up to be great!

We have booked our travel from Kilimanjaro Airport in Tanzania to Entebbe Airport in Uganda.  Uganda is where our basket weavers live; it has been several years since I have had the opportunity to return to visit them.  Last visit, they gave Mary Ann and me a goat!  We regretfully left it behind in Uganda, and asked the women to hold a feast in our honor after we left.  It is fairly difficult to bring a goat back from Uganda to the US!

And, talk about a God thing:  Kathy (my travel companion, along with her husband, Stan; as well an Asante volunteer extraordinaire!) and I have been talking about the difficulty of communication with our woman in TZ who coordinates and reports on all of Asante's micro-loans.  She has an ancient computer without excel, so all her calculations have to be done by hand.  Kathy and I, independently of each other, have been thinking about how to get Julie a new computer with excel, so we could set up some spreadsheets for her micro-loan reporting.

Kathy and I were visiting on the phone the other day, and when we realized both of us were thinking along the same computer lines, we agreed that it was best to simply purchase a new laptop for Julie.  We both checked out the ads and found a good HP at BestBuy for a decent price.  I agreed to drive into Anchorage to check it out. 

As I was hanging up the phone with Kathy, another friend from up here knocked on my door.  We visited, had a cup of tea, and talked about my upcoming trip.  I happened to mention the discussion about the computer and  . . . as she was walking out the door, she handed me a donation to Asante, to cover the cost of the computer!  Talk about God working in this trip.

So, Julie will have a wonderful new computer, and we have the excitement of being the ones to deliver it to her. Can't wait!

More tomorrow . . .

Jambo, everyone.

I know, it has been almost 2 years since my last post, but I haven't been back to Tanzania since then.  However, I am returning to Tanzania and Uganda on 1 March.  Kathy and Stan (we traveled together last trip) will be along as well.  We are all excited about our upcoming adventures!

We are planning to visit the Miichi Women in Moshi and Mwika to work on some new designs for both garments and batiks.  We'll also be able to follow up with some of our micro-loan recipients and meet some new ones. 

In Mwika, we are going to visit with James, who started his own pre-school!  He is also starting a guide service for some of the National Parks, and we are going to get to visit Tarangire National Park with his pre-schoolers!  What an amazing treat that will be. 

Naturally, a visit to Tanzania isn't complete without a trip to check in with the wonderful Maasai women who create the beaded jewelry and crafts, up in Ketumbeine.  It is always a gift to reconnect with Steve and Bethany, who are a medical missionary family in that village. 

Uganda is on the agenda as well -- I was sorry not to have the time last trip to get over there and meet again with the women who created the beautiful baskets that Asante sells. 

So, stay tuned for more as the date of departure approaches . . .

Cheers