Dearest friends, family, and followers,
This will be my last communication from Tanzania. Four months have passed with alarming speed, and I will be departing this beautiful country on Wednesday, set to arrive back in the ole’ US of A on Thursday morning. I will put massive deserts, and ocean, and various nations in states of varying political turmoil between me and the family I have come to call my own, and return to the family that eagerly awaits me.
The Tanzanian Education Project has accomplished much in these past four months. We have established a reliable water-catch system to ensure the availability of water at Fanaka Memorial Secondary School, we have assessed our past projects at ELA, Olof and Fanaka, ensured the continuation of the Stationary Shop, and begun the “Raising a Future” chicken coop project. We have also put plans into place which will help us to establish more self-sustainable projects in the future, such as a garden at Fanaka. It has been another incredible journey.
I can’t honestly say that I’m not ready to go home. I have a lot of business, personal and career-related that I put on hold even a year ago, at which I can now fully set myself to task. I’m exhausted, mentally and physically. My body hasn’t been working properly in months, but I can’t seem to identify the problems here. I’ve been subject to massive mood swings, a wide range of intestinal troubles, and I’m convinced my hair is falling out. I am a radical feminist living in a patriarchal society, where even my best friends think its funny when I relate how flooded with terror I am when strange men take the liberty of touching me, simply because I am a female mzungu, because those friends are male, and don’t understand how invasive a touch or a comment can be. There is something to be said for learning to adapt, for stepping out of your comfort zone, but to deny ourselves the occasional comfort of like-minded contemporaries can be wearying after a time.
Contrarily, I can’t say that I’m entirely ready to leave. Life is much more tenuous here. Though I intend on returning for a visit in a year, there’s no guarantee that even to most robust and healthy of my friends will be around at that time. Anything could happen, and the availability and access to healthcare (especially in an emergency), makes health issues all the more dangerous. Also, though I’ve done a lot of work, personally and for the Tanzanian Education Project, it never feels like enough. I know that it is part of my nature to never be completely satisfied with my work, and being in Tanzanian is no different. I’ll always wish I had spent more time with one student or another, asked another question, given another gift, pushed a little harder one way or eased off in another. Because I will never be able to thrive and live in this place and culture as a native, there will always be an element of regret, a lingering aftertaste of remorse. My Babu is getting old, and I want to spend as much time as is humanly possible for him. He has been one of my greatest teachers, my most faithful guardians and funniest companions. He is a model of generosity and wisdom, hospitality and warmth. I adore him, and it is with no little sorrow that I will leave his home in just two days.
I would again like to thank all of the generous donors and friends of the Tanzanian Education Project, who have made it possible for me to travel to Tanzania in the first place, and who have donated their time and money to our projects. We are doing good together, and we are doing it well (English majors, you’re welcome for that sentence). Let’s continue to support these wonderful people, generous families and eager students in the future. Thank you for following me again as I detail the absurdities and commonalities of living in Tanzania, its drawbacks and its many, many wonders.
I have often thought of Shakespeare’s Miranda, heroine of The Tempest, during my time here. Often I have murmured to myself, “O brave new world, that has such people in’t!” when surprised by another poverty-stricken but still generous family, by an eager child hungry for education despite being orphaned and destitute. There is such a wide world of color, music, voices, noise, chaos, calm, sweetness, bitterness, anger, elation, joy and sorrow out there, and I have but seen a small corner of it; a single pebble at the foot of a great mountain. The more I travel and experience these different people and places, the more I realize how entirely clueless I am, and yet how lucky I am to have had the chance to try understand these small moments and fascinating places.
So, back to The Tempest, I leave you with the words of Prospero, at the close of my time here in Tanzania for his parting words as he leaves his island for Naples ring true even for an impetuous, well-meaning yet disillusioned twenty-something woman prone to flowery prose and no flair for subtle sarcasm. With the Bard’s much better chosen words, I release myself as your narrator, and set sail for star-spangled shores...
Now my charms are all o’erthrown
And what strength I have’s mine own
Which is most faint...
Gentle breath of yours my sails
Much fill, or else my project fails,
Which was to please. Now I want
Spirits to enforce, art to enchant;
And my ending is despair
Unless I be relieve’d by prayer
Which pierces so that it assaults
Mercy itself, and frees all faults.
As you from crimes would pardon’d be,
Let your indulgence set me free.
Wednesday, June 15
Thursday, June 2
Winding Down
Greetings and Salutations, Friends, Family and Followers alike!
My time here is all too quickly winding down. I depart two weeks from today (even less by the time you read this), and I am beginning to get frantic.
However, things are still progressing well, and I am working furiously as the days continue to pass by.
Our terminal examinations begin on Friday, so the past week(s) I have been busy typing ALL of the exams (about 9 subjects for each form, there are four forms. You do the math. Really, because I can’t. My brain hurts), and have been trying to make copies this past week. The power here is spotty at best, so while the electricity is on, we must work in a fervor, and twiddle our thumbs when it is cut off, and speculate about when it may be turned back on. Luckily, thanks to the help of our competent stationary shopkeeper, I have managed to finish up all but a few exams. Power permitting, we should be able to finish tomorrow.
In addition to the excitement of the upcoming exams, I have also been closely monitoring the progress of our batch of chickens for our “Raising a Future” project. This has been a very exciting project, as I am able to see the chicks grow day by day and the payoff of this project will be easily measured and tangible (not to mention edible). The chicks are now two weeks old. Last week we inoculated them against Newcastle’s disease, and they received another inoculation today against a local disease. The first week of having the chicks, we lost about eleven or twelve. While this was troubling, we were originally given 6 chicks bure (free) as a sort of insurance measure in addition to the 350 we paid for. So we now have about 344 chicks left. We should still be able to make a good sale on them. They are now past the most dangerous period as far as their health and development. It should be smooth sailing from here on out!
The chickens are currently under the careful eye of Babu, but also under the care of Mwakyoma, the father of a family of five who are living in the house with us. Mwakyoma is an incredibly responsible, dependable, kind and affable man. He is a spectacular father and is taking extremely good care of the chicks, and asks daily whether I have looked in on them, and reports on their health and development (usually in Swahili, about half of which I understand, and as long as he’s smiling for the other half, I assume its good news).
As far as the cost of this project, we paid 1,500/= (Tanzanian shillings) per chick, and have paid 30,000/= for feed once a week. This brings the cost on the project to about 585,000/=, or approximately $390 USD. For the next two or three weeks, we will pay about 30,000/= each week for chicken feed. This should bring the total cost of the project to $465 USD. Each chicken should sell for about 4,000/= or 4,500/=. This means the chickens will make about 1,376,000/= for Fanaka. This will be enough money to reinvest in another batch of chickens. The Tanzanian Education Project intends on paying a partial salary to Mwakyoma for taking care of the chickens, and contributing to the next batch of chicks until the project is safely self-sustaining.
Though the project is now just a few weeks old, the chickens being raised in the adjacent coop by Babu’s daughter-in-law, Eve are now about ready for sale. Eve is on her third or fourth batch of raising and selling broiler chickens, and reports nothing but positively on the fiscal viability of the project. The Tanzanian Education Project and Fanaka will hopefully consider expanding the chicken project in the future should it continue to be self-sustaining and a viable source of revenue.
On a side note, I must say that I have noticed an inverse relationship in the cuteness of the chicks and my appetite. As they have shifted from Puff-like handfuls of adorability to shrieking, awkward and raptor-like birds, I find that I am increasingly hungry for May’s fried wings. Strange thing.
In other news, I am planning a small holiday to Arusha for the upcoming week. Though I have now spent a total of almost seven months in the past year-ish in Tanzania, I still have seen little of the country itself. I am incredibly eager to sit in a bus for about ten hours and just look at the land. I love car rides. Also, I have had the good fortune of knowing several people in the land of Kilimanjaro, and a friend who is traveling on the same day as me, so I will have a delightful Rastafarian sidekick for the journey. Its so interesting how these things play out!
I am spending more and more time playing with the students when I can, and as my time here draws to a close, try to place more emphasis on strengthening my relationships with the kids and my family here at the house. Sitting and listening to Babu discuss cows and trees for the thousandth time is one of my favorite activities. Bibi (Babu’s sister) is without a doubt the most avid football fan I have ever seen, and to be in the same room as her when a game is on tv is more entertaining than you can imagine. I love being bombarded with hugs by Raheli, who has become my adoring little shadow in the past couple of months. Sometimes I just sit in Mama Sophie’s canteen and listen to her fry up cassava, content to be in her sanguine presence.
Though I will be sad to leave here, I think I have done all I can for the time being. I am content in my relationships and my work, but its time to go home. I can continue to work for my Tanzanian family from there, continuing to fundraise and tell people about our wonderful organization. However, I miss my Mommie, my seester, my besties and Westley. I’m beginning to pine for those generic white middle-class twenty-something pastimes like drinking coffee and using my laptop in public places, paying too much for sandwiches, and pretending like my taste in music is superior to yours (because it is). I look forward to coming back here, maybe someday I’ll find someone sucker enough to move here with me for a year or so. Tanzania is the home I never knew I had, but I can’t forget the home which enabled me to visit Tanzania in the first place.
I shall update you all from Arusha next week, whilst looking upon the slopes of Africa’s tallest mountain peak, Mt. Kilimanjaro. No big deal.
Until then, I hope all is well in your respective hometowns and lives, and I shall see you soon!
Love,
Eileen
My time here is all too quickly winding down. I depart two weeks from today (even less by the time you read this), and I am beginning to get frantic.
However, things are still progressing well, and I am working furiously as the days continue to pass by.
Our terminal examinations begin on Friday, so the past week(s) I have been busy typing ALL of the exams (about 9 subjects for each form, there are four forms. You do the math. Really, because I can’t. My brain hurts), and have been trying to make copies this past week. The power here is spotty at best, so while the electricity is on, we must work in a fervor, and twiddle our thumbs when it is cut off, and speculate about when it may be turned back on. Luckily, thanks to the help of our competent stationary shopkeeper, I have managed to finish up all but a few exams. Power permitting, we should be able to finish tomorrow.
In addition to the excitement of the upcoming exams, I have also been closely monitoring the progress of our batch of chickens for our “Raising a Future” project. This has been a very exciting project, as I am able to see the chicks grow day by day and the payoff of this project will be easily measured and tangible (not to mention edible). The chicks are now two weeks old. Last week we inoculated them against Newcastle’s disease, and they received another inoculation today against a local disease. The first week of having the chicks, we lost about eleven or twelve. While this was troubling, we were originally given 6 chicks bure (free) as a sort of insurance measure in addition to the 350 we paid for. So we now have about 344 chicks left. We should still be able to make a good sale on them. They are now past the most dangerous period as far as their health and development. It should be smooth sailing from here on out!
The chickens are currently under the careful eye of Babu, but also under the care of Mwakyoma, the father of a family of five who are living in the house with us. Mwakyoma is an incredibly responsible, dependable, kind and affable man. He is a spectacular father and is taking extremely good care of the chicks, and asks daily whether I have looked in on them, and reports on their health and development (usually in Swahili, about half of which I understand, and as long as he’s smiling for the other half, I assume its good news).
As far as the cost of this project, we paid 1,500/= (Tanzanian shillings) per chick, and have paid 30,000/= for feed once a week. This brings the cost on the project to about 585,000/=, or approximately $390 USD. For the next two or three weeks, we will pay about 30,000/= each week for chicken feed. This should bring the total cost of the project to $465 USD. Each chicken should sell for about 4,000/= or 4,500/=. This means the chickens will make about 1,376,000/= for Fanaka. This will be enough money to reinvest in another batch of chickens. The Tanzanian Education Project intends on paying a partial salary to Mwakyoma for taking care of the chickens, and contributing to the next batch of chicks until the project is safely self-sustaining.
Though the project is now just a few weeks old, the chickens being raised in the adjacent coop by Babu’s daughter-in-law, Eve are now about ready for sale. Eve is on her third or fourth batch of raising and selling broiler chickens, and reports nothing but positively on the fiscal viability of the project. The Tanzanian Education Project and Fanaka will hopefully consider expanding the chicken project in the future should it continue to be self-sustaining and a viable source of revenue.
On a side note, I must say that I have noticed an inverse relationship in the cuteness of the chicks and my appetite. As they have shifted from Puff-like handfuls of adorability to shrieking, awkward and raptor-like birds, I find that I am increasingly hungry for May’s fried wings. Strange thing.
In other news, I am planning a small holiday to Arusha for the upcoming week. Though I have now spent a total of almost seven months in the past year-ish in Tanzania, I still have seen little of the country itself. I am incredibly eager to sit in a bus for about ten hours and just look at the land. I love car rides. Also, I have had the good fortune of knowing several people in the land of Kilimanjaro, and a friend who is traveling on the same day as me, so I will have a delightful Rastafarian sidekick for the journey. Its so interesting how these things play out!
I am spending more and more time playing with the students when I can, and as my time here draws to a close, try to place more emphasis on strengthening my relationships with the kids and my family here at the house. Sitting and listening to Babu discuss cows and trees for the thousandth time is one of my favorite activities. Bibi (Babu’s sister) is without a doubt the most avid football fan I have ever seen, and to be in the same room as her when a game is on tv is more entertaining than you can imagine. I love being bombarded with hugs by Raheli, who has become my adoring little shadow in the past couple of months. Sometimes I just sit in Mama Sophie’s canteen and listen to her fry up cassava, content to be in her sanguine presence.
Though I will be sad to leave here, I think I have done all I can for the time being. I am content in my relationships and my work, but its time to go home. I can continue to work for my Tanzanian family from there, continuing to fundraise and tell people about our wonderful organization. However, I miss my Mommie, my seester, my besties and Westley. I’m beginning to pine for those generic white middle-class twenty-something pastimes like drinking coffee and using my laptop in public places, paying too much for sandwiches, and pretending like my taste in music is superior to yours (because it is). I look forward to coming back here, maybe someday I’ll find someone sucker enough to move here with me for a year or so. Tanzania is the home I never knew I had, but I can’t forget the home which enabled me to visit Tanzania in the first place.
I shall update you all from Arusha next week, whilst looking upon the slopes of Africa’s tallest mountain peak, Mt. Kilimanjaro. No big deal.
Until then, I hope all is well in your respective hometowns and lives, and I shall see you soon!
Love,
Eileen
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
