The last couple days

The African Baobab tree!

"Butter"

Kara and I pretending to be Masai's, lol!

Monday June 20, 2011 – Only 20 days left L

Today I went to Shoppers to get groceries to make dinner for tonight. At boona baana I helped E with her homework and then we did some colouring together. B's baby was there today so I got to play with him a bit. The kids are so good with babies, A is a natural when it comes to nurturing and being motherly to them and Am had her baby sister over the other day and is so responsible and grown up for her age when it comes to looking after her. Am is probably about 7 or 8 (Chai's age) but has the responsibility of looking after her 6 month old baby sister. The mom was at her home and Am was at boona baana with her sister and no adult supervision. This is a normal custom in Africa, but in Canada we are so concerned when younger children even hold babies, we have to be right by their side and are paranoid they will drop them or something. Here, young children are given the huge responsibility of completely taking care of the younger siblings. She was great with her so clearly children are more responsible with some things than we give them credit for, just different situations and cultures create certain maturities. Made appy’s for dinner tonight, bruschetta, seven layer dip, veggies and dip, egg rolls, crackers and cheese, and mini sandwiches….it was really good, then we all watched tangled and ate cinnamon buns that jenn and sienna made.

Tuesday June 21, 2011 – Kariakoo

Today we went to Kariakoo market, it’s a local market that the locals go to. It was so packed and chaotic there, people everywhere, stores everywhere, cars weaving in and out of the small streets and people bugging you to buy their stuff. I found some cool African woven bowls there but other than that there wasn’t much for us to buy; mostly just fruit, vegetables, clothes, some jewellery, and fabric. It was really neat to experience it though. At times I felt a bit worried that we might get something stolen from us, but wasn’t too worried because we were in a big group and we all just kept our purses in front of us. It is very common for people to get pick pocketed there though. 

In the middle of the market there was this big pile of garbage just sitting there, I guess they just used it as sort of like a dump. They don’t really have garbage dumps here or a good disposal system. I was shocked to learn that garbage is burned or thrown in the drain! Drains on the side of the road are filled with garbage. Also there is no recycling of water bottles and they do reuse glass pop and beer cans but other than that there’s no recycling.  

Sunday June 19, 2011 – Father’s Day

What Is A Dad?

A dad is someone who
wants to catch you before you fall
but instead picks you up,
brushes you off,
and lets you try again.

A dad is someone who
wants to keep you from making mistakes
but instead lets you find your own way,
even though his heart breaks in silence
when you get hurt.

A dad is someone who
holds you when you cry,
scolds you when you break the rules,
shines with pride when you succeed,
and has faith in you even when you fail...

- Unknown

I think this is the first father’s day I’ve ever missed and I’m really sad I can’t be home to spend it with my Dad and family! I hope you have a great day and know that I am thinking of you! I love you Dad!!!

Even though it sucks not to be home, I was surrounded today by the love of fatherless children and I felt blessed!

River Rafting last summer down the Thompson!

While talking to L, the oldest kid, at boona baana today about Tanzanian politics and government corruption, we asked him if he felt that he was luckier than lots of the other kids in Tanzania because he was funded to go to international school and most kids have to go to private school. He responded “I’m not lucky…..I’m blessed”. And he is so right, he’s definitely blessed. He is such a smart kid and he knows exactly what’s going on in Tanzania and why things are the way they are, I learned a lot from him today. He told us a story about one of his friends and how you have to have certain grades and do well on an exam in order to be accepted by an international school. L ended up getting accepted and goes to international school because he is funded by a family in Australia and he’s smart so he passed the entrance exam, but his friend took the same exam and failed. The catch is that his friend took the exam a second time and paid the people who mark the exams money, and then he ended up with a B and was accepted into the school. He said international private schools are the best schools to go to but there is corruption everywhere even in those schools, from the teachers to the syllabus to the government. We also talked a bit about when Tanzania got independence in 1961 and how they are now a democracy but not a true democracy because of the corruption. He said something about how the one party, CCM, is in power and doesn’t do much good for Tanzania. It was interesting because he said that Rwanda’s government is actually really good and he wishes Tanzania could be more like Rwanda.

Below is a picture of a primary school that has just been recently painted inside. The idea is that because there aren’t any books or supplies or anything, that the paintings are a sustainable and affordable way to provide the kids with the letters of the alphabet, etc, but most schools don't even have this. It is a two room school that holds about 40 kids and two teachers, there’s nothing in the rooms except for a mat, one desk, and a chalk board.

The lady that owns this place said that another major problem is that when it rains the rooms sometimes get filled up with water because their are no glass on the windows so if the rain is blowing in a certain direction the floors get really wet. This is the same for the orphanage that is on this property as well, there just isn't enough funding to fix everything.

Saturday June 18, 2011 – Trip to City Centre

Found out a couple days ago that one of the interns on the trip has malaria, so he is very sick and none of us has seen him for about two days now. During dinner mid sub sandwich he got up and said he would be right back and had to go to the bathroom, he never returned and then his wife took him to the hospital and they tested him for malaria. We’re all very cautious not to miss a malaria pill now! A bunch of us went to city centre today because I hadn’t been there yet and wanted to check it out. We bought our bus tickets for Arusha and then went to the National Museum, a delicious thai restaurant for lunch, and then to the Kilimanjaro Hotel for a cappuccino! At the thai restaurant we got a dish of choice (I got veggie pad thai) and a drink for 8,000 tsh which is $5.33! And we were all overly stuffed afterwards, so it was a pretty good deal! We’re gonna go back to city center on Tuesday to see the fish market and check out Kariakoo market because we ran out of time today! Kariakoo market is a local market not tailored to tourists so it will neat to experience it and they also have an underground market that were gonna go to as well. The National Museum today was kinda cool to see, I wouldn’t go back but it was worth a visit. They had lots of stuff on the slave trade and history of Africa from colonialism to present, as well as information and fossils of some of the early hominids. I took an anthropology class a couple semesters ago, so it was nice to be able to recognize the different types of hominids and the names of them. It would be so cool to be able to go see Olduvai Gorge where a lot of the fossils were found because it is near the Arusha area in the Great Rift Valley.  

Pretending to be dinosaurs!

Another thing I’ve noticed in Dar is that there is no fast food places anywhere! I know Africa’s a developing country but I kinda just expected to see at least a McDonalds or something, but there’s not! Which is more than okay with me, but it’s just weird not seeing fast food on every corner!

Friday June 17, 2011

This morning I decided to learn the days of the week in Swahili! So to say “today is Friday 17 June, 2011” you’d say “Leo ni Ijumaa tarehe kumi na saba, mwezi wa sita, mwaka elfu mbili kumi na moja” which actually reads “today is Friday date seventeen, month june, two thousand and eleven”. Quite a lot of work to say the date, haha!

There can be no assumption that today’s majority is “right” and others are “wrong.” A way of life that is odd or even erratic but interferes with no right or interests of others is not to be condemned because it is different.
-- Justice Warren Burger

At one of our Swahili lessons our teacher mapped out the contrasts between African and Canadian culture. Although I’ve been experiencing and noticing the differences personally every day, it was helpful to see them down on paper. Some of the main differences we discussed were direct versus indirect speech, time, status, guilt/shame, religion, certainty/uncertainty, and individual/collective. With direct versus indirect speech, Canadians are very to the point and often get annoyed or just altogether leave out unnecessary speech in order to get their point across and get the ‘job’ done, so to speak. Whereas Tanzanians are more likely to just talk to each other more randomly even if it goes off topic and this is accepted and enjoyed. Time is another factor that is looked at through a very different lens! In Tanzania time is plenty and in Canada time is money! Canadians constantly feel rushed and have the mentality that they need to get as much as they can done in as quick as possible…no time to waste! We could learn a lot from Tanzanian’s in this regard because they are much more laid back about their understanding of time. They never seemed rushed and being late is not considered rude or uncommon. It seems like people spend a lot of time waiting around and ‘wasting’ time, but it’s that they are less stressed about it and don’t considered it being ‘wasted’ when they spend those extra minutes talking to a friend or the like. Status is something that you must work for in Canada, for the most part, but in Tanzania status is ascribed, therefore you acquire it from things like old age. When you do something that you know you shouldn’t, like stealing, you tend to feel guilt regardless of whether you’ve been caught or not, so for example, in Canada if you stole something and got away with it most people would still feel guilty, but in Tanzania most people would not feel guilty they would feel shame and only if they were caught. I found this difference really interesting because it depends on whether someone else has caught them do they feel shame, therefore if they get away with something it doesn’t affect them as much and they don’t worry about it. Another difference is our feeling of certainty in Canada, we tend to take risks and not worry or fear about trying new things. In Tanzania, they are more uncertain in this regard and often won’t take risks or try new things, such as changing jobs. And a pretty obvious difference is our individualistic culture and their collectivist culture. We are raised to think for ourselves and do things for ourselves rather than for others. We don’t work as a team and we constantly strive for individual gains even at the expense of others. In Tanzania, they think about others and will often forego individual gain if the gain for the larger collective group is greater. Through my experiences here, I’ve noticed this in the children when we play games, they are noticeably less competitive then the children back home. They aren’t as worried about winning a game and will help each other rather than trying to be the winner or doing better than their peers. In addition, a major difference is that I’ve rarely ever seen them fight! They tend to just share better, for example, if someone has a book or toy that another child wants and that child comes over and takes that toy, the kid who had it in the first place will let the other kid have it and they will go get another, no big deal! This blew my mind because I always expect a fight to break out but it never does!

These are only some of the differences between our cultures, and these are minor differences, but in regards to the quote above it’s so important not to have the perspective that your way is the right way or you won’t enjoy your time in a different country. You have to be open to different ways of life and just enjoy the differences, without thinking it’s not as good as the way you do it at home, etc. Neither way is superior, their only different! And often when you are open minded you’ll realize new ways of doing things that are better! Sometimes there are differences that you may not agree with, but you have to be considerate of the culture and their practices without putting them down or lecturing locals about it because it’s something they believe in.

Usiku mwema, lala fofofo! (Goodnight, sleep like a log!)

Thursday June 16, 2011 - Morning after the Stanley Cup Playoff

Caught up on my journals today and then went to the Green Door Home! Today was a good day because all the kids from the green door came out to play games with us. Normally it’s the same one’s all the time that come play and hang out with us and a couple of the older boys tend to stay inside and do their own thing because they are at that age. Also the girls sometimes don’t play games with us and just watch, but today everyone was playing, so it was really good! Also, all the kids helped us come up with a Swahili word that goes with each letter of the alphabet. We decided to make a little alphabet book for them because the one they have is so Westernized that “A” is for “apple” and “B” is for “balloon” for example. A couple of the younger kids have trouble reading still and we figured it would be easier for them to remember letters and their pronunciation if the letter corresponded to a word they knew rather than having to learn both a letter and an English word they don’t use on a regular basis. So now were just going to put a book together with the Swahili words, letter, and picture of the word. We are kinda wishful thinkers but it would be super cool if we could later actually publish a nicer version of this book and sell it with the proceeds going back to the boona baana kids.

"We worry about what a child will be tomorrow, yet we forget that the child is already someone today" -- Stacia Tauscher

The above quote speaks loudly because throughout history and continuing today, children are often forgotten, or if not forgotten, exploited and used rather than accepted as one and as a human being. Children need rights and they deserve rights just as much as anyone else. Education is so important and can give these kids the opportunities they need and a better chance for their future. The only downfall is that the education system in Africa is taught in English and therefore without the proper foundation of the English language, regardless of intelligence, type of school, or even a wealthy family, the child will not succeed in this type of system. The kids at boona baana are so intelligent but they need a better grasp of the English language in order to succeed in school. One of the older boys was telling me that in many schools they teach in Swahili in the primary grades and don’t teach any English and then when they go into the middle schools and high schools they are thrown into English dominated classes and expected to know what they are doing…clearly this is an inefficient and unsuccessful way to operate. I can’t say it is like this at all the schools, but I know its common enough. Children need to be given the tools they need to succeed and when they are given these, they will not only succeed, but prosper and I think this is true of many children.

As everyone knows the Canucks lost last night L We all stayed up to watch it and I barely slept at all! It was shameful to hear what happened after the game with the riots, ruins the whole experience and excitement of the Stanley Cup L It’s a shame that a few had to ruin it for everyone. Best analysis from last night I've read yet: "In a way, we could thank the testosterone-laden morons for reminding a hockey crazed city that the real heroes in society don't play a game for money; the real heroes fight fires, drive ambulances, treat the sick, and clean-up garbage.” On the bright side there was a lunar eclipse last night so it was neat that we were already awake so we could see it because it looked pretty cool and the sky was crystal clear!!

Tuesday June 14, 2011 – KidzCare kids come to Mikocheni B!

Hanging out in the girls' room at boona baana!

This morning Kara and I went to Boona Baana for a couple hours because three of the younger kids were home from school today. The older kids have mock exams all this week so the rest of the school just has the week off. We painted toe nails, played trouble, and watched a bit of tv that they were very adamant on watching. Then at 2pm the kids from KidzCare came over to our place to play, have dinner, and watch a movie on our projector! They were so cute, all of them dressed up to come over and they looked adorable. We drew and played games and then had spaghetti for dinner! They had a blast and so did all of us!

Kids from KidzCare playing games on our roof!

We watched the Lion King with KidzCare on our projector because they had never seen it!

Monday June 13, 2011

This morning I worked on homework, got my map of East Africa done! Made iced coffee’s again and this time added chocolate syrup in them!  Then at 2pm we went to boona baana. Lately we’ve been having some trouble with figuring out what were allowed to do and what were not allowed to do here because of the responsibility that UFV has over us here. We are trying to plan a trip to Arusha, a safari and some people want to go to Kenya but it’s been hard figuring it out and arranging a way to do it so that the University will be okay with it. Even little things like riding the tuk tuk’s (pronounced took took) are off limits. It’s understandable because we are on an internship and they are responsible for us, but it makes it a lot harder to do things!

I took a picture of the tuk tuk’s the other day, so I’ll explain what they are. They are named after the sound that their small two cycle engines and originated in Japan. They are a super cheap, three wheeled, convenient and fast form transportation. They are sort of dangerous because they are so small and the sides of them are open, but they are able to usually bypass the heavy traffic by going up the side of the roads. They are everywhere and a lot of the locals take them.

There are also Dala Dala’s, another form of transportation here that we aren’t allowed to use! They are very cheap and they are called that because the Swahili pronounciation of the English word “dollar”. When they first were invented it cost five shillings (which is practically free, haha!) and these were the size of a silver dollar. A Dala-dala is more like a pickup truck or van and has benches inside around the edges and a roof on top. There is no tailgate on them, but instead steps are there so that people can board them easier. The idea is for people to sit on the benches but we usually see them so crowded there are people pushed up against the windows and standing in the middle.