THE FINAL ENTRY...The journey ends (for now!)

It’s been almost a week since I've found myself back home. Since my last entry there were a few unpredicted events that made my decision of coming home easier to make. Arriving home a little earlier then my return date was also not planned! Having made it to 7 weeks with no sickness was pretty impressive for me lol. But it crept up behind me and got me just when things were getting rather interesting. I didn’t enjoy the hospital visits and the needles (even though the Africans have very strict processes in place now when needles are involved!) in my last week and i think it was a good decision to get my ass back home. That meant turning down one or two opportunities to stay and work out there, I feel this was not the right time or place in my life. Although the difficulty in crossing the border into Tanzania may have been a last chance to change my mind- especially when the immigration weren’t allowing me to leave Tanzania and enter Kenya to fly home!!! It’s a good job I kept my kool and had my wits about me as I just about got away with it. This made me think that I could survive out here and experience staying out here for a longer period.
Coming home was somewhat an emotional journey, one full of mixed feelings. I was really upset about leaving the Mama and friends behind but at the same time so excited to see my brother Sid, family and friends again. It was also sad to say goodbye to all the individuals who I’d worked with and helped in the last 7 weeks. They appeared really anxious and concerned that my time had come to an end with them and the small business projects. I still felt my work was not complete and there was still so much i could do to help build and better their lives.
On my never ending journey home I realised there would never have been 'a right time to come home' and it would be hard in any case. But I have found contentment in taking my journey for everything it was and what I made of it.
After all it was initially a dream to one day head to Africa and help make some sort of a difference. The media portrays certain images and accounts of east Africa but to experience and witness it myself opened my mind and allowed me to be flexible in my thinking. Out of all my travelling adventures and expeditions this really tested me in terms of how far I can take myself out of my comfort zone in a 3rd world country. The most valuable thing I’ve learnt about myself is if I find something standing in my way or path now I’d be able to take a step back and follow my gut instinct. In the past I’ve had a tendency to fight it, make it mean or be something else. I now understand that there will be times when I won’t be able to understand certain events, instances and people. So instead of wasting time searching and bringing me to my knees I should see everything for what it is not what is was or could be in the future. Because I am actually wasting my dreams on reflection. I need tol take all of my dreams and look to make them come true because I was born in this world. This world allowed me to fulfil this opportunity in the first place, it is this world that makes me fortunate to have the life I have in comparison to those who I crossed paths with in Africa. In my journey, I witnessed how other people in this world can in turn affect the way of life of others through the leadership, power and control they have. Tanzania as I saw it, is one of those place where the consequences of this leadership are distressing. How did this make me feel? sad at the fact that this isn’t anything new and annoyed that this is just the way of the world and how it works in certain parts. To try and change this needs more than just one person, it requires a group of people a large group of people and I hope the future will allow me to be part of a large group and change things.
The most priceless feeling I found in Africa was love, love for a 2nd family and admiration and compassion for the people who I crossed paths with. That is something that will always stay with me and made this trip simply incredible.

Interesting start to June - My thoughts ….my return flight home v job opportunity

I can’t believe 6 weeks have passed ...and a job opportunity has arisen for assistant country manager for the NGO and I have a very good probability of getting it. They have discussed it with me and want me to consider it…. I feel very settled with my home stay family and am very much comfortable and happy living here. In comparison to home it is so peaceful and life is very simple but pleasant. Looking back I think the start was very rocky and unsettled, but I guess that was due to some events that happened and I put it down to bad luck and experience. As soon as I was placed into Mama Aichee’s home that’s when my stay in Tanzania really took off. I look forward to coming back from work and seeing Mama and the guys, coming together to cook dinner and sit down together and talk for hours till its time for bed. I have gotten use to staying up and talking to mama , we strike up conversations about experiences, differences, culture, love; current affairs etc there are no limits or boundaries. I find it fascinating hearing about the cultural differences especially. I absolutely adore the woman; she is a remarkable character to say the least. She’s compassionate and caring, witty, ridiculously intelligent and knowledgeable and soooo energetic it’s untrue. Sitting here now and thinking about my return flight home makes me feel a little sick as this family has become very special and close to me. I don’t know why as I have missed my family and especially Sid, so although the thought of seeing them again really excites me at the same time I also feel very sad in knowing it could be time to say bye to them. Deep down I think it was really weird having a mother like figure back in my life, after losing mum I have got use to not having a relationship like this, not even with my step mum who is someone who I see as a friend and definitely not a mother figure. But Mama Aichee has embraced me with open arms and an open mind, I couldn't’t have asked for anything more. For the last 7 years of my life I have tried and found a way of coping with the void of not having mum around, and no knowing no one could ever replace her. But having someone who is like a mother like figure has made me realised just how much I’ve missed and needed mum around even if I was a young adult when I lost her. But it’s made me feel very fortunate to have formed this special mother-daughter kinda relationship with her, regardless of this being my home-stay family in Tanzania. I know my time is drawing to an end and the closer I get to her more difficult it’s going to be coming home and for this to end.
I have enjoyed my role on the work projects and it feels so natural like I’ve found my sense of belonging. I was trying out so many things in the last 18 months trying to decide what I enjoy the most and what makes me content. This makes me content, but at the same time I have a family and an amazing circle of friends back home. I’m just not sure if this opportunity has come at the right time or place for me, I have an element of doubt and my gut instincts tend to be a sign. So some decisions to be made.

Week commencing 1st June

This week I had hoped to complete the majority of the business plans for all the small business loan recipients in Kwa Idd. I am aiming to try and release half of the monies before i make the decision to stay or go home. After working so hard and closely with the guys I’d be a little sad not to present them with the monies. Not just that, as advisors we are to go with them to purchase their supplies/materials to set up the actual business. How exciting is that going to be ..totally random for sure as Peter would need to go farms to purchase sunflower then we would make the oil over a 7 day period. This would also include us packaging it and transporting it all back to his village ready to sell it. Another purchase will require me to go further afield to agriculture farms to purchase some goats for Nayamani as she will be breeding and selling milk in her village. Once purchased I need to ensure the vaccinations and correct vitamins/minerals are sourced for a 6 month period…this is really going to require me to do my homework ! Then god willingly I hope to assist Helena to Dar-as-salam to purchase her 2nd hand bedsheets/clothes in bulk to bring back to Arusha set up her little business. So everyone’s ideas differ and it will give me a great insight in buying and selling goods in Tanzania, should be an experience I’m sure.

During the week we also visited Ngaramtoni to check on the progress on Flora’s chicken farm – YAY! It was finally built she just requires more materials to purchase the chicken boxes and wire gauzes to finish it off. I’m well impressed with her commitment to getting this up and running, for a single HIV affected mother she is an inspiration to her children, community and to me. The other 2 grant applicants appeared to be struggling within their vegetable selling business. Esther has been cautious to purchase larger quanatites so we took time to assist them and guide them in purchasing the vegetable plots. I had to hover around in the backround when we were getting pricing as their is a 'Tanzanian' price and a'Mzungu'price! so in order to get the best price i decided not to go towards the frontline.

Week commencing 25th May

and me trying to use illustrations for the small business training.

Sara presenting on behalf of her group

Nayamani and Esther, trying to get an update on their prchasing of the vegetable plots

Stephanie expressing what a business is to her.

Kwa Idd Project
The start of the week was spent trying to validate some initial costs for both Peter’s sunflower business and Mary’s barbeque goat business. Peter’s initial request for the loan was 200.000 Tsh, however after exploring some different avenues for supply of the sunflower we were able to transfer 50,000 from Peter’s allocation to Sion. Sion was an applicant who was initially chosen as she lacked the knowledge and skills in trying to generate income. However, her living conditions were the lowest scored. I couldn't allow myself not to include her in the first round of the small loans, even if it was 50,000 it would make a huge difference to her weekly income.The successful applicants that were chosen were also told the good news and informed about the 2 day training for small businesses. I had never taught to a group before other than carried out presentations for a board of executives I hadn’t really had to take charge of an adult class!! Therefore the start of the week was spent thinking about the approach i was going to take and the content of my training. I knew visual aid was a must and my basic Swahili would not allow me to do this on my own, so having Dan as an interpreter working with me will really come in handy here!!

Helping Sister Felicity - FAWE project
After a lot of thought I have decided the way forward for this organisation will be to try and create some form of income generating scheme. Even if i can finalise donors and get hold of funds once the money has been allocated to where its needed, there will still be difficulties in the long run. So I discussed income generating ideas, we needed to do a survey on the area to see what potential ideas would work. The current org which is financing Sister Felicity has also rolled out another round of funding. Therefore most of my time was also used to assist her in completing the long grant proposal. This required a complete financial picture of FAWE and transparency on why funding was required.


27 may
Ngaramtoni
It was an eventful day in Ngaramton, there has been little rain so it was very very dusty in the hills, but none the less we caught Flora today.Last week she was unable to purchase right quality of wood, so remainder has been purchased. The problem we will face now is the shortage of money, it will not be enough to cover the labour charges so i need to re-asses this with Kate. Also did progress reports for Nayamani and Esther, looking at their records it was apparent they had made a loss with the vegetable business. Nayamani had made a bad call with the supplier she had chosen, as the vegetable plot purchased was not a good one. Esther had not researched pricing within the market she was selling and had sold her stock for less then she purchased. We spent a lot of time with them today to make a plan of action for the next two weeks, we will be working with them closely in purchasing and selling the goods as of today.

28/29
The Business training
I was a little concerned at the star of the week as to not having enough time to prep for the training, However i managed to arrange it all in between my bus journey's to and from work.I was a little nervous the night before, but these 2 days of carrying out small business training was so rewarding and enjoyable. Group work was great aspect in getting all the guys to integrate and work as a team, also the creative guys of the group emerged . I ensured the start of the training got rid of their fear about lack of education and business knowledge.I did this by using a simple exercise whereby i asked the 3 groups to draw pictures on their understanding of what business was – this was really interesting, especially as none of them drew money but pics of the carrying out what they knew was ‘good business’. One of the illustrations was by Justin, he had drew a picture of a tree whereby he explained the roots of it was where the stock was (capital) . From the roots to the branches was the flow of distribution to the customer (channels of distribution). Each branch her drew represented all the different types of consumers (segmentation) and the apples on the trees was where the profit came from. He explained how each part of the apple would cover and contribute costs of the business,families expenses and savings. This concept will really stick with me, no matter what little education he had it was his determination to succeed and care for his family that mattered. I really wanted them to integrate with one another and share thoughts so encouraged them all to present their ideas,they were all shy about doing this but after just 2 days you could clearly see their confidence and enthusiasm beaming.
The remainder of the training covered the requirements to start a business, developing a business idea, evaluation of competition, the customer, determining a selling price and building a repeat client base. The 2nd day was challenging as it was the financial part ranging from profit and loss to keeping records. Although it was a good chance chance to see which recipients had difficulty with numbers etc, to help me recognise which needed closer support and help in setting up.

The tricky bit....who gets the loans?

22 May
The big day, the selection process.
we were able to carry out the selection today, confirmed 9 loan recipients from 31. We could only choose 8 however managed to retrieve 50,000 from peter after going through his requirements to start his sunflower oil business. He was able to purchase the bottle himself and make the oil himself, this would save 50,000 TSh. Therefore I transferred this into a small loan for Seon. Very small , bt will make a difference to her living condition as she is currently supporting herself and 2 grandchildren on less than $1 a day, so I couldn’t let this go. Therefore due to the fact she has had 10 yrs of selling experience I caluculated she could by a plot of veg and sell at the markets. Although Dan was a tad unsure if we did the right thing as Seon is not as advanced as the others, in terms of her financial understanding on profit/loss and forecasting. Although the other's did not use any of the processes we use to forecast out business, some of this carried this out mentally but without record keeping.
Although it took us 4 hrs to do the selection, a further 4 hours were spent trying to retrieve some funds for Seon and in the end I did it. Today was a difficult day as it was hard to try and remain open-minded especially as the selection criteria took into account living conditions, health, income , business acumen etc. I felt crappy that some applicants met the criteria in terms of low scores for living/income but they also scored low on their business ideas so if these wernt balanced we had to exclude from the selection. I didn't like this but had to try and not be bias.

AND FINALLY THE WEEKEND!

Church servivice at 7am, large aspect of Tanzanian livestyle and it was the harvest feastival.Live goats and chickens brought to the front alongside food and bedsheets. What is going to happen with them ws my question. Enjoyed the gospel group who were so energetic and happy at 7 am! I had to get up and introduce myself in front of 200-300 odd people at the start of the service, this was the part I dreaded. Very embarrassing I shit my load. After all that live animals and goods were auctioned to raise funds for the church itself!

Me and sam visited the arusha hotel and sat by the pool reading and having some cold beverages.Although we did burn and hit with sun stroke..but was nice none the less as we just chillaxed needed a god day off work and some luxury in the weeks we had been here.
Evening was great as the whole family took me for some traditional nimochoma and goats meat..was such a brilliant atmosphere I had such a great time. Moma is like a real mother to me and it feels so nice having here there, it feels weird as she always includes me alongside the the other girls no matter what. Meet was tough bt tasty no fat lol! Was a live band which I had been looking forward to all day too.

Week commencing 18 May

The Grant recipients in the Ngaromtoni, Nayamani and Esther.

The hills of Ngaromtoni, its taking alot of energy andI'm eating so much so I can walk for hrs everyday!

Start of the week
Ngaramtoni…not a good start but a good end

Its 9.30pm and I can’t even keep my eyes open….walking up and down the hills has killed me off today! It felt like Mount Longido all over again today, after 2 hrs of walking in the hills I felt like my legs couldn’t go on. I noticed a change in the temperature today it was so hot and I felt burning on my neck whilst walking to one of our grant recipients. I spent the day in Ngaramtoni today, to see the status of the 4 grant recipients. Flora was due to have had her chicken house extended to a two tier in the last week. Both Esther and Nayanami have purchased their vegetable plots and now are in the process of selling to wholesalers or restaurants in the town.

We needed to find out if Evelyn’s food shack was making more profit too. She had invested the grant in new equipment to enable her to produce more quantities of the food she sold. As for Dora, I went around the market today to see what type of businesses were most popular and which one’s were sparse in order to identify a business opportunity for Dora. We are not going with her initial idea of selling maize – as there are a dozen sellers of this already. However after the early start we were finished by 1pm and had been unsuccessful in catching up with any of the recipients.As they were all working in farms which were a located a fair distance from their homes. So you could image the disappointment after walking up the hills for 2 hrs and not to find Flora there and no sign of materials or the expansion of the chicken house. It was very unusual as we tend to meet at least 4/5 recipients on a normal day. But it’s always a gamble as most of them live high in the hills and do not own a phone, so it is always important to arrange a day and time to visit whereby both parties stick to the plan. The rest of the day was spent in town, as I wanted to meet up with the country manager Kate. This was to finalise the criteria I had come up with to assess the potential applicants for the small business loans in Kwa Idd. I’m also grateful that my home stay is only an hour’s walk from town, because I can get access to the net if I start work early at 7 and finish by 4 so I can fit in the net café before it gets dark and dangerous. As for the work, I have come to enjoy the level of responsibility and independence that I am give to carry out the projects, it’s really nice to know both of the country managers have faith in you to lead these projects on behalf of the NGO.

19 May – Kwa idd
its all about the visits…..
Carried out 10 visits today! the journey on the dala dala is becoming more entertaining everyday ..I ended up being pushed into an overflowing bus today with my ass sticking out the door. The locals were laughing saying how muzungus don’t know how to huddle! If you ask me if I got any closer to them I’d be in a humping position,sod that!! So I laughed with them and said’ nimeelewa’ which means ‘I understand’ Mzungu huh! So now I just laugh with them and say I understand to everything lol!i also learnt today why I get called this, regardless of me looking like an Indian. A local said to me how you never see a Tanzanian Indian walking, because they all have cars. Hence they come to the conclusion I’m a foreigner. Walking up to my house has also become quite funny…Habari Mzungu is how I am greeted..my reply nzuri Africana!! The responses are great to that one..good job they have a sense of humour too! I COULD NOT MOVE by the time I got through the front gate today. Was so shattered I noticed my lack of concentration when trying to cross the main roads to walk home today. I was a cheeky sod by crossing and making cars stop for me. just didn’t have the energy to wait and wait for a opening for me to run across today! NOT A SMART PARV! Today was a tough day, I was working towards ensuring selection would take place before the weeks out. So this mean majority of the visits had to be carried out today as I lose couple of hrs 2mro as it’s the committee meeting for the group. This ended up being the case as I was on a mission to walk to all the families like a woman possessed and complete the visits accordingly to the criteria I ran past Kate yesterday. The committee members were surprised as to how much energy I had and the distance I could walk and not say ‘I’m tired, enough for today’ but this also showed them my level of commitment. There was a range of potential recipients I visited today…

everyone had their story and plans and aspirations I felt a little sad as I knew we can only help a 1/3 of these people and some will be turned down. It made me feel helpless but at the same time I realised the fact that no matter how many people I try and help there will always be somebody who will be disappointed and disheartened that I couldn’t do anything further for them. This made it even more important to me to get this selection right; if we chose the right recipients then this would ensure repayment would be assured. So money would be put back into the pot to be distributed for the 2nd road between 3- 6 months.

The next day I managed another 6 visits and attended the committee meeting for the last part of the day. Also met Mama Minja , she is a very respected and recognised figure within the community as she has carried out a similat project for women in business in a town close by. I have to say it was very interesting to meet her, as she wanted us to give equal amounts to 10 recipients so it would be easier to collect the repayments on a monthly basis. As the amounts would all be the same. Although this required me to discuss the importance in not treating all the individuals the same as everyone has different expectation and levels of support they required. So it was vital we see each case with the merit it deserved instead of trying to think about how it would be easier for collecting the repayments. I think she was also being biased against the individuals who had very little money but great business ideas on generating income.

21 May
Lets change the plan Parv…?
I was hoping to get the visits all typed up to include the financial information in clear format. However at the end of the meting yesterday we came across 4 women who hadn’t been interviewed. The reason being they worked as manual labourers on nearby farms – it was at this point I made the decision to delay the selection by one day and meet up with these 4 women. For all we knew they could have some really good ideas on how to generate income, the micro-finance loans could make a real difference to them and their families. They probably could not come due to the work commitments; therefore these women looked like they really needed help in terms of improving their lives. However they had asked if I could conduct the visits in the afternoon today as they all had HIV clinics to attend in the am. Sadly none of the four showed up in the afternoon I waited for 2 hours, thinking they must have real good reasons for running late. But I think they could not afford to take any time out to do all of this application for loan business. I was really gutted and had to accept that if they really wanted to be helped they would have turned up..but I couldn’t help thinking maybe they didn’t have any confidence in us..maybe something happened to them on the way back from the clinics? But Dan explained this is common, sometimes the ones that really need the money to better their livelihoods get used to the way things are and don’t expect anything or any help from anybody – so don’t bother. Walking back down the hills to the bus stand was a silent journey….I was trying to come to terms with the outcome of today and came to realise you can’t help everybody you come across. I can only do the best I can during my time here and that will have to be good enough for me. Sometimes such problems are out of my control, for me to try and reach out to these to try and help will not always be possible. Lesson learned.

The weekend - 16/17 May

Making some chapattis

and still making some more chapattis!

My home brother cam home unexpectedly from school yesterday, he is at school in another state, which is common. So it was nice spending some time catching up with him last night. So I had decided to make dinner for the family as they were keen to try an Indian or British dish, I opted for Indian as it would be easier to try and get all the ingredients over here! Upendo had helped me all evening and we ended up with fresh aubergine and potatoes and chicken accompanied with chapattis and rice. Chapattis are a common food here so that was handy. However it was a good job my hair was tied up as I made the curries over a gas cylinder and the chapattis over some coal outside…back to basics was an experience! The dinner was a real hit with the family and we have decided this is going to be a weekly treat for them, not that I love being a hostess or anything as most of you would agree hehehe!
Caroline and Karen had arranged for the 3 of us to visit ‘National Arusha Park’ on the Sunday which was a nice day out. The weather held up and it was a restful today, as most of it was spent standing up in the jeep! The park itself was huge and quite green considering, so we were able to get out at some points and get close to the animals which was real nice. Although walking through the forests was a little risky but we had a ranger so that made it a little exciting…in case we had some uninvited company.

The latter end of the week

I had managed to get hold of the current funders for Sister felicity and arranged to meet them at 8.30 one morning. They are an American company who provides 300,000 Tsh for the FAWE centre. Due to other projects they cannot assist further with the current problems that face the centre. However after meeting Nick, the NGO founder, he came me some alternatives routes to consider if funds could not be raised. He also suggested looking at the local community to develop an initiative that will generate income. This was something I had already considered and planned as a back-up.
I also started my formal interviews of the Business group from Kwa Idd towards the back end of the week, the group leader had chosen a potential 20 to shortlist and our organisation to visit and assess. So after the first few visits I felt like this was going to be a challenge in only selecting half of them. As all of them had the motivation and drive to try and improve their current living conditions and better their futures. I feel like Kate has given me quite a lot of responsibility on this project, which is quite encouraging as I really want to do a good job in ensuring I select the right candidates. Although I have found myself asking how do I distinguish between the ‘right candidates’ and the ‘real poverty stricken’ ones…. ?? I soon came to the conclusion in order for this scheme to work successfully and enable further rounds of loans to be distributed it was striking a balance between ‘good income generation ideas’ and ‘those that also need the money’ to better their lives.

Midweek..... a good executive decision

Flora's is trying to expand the Chicken count to produce more eggs to help fund her childrens education. The shed is going to come out and built to 2 storeys with the grant.

the local people find it a breeze everyday!

young parv loving the hills..................shinsplints not so good!

the hills of Ngaromtoni

For my 2nd project in Ngaramtoni -One of the grant recipients was presented with the monies to finance her business idea today. Flora is a widow with five children and is also a HIV patient; she was awarded the grant along with 4 other individuals from a selection of 30 people. She lives high up in the hills of Ngaromtoni so it took us 1.5 to walk to her house and present her with the money. We discussed when and how much the building work would cost for expansion of her chicken farm. She depends on this source of income to feed her family and attempt to get them some sort of an education. Currently only 1 child out of 5 attends a school, that itself is a very basic school that also has some nuns running it. Some dates were finalised for the building to commence and completion date, things move very slowly over here something which would take 2 days back home, can take up to 2 weeks in this village. We have arranged to meet in a week’s time to see how everything is moving.
I have figured I can visit all the 5 recipients in a day starting from 8am – 6pm, the only factor that can slow things down is the walking distance between the recipients and the weather. This village is very close to Mount Meru and I decided around 3pm to call it a day as we had some very unwelcoming clouds up above. I think I made a good decision as on our way down the hills we heard how a lorry had lost control and knocked three girls off the hill whilst driving up. The lorries breaks were non existence and the guy was using gears only!! Later we came to find out the 3 girls were the very ones that were walking up the hills with me and Dan!! They were local girls who were walking to their village where I and Dan had the luxury in turning around. I had a very sickly feeling in my gut that night as Dan knew the girls from his village and was rather upset about it.

Week commencing 11 May

Sister Felicity's office for the FAWE centre

The 3rd project FAWE supports - the local school for the HIV affected widows.

Start of the week…
I had arranged to meet Sister Felicity today, having visited her 1 room office where everything is carried out we were set to the visit the school today. Which was the 3rd area of work she co-ordinated. When I visited I took some bananas for the little ones and wanted to see the state of the school. It turned out as I’d imagined after our discussions in the last week. We had agreed from all the 3 work areas of the FAWE project the school was in serious need of funds to provide basic desks/chairs for the children and to buy a blackboard which belongs to the school. It was difficult to prioritise the needs of this school considering the roof was incomplete too, however Sister insisted the desks/chairs were in desperate need. We have sat down and thought of a few avenues, firstly to approach the local businesses within Arusha for support. I have carried out some research to all the big businesses which seem to be mobile networks and the travel/tourism companies. We have drawn up costs for all 3 areas of the FAWE in order of priority. This will make it transparent to potential donors as to why funds are required and how they will be allocated. So the start of the week was spent trying to get hold of costing for materials, equipment, labour charges etc. I think from the 3 of my projects this will be the most challenging in terms of progress, considering so many organisations are fighting for aid and funds. The grants project has the funds allocated to the recipients already, and I need to work with the individuals in getting their little businesses set up and generating some form of income. For the business loans, the funds have been raised from international donors and I need to start by visiting all the individuals in the group from this village to get an idea of their income generating ideas before I make formal visits for assessments. So this project is going to require loads of research into who I can approach for funding. It really sucks as the families are mostly widowed women, who cannot even afford to feed these children. I have had an idea to consider ‘World Vision’ to see if they can sponsor a child for even a morning meal of porridge at school at a cost of 20p per day. World Vision appear to have similar schemes… so this maybe my first point of call. For the school equipment if funding fails we are going to discuss some form of income generating ideas within the village. So I will be carrying out some surveys within the local areas to get the ball rolling.

Visit to Longido on the weekend

9/10 May 2009

I was very excited at the start of this trip. Caroline had arranged for me, her and Karen to go and visit John & Dee in Longido and also experience the place and real Masai culture. It is located 40 minutes to the border to Nairobi and on the outskirts of Tanzania, where the Masai culture is mostly found. We arrived just before it got dark, which was a relief. This place was so surreal we found a plank of wood to sit and wait after the bus dropped us off in the middle of the village. There was nothing else here apart from this village and it was deadly silent at this time of day. There was something about this which I liked very much – the sheer peace and quite and no locals harassing you or staring at you.
We were met by John and Dee, after spending a weekend with them; I definitely have loads of respect and admiration for them. They are real humble and open minded, which I came to like very much. We went to a local place for food – beans and rice and then the guys had some beer. I came to find out you can be anywhere and there will always be beer on sale lol!!
The 3 highlights of the weekend were visiting a Boma (the mud huts where the Masai’s lived in) and being introduced to the family and their way of life. It was extremely fascinating to learn the different and isolated lifestyle they lived. They were so welcoming and proud of their culture and really excited about wanting to visit them. It was really odd how a family of 10 could sleep and live in this 2 roomed mud hut and still be so content and happy, I now know that they choose to live like this as maintaining their tradition and culture is almost equivalent to their dignity. The 2nd was walking to visit the Masai caves, these were situated about 2 hours outside the village by foot. We set off very early on Sunday, which was painful after the 9 hrs of climbing on Saturday! But it was really worth it when we got there, as these caves are still used in the months of June/July when males are circumcised. This is the place where they come to have it carried out and where they remain till they are naturally healed! It is somewhat considered a masculine and test of strength to survive this in these conditions, no women are aware of the location and are not allowed to ask any questions regarding this when the men leave for the caves.
The last one was climbing Mount Longido, considering my fitness was non existence with my ankle injury from back home I made it up! Only just though, it must have been the hardest climb of my life…it was the steepness of the mountain that nearly did me over. I started off quite comfortably in the first hour, but after that I had to stop every 15mins to stop and breathe and then start again! It took nearly 4 hrs to get up and one up I just lay on the rocks looking into the distance with Mount Kilimanjaro in front of us and Mount Meru on the right it was a gorgeous view. We all sat there in silence for a good 15 minutes trying to get out breath back and just relax. It was such a relief and I could have had a nap up there, was totally exhausted but was so chuffed to make the summit.
The weekend finished with the 3 of us trying to hike a life back into Arusha, as there were no means of transport out of this area. So all visitors stand on the side of the village and wait for vehicles that go past for a life out of this place!! I got lucky as the girls decided to make me stand and get my thumb up. What an experience and it worked first time round too.

My home stay family - The big move!

9/5/09

Today was an awesome day!I visited Ngaromtoni, another rural village where my 3rd and final project is based. I was suppose to stay here, but now I have moved in with Moma Aichee on the outskirts of Arusha (just outside of town). This big village is actually very very scenic , it is very hilly and quite reserved. The local people here are very traditional and a non-tanzanian always draws attention very quickly. This project is one whereby grants have been allocated to 5 recipients, these were chosen from a group of 30. To aid them in starting up small businesses to support themselves and generate an income of some support. I have been asked to work with them in using the grant to actually get the business up and running, so for most of them it is using the funds to purchase resources and actively get things moving. So this one is looking at supply and demand in the areas where all the individuals have decided to set up. As an initial starting poing for me.

Aside this today I moved into my new home! How exciting was this..I didnt know what to expect.I've met some other volunteers in the last few days which is great for support networks and social meetings. But sorting out a homestay was something I was eager to sort out asap. Hearing about the other guys home-stays gave me mixed thoughts on what to expect. Rory ( a volunteer from the US from another NGO) filled me in on his homestay with 2 nuns and how kool it was whereas Caroline ( from my organisation) was staying with a middle-class traditional family who where very open and warm to her. But moving in today came so natural, it felt like Moma Aichee was a long lost aunt in another country who was taking me home with her!! There are 2 daughters Noami and Upendo, who are the only ones at home. While Papa works in Dar es Salaam, so this is going to be great. My house is 45 mins walk from town and is smack bang in a village which is very lively and everyone knows everyone. The type of housing differed from one another so I was very curious to the drive up to the house. Although, it was very uncommon for a village folk to have a vehicle! so the fact that Moma Aichee owned one was an indication it was going to be one of the comfortable home-stays hehehehe. I got very lucky shall I say, the house is gorgeous and the layout is more or less similar to back home. Only difference is the rooms are very big and all on one floor and there is an outside area for washing up as well as a fitted kitchen!! This is very rare for a homestay family, I Have been told. Lets just say, everything has worked out very very well as the family are very traditional yet modern...a great balance if you ask me! a very happy parv.

Introduction to my 2nd project

7/5/09, 10.42pm

gosh its been 2 days and I feel like a weeks gone by already!!in the last few days I have visted Kwa Idd, where my 2nd project is based. A group of small business minded individuals have approached out NGO for help and support. It was pretty amazing to see these individuals get together to create a community group. They meet up once a week to disucss the health problems of the members of the group and update each other on their efforts to raise finance. To meet such people in such rural areas was rather enlightening and impressive. They have so much aspiration to try and create their own little businesses and support themselves and their families. Which is great as they are not the kind of people who want handouts or sympathy from outsiders. No matter how small the business idea, just sitting and listening to their thoughts and idea was enough for me. For this project, our organisation has managed to locate some donors back home and raise 1.18 M TSH . The group consists of 31 individuals and we have calculated for the first round of micro-finance loans, we can distribute 9-10 loans for the group.Therefore the process will begin with me visiting all the 31 individuals and discussing their ideas to expand or start up small businesses.I have to sress this is not the small business's you may have in mind...after inital discussions these ranged from a individual selling 2nd hand clothes in a small built room and wanting the loan to purchase pashmina type scarfs from the Dar es Salaam to increase her profits by 35,000 Tsh.The most ironic yet not shocking discovery about this was the fact that these clothes are those very ones the external world donate to third world countries!!
I noticed how this was the norm all over Tanzania..you could walk through a village and see a clothes stall set up, these clothes all came from the big cities and sold to local villagers in bulk. Everytime i see a stall I get so angry...especially as they are donated to reach these people..not to be sold to them! although I always had doubts everytime I'd visit the recylce clothese bin in shopping complexes. Guess it's different when you see it in front of you where they actually go!!

5/5/09

Regardless of not moving into my home stay, we were still sticking to the original plan for the induction week. I visited Sister Felicity and Theresa; they are based in a rural village 30 minutes outside of town. For this week both Kate and Leonard, assistant country manager for the org, have arranged to take us and introduce us to the projects we will be working on. So today Kate assisted me, although the start of the day was a tad rocky. Especially as it was my first day on the dala dala, these are the local means of transport within the area and are minibuses which are charged by the seat but filled to the point whereby no man can even squeeze in! This ride was insane as I was seated next to Kate and 2 men. The one next to me decided to pull out his pen knife and work at my bag whilst it was on my lap…just as well I had a mango in there for lunch huh! Firkin nerd trying to get to my valuables, he tried getting through the side after failing to get to anything 1st time round and that’s when I noticed! By the time I could say or do anything the bus randomly stopped and off he flew! so yes an experience which freaked me out but made me realise how desperate some of these people are and the extent they would go to. Nothing like a settling in experience eh! This project in the village is called ‘The FAWE’ Faraja Women Empowerment and aims to empower and support Tanzanian women infected with or affected by HIV/AIDS by enabling them to support themselves independently. The organisation offers financial loans, counselling, and business advising as well as HIV’AIDS information and support, allowing women to live healthy and sustainable lives. My role with this project is to try and fundraise using the local businesses, look further a field for national and international support. I need to get cracking with this in terms of researching big enterprises in East Africa and maybe even consider international aid. I spent most of the day with Sister Felicity in terms of accounting for the 300,000 Tsh (£150) that she receive from ‘The Arusha Project’ an American NGO who support HIV affected Widows. We have also looked at which areas require urgent aid and finances and prioritised the needs of the centre, home care service and the pre-school for the children of the women.

4/5/09

Today was the official induction for me and Evelyn; she arrived yesterday, to go through our individual work projects, a quick Swahili lesson, an introduction to the culture and way of life in Tanzania, and some other useful information. Kate had confirmed that we will be leaving for our home stays later in the evening. I had discussed with Kate how far out I was going to be especially as I’d be on my own in the in the middle of nowhere. Unfortunately there was no other volunteers based in Ngaromtoni, this is a rural area which is around 40 mins out of town and I wasn’t feeling it anymore. I think after being here for 4 days I have realised my safety needs to come first therefore maybe staying just outside the town would be the right move. It wasn’t even that, but I’d be totally isolated in the evenings as it is not safe to go out when the sun goes down… so something inside just wasn’t like this plan. It was at the end of the day whereby I and Kate agreed maybe staying further away was not the right thing for me; it was here whereby I was to go back to the hotel. I was a little gutted as Evelyn had left for her home stay which was also just outside the town where I would have liked to have left for too. Kate has assured me that after a few enquires I too will have a home stay organised closer to town. I’m not sure if I made the right move, but if I had doubt’s I think I did the right thing. Although it was exciting to learn about the 3 projects I would be working on, something to be happy about!! I did feel totally homesick today but I think it’s the culture shock of the way of life in Tanzania and maybe there’s an element of fear that isn’t subsiding. I haven’t experience this kind of fear before so it has thrown me and I’m not entirely sure how to handle it or manage it…so not moving to the stick was a result of this fear. I know in the past ‘fear’ is something which has excited me or I’ve just shrugged it off but this time I need to act on it with careful judgement. Parv can be sensible when required!

3/5/09

Its my 3rd day in Arusha and boy am I slightly confused with the whole thing..there are street children all over the place then you have the 5 star Arusha Hotel on the other hand. Kate did warn me this would be the case in the town. As there are developed businesses right down to people selling nuts on the streets trying to make their daily income. Although I have learnt something and that is to be extremely safe if I’m on my own with my bag and belongings. As foreigners are the target for bag snatching and muggings. nice!!! This has definitely made me a little tad paranoid but I figure if they can see this then I will get my ass kicked!! Arusha is a base town for NGO’s projects and a hot spot for tourists, which explains the division between development and poverty.

I’ve spent time walking around the town, meeting Caroline (another volunteer from the group) and some other volunteers from other NGO’s. After 3 days I am feeling a little homesick and miss my family and friends already!! I think the whole issue about safety and being alert 24/7 has really thrown me as it’s something that isn’t a issue back at home. The locals also pay attention to non Tanzanians. I thought the fact that 30% of their population is made up of Indians..I may be ok to fit in. Definitely wishful thinking Miss Parv!! Since arriving here I have been called ‘Muzungu’ which stand for white person…considering I am not even white they just categorise everyone who isn’t the same colour as a white person!! So apart from have this shouted at me in the streets and folk trying to befriend me to buy something it’s been INTERESTING!

1/5/09, 1.42 pm

Kenya to Tanzania

It was a 6am start this am, and 6 hours later we have crossed the border from Kenya to Tanzania. The journey tends to take around 3.5 hours so this has definitely turned into the never ending journey! I’m very much looking forward to meeting Kate, (country manager for the volunteer organisation) as I have a feeling she will be able to wave my fear about all of this. Since arriving in Kenya, I’ve had somewhat of an apprehensive sensation in my stomach. Something along the lines of this being a real test of character and inner strength for me.
Currently we’re passing through the rural regions of Tanzania….where mud huts appear from time to time in isolated areas where there is no sign of life. Especially as the ground is so dry it is grey in colour with trees that have shrivelled up, it looks like a sheet of grey dust has been spread across the land. After about 30 minutes, it amazes me how fields of crops come into sight with brick houses. So it looks a little more developed and actual people in sight in comparison to the mud huts before which looked deserted. I’m thinking we must be approaching the city…or is that me just getting excited? I have to say this journey on the bus has been a rollercoaster, it’s a good job I have an empty stomach as this could have gotten messy. The extremely uneven and rocky terrain is making it a struggle for the driver, whilst 4x4’s speed past us I’m thinking ‘plssssssss do not break down here!’ as we passed some buses that did! Wow this dude really likes to be fast and furious as you can’t even see through the windscreen due to the dust in the air…BUT I’m sure this is just normal to him. We continue on…….

Arriving into Arusha to meet Kate
Kate seemed like a very down to earth and relaxed person. We walked out to the main road where she negotiated a taxi ride to the hotel, her fluent Swahili made me envious! She asked me if I wanted to sleep and rest before the group volunteer meeting at 7pm. I hadn’t slept for more than 3 hrs since leaving Heathrow but I was keen to get out and familiarise myself with the surroundings. Hmm a good opportunity to throw some questions at her the first one being ‘am I really reckless for coming to volunteer her on my own!’. I’m taken back with the roads and backstreets where the hotel is located…endless amounts of people sitting on the floor with either fruit/veg for sale. All lined up selling the same type of stuff makes me wonder how they manage to sell when the person next to them is selling exactly the same?!? It is very lively and busy on the streets with almost anything and everything for sale on the muddy side streets. From 2nd hand clothes, fruit & veg, plastic slippers…loads of them in every colour you could imagine, loads of fried food from bananas to dough balls covered in sugar (J – You would love these !!) so the range of stuff is totally random and varied shall is say. The locals all pay attention to myself and Kate and try and ask us questions or sell us something as we pass through. I was expecting a somewhat traditional market place for food instead she takes us to the west wing (as they have named it!). I wasn’t going to complain at this stage as I was starving but it did confuse me as to how in the middle of all of this you find an area or complex which has been designed for the modern Tanzanians/Westerners. Kate said it was a good place to go and think and reflect and get away from the craziness every now and again…so a mixed salad it was!

The night before!

Hmmm I really should pack everything into my backpack but I keep thinking there is laods of time!!when really there isn't, however fear not it will get done as we all know Parv's likes living life in the fast lane. Maybe it's because I know I won't be able to sleep tonight, hence it will control my nerves by staying awake all night - see i knew there was a reason for my madness!

As for my project I will be based in Ngaramtoni. Ngaramtoni is a rural town about 30 minutes from Arusha set at the base of Mount Meru.It is rural and hilly area. At Hope business project in Ngaramtoni I will be working part-time on the chicken and milling project, they are trying to set this up as income generation and help rollout funding for women living on poverty to start small businesses. There is also a group of business people in Kwa Iddi (about 10 minutes in the bus from Ngaramtoni) - they need business training particularly re marketing and spotting business opportunities.Another area which I will focus on will be the FAWE (Faraja Women's Empowerment)in Arusha (this would be 2 bus rides away, about 45 minutes) on helping them fundraise - lots of potential for great projects education an income generation however just no money to do it. This is what i have discussed for now, the rest will be discussed in detail upon arrival....so here goes!

My last sleep (or night at home!) x