July 22, 2018. Hello again from Tanzania. After a short absence I am back in full gear with the blog. I have been very busy since the last post, but I'll save that for later. First, Let me show you dinner. Beef stew! In the photos I show you all the fixins, tomato, mchicha, onions, bullion cube and the beef. They all go together in my little jicho (stove) for more than an hour.  The beef is straight from the butcher in what they call a mix. That means it has bones, bone fragments, tendons and everything else you can imagine in it. It all needs to be cut apart, marinated for a couple of hours, and then cooked for a couple of hours. That's because the meat is so tough it's like chewing on leather. I have to use my jicho for this because my gas stove would use up the gas too fast cooking for two hours. Today I washed my laundry as well. I'm getting pretty good at that too, it's really about the rubbing together of the cloth between your hands that gets the dirt out. The Tanzanians are very good at it, I'm getting better I think.

I finally completed my survey and paper. It was a real challenge. Getting people organized and walking from house to house with an interpreter and government official  was a real eye opener. We visited families that have never seen a medical person, let alone a white person. The condition of some of the people are difficult to imagine. Here are just a few of the things I found: untreated diabetes causing massive wounds on extremities, a broken arm that has been broken for a year, mentally disabled children living in terrible conditions, and HIV, TB, malaria, and diarrhea a common occurrance. I will provide some of the photos, but I will not show some of the worst.

HIV/AIDS.....24 of the 46 households we visited had someone currently or in the past suffering from it. I say currently or past because many of the family members have already died from it. Some survey examples: A house with parents but no children, do we count the three children who died from AIDS in our survey or not? A family of many children which includes children from her sisters household, but her sister died from AIDS. Do they count as family members or not? Should I count her sister? How about a household where the mother and father are HIV positive, but the children have never been tested and they don't look very well. Do they count as HIV positive or not? Now maybe you can see the dilemma, and get a feel for the amount of work to be done.

Did I mention that my brand new laptop died? The hard drive went. I am working from a borrowed laptop, that was a real challenge too.

PS I have a hyena story. Probably everyone has one, but I'll share mine too. When the dry season began the hyenas started coming around more frequently. I can lay in my bed and listen to them moving around and calling at night. At first I didn't recognize what they were doing, but now I have listened to them enough to understand. They make a grunting type noise that stirs up all of the dogs in the area. The dogs here just roam free without very much support (different story for a different time). The dogs bark and come up to the savannah where the hyenas are, and my house is. Then the hyenas eat them. I have heard that a few times too. The thing is, last night the hyenas were past my house toward the village more than in the past. There are no more dogs around me.
How's that for a story?

Reality does reach out and slap you in the face here.
Until next time!
Brian

June 20, 2018 Greetings once again from Tanzania. I have kept myself busy by continuing to learn Swahili and learning how to survive in this environment. I think I sent a photo last time showing my weight loss. I still remain at that weight, but I have learned to cook a variety of food using the readily available local ingrediants. My favorites would have to be the Irish Potato soup and the spaghetti. I greatly appreciate the two care packages sent by MJ and Brianna. The Jiffy Pop popcorn was a big hit. It was hilarious watching the kids run when the tin foil expanded. They thought it was going to blow up, but they loved the popcorn. They had never had anything like that before, and ate the unpopped quernals even though I told them they shouldn't.

At the end of the last issue I think I mentioned a survey. In addition to learning the language and survival techniques we are actually supposed to be doing a job here. As a health volunteer I am supposed to assess the needs of the community and use this information to decide upon the projects I will work on for the next couple of years. I might have mentioned that there seems to be plenty of work, but further details are found through conducting a survey. This is required by the Peace Corps, and the information is shared with both them and with our community.

The creation of the survey has been a real challenge. There were numerous meetings with the village leadership, the clinic doctor, and with my tutor. Here is the plan: there are six subvillages in my village and each one has a leader. My escort/interpreter and I will walk from house to house with the sub village leader and ask the families the questions. We will do one sub village every other day for two weeks. We are currently in the middle of the process and things seem to be going well. My original thought that there was a lot of work to be done has been strongly supported.

The survey covers topics like nutrition, safe water, education levels, family structure and responsibilites, and a variety of health topics (HIV, AIDS, Malaria, diarrhea, pregnancy, and long term health problems of any type).  We have been able to determine that their water is not treated, Malaria and diarrhea are a constant problem, mothers are having their babies in their homes without medical professionals, there are many children and adults suffering from untreated health problems, and there is a total misunderstanding about HIV and AIDS. Additionally, the family structure is generally male dominated with the women doing the majority of the work, but have very little say.

I have included photos of part of the survey. Most families were very patient and welcoming. We were always surrounded by many children in a wide range of dress and condition. One boy had severely pronated feet that were painful to walk on, another had a skin infection on his arches that bled and was painful, and another young woman is nearly blind but can't afford glasses. Neither of the children have been to the doctor. This information and the photos will be shared with the doctor. The photo of the elderly man is very unique. He visited us at one house. It wasn't until we were leaving that I was told that he is a witch doctor and the medicine he uses to treat HIV can be seen lying on the ground in the photo.

So the survey continues next week. The results should be very interesting, and I am confident that I will have plenty work to do in the near future.
Until next time,  Brian

5/25/18 Welcome to my next installment of life in Tanzania. It has been over a month that we have been at our sites. The process of adapting to life here continues.  I am continuing my tutoring lessons in Swahili, meeting new people, and trying to learn how to cook this type of food. I went from a high protein diet with minimal exercise, to a low protein diet with lots of exercise. The quest to find the calories I need is never ending, but getting easier.  I have dropped thirty pounds since my arrival in February.  I will say that my weight has stabilized and I have not gone down any in a couple of weeks, so don't worry, I've got it under control. I dropped 20 pounds the last two summers I went to summer camp so it's not too unusual, but I have to say 30 is my limit.  The photo is me in my home with a pair of pants that a few months ago fit nicely. I had to buy a whole new wardrobe.
My location here is pretty secluded.  In order to get large supplies I need to go to my "banking town" Shinyanga.  I am going to try and make the trip a couple of times a month.  The first photo is how we travel to town, one bus in, one bus back.  You miss it, you spend the night in town.  If you are going to do this in one day then you have three hours to run around and get everything done in time.  The next photo is a city shot with Peter in it.  Peter has been assisting me with pretty much anything I need. and putting me in touch with the right people.  He has been invaluable to me to this point, and will probably continue this way throughout my time here. I am much appreciative of his efforts and the efforts of everyone who provide me with guidance and support. This would not be possible without their help. The next photo is from the top of a building that has a restaurant on the top floor.  I have to say that it was the best tasting fish fingers and rum and coke that I have had in an awfully long time.
Well tonight it is spaghetti, and tomorrow I'm going to peddle my little bike to a local market that I have just recently heard about.  Looking forward to both events. And if you are wondering if I am actually doing any work yet, I'll save my house to house survey of my village for the next blog.  Until then, Kwa heri.

5/8/18 Well a few weeks into the new site, and boy has the learning curve been massive.  First off, I used to think I could cook.  Maybe in America, but with Tanzanian food I am a novice.  Trying hard to expand my knowledge of beans and rice, but it is a real challenge.  Second off, I didn't fully realize how well off we have it in America.  In Tanzania everything is a challenge: cleaning, cooking, fetching buckets of water, boiling water, washing clothes by hand, wow.  It actually takes a lot of forethought and effort to get it all done.  I used to think I was in decent shape, but doing this stuff everyday is kicking my butt.  Western soft I guess.  Third, when you are walking in the dark and hear what sounds like a horse running toward you, watch out, it might be a hyena.  Eerie feeling seeing one of those run by you just at the edge of your flashlight beam.
The first photo is Stanislaus and his family.  He is a retired teacher and my Swahili tutor.  When we agreed to tutoring he had just one request of me: speak English slowly.  I made the same request of him for Swahili - we talk very slowly, but it's coming along.
The second photo is of a community gathering with a group of volunteers that I have joined. The topic of the gathering is the prevention of violence against women and children (The photo is actually of us dancing before the meeting began). The community participants debated back and forth on things like women's rights, the paying of a bride price, and discipline for children.  It actually got pretty heated, and most of the men had a different perspective then the women, but at least they were talking about it.  I actually got a chance to address the crowd and talked about the cycle of violence caused by an abused child growing up to be an abuser, and the courage that it takes for men to break the cycle.  It was well received for the most part.  The debate was followed by a movie projected on a sheet on the wall.  The movie was about the effect that these cultural beliefs have upon an African woman and her family. It was actually very moving, and there must have been over a hundred villagers crowded around to watch it.  Luckily it had English subtitles. Well that's it for now.  Hope everyone is doing well back home, til next time!
Brian

4/28/18 Hello again from Tanzania.  I have been at my site for about a week now. Getting settled and continuing to try to learn Swahili.  We had our graduation ceremony on the 19th, and left for the closest city to our site the next day.  We spent a few days in the city buying the big essentials: bed, bicycle, stove etc.. and came to our site on Monday.  Now I am trying to get adjusted and meet the local village people.  I start at the dispensary next Monday, start with a swahili tutor next Tuesday (a retired teacher), and will visit a women's empowerment group meeting that same night. Things are busy, especially trying to figure out how to live - the power has been out in the village for a couple of days, no phone, no electricity (I don't have electricity at my house anyway).  The nights are long and dark here, but I don't mind.  It's a lot like backpacking.  I'm going to have to really change my cooking and eating habits though.  Still trying to work through that.  Thank god for Ramen and peanut butter and jelly.
A titantic battle occurred in my house yesterday - I kept hearing a box move, so I looked and found a gecko battling a scorpion. I waited until it was quiet then moved the box and the gecko came running out - my new best friend! Photos: my host family at the graduation ceremony with our matching clothes, my kitchen (I have a table coming today), my new wheels. I have lost a lot of weight, but that doesn't mean I'm in good shape.  Those hills are a challenge.

4/9/18 Hello again from Tanzania.
Been a real busy week.  The end of training is approaching so we have many projects and assignments due.  Today we took our second Kiswahili exam.  It was tough, but I think I did ok.  I hope so anyway.  We move out of our host homes in less than a week and back onto the training post for a week until graduation, then its back to our site for the next two years.  I figured I'd give a little more details of my house for any of you thinking about visiting me.   

It's a a two room little house with an attached storage room, toilet, and room for bucket bathing.  The inside needs some painting and mosquito screens on the windows.  The little courtyard is good for privacy but not much else.  I hope to start a little garden, and my neighbor has offered me a chicken.  Not sure if I'm ready for that yet.  I will be purchasing furniture and solar power when I get there, and a bike is absolutely essential.  Everything is about 2 kilometers away, not a bad walk, but boy does that sun get hot.  Well, I'll let you know how I did on my test, and my next post will hopefully have graduation ceremony photos.  Talk to you soon!

P.S. I came out to use the toilet at night and I saw something move down there.  Oh well, it seemed to move slowly so we can probably outrun it!

Well, I made it back from my site visit. It has been a long week and it's good to be back. Let me tell you a little about my site - it's close to Shinyanga which is a pretty but town. It takes 12 hours by bus to get to Shinyanga, then another 45 minutes by smaller transport to my village. this is a semi arid region that gets very little rainfall, but we are currently in the rainy season. My little house is on a government agricultural site where they run a thresher almost constantly for sorghum, which along with sunflowers and a few other drought resistant crops are the main crops up here. The land is very flat and dry, but there is a river close by where they get their water during the dry season. I got a look at the river and it is more like a small creek, and remember this is the rainy season.
My house has two rooms, no running water or electricity. The nights I spent in the house were just fine, it doesn't get very cool here (although it is 5-10 degrees cooler than here in Morogoro), and it is about 50 feet from the closest (and only close) neighbor who is actually my host. This experience was very much like backpacking for those who have done it, living out of my backpack while moving between the site and various guest houses. One thing they have plenty of here is sun, so I will be purchasing my solar panel as well as all my furniture and a bicycle as soon as I come to stay in a few weeks. I forgot to mention, I actually have a little walled in compound with an attached storage room and chop (toilet hole/shower). It is a decent enough set up, and it definitely has potential.
My host Mshamu introduced me to the various dignitaries in both villages. This included the police, the magistrate, the doctor at the zahanati, the principal at both the secondary and primary school, the village leaders from both villages, and the Economic Development Council from my village. Everyone was very welcoming and I got to practice my Swahili greeting over and over again (I need a lot of work).
My photos: my home, the Economic Development Council, the zahanati, the secondary school.
Well that's it for the edition. I'll write more as time allows.
Until next time!