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