6/6/19 I guess it has been a while since my last post, I think it's about time to do another. I have been busy traveling around Tanzania and working on projects in my village. First the traveling: my Tanzanian counterpart and I travelled to Morogoro for a week of HIV Bootcamp. We learned the details about the disease and developed effective ways to teach prevention to the villagers. If you remember, we did a survey in my village when I first arrived. We found that there was very little knowledge about how it is spread and the proper treatment. 26 out of 45 households surveyed has either someone HIV positive or someone who has recently died from AIDS. One family had two HIV positive parents and no children. All three children had died from AIDS. They had been treated by a witch doctor using "local medicine". The local clinic is treating over 700 HIV positive patients regularly. That's pretty impressive considering that there is about 2500 people in our village. Patients may travel a long distance for treatment.

After Morogoro I spent two weeks in Dar es Salaam for my mid time physical and additional training. Yes, I made it halfway. I'm proud of the fact that of the five "older" volunteers who started, I'm one of the two left (and the oldest). That after losing 40 pounds and being the first volunteer of any age that has been bitten by a snake in a long time.

Now my projects: I think I mentioned a chicken project before. The plan is to give 20 mamas a chicken coop and twenty chickens. Another thing that we learned from the survey I mentioned earlier is that most families spend at least part of the year without enough food. This is due to many things, but one of the big factors is that most of the people in this village are farmers, and recent climate have extended the dry season and reduced the harvest. This continues to spiral further out of control with longer, drier dry seasons and fewer trees. The chickens will provide a dependable source of nutrition and income for families, but I'm finding that a project of this size is a real challenge for the village. Still trying to find someone who can sell us 400 local chickens, and the materials to construct the coops will have to be transported from the closest city. (First photo: chicken project mamas learning about creating a budget)

The health volunteer project. Training of first responders for each each sub village continues. Our last training provided trainees information about HIV, other local diseases(malaria, TB, typhoid), hypertension, and first aid for cuts and skin diseases. It is interesting to see how few older men are left in the village. There are quite a few older women, many of them are suffering from untreated things like arthritis, skin diseases, and hypertension. One of the mamas that came to the clinic on our free visit day had a B/P 240/130 and was complaining of a headache that she has had for a long time. The Tanzanian Red Cross has agreed to come to our village to teach and certify our volunteers in First Aid. That grant request is still in the works, but looking forward to getting as much basic medical knowledge as possible down to the lowest levels in the village.

Moringa trees. As noted previously, deforestation is a real problem here as many of the few remaining trees are being cut for cooking fuel. Most families cannot afford the cost of propane stoves, and solar stoves are no longer supported by the PC as a grant. I have lit my propane stoves in the presence of children and adults before and usually recieve a look of shock. I have planted Moringa trees around my house. For those of you who don't know, they are supposed to be fast growing, survive well in arid areas, and provide a lot of nutrition. Even the Moringa tree can't flourish well in this dry, hot environment, and upon my return from travels found most of them near death. So I hired some of the kids who like to hang around my house to fetch water from the river and water the trees. We have also planted 30 new seedlings which I will distribute to the chicken project mamas, and plant even more around my house. The kids I selected are a group of 11 or 12 year old girls who travel as a group, and are using the money to help support their families. Even this level of support for girls meets resistance from males in the village. Their principal told them that there is a man at the river that will hurt them if they go there for water. I had to escort them because they were all terrified. (2nd Photo: the Moringa crew)

HURU training at the local secondary school. Girls at both the primary and secondary levels lack basic hygiene materials and knowledge about menstruation. This becomes a real problem in schools that lack basic support for them. The HURU program provides pads, underwear, and training for young girls. We provided training and materials for girls at both the primary and secondary levels. The training was led by Fredina, a local woman active in many volunteer activities in the village. It is not very often that you find a woman with power and authority in our village.(3rd photo)

Gender conference: Peace Corps volunteers joined together for a gender conference. Each volunteer presented a class, and brought along four children from their villages, two boys and two girls. Some of these high school aged children have never been out of their villages before. The topics taught include: gender equality, HIV prevention, nutrition, self esteem/self confidence, and life skills. I taught leadership and teamwork, something that is big demand in this country as it tries to overcome the challenges of the past. (4th photo: me, 5th photo: the kids doing a team building exercise).

Well that's it for now. We are moving into the worst part of the dry season so water will start to be an issue for everyone. The water from the river is thick with sediment and sand, but it is still drank right out of the ground by the residents. I'm not sure how long I will be able to support my tree watering project as the water used for human consumption gets more scarce. It does not look very good for me to be surrounded by green while the surrounding environment is burnt and brown and the villagers are thirsty.

Talk to you soon,
Brian

Blog 3/5/19
Its been quite a while since my last post so I thought I might bring you up to speed. Its been quite a challenge getting things going again after my return home from emergency leave and the snake bite. I was out of the area for a total of six weeks with only a week or two in between. Since my return from the hospital in Dar es Salam I have been working pretty steadily on my projects, so here's an update:

The training of our health volunteers was completed. We visited each of the six subvillages and the volunteers used the checklist we created to ask questions of the sickest people. A photo was taken and shared with the local doctor who provided follow on directions. Some of the patients have already visited the clinic free of charge, and this weekend we are trying something new. We are going to the homes of the elderly people who can't walk to the clinic and we are picking them up and carrying them to the clinic in bajaji (a little three wheeled vehicle) where they will be treated by the doctor and returned to their homes. This is the first time this has been tried around here and I'm looking forward to working with our little ambulance service. We have another day long training scheduled in March with the Tanzanian Red Cross coming to visit.

The women's chicken coop project is in the process. Because of the poor nutrition of the villagers the chickens will provide a good source of nutrition year round to the families, as well as a steady source of income. The mamas are learning all about chicken keeping and business operations. We are deep into the planning for coop construction, chicken care, and budgeting. While this is not the exciting part, it is so important for the mamas learn these skills. Because of that, we are moving slowly but deliberately. We are currently working on getting our third construction estimate right now.

Refurbishment of classrooms at the local primary school. This project has been slow in progressing since there are several political offices involved. Of course my six week absence didn't help either. The District Engineer has promised us a new estimate for the repairs of three unusable classrooms. Currently there are over 500 students in just seven classrooms. The refurbished classrooms will provide much needed space.

The farm life. Our Moringa trees are doing well. We planted 18 trees, one of which died after I stepped on it while using the hoe to weed. The tallest is around five feet now and we are thinking of planting more. For those of you that aren't familiar with Moringa trees, they are very nutritious, have many uses, and grow well in dry environments. I taught a couple of classes about them to the villagers and handed out seeds. My corn is producing cobs at an astonishing rate. My plants are some of the first in the area to produce a harvest. That's because it was planted in early November before most planted their own. First time in my life that I am able to just stroll out and pick food that I produced myself. It feels good.

Teddy Bears. Yup, Teddy Bears. I gave out teddy bears to children at the clinic. They were knit by children in the US and provided to volunteers in the field to distribute at no cost. It is organized by the NGO called The Mother Bear Project. The kids loved them.

Okay, that's it for now. There are other things going on like some repairs to my house, and my never ending quest to learn Swahili from my tutor Stanislaus. That's something I should have done a long time ago. Well, I guess it's never too late to try something new.

Photos:
The bajaji arrives delivering some of the mamas to the clinic. Over thirty people came, way more than the ten we were expecting. Not surprising that they would turn out to a free clinic. Many thanks to the doctor for his patience.

Leg wound: While at the clinic a family arrived with two burned children from a lightening strike that killed two in their family.  I watched the doctor treat the burns: removal of dead skin, hydrogen peroxide, antibiotic ointment, cotton soaked with iodine. The iodine soaked cotton dries into a hard shell protecting the wound. No pain killer of any type used, the seven year old didn't cry until the iodine, and then only a tiny bit. That was the smaller of the two wounds.

The mamas from the chicken project (minus a few). They are an enthusiastic bunch getting to know each other and learning to work together. Latisha (in the front looking at the papers) said "we are a family now".

Until next time, Brian