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
