Gangster's Paradise: Mafia Island

First of all, I have officially competed my first grant with the help of my very cool and trendy friends Toni and Ben (not that being trendy made much difference).  For our grant, we conducted 3 days of free HIV Testing and education at our sites.  Overall, we provided HIV testing for over 200 people and education for hundreds more.  We were lucky enough to score the talents of Ben's theater group who put together some very informative skits and a local HIV positive woman who talked about her own experiences.  It was such a good feeling to be able to provide such a service that is normally no as readily available.  

After we wrapped up our grant reports, I peaced out for the beginning of my vacation!  I made it to Mtwara Town and flew to Dar es Salaam.  That's right, instead of the usual 12+ hours trudging through the mud on an overcrowded bus; I spent an hour on an air-conditioned flight being fed juice and sandwiches.  I had better not get too used to that though.  We got to Dar and met up with some friends.  The next day, we set out on an amazing adventure, MAFIA ISLAND!  We caught about a 3-hour coaster to the town where the ferry sets out.  On the way there, I may or may not have discreetly threw-up into a plastic bag.  When we finally arrived, we had missed the ferry so we started looking for guesthouses close by.  After asking a few people, we found one and started our few days of marathon arguing.  We got them down a bit, dropped our bags, and headed out for a beer to recover a bit.  While sitting around, we were approached by some random dude asking if we wanted to make it to the island that same day.  Umm...no, I'd rather sit here in the 100 percent humidity paying entirely too much for a place I didn't want to be in the first place.  Of course we want to go.  After getting him to half his price twice, we had obtained transportation in a smallish motorboat.  Our next goal was to retrieve both our luggage and refund from the guesti that we spent approximately 2 minutes at.  The very not cool lady said that there was no way we would be getting a full refund.  After a while arguing, we got half of our money back and skedaddled for the boat.  We got to the harbor and thankfully received life jackets.  Then we had a merry little 2 1/2 boat ride in the company of a generator, 4 goats, and 3 hookers (all the necessities of an island, you know).  After hitting the shallows and wading into shore, we called up the place we had made reservations at and they sent someone to meet us.  When he showed up, we were told that the reservations had been messed up and we did not have a room that night.  He made up for it though when he spent about 2 hours calling every guesti in town finding us a place to stay for the night.  The next morning, we kicked off our day with some good ol' beans and chapati.  Then, we headed for the resort.  We were in for another session of bartering when we arrived and were told that the prices to stay there were about twice what we had been told earlier.  Because of all the arguing, we decided to go straight out in search of the holy grail of our trip, the whale shark!  We got on the boat with our two Tanzanian guides and a couple Germans.  On our way to deeper waters, we stopped by some dudes fishing in a canoe and our guides asked if there had been any whale sharks spotted.  The excitement was overwhelming when they pointed not far and said right over there.  After a couple more minutes of puttin' along, we say a dark fin cutting through the water.  When we got right next to it, they dude said jump, and Jordan and I didn't even wait to ask "How high?”  We just jumped.  Talk about scary.  Never in my life did I think that I would be swimming towards that iconic Jaws-style fin.  When we jumped in, the shark had switched direction and we couldn't catch up.  After we hauled ourselves into the boat, we got to try again.  The first time I got a good look at the shark, it creepily appeared out of the plankton thick water coming straight at me.  I got out of its way and swam besides it.  When it dove, I tried to go with it, getting entirely too excited, forgetting that my snorkel didn't reach that far and choking on tons of salt water.  The entire experience was just extremely amazing.  It is hard to believe that I was swimming along with a 30-foot shark.  At one point, I was swimming by the tail and realized that the fin was taller than me.  We developed a pattern.  Get in the boat, spot a fin, zip that way, and jump.  We continued this for a couple of hours until I was missing the skin off my elbows and the rains were coming.  When the winds come, the sharks dive so you can't play with them, so we headed in.  We decided to just stay that one night since we did what we came to do, and headed back the next morning.  The ride back was not quite as safi as our ride to the island.  To get to the actual boat, we loaded about 30 people into a tiny little boat and poled out to another slightly larger boat with a motor.  Next, we loaded two tiny boats worth of people into the slightly larger boat and slowly putted out to the ferry.  It was mass chaos trying to get into the boats, but we made it.  The ferry itself was very pirate-esque.   This "ferry" was a wooden ship that they stuck a motor on to.  We all loaded on and took off.  On the way, we passed through a storm and rode some of the biggest waves ever.  I loaded myself up with Dramamine, so I was fine, but the Tanzanians didn't handle it too well.  At least 2/3's of the boat was vomiting the entire way and we were getting hit in the face with waves coming over the side.  Can you say exciting pirate (and a little bit refugee-esque) adventure?  We did finally make it and then headed on to Dar.  Overall, amazing time that makes me feel so incredibly lucky to be in PC Tanzania.  Next stop, AMERICA!  Peace out peeps and if you in OK, come see me!

Holidays in Africa

So holidays are always though in Africa.  Being far away from family and friends just takes away some of the spirit.  Luckily, I am surrounded by a group of amazing friends that have morphed into some strange hodge-podge family. 
Halloween: For Halloween, we all gathered at a volunteer's house in our region.  We all worked on our costumes and most were Tanzanian themed.  We hung out, played games, and ate (as usual).

Its me...Ghee!! Love dressing up as other people.

Voodoo Priestess

Cashew Nut

Chili bottle...as seen at every bar in Tanzania

Primary School Student

Bus Stand Hard Boiled egg Salesman...and yes, thats an exact title

Creepy dude?

Overall, it was a pretty big success and fun to celebrate in a somewhat normal style.

Now Thanksgiving is my absolute favorite holiday and it just kills me to not have the normal fixins.  Because our region is awesome though, we had almost a perfect Thanksgiving dinner.  We all helped out and actually had the normal turkey (killed that morning), dressing, mashed potatoes, giblet gravy and some other awesome sides.  As per a usual Thanksgiving dinner, I completely over ate and was miserable, but it was completely worth it.  Ben and I also got a red velvet birthday cake.  It all made me pretty darn happy.

Dinner has arrived!

Thanksgiving Mtwara style

Fortunately, I will be spending Christmas with my family!  That's right people, I'll be back in 'Merica from Dec. 13th to Jan. 2nd.  I cannot wait to see friends and family and stop sweating for a bit. 

Peace out folks!

Has it really been a year?

So my neighbor had her baby.  A month early, but luckily healthy.  Baby Elnathai was born August 21st and weighed a whopping 1.5 kilos, which is about 3.4 pounds.

Little baby Elnathai

Its that time of year, in with the new and out with the old, volunteers that is.  It is so weird that the older, more knowledgeable people are going.  I did make it to a couple sharehe's, going away parties, to say bye.  At Kristi's, the primary and secondary schools sang and gave speeches.  Also, no Tanzania party is complete without everyone saying a speech.  Luckily, I was passed over (wiping sweat from brow).  I just got to eat, dance and enjoy my time.

Most of the ville turned up for the party.

Dance party

Claire's little friend, Tashi, rockin' it before her sharehe

Tanzanians believe in wrapping you in every single present you receive, followed by a short dance party.

I also made it to Claire's party.  It was a lot of fun and all of her students and teachers came.  They sang, danced, made speeches, and gave presents and we also stuffed ourselves full of pilau and danced the night away. 

Ran into my first black mamba in country.  Luckily, there were students nearby with a hoe that cut it into pieces.  Good thing too because those will kill you dead!

The boys showing off their snake-killing weapon.

A newly discovered talent of one of Claire's students.  

Tanzanians love playing with our hair.  Claire's students successfully turned her hair into a rats nest  right before good-byes.

In other news, this month marks one year of living in Tanzania.  It is strange how fast it has gone!!  I feel like I have so much to accomplish in the next year am looking forward to the rest of my service.

That's about all folks!  Peace Out!

Things I Miss When I'm Sick In Africa...

So I've got something funky going on with my sinuses right now.  I am calling the Peace Corps doctors tomorrow to find out what medicines to go get, but in the meantime, I'll just lay in bed, thinking about all the things that feeling like this makes me miss. Here goes:

1. My Mom
2. Real Pharmacies and doctors I can trust
3. A bath
4. Ice cream
5. People understanding that when I am sick, I want to be left alone
6. Making soup without having to light the kerosene stove
7. America's Next Top Model marathons
8. My duck blanket
9. Sonic Blue Coconut Slushy
10. Ritz Crackers
11. Decongestants
12. REAL KLEENEX

Thats pretty much it for right now.  Sorry about the pity-party, but I would sell me kidney for a Sonic Slushy right now!! Peace out!

Hospital Time

So today I had my first true experience with the healthcare system in Tanzania.  A student at a Claire's school collapsed, had a seizure, and was unconscious for about an hour.  We are thinking this may be due to cerebral Malaria.  After this occurrence, his friend held him on the back of a motorcycle and they admitted him to the Newala Hospital.  When they arrived, there were no doctors and no real nurses.  Eliezar, a teacher from Kiuta, was carrying him until they finally admitted the boy.  Once admitted, a really shocker happened.  The hospital had no supplies.  This is not just an exaggeration.  All the hospital has is beds, sheets, and mosquito nets.  Claire had to go to the duka la dawa, pharmacy, and buy IV lines, needles, and medication.  Once every thing had been bought, the staff took about 20 minutes to get the IV in him arm.  Claire gave me a call once they had settled and I made my way that way, buying bananas, because get this: the hospital does not feed the patients.   In fact, they do nothing except administer the drugs that you buy yourself.  It depends on the patient's friends and families to feed, take to the bathroom, and clean the patient.  When asked what happens if someone is without family, the response was that they die.  That just goes to emphasize how much people rely on family in the Tanzanian culture.  They share everything: food, money, success, and failure.  In fact, if one person has any success, it falls on them to support the rest of their family.  As great as it is to be close to family and depend upon one another, I can't help thinking that this is a contributor to many of the problems in this country.  I know a guy who is extremely smart and an amazing person.  He is the oldest child and his father has passed away.  Because of this, after A-Level schooling (the equivalent of Junior College), he got his teaching certificate instead of moving on to University so that he could make money and help his younger siblings finish schooling.  It is great for the education system that they got such a remarkable person, but he has so much potential to do much more good for this country.  But, back to the hospital; after the IV was put in, he started to rouse.  After about an hour, he was even able to talk, with difficulty, and drink water and eat some food.  I can only hope that his progress continues.  This trip to the hospital got me thinking about what can be done to improve the overall health care system in Tanzania.  I think really, accountability needs to be addressed first.  I was told that whenever the government comes to inspect, people are fired because they just don't show up to work.  This still does not seem to improve the dependability of the staff though.  Once this has been addressed, then other logistics can be improved, like separating people with TB or contagious diseased, possibly like the man in the corner of the building we were in coughing up blood, from the other patients with already compromised immune systems.  Overall, the entire experience was extremely eye opening and I now understand why the Tanzanian citizens, at least around my area, seem to distrust medical care and tend to opt for solutions provided by witch doctors and superstition.  

Cookin' Tanzo Style

So cooking over kerosene stove, while limiting at times, is still enjoyable.  I love cooking so one of the most enjoyable parts of my day is cooking dinner.  So many people at home may be curious about the options available.  We actually have quite a bit: spinach, eggplant, hot peppers, bell pepper, onions, tomatoes, and potatoes.  I only miss a few things like cheap eggs (eggs are expensive for our budget), milk, cheese, and nice ready-to-cook meat.  I am lucky that I have an amazing family though, because I usually have some packages of tuna for some quick protein.  One of my favorite Tanzanian foods is chapati.  Chapatti is the African version of the Indian naan.  You may also say that it is just a thick tortilla.  Well anyways, I thought it might be fun to show here so if you are interested, you can try it out for yourself!

To make chapatti, you need 3 cups of flour (maybe a little extra to flour the rolling surface), oil, salt, and water.

First, in a bowl, combine 3 cups of flour, a pinch of salt, and about a tablespoon of oil.

Next, add enough water so that you are able to form one elastic ball of dough.

Break off pieces of dough, experiment with the size you want.  Roll out the dough, drizzle a little oil on the dough, and then roll the dough back up and set aside.  I am usually able to form between 8 to 10 balls from one batch.

After oiling all of the dough, set aside for 20 minutes to 1 hour.

After setting aside, roll out the chapattis into reasonably thin circles.  Again, the thickness is mainly up to your own preference. 

Heat about a tablespoon, or less, of oil in a pan.  After it is hot, add a chapatti.

When the chapatti is good and bubbly, it is time to flip.

After you cook them all, you can go traditional and enjoy with a hot bowl of beans, or make wraps.    

So this is just a little taste of Tanzania.  Hopefully more to come!  Bon appetite!  Peace out!

As we go on...We Remember...

First of all, I want to add some pictures of Claire's very successful HIV/AIDs Education/Soccer camp.  I went to Claire's ville last week to help out with this 3-day camp.  The mornings were about 4 hours of HIV Education and Life Skills.  Then in the afternoons, we played around 3 or 4 hours of soccer.  The entire thing was exhausting, but extremely fun.  I also think that the kids took a lot away from it.  I am so glad that I went to help because after seeing the programing and structure, I think I'll conduct this camp at my school.

So there comes a time in every volunteers service that their time here is drawing to an end.  For our 2009 Health and Environment class, that time has come.  Last weekend, we decided to have one last hoorah for our friends.  On Friday, we all made to trip to Mtwara town on the coast.  The beach house had been reserved so we spent a good weekend with friends, internet, and good food with a beach front view.  Not a bad way to go if you ask me.  We shopped, ate at the fish market, swam and celebrated the friendships that we've made in  such a short time.  I know that sounds really corny, but its amazing how quickly good friendships are formed over here.  In such a high stress, foreign environment, we count on each other for support.  I still talk to my family, but there are so many things that I feel I can't tell them.  They are already under so much stress by my being here, I would never want to aggravate that.  Therefore, you end up talking to other volunteers who understand what you are going through and more often than not have gone through the exact same thing.  It is so sad to see this class go, but we can only hope that they aren't replaced with a bunch of weirdos.  Heres hopin'!
In other news, school officially reopened this last Monday.  Hooray for my second term as a teacher.  Time really flies over here, almost exactly 10 months in fact.  Crazy.  Well sorry this was such a sappy post!  Peace out!