Jan 12-19 Flip Flops & Sun Screen

WEEK 1

Friday, January 12 - Landing in Ethiopia after a 13-hour flight and a screaming baby, exhaustion had become my friend. However, as soon as I stepped off the airplane, the smells of Africa, the sunshine and 80-degree weather energized me and put a smile on my face. Reality and excitement were settling in and I knew it would only be a few more hours until I was in Tanzania. I think Nie and Jonas were as excited to see me as I was to see them.  (For those new to this blog. Nie & Jonas founded and operate TAFCOM.)

Elly is back. She is the woman who cooked for me last time. It is not uncommon for some families to have a young woman live with them to help with cooking, cleaning and laundry. She is an amazing cook and I know I will be spoiled rotten. And she is very good about making me speak Swahili – even though her English is very good. When I got to my room she had made the sheet and blanket into a W and M for “Welcome Marian” and had folded my towel into a bird. (She did this all the time in 2016!)

I spent the rest of the day unpacking. I was able to check in 2-50-pound bags and they were stuffed mostly with donated supplies. Thanks to all those who donated!💗

Saturday, January 13 – Starting the day wearing flip flops and sunscreen was a great way to transition! Nie and I went to town today to get money, a sim card for my phone and internet. My debit card would not work at the ATM’s. We tried 4 banks and I kept getting messages that it was blocked. The last bank ate my debit card. (this happened another time so I was not overly concerned.) There are armed guards at all ATM’s and they told us the bank was open Sunday morning. I had notified my credit union before I left so was totally befuddled (and not happy) as to why this was happening. I had to borrow funds from Nie to take care of phone and internet.

As soon as I got home and accessed internet I emailed the bank. Fortunately, I had made contact with the bank manager before I left.

Sunday, January 14 – Happy Birthday Neal!! – Elly and I left a little after 8 and took the daladala to Moshi. I will always love the craziness of the daladala (refresher – it is like a VW bus but falling apart and they can cram over 20 people in it.)

When we got to the bank the guard said it did not open until 10 (we had been told 8). I had wanted to come to town to walk around and refamiliarize myself so Elly and I toured the town for about an hour. We met a couple from the US who lived in both Santa Fe, New Mexico (formerly worked at Los Alamos) and DC (now with NSF). It was fun talking with them since my kids live in NM & DC! They were climbing Mt Kilimanjaro the next day so I was able to talk a bit about my experience.

I was able to easily retrieve my credit card. The bank suggested I try it again but it still did not work.

Rajabu - age 17, Hadijayo – age 12, and Asha – age 10 have been in an orphanage since 2010. Both parents died of AIDS and the local grandmother took them in until she became too old and ill to care for them. Nie and I visit them whenever I am here. On our way to Kili Kids Nie picked up some rice and treats for the kids. There are currently 24 kids ranging in age from 3 ½ to 17. When we arrived, we met a father and son team from Australia constructing a building.  Our visit was short this time because the son had downloaded Lion King and the children were glued to his computer.

Before going home, we stopped at Weru Weru River Lodge. It is gorgeous and I would describe it as a resort. It is a hotel with restaurant and bar. The outside area has tables and chairs, a swimming pool, bikes for the kids, a trampoline AND Camels to ride. The coolest part is that it costs nothing to go there. Moshi has several places like this that I have visited. We had Joan (Nie & Jonas’ daughter), Happy (Jonas’s sister’s daughter) and Mwantumu, a neighbor girl. The girls loved the trampoline and the weather was perfect for relaxing outside. (I know I should stop mentioning that it is sunny and in the 80’s every day!!)

Monday, January 15-I was anxious to resolve my debit card issue. However, there is an 8-hour time difference. It is 8 hours earlier in the US (EST) so I knew I had to wait until 4:30 pm here for the bank to open. Michael (friend/SO) was going to the bank for me. As much as I love Martin Luther King, I had forgotten it was MLK Day and all banks were closed. ARGGHH!

Nie and I spent the morning talking about what needed to be done, reviewing documents and materials and setting priorities. I am still napping to get caught up on the time change.

Tuesday, January 16-Today Jonas, Nie, and Nimwinda visited Sevia, an agricultural research and education project focusing on vegetable production. They have 16 acres and are funded by the Dutch government. Nimwinda, who is Nie’s cousin, recently finished school in Agricultural Management. Jonas has been using part of the land at Minnesota Academy to grow corn for sale and use in the children’s lunches. He is wishing to expand and grow other crops such as tomatoes and peppers. 

(http://www.sevia.biz/) Jonas and his oldest son have attended the trainings on irrigation. Sevia has been in operation for 4 years and already impacted 23,000 farmers. This is the kind of progress I love to see.

Wednesday, January 17-Today I got to spend time with the Tailoring women. These are young women who, for a variety of reasons, were unable to pass the National test that is required of all students in order to move to the next level of education. One reason many girls fail these tests is because they miss school when they are menstruating. Sanitary pads are too expensive, so the girls stay home. This is also an issue for some of the teachers. When I was here in 2016, we started a Reusable Sanitary Pad Project. Patterns and material were purchased/donated and the women learned how to make them. They were distributed not only to TAFCOM staff but to area school girls along with a Reproductive Health workshop. Another volunteer plus a US organization, Friends Together, visited shortly after I left in 2016 and with their support the project is still going strong.

Today we took a short break to teach crochet. I am a newbie but know enough of the basic stitches to get by (TY Barbie). As it turns out, Katherine, who is the tailoring teacher is an expert at crochet. Looks like she will teach and I will be with the students! Most of them also new the basics. I brought yarn so this will be our fun time together.

I have a favorite place I like to walk along the railroad tracks and if Mt Kilimanjaro (Kili from now on) is not cloud covered, the view is breathtaking. Today’s walk was to find the shoe repair fundi (worker) who had fixed a pair of sandals last time I was here. This time I brought 2 pairs of sandals, one that had separated and needed to be sewn together. I also noticed that the bottoms on my other pair were wearing down and slitting. Return in one hour, I was told.

After leaving the shoes we walked over to Nie’s mother’s for a visit. On our walk home, we stopped to pick up my shoes which were ready in less than an hour and cost less than $1.50 for both repairs!

Thursday, January 18-Nie, Jonas and I drove out to Minnesota Academy, the primary school. There has been tremendous progress since I was here in 2016. Additional classrooms now make it possible for children to attend grades 1-4. Space has been built for offices and a library. And 2 new classrooms are under construction. Even some of the trees and shrubs we planted in 2016 have survived and grown!

I met with Ibrahim, the Head teacher to take a tour and discuss the needs of the school. Most of the classroom walls are bare or have hand drawn/written posters. The floors are cement and one classroom needs windows. The teachers need shelves for their teaching aids and the school is planning to implement activity centers and needs mats. I always walk away overwhelmed by the needs but the progress that has been made over 2 years is very hopeful and impressive.

Many of the children cannot afford tuition or can only pay a small amount. Each class is supplied a few textbooks that are shared by those who, again, cannot afford them. I sponsor Amina who is in P-4. Today we are going to town to buy her textbooks. (If anyone is interested in sponsoring a child or any portion of a child’s educational needs, feel free to email me for info.)

Friday, January 19 – I finally woke up with enough time and motivation to go for a 30-minute walk/run. The road I have used in the past is dirt and currently in the worst shape I have ever seen it. Huge potholes, enormous ruts and puddles make many parts of the road almost impassable. It is entertaining to watch the motorcycles and cars not only maneuver the road but also all the schoolchildren walking to school. It appears there is an attempt to fill in the holes and ruts as there are several areas where large piles of rock and dirt line one half of the road. I will look forward to when this is accomplished.

Nie and I finished going thru some materials and I am now ready to dive in. We developed a 5-year strategic plan when I was here in 2016 and it will be my guide. Fridays have been set aside for English Lessons for the Tailoring women. This will help me as much as it will help them. I have no idea of their levels of English so our first lesson was on Greetings. The teacher in me is going to love this!!!
We ended the day with Joan and Happy putting on a fashion show of some of the clothes I brought (Thanks Chris).

As my first week comes to a close I feel as though I never left. I am excited at all that can be accomplished and love being surrounded by all the wonderful people here!