Mambo No. 5

No, this doesn't stand for that song from the 90s now stuck in your head, your welcome.

Mambo=Yo
No.=November
5=Top 5

-The US election was called at approximately 8 am Wednesday morning, so the TZ newspapers reported it Thursday.  Regardless, villagers with no electricity nor news outlets knew within 24 hours.  I stayed up at the Dodoma hotel to watch with a few others and send text messages to volunteers stuck in the vill....it was a lot different from watching the results in Hastings, NE in 2008.

-Headed to Iringa for a week of Community Theater Training.  Land of good shopping, valleys, and pizza DELIVERED!  Whaaaaa?  We had our theater performance for a school in which I played a prostitue.  My costume was a skirt just above my knee and a tank top-I felt SO SCANDALOUS!  Good thing I'm coming back to 'Merica when people are in layers.  Meanwhile my counterpart (TZ person we choose/bring to trainings to make what we take back to our communities more sustainable), Baba Mushi, probably has the worst coordination I've ever seen.  It was like he was intentionally trying to clap like he was catching a fly during our warm-ups.  Regardless, he is incredibly commited and has already written our action plan, budget and concept paper to start trainings and performances throughout Dodoma in January.  On it!

-Got to spend my 2nd Thanksgiving in Tanga, again.  My homestay Mama was so excited to have her 'two daughters' (a new volunteer is staying there now) that she made my favorite meal of chapati and cabbage!  I also discovered that Mkokora remembers me not as a volunteer or that tall girl, but 'Mama Kucheka.'  Aka, they remember me laughing, a lot.

-I don't know why, but sandwiches sound so good right now. 

-Today is a very special day, as it is Brett Michael Wood's birthday.  He has been such a support to me during my time here and I have to use this space to brag about him just a bit.  Between writing letters and skype and now making his first trip across any ocean to visit-he's nothing short of amazing.  I don't know how I could handle this experience without him.  Also, he's old.  I'm young.  He's short.  I'm tall. 


Finally, just to mix in a bit of entertainment, below is the link to Mahove Cultural Tours.  It is the cultural tourism project of my friend down in Iringa region.  I got to visit her and make this video, all for work.  We got to stay in a boma on cowhides for a night, walk through the village with two Rhianna loving Masai, and learn how to stuff a ball of ugali in our mouths and drown it down with fresh milk.

Drats!  The link isn't working.  You will get it soon, in the meantime, check out their facebook site.

https://www.facebook.com/MahoveCulturalTours?ref=ts&fref=ts

*My camera is broken, pole sana.

How did it get so late so soon?

‘How did it get so late so soon?’  -Dr. Seuss

Dr. Seuss spits some truth.  October 12^th marked the 1-year anniversary since I walked off a plane, got slapped in the face by Dar humidity, was kindly greeted with PB&J’s, malaria prophylaxis and the PC staff, and stared into the future completely clueless about the year ahead.

In a shout out to Dr. Seuss and his brilliance (‘Stars upon thars,’ I mean….brill) I have been looking back on my first year through ‘Oh the Places You’ll Go.’    

‘You’re on your own.  And you know what you know.  And YOU are the guy who’ll decide where to go.’

After 9 weeks of being babysat, also known as Pre-Service Training, we were dropped off at site with a ‘see you in a few months, good luck’ send-off.  PST did load us down with not only Swahili language skills, but everything else humanly possible to learn in that short amount of time and applicable to our service.  Gardening, HIV/AIDS basics, facilitating trainings and talking to village leaders were all on the list.  But once at site and on my own it was completely up to me, myself and I to decide where I will go.  This was both exhilarating and terrifying at the same time.

‘You’ll be on your way, you’ll be seeing great sights.’

And great sights have been seen indeed.  From the coffee fields and rolling hills of Mbeya, the cold weather of Iringa, the tropical trees of Tanga, waterfalls tucked away in the mountains of Morogoro, strawberry fields in Songea, Maasai bombas in Manyara, Singida sunflower fields, rainy Moshi, strangely foreign feeling Arusha, roller coaster dirt roads of Dodoma, fast paced metropolis of Dar, and the most beautiful drive in East Africa through Lushoto.

‘I’m sorry to say so but, sadly, it’s true that Bang-ups and hang-ups can happen to you.’

And boy did I see bang-ups: malaria, worms in my feet, skin rashes, dog bites, allergic reactions, elbow sprains and a broken toe, anemia, and a car crash with significant consequences.  Feelings of extreme doubt, followed by extreme loneliness all on a quest to figure out ‘WHAT THE HECK AM I DOING HERE?!’  That frustration with the language, it still happens….a lot.  That adjustment to Tanzania life, it still surprises me….a lot.  That need for a countdown to keep me sane, it still exists….Brett and the ‘Rents come in 63 days.

‘Do you dare stay out? Do you dare to go in?  How much can you lose?  How much can you win?’

Answer: always say ‘yes.’  Do you help the man make sambusas because he asked?  Yes.  Do you eat the food swarming with flies that the mama made for you?  Yes, but be prepared to become intimately close with the choo.  Do you get henna on your hands knowing it will take 2 hours and you only wanted to ask the man a question about directions?  Yes.  Do you go to the baptism even though the baby will simply cry when she sees a white foreigner there?  Yes, bring it on tears!

‘The waiting place.’

Oh my how you wait.  You wait for people to show up to your meeting, who come 2 hours late, if at all.  You wait for the bus to arrive, which is NEVER, EVER on time.  You wait for your food to come-let’s just say I’ll never yell at a waiter in America.  You wait for your grant to get processed, months upon months.  You wait for your project to get going, where price checking 5 items dictates a successful week.  You wait for your Swahili to improve so you can actually do something.  You wait for the next day to pass so you are that much closer to another trip where you can actually see some familiar faces.  You wait for the rain, it’s been 8 months.  You wait for your water to come back on, which does unexpectedly two days later in the middle of the night.  If you don’t have patience, I invite you to Tanzania.

‘There are points to be scored.  There are games to be won.  And the magical things you can do with that ball will make you the winning-est winner of all.’

Kijana (Youth):  Asha, do you want to play a basketball game with us?
Me:  Okay

I proceed to get in a car with 10 20-year-old guys and we drive an hour outside town to play in a basketball game.  The court is a beautiful paved mass with actual nets on the goals, in the middle of NO WHERE.  There is another team and we play a semi-legitimate game….yes, we were the winning-est winner of all.  But the beauty of this game is that more points were surely scored and that ball was surely magical.  This game catapulted the start of a youth health club that includes over 20 regular members.  Through this club members have learned about HIV/AIDS, condom use, STIs, and how to teach peers.  As a result, they will be leading and educating peers during a World AIDS Day Basketball Tournament on December 1^st.  And all because of a basketball game.

‘You’ll play lonely games too.  Games you can’t win ‘cause you’ll play against  you.  All alone!  Whether you like it or not, alone will be something you’ll be quite a lot.’

For every successful idea come 5 very unsuccessful ideas.  And when things don’t work out, and projects simply go bad, how alone one can feel.  All alone!  Listing every idea and every failure deserves its own entry, because there have been many each month.  It is a difficult pill to swallow when enthusiasm is high, but is slowly chipped away at by the chisel of reality.  It’s like losing a game of solitaire, over and over and over again.  And no matter how motivated or passionate one can be about an idea, sometimes it simply isn’t meant to be, and that is not a fun feeling to sit with alone.    

‘There’s a very good chance you’ll meet things that scare you right out of your pants.’

*Move over Lion King, because hyenas are SCARY in real life and drive the stray dogs crazy.
*I really enjoyed going to my friend’s village on the edge of Ruaha National Park only to learn that someone was eaten by a lion the week before.
*Transportation in Tanzania is like looking Voldemort straight in the face, while standing on top of the Empire State building.

‘You’ll get mixed up with many strange birds as you go.’

Peace Corps Volunteers are a strange bunch.  I’ve kept a list of quotes with my daily journaling and I’m fairly certain if someone reads it in the far future they’ll be seriously concerned about who their ancestors were exactly.

‘Step with care and great tact and remember that Life’s a Great Balancing Act.’

Staying on guard for safety, security and cultural appropriateness is difficult to do every day.  But it is ever so necessary.  Finding the middle ground between professionalism, an adventurous spirit, remembering my values, and being mindful of the strong contrasts that test them is growing up.  Doing this in Tanzania, well, I can only be stronger for it.

‘Off to great places!  Today is your day!  Your mountain is waiting.  So…get on your way!’

Now a look ahead to year two, which I’ve been told goes faster than fast and is more rewarding than days past.  This year has been so giving, and truly lived.  If past volunteers reflections hold true, as they have annoyingly so thus far, 2013 is going to be absolutely bonkas.

The Every Other Day

It’s August and the schools are closed, teachers have left to help with the National census and most places of business are vacant due to Ramadan. 

I’ve been keeping up with my journal every day of my service, but have recently found the repetitive nature of entries has increased dramatically.  So, for a clearer insight to those of you back in America, this is my life when projects come to a halt, people are away, and schools are closed.

5:30:  Wake-up call via my British voiced alarm clock.  It’s a little more difficult to do now since it is still ‘cold’ early in the morning.  I actually long for December when I wake up in sweat because at least it’s easier to get out of my sleeping bag and mosquito net, ready to run.

6:00-7:00:  Work-out.  Now that I’ve started marathon training it’s a must while the sun is coming up.  I’m lucky to live by a University where there is a pseudo dirt track.  I’m anxious for my longer runs where I can explore the spotted villages beyond the desert hill where the Wagogo herd their goats and Mamas cook mandazi in deep frying pans.

7:05:  Knock at the door, ‘Asha!  Habari za asubuhi?’  ….and a five minute conversation of strictly greetings ensues.  Summary:  Everyone’s family is peaceful, the house is peaceful, their work is peaceful, they slept peacefully, their work is peaceful, they are going to have a fine day.

7:05-8:00:  Bucket bath-yow that’s cold!  Hard-boiled eggs are cooking while I sing the Black Keys, loudly.  No, my neighbors can’t hear me with the rambunctious worshipping at the Pentecostal church nearby.  Oatmeal and banana with some chai and I’m off to work.

8:00-8:30:  My walk to work totally depends on the route.  Sometimes I go through Kikuyu where I saunter past several mosques, a few chickens and a young group of boys wearing American fraternity t-shirts, that which they don’t understand the meaning.  Other times I go past a Mama who only speaks Kigogo and a primary school where kids are lined up and marching to the beat of drums while the teachers inspect their uniforms.  The third route is for when I’m feeling overly ambitious and go the 45 minutes through the edge of town and past the nuns at the Catholic Church.

8:30….ish:  I arrive to work, sweating, even in ‘winter.’  I have to greet Mama Amina at the kitchen where we usually dance to American music, (this week’s addition, Bruno Mars), while I help cook chapati and she cooks banana and chicken soup.

9:00-12:00:  I’m officially in my ‘office,’ which is a room with two tables, 6 chairs, a gated-in TV playing ‘bunge’ or Tanzania’s C-SPAN, and a few other tutors from the nursing school.  Sometimes I stop by the CTC to help with patient weigh in, other times I work on grants and partnerships (yuck), and when I’m lucky I get to talk to nursing students at the library.

12:00-1:00:  Time to get out of the office!  I either go back to Mama Amina’s, walk around the grounds, or talk to some students.  Lately they’ve been asking how it’s possible that a person can volunteer for two years.   They insist they could never do it.  They also think I’m crazy for sitting in the sun to ‘kula (eat) vitamin d.’

1:00-3:00:  More office time, planning and joking with co-workers.  I was recently put in charge of our Annual Work Plan, so I walk around bothering people and making sure they are doing what they need to be doing.  They thank me now, but I’m sure one of these days I’m going to get a tutor coming up to me telling me someone I keep nagging is upset.  Everything is done very indirectly here, especially when someone is angry or annoyed.    

3:00-5:00:  FREEDOM!  I walk from work to town: past flour mills, sunflower oil machines, rows of goodwill thrifty hand-me-downs, and mounds of seasonal fruit.  It is still a great wonder to me how the Dodoma market is able to have as much fruit/veggies as they do….in the desert.  Finally, I arrive to the major market.  I always go to my egg mama because they are 250Tsh (15 cents) a piece and never bad.  Then I swing by the vijana in the back who don’t rip me off on fruit, and sometimes sit for a fruit juice at the mgahawa if there is a soccer game on…..which is daily.  Occasionally the random events transpire: getting henna done on my hands, talking to a fundi about his home country of Yemen or looking for a new type of flour to cook with.  It always ends with me wandering aimlessly over to the square to read under a tree…..which I recently found is home to a massive beehive.  For now I think I may stick to playing ‘graph,’ a type of speed checkers with bottle caps, with the wazee at the benches far, far away from the bzzzzzzz. 

5:00:  The biggest dilemma of the day; do I walk home or take a dala dala.  The dala gets me back in record speed, but I’m either ducking in an awkward position or balancing on one foot for the entire ride all while growing further accustomed to East African BO.  The walk is nice with no hills, but another 40 minutes in the jua kali and dust, dust, DUST.  Dear rain, please come soon.

5:30ish-6:30:  Stop by my veggie mama’s booth where she stuffs my already full bag with more veggies, despite protest.  I walk a bit further through the dirt field and past a soccer game, past my neighbors duka, and onward to my bright green home.  The neighbour kids greet me with screaming ‘ASHA’s!’ and loads of giggles.

6:30:  HOME!  Time to finally do what Tanzanians do best…..rest or pumzika.

6:31:  Knock at the door, ‘Asha!  Naomba Bop-It!’

6:32:  Knock at the door, ‘Asha!  Naomba maji!’

6:33:  Knock at the door, ‘Asha!  Naomba charger!’

6:34-7:30:  I’m finally ‘alone’ and also hungry.  I head to the mama nearby for a hefty helping of rice, beans and veggies for about 1,000Tsh=less that $1.  The place is packed with college students who I either know from basketball or street greetings.  One of them usually asks if I’m married after the first ‘Mambo’ or ‘What’s up.’  Thankfully fake wedding rings are really easy to find in Tanzania at only 500 Tsh (30 cents) and I like making up ridiculous stories about why I won’t be dating anyone in Tanzania anytime soon.  One time I told a college student I had a boyfriend in China who was one foot shorter than me and had six children who were on the China Olympic Gymnastics team. 

7:30:  The sun is officially going down and it’s DARK.  The church is still blasting music and dominating the sounds of Dodoma only competing with the occasional call to prayer.

7:30-on…….:  Another two or more three knocks at the door as I read, watch old T.V. shows or Skype.  I break into my stash of nutella and notice the steady line of ants or cockroaches on my counters…. and thus begins a killing spree.  This then leads to me reasoning that I should also eat my stash of cream4fun cookies as a reward for badassness.

9:00:  Exhaustion usually sets in, if the mosquitos haven’t already driven me crazy, so I wash my feet (you read that right) and head to bed.  Good night, moon.  Good night, stars.  Good night, Tanzania.

The Paris of East Africa

This was my 25th birthday....through the eyes of Nora Gavin-Smyth:


I am writing to you from sunny Dodoma, what some call "the Paris of
East Africa."  I am in Dodoma town for the weekend to celebrate my
dear friend's birthday today.  We celebrated by going to Club 84, the
club that you see when you close your eyes and imagine the best
African dance club in existence.  The floor is a grid of lights that
pulses and flashes different colors.  They play the bongo flava
(Tanzanian pop music that I love), they play the Rihanna, they play the
Drake, they play the Aqua (?).  They don't play "So Call Me Maybe."
The prostitutes are so nice, when I run into them in the bathroom
they tell me I look pretty.  The men, they like to dance kiduku (knees
in, feet out, kiduku kiduku kiduku kiduuukuuu).  They aren't glommers
who attach themselves to your butt, but they'll dance with you in a
way that is very pleasant. Karibu Dodoma, I'll take you to Club 84.

Capture the Meat on a Stick

(Read in Dick Vitale's voice because it's awesome baby)

This is a classic battle of battles.
Big game day.
All the fans have been outside all morning drinking honey pombe and eating loads of meat.
It's red versus blue.
Maasai men versus Maasai women....and the babies on their back.

The men are gathering around the stick.  They've set up their home court nicely putting the big guys on the perimeter by the thorn fence and the fast guys with the long sticks right by that meat.

Here come the women, marching in with their song.  The audience is pumped with anticipation...you can feel the heat!

What's that?  Oh a mzungu has joined the women's team.  The men weren't expecting this.  Some last minute strategy is going to be needed for them to pull this off.

In a game like this you can expect some playful banter between the teams.  Both the women and men are whipping their sticks trying to win the game of intimidation.

For those of you out there just joining us, this game is a lot like caputre the flag except each team can use sticks to whack the others.  For the men, they are protecting the meat on the stick from the cow just slaughtered, and the women will do whatever it takes to get it.

Oh baby, it's gonna be awesome with a capital 'A!'

The women are in position, just outside the fence now.  The men are ready to go and THERE GO TWO WOMEN RUNNING TOWARDS THE MEAT!  Sticks flying everywhere, men caught off guard by the quick start.  The Mzungu is still back with the others.  I don't know Scott, you think she's gonna do anything-this could be a bust for her rookie of the year award.

Whoa!  Look out, here come the men attacking.  This is something new.  They are leaving their meat post and actually going after the women.  The women are scattering, running towards the bomas.  The men are surrounding them now.  This sure is a surprise, leaving their meat, being really aggressive on the floor-you don't see that often enough.

But wait; keep an eye on that mzungu.  What's she doing?  Why she's sneaking around to the other side of the boma.  Is she hiding?  She's gonna have to duck a lot to do that.

(Insert laughter)

Whoa!  She comes around the other side and attacks the men from behind.  She got that mzee right in the heel.  He's limpin a bit and now they're going after her around the boma.  Oh a woman is streaking towards the meat!  She's nearly there!

They got the meat on the stick!  They got the meat on the stick!

Wow, just like that.
Game over. 
Can you believe it, Scott?
The attack from behind was an unexpected strategy.
Let's watch that replay (pictures to come with play-by-play).

Well I think the men learned a valuable lesson today. 
Never trust a mzungu with a competitive streak.

Read This Asha

Is Meck which write this words.
Asha sorry for burnt your ball, known you was want to teach at Mazengo Primary School.  I am so sorry my best friend Asha for give me Asha.

God Bless you Asha

Asha can you allow us to look movies now on Saturday if you like can you allow us and on Sunday-I have a DVD called Hirauses

God Bless you Asha forever

This is what happens when you take away the neighbor boys 'movie day' because they completely destroyed your soccer ball.

Picture(s) a Day for the Month of May

May 1st:  'Winter' is coming and the corn outside my house is dying.  Yea, that green thing is my house.

May 2nd:  My neighbor Raymond got all dressed up to see his Bibi in town.  It will also still fit him in 10 years.

 May 3rd:  I've got mail... from Cara and Brett.  My Mom and Meli later added to the new competition of 'awesome boxes.'  More competitors are welcomed

May 4th:  Visiting my sitemate Nora in Itiso, Chamwino.

 ....and this is how we opened our wine that night...

May 5th/Cinco de Mayo/Tyler Keyser's Half-Birthday: This day was epic and included an entire day's hike, visiting a strangers home on the top of the mountain, and carrying their gifts back down to the vill.

 The home we visited at the top.  The wonderfully welcoming family gave us corn on the cob and squash for a snack, then got all dressed up for pictures.

They then gave us gifts of sugar cane and a live chicken before we headed back down.  The chicken loved checking out the view and didn't mind that I fell multiple times on the steep trek.

 

Our tour guide/trooper for the day, 'Jackson.'

 

May 6th:  Cooking dinner at Nora's crib after failing to get a chicken to kill.

May 7th: My broken toe and blistered feet, solved with sandy sandals and a rubber band!

May 8th: Jump rope time with the neighbor kids.

May 9th:  The acknowledgement page of a nursing student's research page ended with: 'Also thanks to be sent to the cooker for their good preparation of food and available all the time.  Not only this but also for providing a boiled water.  So as to be out of water born infection.'

May 10th:  Move over daisies, sunflowers are making a comeback

May 11th:  Saturday=Movie Day with the neighbor kids.  This weeks showing, Tangled

May 12th: I made American food for my neighbors Happy, Frank, Raymond, and Baba Mushi.  Yes, that's the Mr. Potato head Masai version Raymond made, and the delicious cornbread and spaghetti I made.

May 13th:  Who says you can't eat healthy in the Peace Corps?  Mandarin, biscuits, kale, avocado, tomato, peanuts and baobob juice.

May 14th: Watching the vijana play soccer at the primary school next door

May 15th: Hanging at Mama Sara's duka with a tangawezi soda

May 16th: At the primary school chatting with the teachers pre-soccer practice.

 May 17th: My walk home from the hospital every day.

May 18th: Dani/Farida/Fritto came in town for a night of soup, garlic rolls, carrot cake, two bottles of delicious Dodoma wine and girl talk.

May 19th: Saturday when all PCVs in the region are in town= Zanzibar mix at Roses, hike with the besti's to 'Pride Rock,' Eric/Copper getting his Tanzanian teenage boy on, and shot gunning beers pre-Club 84.

 May 20th: This day will get a future blog...in the meantime admire one of the many fun critters I get to hang with every day.  This day is was a praying mantis.

May 21st: When you work with an NGO and have your big Annual Work Plan meeting in Morogoro, these get to be your digs for the week!  I got four channels on that TV, lukewarm water that only turned off 1 day, and a western toilet that flushed 3/6 days!

May 23rd: Tanzanians are chatting loads about President Obama's recent support of marriage for all and the election.
Co-Worker:  How does your President support a man marrying another man?
Ellen:  Well that's not entirely true.
Co-Worker:  He doesn't support it?
Ellen:  No, he thinks a woman can marry another woman too.

May 24th: Best thing about the I-TECH meetings, Morogoro....gorgeous.

May 25th: Getting our Logic Model on

 May 26th:  I returned to Dodoma for some friend therapy of sticking toothpicks up our noses using only our mouths and taking culturally inappropriate pictures with the oddly realistic cardboard cut-out at the local watering hole.

 May 27th: Nora required the room to watch Downtown Abbey.

May 28th: What did I do today?  I played with Harry Potter leggos, so yea, I was productive.

May 29th: Rainbow Primary School Life Skills Club: Meeting #2.  We made a club contract, listed what we wanted to learn in the next few weeks, and played 'steal the bacon.'

 May 30th: My veggie Mama.  She hooks me up with all my seasonal fruits and veggies for the week for under 5,000 Tsh.

May 31st:  Alive, well and 7 months in (20 to go).  Time is flying.