Let's LEAD Tanzania

Team CAHBIN: Carol, Angel, Humphrey, Ben, Innocent, Najma

At the end of April, volunteers across Tanzania came together for the second annual Tanzania National Leadership Experience and Development (LEAD TZ) conference.  For American teenagers, meetings, seminars, camps, and extracurriculars are commonplace, but many of the students attending this conference had never left their villages, and most had never been outside of their home regions within Tanzania.  After a creative application process, 10 groups were selected - each consisting of a Peace Corps Volunteer, a Tanzanian counterpart, and four students (two female and two male).  With changes in funding and leadership of the conference, the road to actually implementing the conference was difficult and lengthy.  Luckily, thanks to collaboration between PCVs, we managed to fund and attend the conference!

My big, strong boys who took my hand
and saved me from being washed away in
the thigh-deep, rushing "rivers"

Still the road to LEAD TZ had its challenges.  April is in the middle of masika, or the monsoon season, in many parts of Tanzania.  My village, situated in the mountainous Machame region of Kilimanjaro in the foothills of the big mountain, is subject to extreme rains that permeate every part of life.  The hard, rocky roads transform into a slippery, muddy mess, and transportation becomes even more difficult!

We had planned to ride our old, beat-up school truck for the mere 6 kilometers we had to travel to get to the main road where our cross-country bus would meet us up (travel got much easier when after I realized even the biggest buses were willing to negotiate a pickup on the side of the road!).  I guess you could call it the typical SNAFU to wake up before dawn to the unexpected thunder of fat, fast raindrops on tin roofs.  It turns out our mountainous village roads had transformed into slick, brown rivers.  We piled in the back of the pickup truck, drenched in seconds from raindrops pelting sideways into our faces.  Needless to say, our truck got stuck in muddy ruts once, then twice, then three times (see the video below!)

Fed up with angry phone calls from the bus conductor, and the relentless shower, I led my students' gaze to the paved road visible on the horizon, and told them we were going to reach, whether on foot or not.  We were in the farmlands only about a kilometer away from the road - but the path had become laced with rushing rivers with water reaching to mid-thigh!  My slippers, which quickly snapped, were left in the farms, and the six of us, with twelve bare feet, navigated the slippery landscape, and eventually made it to town, where a bus full of angry passengers lay waiting for us.  They were pleased to finally direct their anger at someone (me), and I gave them the simple answer that we were late - just simply late.  We arrived to Morogoro, a beautiful city in central Tanzania, still soggy and cold (except for myself, who had taken an opportunity when the bus was stopped in traffic to hide behind a thorny bush and exchange my drenched jeans for damp ones from my soaked backpack).

The conference proceeded without any other major obstacles.  Check out some of the highlights of the conference with the photos below!  You can also check out the Youtube video  (hyperlink) by a talented member of the Peace Corps Tanzania Media Team (posted below).



Our main focuses included team buildling, leadership, and career planning and empowering youth with knowledge about HIV/AIDS, malaria, nutrition, food security, sexual health, gender equality, and science.  Each session was led by a Peace Corps Volunteer/Tanzanian national pair from one of the 10 participating schools.

Morning exercise - a fun staple!

Teambuilding activities - making a team cheer, trust falls, obstacle courses, and other fun activities!  Pictured standing on the chair you can see my hardworking, insightful counterpart Benson Mushi, whose tireless work and collaboration made our work possible.

Activities from World Malaria Day - learning about the importance of sleeping under a mosquito net through games!

Sexual health and condom demonstration lessons - always interesting with shy Tanzanian teenagers

Gardening with limited space and resources - in a gunnysack!  And a nutrition lesson - making delicious guacamole!

Science competitions -
my students creating an "egg-drop" contraption

A highlight of the trip - a visit to Sokoine University of Agriculture

Action-planning to take the knowledge back to their peers
at Uroki Secondary School

You can check out a more detailed description of the conference from the lead organizer, my friend and fellow Peace Corps Volunteer Chris Biles by clicking on the link below. (Today is actually my first day of medical school, and I guess this is one way to save time while still updating this blog :P)

https://usawatanzania.wordpress.com/2016/05/22/the-tanzania-national-lead-leadership-experience-and-development-conference/

LEAD TZ 2016 was an incredibly powerful and moving union of youth from all across Tanzania that admitted students and educators, but produced changemakers with hope and the prospect of creating a brighter future for Tanzania.

My confident, beautiful inside-and-out future leaders of Tanzania

Maua Mazuri

How quickly time passes!  Two years (precisely to the day) passed in what seemed like the blink of an eye.  I am typing this, not from my balcony surrounded by bananas and coffee in the foothills of Mount Kilimanjaro, but from my sun-soaked, bursting-with-blooms backyard in Michigan, USA.  My final year of service passed me by surprise, each day filled with new opportunities and unique challenges.  These days, unfortunately, did not provide me with ample time (or internet access) to sit down, reflect, and update this blog.  So, we will save the reflection for another day.  For now, enjoy a backlog of stories about my incredible two year journey.

Singing what quickly became their theme song -
"Wanawake na Maendeleo," or Women of Development

Today, we will explore from start to finish one of the most fulfilling projects of my service: Maua Mazuri.  "Maua Mazuri" is Kiswahili for Beautiful Flowers - an educational program created by Peace Corps Volunteers to help adolescent girls harness their inner beauty and confidence.







As a young girl growing up in the USA, I was always told, "You can, you can, you can."  You CAN achieve your dreams.  And, I found that, with perseverance, I actually was able to accomplish virtually anything I put my young mind to.  In 24 years, I have yet to feel limited by any sort of glass ceiling, and am confident I can break through it if I ever feel it in front of me.


Girls in Tanzania face quite a different reality.  In some tribes, men boast pridefully about beating their wives and abusing them verbally.  In others, Female Genital Mutilation is still expected and widespread.  My village, set in the famed Machame region at the foothills of Mount Kilimanjaro, has villagers who pride themselves on being different.  Their tribe, the Chagga, were happy to send their daughters to school.  Many were happy to allow them to study, and our school often saw 7 - 8 female students in the "Top 10" of every form.

Learning about storytelling through dance -
this original dance depicts a young girl "dancing"
with too many partners and becoming infected with HIV.

However, the whole story was not apparent in one glance.  Once young, unmarried girls finished high school, where did they go?  Were they in the corn fields?  No.  Carrying water?  A few times a day, at most.  Cheering at village football matches?  Far from it.  They were hidden behind four mud walls, boxed into smoky fireboxes at the perimeter of village lots.  They had children at their hips, and laundry at their hands.  Their hands, rough and wrinkled before their time, would place shiny dishes of porridge and sauces on lace cloths in the living room, and then retreat back to smokebox for a solitary meal.

A woman in Tanzania is expected to "kubali" - to agree without protest.  "Sawa" is the Kiswahili word for, "Ok," or "Sure, I'll do it."  Tell a young girl to prepare breakfast?  Sawa.  Tell her to sweep and mop the entire house?  Sawa.  Tell her to dig from point A to point B in the farm?  Sawa.  Tell a young girl that it's time to get married and have kids?  Sawa.  

Even in the most progressive parts of Tanzania, young girls need to be told, over and over again, that they do chart the course of their own futures.  This is what the Maua Mazuri program aims to do.  Through the arts - creative writing, poetry, songwriting, dancing, drawing, and painting - the lessons teach girls about self-expression and often focus on HIV/AIDS.

"Move Your Body" - learning self-expression through the best way
possible - dancing to Beyonce!

At Uroki Secondary School, Maua Mazuri began in October 2015.  My counterpart, Agnes Mkulago, and I, had chosen 20 girls based on essays written in Kiswahili about the importance of art.  We recruited girls from the Form I and Form III classes to get a decent mix of abilities and ages.

Left: Younger and older girls interviewing and drawing each other,
Right: Some of the girls showing off their face drawings.

The first few months were challenging!  Most Tanzanians do not see the value in extracurricular activities, and Uroki was no different.  Our meetings were set to happen every Thursday at 4 pm, but invariably, a surprise assembly would be held, and the entire school sent to clean the school grounds or cut grasses.  Maybe a teacher would keep the students late, and then another might need to enter for an "announcement" that would take until dusk.  Maybe the students would face a surprise inspection of their hair, their toenails, their school uniforms, and each of them would be thrashed with a stick to the point of tears, and far past the point where any singing and dancing would be possible.  However, we eventually learned to take firm ownership of our girls, and the other teachers began to understand that they could do absolutely nothing to deter Agnes and I from holding these weekly sessions with the girls.

Self-Portraits! These confident, beautiful girls told me,
"Madam, Sisi ni Mishale!"
(Mishale means arrows. But basically, "Madam we are BEAUTIFUL!")

Most of the time, visible results were few and far between.  I do remember one conversation with a teacher about a particular girl - a girl in Form II who kept her hair covered in a white ushungi (hijab).  Her sparkling eyes always said more than her timid mouth.  However, this teacher was marveling at the fact that she, although previously silent began to answer questions in class over the past few weeks.  I smiled and said that she must have been getting the extra confidence from somewhere :)

Learning to make beats using their bodies!

Two girls leading a lesson about STDs for 500 youth
from Uroki and Neema Secondary Schools.

How did Maua Mazuri girls actively challenge the status quo set for them?  I think looking at a few of their accomplishments gives you a good idea.  They were strong leaders, and took ownership of every project I gave them.  While their peers were still teasing them for the group's seemingly silly name, the girls gave me secret smiles and carried on with what they were doing.  They were leaders and my main helpers for the Huru empowerment seminars, a 3-week intervention that reached 500 youth in Uswaa.  Whether I needed them to sing and dance, act, or even teach lessons, they proved to me that they were capable, goal-oriented young women.

Singing their original song

Do you need more examples?  On May 31, 2016, the girls had reached the end of the Maua Mazuri program - and the day had finally arrived to show the entire school the fruits of their labor.  Their first number was an original a capella song called, "Kusema Hapana ni Muhimu" (Saying No is Important).  They took the stage more timidly than I expected.  The "drums" started amid chatter and laughing in the audience, the first singers faltered in their entrance, and the "guitars" came in reedily at first.  Then, all of a sudden, they looked at each other and smiled.  Melody, harmony, and rhythm blended together beautifully, and their peers only stopped and stared. The lyrics, which stemmed from a songwriting session last year, are below.  The Kiswahili original is on the left, and a rough English translation on the right.  (It doesn't quite have the same ring in English).

After this, they sang, danced, and acted their hearts out.  The youngest and smallest ones fearlessly stood in front of their peers to explain their drawings and paintings, something that would have been unheard of eight months ago.  I don't know that I had ever been as fiercely proud of anyone.

Maua Mazuri's last skit

Performing their storytelling through dance -
HIV infection and progression of the disease through AIDS and death.

They explained the mural that they had been working so hard on throughout May 2016, titled, "Wanawake na Maendeleo" (Women of Development), after the song by Vicky Kamata that had become their mantra.

Some pictures of progress on the mural - with big thanks to Madam Karishma, our guest all the way from America who you can see working hard in top center amid the maua mazuri (beautiful flowers)

The Final Product!
The young woman, depicted in her graduation gown while holding a doctoral diploma, has our own Mount Kilimanjaro and farmlands around her as she heads off into the world.

Their final number was "Move Your Body" - a dance we had adapted from Beyonce's famous music video.  They had been up until late in the night perfecting their dougie, salsa, and sashay. Any of them, previously timid and shy, danced unabashedly with all of their hearts.  More than anything, their faces were filled with joy that they would have been so embarrassed to show a year ago.  The entire school erupted with cheers.

"Move Your Body," Beyonce

Exhausted and giggling, they finished their performances and settled down, as always, on the pink mat in my living room.  They had adopted to do a no-frills, all-fun graduation celebration in my living room.  There were no guests of honor and no formal speeches.  Agness and I both expressed a word of thanks to the girls.  Then, their word of thanks, prepared by one of the quietest and youngest girls, Dorcas, brought me almost to tears.  Luckily, as my students tell me, I've become hardened by two years in Africa and don't cry nearly as much any more.  We cut cake (our labor of the previous night), drank soda, and danced some more.  Instead of formalities when handing out certificates, we distributed them all facedown with every girl instructed not to look at the certificate.  We began by telling one girl to open the certificate in her hand, announce her fellows name, and name specific talents that she had brought to the group, and particular days when she had made the group successful.  Throughout the program, giving positive feedback was an important part of each lesson, and the graduation celebration was no different.  Each girl left with a smile on her face and a spark unwilling to leave her eyes.

Notes from Papa

As many of you know, my family paid a visit during the recent holiday season!  I asked my Dad to write a few things for my blog, and he came up with a tidbit or two: (Sorry Dad, had to edit information about my location for security's sake!)

 

For Carol's birthday our safari guide, Godbless Mariki, asked her what she wanted to see.  "Lions", she said, and that is what Godbless found - it was really special to be so close to a group that was literally paralyzed from their feasting.  The droopy eyelids on the lions brought back recollections of the same feelings we have after a thanksgiving meal.

Dad and Michelle got to trek to the pool and waterfall that we think of as "Carol's waterfall" - it was in some ways going back to a familiar place, having seen it in pictures Carol sent, or maybe it reminded me of places I've been in my youth - streams in the Western Ghats of India (like Grandpa's coffee estate), or streams I've drunk from in my treks Himachal Pradesh, or maybe even Old Man's Cave in Ohio.  Having learned from previous experience we were careful not to drink while we took a dip.

For Dad, Carol's village was a haven of peace.  Yes, the physical exertion of trudging up and down the hills, over the rough road and powdery dust (this is dry season), sometimes under the blazing sun - all of that gives us time to decompress and de-stress.  That was the best.  The roosters crowing at any hour (day or night), whenever they felt like it - that left some kind of ringing in my head.  Days later, any time there was background noise, I could hear rooster sounds in them - definitely something manufactured in my brain.  Fortunately the condition has cleared, but I miss the sound that is quite pleasant (harsh and sweet at the same time).

I was most impressed with the peacefulness, simplicity and honesty in the people of Tanzania.  The guides and staff, taxi drivers and people selling some good or service and so on don't hassle you as much as you might expect.  Tips are accepted gracefully (this was true in Tanzania and Turkey).  People and places (like bathrooms) were cleaner than I expected.  I am so glad we got to make this trip and that everything went smoothly with our travels, health and well-being.

Mizunguko

A panorama shot of the Ngorongoro Crater

Tanzania is a land of the truest colors you can imagine: an eternity of green rolling hills stretching across the nation, azure waters punctured only by bright coral in the hidden bays of Mafia, and the unmistakable blended sherbet sunset of Zanzibar.  Even the brownish, rustling grasses of the Serengeti have a characteristic color you can’t quite place, except maybe from the documentary about lions you watched in the 6^th grade.  Over the last month, I have experienced more colors, sights, and sounds than in the last year or so!  And, the most incredible part was experiencing it all with my family, who came for a visit this holiday season.  Here’s some pictures and highlights from the trip.

Some of my friends on the trip - We on a Boat!

Buying fish directly from the fisherman in the ocean -
talk about fresh caught!

The “pre-game” to the holiday season was an island getaway with some of my Peace Corps friends to Mafia Island, a gem a ways south of the coast of Dar es Salaam. 

With some Peace Corps vacations, you get the best of both worlds – cheap hostels and food, aided by an ever-growing Swahili vocabulary – together with endless hours in warm, positively bejeweled waters of sapphire and azure.  We spent a day swimming in a bay with the most incredible coral reefs, picked up fish from a fisherman in a little wooden boat in the ocean, and roasted it over a coconut-shell fire on the beach.   

Roasting our fish over a coconut-shell fire on the beach

We spent a day seeing what all the hullaboo was about swimming with the word’s largest fish – the whale shark – was.  (It turned out to be chasing these gentle giants around the open ocean, and jumping out of the boat and splashing alongside them, breath taken with their sheer size and taken aback by the intrusiveness of it all.  Not an experience that we would care to repeat on this Earth).   

Swimming with the world's largest fish!

These were "small ones" - about the size of a minivan!

We couldn’t wash the sticky residue of our steady diet of jackfruits and pineapples from our hands, any more than we could wash the easygoing, blasé islanders from our minds.  Every day, I stuffed my face with rice, beans, veggies, and to-die-for fish all for 50 cents, cooked for me by a mama who almost has you convinced to marry the son she saved for me and stay on the island forever.

Quite the receiving party for 2 am!

Luckily, I did decide to catch the pint-sized airplane out of the island, and brave a day of quite nearly getting stranded in Dar es Salaam’s nightmare of a bus stand to meet my family for Christmas!  They arrived in the heat of a Christmas Eve night, received by not one, but two pastors, and the love of all my villagers sent along too.    Experiencing my village with them was much like experiencing Tanzania for the first time, but this time through their eyes.  They took photos of the chickens and goats being auctioned off alongside bananas and papayas at the auction after mass.  Things that have become so routine for me – picking up a Sunday treat of sugarcane for kiddos or stopping to greet each and every single villager – became a novelty for them.


And when I say novelty, I mean adding excruciating minutes broiling under the equatorial sun. 

After mass on Christmas.  Note the matching outfits -
a Christmas tradition in Tanzania!

We had a wonderful Christmas luncheon at our Pastor’s house, and a opened presents after napping off the feast.  “Kristmasi ya Pili” (Second Christmas) was a little party at my house with my close friends.  My family all walked the sunny 6 kilometers to my local market, and got to hold my bags as I greeted my favorite mamas and selected my fruits and veggies, all odd shapes and sizes but each one perfect in its own way.  I packed them into our village car for the return trip, and in the wait usually takes the greater part of an hour, they started to realize how half the day goes with only tomatoes to show for it.  

My father with his prized rooster - a gift from my friend!

 My dad, who had just been waiting for the day to kill a chicken, was surprisingly zealous through the slaughter.  The cooking went surprisingly smoothly, with my gas burner helping the charcoal stove considerably.  Altogether, it was a unique Christmas filled with the love of family and friends, and not one to be topped anytime soon.

Sharing our culture was so much fun - especially Christmas "kuswar," snacks and sweets that we make
 especially for Christmas.  Pictured with the fruit tray is a momma and her daughter who had a
baby on New Year's Day!  My mom and I got to visit her in the hospital the next day :)

We left early the next morning to go on our much-awaited Safari trip.  My mom, literally, said we were “going big or going home,” so we got to see all the major Northern parks – Tarangire, Ngorongoro, Serengeti, and Lake Manyara.  Our safari company was owned by my best teacher-friend’s cousin, and our safari driver happened to grow up in my village, so we knew we were with the best of the best.  Our driver shared the most amazing stories of the wildebeests, elephants, and even lions that used to be in the village when he grew up.  Plus, it’s always fun playing tourist, but understanding the jokes the drivers make to each other without knowing that a passenger speaks Swahili.

Pictures can do better justice than words can, but we found ourselves speechless each and every day of the safari.   

Elephants in Tarangire National Park

 
Tarangire is filled with herds of elephants, so close that we could see every wrinkle of their leathery skin and almost hear their thoughts that could be nothing but wise.

My family and I on the lip of the Ngorongoro Crater

 

The much-awaited East African Black Rhino on the left
- "kwa mbali" (from far away)

Ngorongoro was identical to the picture of the watering hole that we all know from the lion king – we saw all sorts of animals living in harmony, as well as the rare East African Black Rhino!

I turned 24 while in the Serengeti, spending the night in a “luxury tent” – despite the hotel’s best efforts to make it posh, hearing lions outside the tent at night was a bone-chilling reminder that a think plastic sheet was our only protection.  Boy, were we happy to get back in the comfort of a lodge after those two nights!  As per my birthday wish, we got to see majestic male lions with their auburn manes – and bounced over the grassy plains for much of the day much like a high-speed car chase to find them.

 

We were within a meter of six male lions, lackadaisical and full-bellied after making a kill the previous day.  I could have stayed for a week watching them, but we had plenty left to see in the Serengeti.

A brother and sister lion on the lookout for more warthogs. 
This was after we saw them chasing a warthog who managed to escape

We saw two emaciated lions trying and failing for a warthog kill and thousands upon thousands of wildebeests migrating in the eternal search for new grasses.  All of their parks had their own charm, and the week spent on safari was one of my favorites.

My father and sister at Kighunduma, the waterfall in my village

My family with the people who have become a part of my family in Tanzania!
The bottom photo is in  my home with my famous "Happy Feet" mural!

We spent a few more days in my village, trying our best to make a headway with the copious list of villagers who had vowed me to promise to bring my parents to meals at their homes.  While constantly waiting for me to play translator got tiresome and times, they got to experience the love and generosity of people who have taken excellent care of me, and share everything they have on a daily basis.

On New Year's Day, we were surprised with a special blessing - a baby boy!  No, don't worry, not ours, but part of my wonderful Tanzanian family - the baby of a close friend at school and in the village.  Having my family share in this birth celebration made it all the better.  My mother and I visited the baby in the hospital, and love outpoured from the entire family.  My mom, as a doctor, saw quite a handful of things that surprised her in the hospital - ask her to share a story next time you see her!

Laundry day - for all of us! Talk about #secondgoal

One especially interesting cultural exchange from our time in the village was washing clothes.  Now, laundry may not normally be the most noteworthy story, but hear me out here.  In Tanzania, men do NOT wash clothes.  As students and unmarried men, they unashamedly scrub their clothes outside.  But, as soon as that ring appears on the left third finger, they magically forget that their dirty clothes exist, and that a person is sitting and scrubbing her knuckles down to bare bone to return them to their clean state.  However, when my family went out to wash clothes, the four of us went together – creating a somewhat harmonious lather and rinse system that turned out to be quick and painless.  All the people in pastor’s house poked their heads out with dropped jaws to see my father scrubbing clothes with the rest of us (you go, poppa!).  To my surprise, the next day we washed clothes, I looked up from the mosquito net I was washing to see our pastor scrubbing clothes in earnest!  It was the second time I had seen him doing laundry – the first was the day his wife’s father passed away, when I saw them quietly sharing their grief.  So, whether or not this happens again, this was a day of great cultural sharing, and not one that will be forgotten soon.

Arguably one of the most beautiful
prisons in the word

On the unbelievably blue waters near
Prison Island