Over the past few weeks I've made a slight but important shift in my ministry work. Where I once was really only working with one of our Lulu groups, the one in Mabatini that I helped to open up, I'm now taking on a bit more responsibility with some of the other groups around town. Our Mabatini group is doing really well; the facilitators are planning well and handling the group; the girls are gaining more and more skills each day; and soon they'll be learning some hand crafts so they can make a little more money for themselves and their families.
The girls have gotten really good at doing skits/role plays. Here they're talking about saving money by shopping around for the best price of vegetables.
Natalie, an adult facilitator, teaches about managing money and creating a budget based on income and expenditures.
Now is a good time for me to take a step back (while still supporting them, of course) and help Corine, the SMA missioner who created the program and is the person responsible for Lulu in her goal to open up 2 more Lulu groups in 2 different areas of the city. Last week we went out for some visits to those locations.
In an area called Nyakato, we had a meeting for interested girls and their parents. We have a lot of great support in this area from the local leaders, one
of whom offered up their house for us to have this meeting.
Corine talking about Lulu and how the girls can join
On Wednesday of this week I will go out for our first meeting in Nyakato exclusively for the girls (without parents). It's always a good feeling to start a fresh new group. At this point, there's nothing going wrong, they're all clean slates toward the program and we can start at square one. Soon things take on a life of their own and become more complicated, so it's always a nice, fresh feeling at the start! Despite the challenges that may come, though, I'm very excited to see what happens here!
After we get Nyakato group off the ground, we plan to work with a local computer school to start another group, in an area called Mecco (not too far from Nyakato). The computer school has a special program for young girls who are pregnant or parenting, to teach them computer skills and try to help them get a job. We're going to open a Lulu group here to help give the girls even more skills.
Me and Corine meeting with Rose, one of the office staff at EBLI (Education for Better Living).
Monday, March 24, 2014
Monday, March 17, 2014
Answers to Life's Most Pressing Questions
When we were in the US, we were fielding a lot of great
questions from family and friends. After a while we started noticing some of
the same questions popping up over and over, so I thought I’d devote a blog or
two to answering some of the more popular questions. If you’ve got a question
about our life here in TZ, about the local’s way of life, about our work, our
observations, etc., feel free to write it in the comments section and I’ll try
to get to it in a future post.
When we visit Tanzanians in their homes, they either serve rice with meat/fish, vegetables, and/or beans or the same accompaniments with ugali.
Ugali, a staple in many parts of Africa, is basically boiled flour that forms a more paste-like polenta. This type of food is almost exclusively what Tanzanians eat in this area of the country. I really like some local foods, while others are just so-so to me. The beans are awesome. Smashed greens with peanut sauce? Yum, my mouth is watering just typing about it. Their hot sauce is probably one of my favorite things too. I actually don’t even mind the ugali, though I wouldn’t want to eat it every day like they do.
What’s your house like? (Do you have power, running water, electricity?)
Here's a quick tour of what our (messy) house looks like today:
Here is the road as you approach our house behind the gate on the right.
Our cute little yard and house. The vehicle belongs to MKLM and we are fortunate to get to use it right now.
Our washer and dryer in the side yard. Haha.
As you walk into our house, our bedroom is on the right.
A few steps from our bedroom is our dining room, living room and kitchen, which are all one big room.
Everything's a bit messy right now but it's an accurate representation of the normal basis.
Our master bathroom is across the hall from the living/dining room/kitchen. There is a sit-down toilet in our bathroom off the bedroom. This bathroom is where we take showers. Cold water goes through the heater on the shower head and it has an electrical unit to heat it up. We call that "the widow-maker."
In the back of the house on the right is our office and across the hall is a guest bedroom. I didn't take a picture of that today.
The weather maintains a fairly constant temperature all year round in Mwanza. We’re on the lake, so we get some cooling effect due to that. The temperature usually remains in the 80’s (Fahrenheit) and only varies about 7 degrees, depending on whether it’s the wet or dry season. We have 2 rainy seasons, the long rainy and short rainy season. The weather tends to get more hot right before the rains come and then it cools off a bit when it starts to rain.
What is the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow?
What kinds of food do
you eat?
In our home we eat Western food similar to what we ate in
America. Since coming here, Chris and I are no longer vegetarians so we eat
meat, but I don’t cook it a lot. We can get a lot of fresh fruit and
vegetables, pastas, rice, and dried beans.
Here are some of the veggies I bought today. It's very rare for me to get zucchini or lettuce so today is a good day! Can you tell there are lemons and oranges in there? They are both green!
Most of the food is locally grown, with the small exception of things coming in from Nairobi or South Africa. So that means there’s limited diversity and if it’s not made/grown in Tanzania, it’s going to be much more expensive. For example, cheese. You can buy cheese here, but there are only a few kinds and they are usually a mild cheddar-type variety and it’s very expensive. We splurge on buying cheese and tend to eat a fair amount of it but we use that same cheese for everything--on pizza, in “Mexican” dishes, in risotto, on grilled cheese sandwiches. You get my point.
Here are some of the veggies I bought today. It's very rare for me to get zucchini or lettuce so today is a good day! Can you tell there are lemons and oranges in there? They are both green!
Most of the food is locally grown, with the small exception of things coming in from Nairobi or South Africa. So that means there’s limited diversity and if it’s not made/grown in Tanzania, it’s going to be much more expensive. For example, cheese. You can buy cheese here, but there are only a few kinds and they are usually a mild cheddar-type variety and it’s very expensive. We splurge on buying cheese and tend to eat a fair amount of it but we use that same cheese for everything--on pizza, in “Mexican” dishes, in risotto, on grilled cheese sandwiches. You get my point.
 |
| Nom nom nom. I sure would love some of this liquid goodness. |
When we visit Tanzanians in their homes, they either serve rice with meat/fish, vegetables, and/or beans or the same accompaniments with ugali.
 |
| Meals usually look a little like this. |
Ugali, a staple in many parts of Africa, is basically boiled flour that forms a more paste-like polenta. This type of food is almost exclusively what Tanzanians eat in this area of the country. I really like some local foods, while others are just so-so to me. The beans are awesome. Smashed greens with peanut sauce? Yum, my mouth is watering just typing about it. Their hot sauce is probably one of my favorite things too. I actually don’t even mind the ugali, though I wouldn’t want to eat it every day like they do.
What’s your house like? (Do you have power, running water, electricity?)
We live in a very adequate, safe house with finished
concrete walls, a metal roof, running water and electricity. It’s 3-bedroom (we
use 1 as an office) with 2 bathrooms. While certainly not luxurious in American
standards, considering that most Americans assume we live in a mud-block and
thatched roof house, it’s quite nice. And, compared to the vast majority of
Tanzanians, who do live in mud-block, thatched-roof houses, or with 10 people in
one room, we’re living the highlife.
Here's a quick tour of what our (messy) house looks like today:
Here is the road as you approach our house behind the gate on the right.
Our cute little yard and house. The vehicle belongs to MKLM and we are fortunate to get to use it right now.
Our washer and dryer in the side yard. Haha.
As you walk into our house, our bedroom is on the right.
A few steps from our bedroom is our dining room, living room and kitchen, which are all one big room.
Everything's a bit messy right now but it's an accurate representation of the normal basis.
Our master bathroom is across the hall from the living/dining room/kitchen. There is a sit-down toilet in our bathroom off the bedroom. This bathroom is where we take showers. Cold water goes through the heater on the shower head and it has an electrical unit to heat it up. We call that "the widow-maker."
In the back of the house on the right is our office and across the hall is a guest bedroom. I didn't take a picture of that today.
What do you “do”?
As Americans we tend to define ourselves in terms of what we
do, whereas Tanzanians want to know who a person’s family is and where they
come from. They usually “do” whatever they can to get by. I find that now that
we’ve lived here for 2 years, it’s easier for me to think in these terms,
partly because it’s hard to describe what I “do” and how I describe what I do
might depend on who I’m talking to.
When I say I’m a missionary or with a Catholic Lay Mission
organization Tanzanians tend to know that this means that I’ve been inspired by
my faith to move to another country to work in some sort of aid capacity. For
those from a more Western perspective who want to know more or who might have a
different impression when they hear the word “missionary,” I’m working on a girls’ projects called Lulu that helps young women roughly between
the ages of 15-20 years old who are out of school, have children or live in
at-risk environments. The girls meet two-times or more a week to learn about
life skills, communication/cooperation, handcrafts and small business skills. I
am working with another Lay Missioner (an SMA Lay Missioner from the
Netherlands), who wrote the program and piloted it in several locations. Istarted my first group in my own neighborhood of Mabatini, an incredibly
overpopulated and poor urban neighborhood in Mwanza city. We are now in the
process of opening 2 more groups, which we expect to have off the ground in the
next month to two months. I tend to take more of a behind-the-scenes roll in my
work. We use Tanzanian facilitators, usually girls themselves, and I support
them to make sure they’re successful.
What do you do in
your spare time? (Hobbies/ways to get away)
To be honest, there’s not much to do here in Mwanza. No
movie theaters, few museums and not many places to “get away” from the hustle
and bustle of city life. I like to go out to eat at the numerous restaurants or
“hotelis” in town. Sometimes we drive to the top of a large rock outcropping
overlooking Lake Victoria and have a picnic dinner. I like to swim at a pool at
the international school and sometimes I go along with some of our neighborhood
kids. I like to run/jog in the early mornings. I like to find creative ways to
cook with the limited ingredients we have here (see the question above about
food). Chris and I have had a great time traveling to other countries around
the region, but that is expensive and takes time so we can’t do that more than
1x/year if we’re lucky. Mostly if the power is on and the work is done, I watch
movies or TV shows at night on the computer. We rely pretty solely on things
that people send on external drives, so if you’re ever thinking of something to
mail us, that’s a pretty good bet!
Picnic dinner with fellow MKLMers on the rock outcroppings.
Picnic dinner with fellow MKLMers on the rock outcroppings.
What’s the weather
like? (AKA It’s hot there, right?)
 |
| A snapshot of this month's weather from weather.com. Not much variety. |
The weather maintains a fairly constant temperature all year round in Mwanza. We’re on the lake, so we get some cooling effect due to that. The temperature usually remains in the 80’s (Fahrenheit) and only varies about 7 degrees, depending on whether it’s the wet or dry season. We have 2 rainy seasons, the long rainy and short rainy season. The weather tends to get more hot right before the rains come and then it cools off a bit when it starts to rain.
What is the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow?
Clearly it’d be an African so you can easily do the math
there. You have to know these things when you're a king you know.
Saturday, March 08, 2014
International Women's Day 2014
As I mentioned yesterday, today, March 8, is International Women's Day, a global awareness campaign to celebrate successes in the journey toward equality and rights for women and children and to bring to light challenges as we make plans to move forward.
In honor of this day, I wanted to bring attention to just one of the many struggles around the world. This one illustrates real burdens and dangers women face and it also points out the need for more work to protect and promote all people's rights.
This morning I read this article from Inter Press Service News Agency about women who are being assaulted, harassed, raped and murdered on Indian transportation systems. "Nearly 25,000 rapes took place in India in 2012, according to the National Crime Records Bureau. About half of these sexual assaults took place in buses, taxis and three-wheeler autorickshaws." As a response, an Indian Judicial Committee was assigned to make recommendations about what to do to curb the violence. Over 13 months later, in January of this year the Indian government put an initial fund of 15 million dollars to install GPS trackers, closed circuit TV cameras and emergency phone call facilities in public transport vehicles in 32 cities.
First of all, I want to be honest and upfront that I really don't know much about India other than what I've read in the news and a few books about the inequalities of women in that country. India has been in the media a lot of the past few years because of the numerous and very brutal sexual assaults against women there. This violence has definitely has gotten a lot of global attention, which I'm glad about (the media attention, not the assaults obviously). What I do know about, though, is prevention of sexual violence and because of this I have a lot of thoughts on this IPS article.
Although the proposed plan to install trackers, cameras, etc. on public transport is a okay idea in terms of catching criminals now, it's a far cry from a holistic approach toward eradication of violence and it's has a lot of loopholes. I suspect that India has some similarities to Tanzania in terms of disjointed political and justice systems, spotty infrastructure and a system of bribery that goes from the bottom all the way to the top of the criminal justice system. Those cameras and GPS devises could easily be tampered with and when they break, I am sure they will not be fixed in a timely fashion. Also, what's the response time if a woman is on a rural dirt road in a crowded bus is assaulted and hits the emergency call button? I'm sure the assault or maybe even murder will be already finished with and the perpetrator(s) already long gone by the time the police arrive, if they arrive at all.
Secondly, this approach won't stop violence from happening. It will only change the location where the violence occurs. It is just a band-aid approach and won't curb the larger problem of inequality of women and the sense of entitlement that the abusers feel that causes these behaviors to continue. As A.L. Sharada, program director at Population First says in the article, "'Road safety is not about making a few vehicles smart,' Sharada tells IPS. 'It’s about making roads safe for women to go out at any time of day or night with confidence. To do that we need better governance, better policing and also a good community-based support system for women. Without these, you can’t change the scenario.'”
So these are certainly challenges that need to be highlighted, discussed and overcome but at the same time, I'm really glad that at least some of the stories are being highlighted in the media, that discussions are happening and that governments are at least recognizing (albeit it's often just lip-service) human injustice as an issue. Let's keep these discussions going after March 8 and every day of the year.
In honor of this day, I wanted to bring attention to just one of the many struggles around the world. This one illustrates real burdens and dangers women face and it also points out the need for more work to protect and promote all people's rights.
This morning I read this article from Inter Press Service News Agency about women who are being assaulted, harassed, raped and murdered on Indian transportation systems. "Nearly 25,000 rapes took place in India in 2012, according to the National Crime Records Bureau. About half of these sexual assaults took place in buses, taxis and three-wheeler autorickshaws." As a response, an Indian Judicial Committee was assigned to make recommendations about what to do to curb the violence. Over 13 months later, in January of this year the Indian government put an initial fund of 15 million dollars to install GPS trackers, closed circuit TV cameras and emergency phone call facilities in public transport vehicles in 32 cities.
First of all, I want to be honest and upfront that I really don't know much about India other than what I've read in the news and a few books about the inequalities of women in that country. India has been in the media a lot of the past few years because of the numerous and very brutal sexual assaults against women there. This violence has definitely has gotten a lot of global attention, which I'm glad about (the media attention, not the assaults obviously). What I do know about, though, is prevention of sexual violence and because of this I have a lot of thoughts on this IPS article.
Although the proposed plan to install trackers, cameras, etc. on public transport is a okay idea in terms of catching criminals now, it's a far cry from a holistic approach toward eradication of violence and it's has a lot of loopholes. I suspect that India has some similarities to Tanzania in terms of disjointed political and justice systems, spotty infrastructure and a system of bribery that goes from the bottom all the way to the top of the criminal justice system. Those cameras and GPS devises could easily be tampered with and when they break, I am sure they will not be fixed in a timely fashion. Also, what's the response time if a woman is on a rural dirt road in a crowded bus is assaulted and hits the emergency call button? I'm sure the assault or maybe even murder will be already finished with and the perpetrator(s) already long gone by the time the police arrive, if they arrive at all.
Secondly, this approach won't stop violence from happening. It will only change the location where the violence occurs. It is just a band-aid approach and won't curb the larger problem of inequality of women and the sense of entitlement that the abusers feel that causes these behaviors to continue. As A.L. Sharada, program director at Population First says in the article, "'Road safety is not about making a few vehicles smart,' Sharada tells IPS. 'It’s about making roads safe for women to go out at any time of day or night with confidence. To do that we need better governance, better policing and also a good community-based support system for women. Without these, you can’t change the scenario.'”
So these are certainly challenges that need to be highlighted, discussed and overcome but at the same time, I'm really glad that at least some of the stories are being highlighted in the media, that discussions are happening and that governments are at least recognizing (albeit it's often just lip-service) human injustice as an issue. Let's keep these discussions going after March 8 and every day of the year.
Friday, March 07, 2014
Why Do We Need an International Women's Day?
Tomorrow, March 8, marks International Women's Day, a yearly campaign started in 1911. This day gives voice to the social, political and economic advancements that women have made over the years and is an opportunity to challenge people all over the world to advocate and work toward the rights and dignity of women. Remember last year when I kinda, sorta, almost met the First Lady of Tanzania?
This morning I ran across this piece over at The Guardian, where several gender-equality campaigners (dare I say, feminists*) voice their opinion about why we need such a once-a-year campaign. I thought I'd take this opportunity to voice my own opinion on the matter.
Being the skeptic that I am, in my own mind I often find myself beginning to question the logic and the usefulness of one-day campaigns like International Women's Day. Don't get me wrong, this "skepticism," as I'll call it, definitely does not derive from me questioning the fact that women still haven't achieved equal status or whether there needs to be campaigns championing the cause of human rights. I have been working in the human rights field for almost 15 years and have countless examples of why humans are not yet equal in our world. No, instead I sometimes question whether a one-day campaign makes any difference when I know that in order for us to have a more just, equitable world for all the issue of human rights has to be an everyday thing. These issues have to be at the forefront of our daily lives until the issue isn't an issue anymore because it's just become a new normal way of life.
If you look at any calendar, each year is littered with awareness days and special months-Martin Luther Kind Day, Veteran's Day, Earth Day, Women's History Month-even religious holidays and Holy Days-Lent, Hanukkah, Eid al Adha-which serve as a reminder of something and/or remembrance of special events or people of the past. We humans like to band together for community, for unifying purposes, for remembrances and celebrations. We seem to inherently recognize the importance of these days and they do, indeed, make a difference in our lives. Same is true, then, for International Women's Day. It's a day when people who believe in global equality for women and girls can stand together, remember how far we have come, challenge our present barriers, and plan a map toward further future change. And, so in this way, I can see the need to have a day such as International Women's Day.
International Women's Day coincides each year with the UN's Commission on the Status of Women. This commission examines those everyday things I mentioned above as being important that are being done to help bring about a more just world. You can look here to see what improvements have been made toward meeting Millennium Development Goals. Even though we are way behind in achieving the MDGs and I know a lot of countries are just giving lip service to them, I also know from my experience here in TZ that improvements have been made and that it wouldn't have been done without the UN or various commissions such as the one that convenes this month. International Women's Day is a great opportunity for voices around the world to unite and influence discussions during the UN's Commission. It can be sort of like a litmus test for what is happening around the world, both in terms of progress as well as needs going forward.
I noticed on CNN that they will be having a live Tweetchat today on how to bring about gender equality and build a better future for all women. It's in like an hour from when I'm typing this, so I guess I should hit publish soon. If it weren't so late here in TZ I'd really like to join in to hear (read) what people are saying. I think it's kinda cool that there are forums like these to discuss this issue. If International Women's Day is the instigator for such discussions, okay then. Let's just continue it all throughout the year.
*I hate that the word feminism has become such a taboo word, like with its mere mention, people conjure up an image of a man-hating radical who wants to live in a society where women dominate. Rather, a feminist is someone who advocates for the social, political, economic and legal rights of women so that men and women can BOTH be respected for their differences, while at the same time being treated as equals. The mere fact that people shy away from using this term (how many times have you heard someone say something along the lines of, "I mean...I'm not a feminist, but I believe women and men should be treated equally"?) shows how far we have to go in this campaign to change social views of women. As Pope Francis says in his book, The Joy of the Gospel: "Diversity must always be reconciled by the help of the Holy Spirit; he alone can raise up diversity, plurality and multiplicity while at the same time bringing about unity."
This morning I ran across this piece over at The Guardian, where several gender-equality campaigners (dare I say, feminists*) voice their opinion about why we need such a once-a-year campaign. I thought I'd take this opportunity to voice my own opinion on the matter.
Being the skeptic that I am, in my own mind I often find myself beginning to question the logic and the usefulness of one-day campaigns like International Women's Day. Don't get me wrong, this "skepticism," as I'll call it, definitely does not derive from me questioning the fact that women still haven't achieved equal status or whether there needs to be campaigns championing the cause of human rights. I have been working in the human rights field for almost 15 years and have countless examples of why humans are not yet equal in our world. No, instead I sometimes question whether a one-day campaign makes any difference when I know that in order for us to have a more just, equitable world for all the issue of human rights has to be an everyday thing. These issues have to be at the forefront of our daily lives until the issue isn't an issue anymore because it's just become a new normal way of life.
If you look at any calendar, each year is littered with awareness days and special months-Martin Luther Kind Day, Veteran's Day, Earth Day, Women's History Month-even religious holidays and Holy Days-Lent, Hanukkah, Eid al Adha-which serve as a reminder of something and/or remembrance of special events or people of the past. We humans like to band together for community, for unifying purposes, for remembrances and celebrations. We seem to inherently recognize the importance of these days and they do, indeed, make a difference in our lives. Same is true, then, for International Women's Day. It's a day when people who believe in global equality for women and girls can stand together, remember how far we have come, challenge our present barriers, and plan a map toward further future change. And, so in this way, I can see the need to have a day such as International Women's Day.
International Women's Day coincides each year with the UN's Commission on the Status of Women. This commission examines those everyday things I mentioned above as being important that are being done to help bring about a more just world. You can look here to see what improvements have been made toward meeting Millennium Development Goals. Even though we are way behind in achieving the MDGs and I know a lot of countries are just giving lip service to them, I also know from my experience here in TZ that improvements have been made and that it wouldn't have been done without the UN or various commissions such as the one that convenes this month. International Women's Day is a great opportunity for voices around the world to unite and influence discussions during the UN's Commission. It can be sort of like a litmus test for what is happening around the world, both in terms of progress as well as needs going forward.
I noticed on CNN that they will be having a live Tweetchat today on how to bring about gender equality and build a better future for all women. It's in like an hour from when I'm typing this, so I guess I should hit publish soon. If it weren't so late here in TZ I'd really like to join in to hear (read) what people are saying. I think it's kinda cool that there are forums like these to discuss this issue. If International Women's Day is the instigator for such discussions, okay then. Let's just continue it all throughout the year.
*I hate that the word feminism has become such a taboo word, like with its mere mention, people conjure up an image of a man-hating radical who wants to live in a society where women dominate. Rather, a feminist is someone who advocates for the social, political, economic and legal rights of women so that men and women can BOTH be respected for their differences, while at the same time being treated as equals. The mere fact that people shy away from using this term (how many times have you heard someone say something along the lines of, "I mean...I'm not a feminist, but I believe women and men should be treated equally"?) shows how far we have to go in this campaign to change social views of women. As Pope Francis says in his book, The Joy of the Gospel: "Diversity must always be reconciled by the help of the Holy Spirit; he alone can raise up diversity, plurality and multiplicity while at the same time bringing about unity."
Saturday, March 01, 2014
The Best Reward After Living in Tanzania After Two Years Part 2
As we knew it would, time flew by on our vacation in the US and now we're back home in Tanzania again and everything from a week ago onward seems like a dream. But a dream it was not and here are some pictures and a few stories from the second half of our trip to prove it. (Details from the first half of our trip are here.)
Mississippi
Welcome home, son of the south.
The best part of being MS, of course, was catching up with family. We had a lot of good quality time with Chris's mom, who we'd not seen in over two years, and his sister and brother-in-law made the long trek down from Chicago, which was so amazing even if they were only there for a few short days. We managed to have a bunch of family gatherings and even celebrate Tricia's 60th birthday.
The family with a huge horse and some random dude.
Feeling nifty at sixty. (I know, that doesn't really rhyme.)
The Reid clan gave the casino the what-for. (Not really. I think Chris and I lost about $10 and called it a night. And I saw Clint nursing $20 on the roulette table while some fellow player blew $100 in one bet. HELLO, big spenders!)
We had the pleasure of doing several "church talks" during our visit to the states. This was a great opportunity to speak with people during and after Church Masses to tell them about life in other countries, to inform them about the work of MKLM and ask them to join in our journey through prayer, donations, receiving our newsletter, or visiting us in the field. If you've not already, think about joining us in our work in any of these ways.
Chris after a church talk. We really enjoyed meeting people and sharing our stories. Side note-that sweater has been in the family for at least 20 years, no lie!
Speaking of sharing our stories, did we tell you we made the front page of the Vicksburg Post? Must've been a slow news day.
Whatwhat!?
South Carolina
I think if we made one mistake on this trip, it was not scheduling enough time in South Carolina, our adopted home state. I kind of knew this going into it, but it was kind of unavoidable. I mean, we have no blood family in SC and we had limited time to spend in each place. So unfortunately, our friends and adopted family in SC kinda got the short shrift this go-round. Sorry guys! Maybe next time we'll just stay in SC and make everyone come to us.
We had a bunch of gatherings with friend friends, coworker friends, church friends, feline friends, baby friends, etc. etc., until we were run out of town by the snow. Seriously folks, it followed us everywhere and prevented us from adding an extra day to our visit there. But! each gathering was wonderful and made me feel so special and loved. We are so lucky to have these people in our lives and I am constantly humbled (and sometimes a bit baffled) by the extent of their support and friendship.
Sean and Cheryl trying to entertain some of the horde of kids during the Sunday lunch.
Chris and I are so grateful to the Myers for hosting and for those who came from near and far to hang out.
Bonfire, s'mores and wine-just like old times.
STSM crew still doing amazing work in the Midlands!
Let's not forget our former babies!
We like to think they remembered us, although I think they'd cuddle with just about anyone.
Virginia
We escaped the snow by going north into the mountains, which doesn't quite make sense, but it worked. Along the way to Virginia for an overnight with my uncle and aunt we did what Chris and I pretty much never do, we took a spur-of-the-moment stopover for sight-seeing! Maybe Africa has taught us to be spontaneous. We've taken a million and one road trips in our time, and we always say, "oh, sometime we should stop there to see blah blah blah." But we never do. Except this time. We took the chance to explore the majestic Dixie Caverns in Salem VA. It was actually pretty neat and our tour guide was hilarious, one-in-a-million. I wish we had a picture of him, but instead...
We have the majestic turkey wing.
The visit with Aunt Cathie and Uncle Timmy was awesome. They were so great to invite their neighbors over to hear our stories and peruse the African handicrafts we were selling.
Small gathering of Waldies.
Philadelphia*
We were so fortunate to be able to spend 4 whole days hanging out at my brother's family's house. In the past 2 years, they have added a new member to the family and the other two are getting so grown. Like truly, they're almost grown adults by now. Chris and I really treasured this time together catching up, eating lots of good food and rocking out on the Wii. What made it even cooler is that my dad and step-mom flew in from California for a few days to hang out as well (Imagine, giving up that warmer weather for the polar vortex on the East Coast! Oh wait, we did that too.) and we had a big larger family gathering on one of those days.
It was fun to see that Maddie was still into doing things like this-tattooing Unkie's head.
When did this one get so big!
This one heads to college next year. She's as cool as ever but also I'm happy to see she hasn't yet outgrown her aunt and Unkie.
This new one, well, what can I say. She's sweet and smart and funny. Love her.
What's the name of this game, which they play on Ellen? Whatever it is, yeah, everyone in the family was playing that. It was funny except that I was sick and trying to sleep on the floor but everyone was yelling and laughing so loudly that they woke me up. How rude of them to have so much fun.
The mothers celebrate their birthdays.
Playing the Wii was so much fun that they even got me and my brother to play when we usually sit those things out.**
Our final visit was to Sister Thomasmari, my former campus minister from NYU. She is the first one to mention MKLM to me, so I blame her for all this. It was super great that my friends from NYU, Anthony and Paul, could also come down to join us.
New Jersey
We spent our in-between times in New Jersey with my mom and step-dad, which was great as always. That's the place in the states that's most like home for us right now and it's a great place to relax, enjoy good food/bevs and be taken care of. Plus, they lent us their car, paid for a lot of our gas and let us steal things from their house. I mean, what more could we ask for?
Mom all dolled up for something or other, probably the opening of the artist co-op's new location.
Bo likes to pretend he doesn't care, but we know otherwise.
Again and again, we can't say how much we enjoyed our trip and what it means to us to have so many amazing people in our lives. I equate it to a video game, where you have to do something or other to gain more power and continue the game. That's how our visit home was for us- with each group of friends we saw, each amazing meal, each laugh and hug, we were gaining more and more "power" to take back with us to TZ to continue the work that we're doing here. Asanteni sana wote. Thank you all.
*To be accurate, it was outside of Philly, but you get the idea.
**Bonus video of the Wii awesomeness:
Mississippi
Welcome home, son of the south.
The best part of being MS, of course, was catching up with family. We had a lot of good quality time with Chris's mom, who we'd not seen in over two years, and his sister and brother-in-law made the long trek down from Chicago, which was so amazing even if they were only there for a few short days. We managed to have a bunch of family gatherings and even celebrate Tricia's 60th birthday.
The family with a huge horse and some random dude.
Feeling nifty at sixty. (I know, that doesn't really rhyme.)
The Reid clan gave the casino the what-for. (Not really. I think Chris and I lost about $10 and called it a night. And I saw Clint nursing $20 on the roulette table while some fellow player blew $100 in one bet. HELLO, big spenders!)
We had the pleasure of doing several "church talks" during our visit to the states. This was a great opportunity to speak with people during and after Church Masses to tell them about life in other countries, to inform them about the work of MKLM and ask them to join in our journey through prayer, donations, receiving our newsletter, or visiting us in the field. If you've not already, think about joining us in our work in any of these ways.
Chris after a church talk. We really enjoyed meeting people and sharing our stories. Side note-that sweater has been in the family for at least 20 years, no lie!
Speaking of sharing our stories, did we tell you we made the front page of the Vicksburg Post? Must've been a slow news day.
Whatwhat!?
South Carolina
I think if we made one mistake on this trip, it was not scheduling enough time in South Carolina, our adopted home state. I kind of knew this going into it, but it was kind of unavoidable. I mean, we have no blood family in SC and we had limited time to spend in each place. So unfortunately, our friends and adopted family in SC kinda got the short shrift this go-round. Sorry guys! Maybe next time we'll just stay in SC and make everyone come to us.
We had a bunch of gatherings with friend friends, coworker friends, church friends, feline friends, baby friends, etc. etc., until we were run out of town by the snow. Seriously folks, it followed us everywhere and prevented us from adding an extra day to our visit there. But! each gathering was wonderful and made me feel so special and loved. We are so lucky to have these people in our lives and I am constantly humbled (and sometimes a bit baffled) by the extent of their support and friendship.
Sean and Cheryl trying to entertain some of the horde of kids during the Sunday lunch.
Chris and I are so grateful to the Myers for hosting and for those who came from near and far to hang out.
Bonfire, s'mores and wine-just like old times.
STSM crew still doing amazing work in the Midlands!
Let's not forget our former babies!
We like to think they remembered us, although I think they'd cuddle with just about anyone.
Virginia
We escaped the snow by going north into the mountains, which doesn't quite make sense, but it worked. Along the way to Virginia for an overnight with my uncle and aunt we did what Chris and I pretty much never do, we took a spur-of-the-moment stopover for sight-seeing! Maybe Africa has taught us to be spontaneous. We've taken a million and one road trips in our time, and we always say, "oh, sometime we should stop there to see blah blah blah." But we never do. Except this time. We took the chance to explore the majestic Dixie Caverns in Salem VA. It was actually pretty neat and our tour guide was hilarious, one-in-a-million. I wish we had a picture of him, but instead...
We have the majestic turkey wing.
The visit with Aunt Cathie and Uncle Timmy was awesome. They were so great to invite their neighbors over to hear our stories and peruse the African handicrafts we were selling.
Small gathering of Waldies.
Philadelphia*
We were so fortunate to be able to spend 4 whole days hanging out at my brother's family's house. In the past 2 years, they have added a new member to the family and the other two are getting so grown. Like truly, they're almost grown adults by now. Chris and I really treasured this time together catching up, eating lots of good food and rocking out on the Wii. What made it even cooler is that my dad and step-mom flew in from California for a few days to hang out as well (Imagine, giving up that warmer weather for the polar vortex on the East Coast! Oh wait, we did that too.) and we had a big larger family gathering on one of those days.
It was fun to see that Maddie was still into doing things like this-tattooing Unkie's head.
When did this one get so big!
This one heads to college next year. She's as cool as ever but also I'm happy to see she hasn't yet outgrown her aunt and Unkie.
This new one, well, what can I say. She's sweet and smart and funny. Love her.
What's the name of this game, which they play on Ellen? Whatever it is, yeah, everyone in the family was playing that. It was funny except that I was sick and trying to sleep on the floor but everyone was yelling and laughing so loudly that they woke me up. How rude of them to have so much fun.
The mothers celebrate their birthdays.
Playing the Wii was so much fun that they even got me and my brother to play when we usually sit those things out.**
Our final visit was to Sister Thomasmari, my former campus minister from NYU. She is the first one to mention MKLM to me, so I blame her for all this. It was super great that my friends from NYU, Anthony and Paul, could also come down to join us.
New Jersey
We spent our in-between times in New Jersey with my mom and step-dad, which was great as always. That's the place in the states that's most like home for us right now and it's a great place to relax, enjoy good food/bevs and be taken care of. Plus, they lent us their car, paid for a lot of our gas and let us steal things from their house. I mean, what more could we ask for?
Mom all dolled up for something or other, probably the opening of the artist co-op's new location.
Bo likes to pretend he doesn't care, but we know otherwise.
Again and again, we can't say how much we enjoyed our trip and what it means to us to have so many amazing people in our lives. I equate it to a video game, where you have to do something or other to gain more power and continue the game. That's how our visit home was for us- with each group of friends we saw, each amazing meal, each laugh and hug, we were gaining more and more "power" to take back with us to TZ to continue the work that we're doing here. Asanteni sana wote. Thank you all.
*To be accurate, it was outside of Philly, but you get the idea.
**Bonus video of the Wii awesomeness:
Wednesday, February 26, 2014
Living in Solidarity
If you've been following my African adventures over the past 2 years, you may have noticed that I tend to get sick a lot. Even when I was in the US, I was trying to get rid of amoeba and a urinary track infection, which followed me from TZ. I get so sick of being sick. It's one of the biggest "burdens" that I feel I face living here. I get tired of not knowing what's wrong, tired of being medicated, tired of going to the doctor's offices, tired of just feeling yucky.
I bring all of this up just to say that I'm not alone in this. Being constantly sick, constantly medicated, and constantly in the dark about why you're sick is very common for the people of Tanzania. I cannot know what it is to be Tanzania, nor can I know what it is like to live how they live, even as I live here alongside them. But from my experience of being constantly sick, I get a small glimps into the hardships that they face and I can sympathize all the more about their struggles.
Take for example Kulwa. Remember when I visited Kulwa,* the young woman who had just given birth in late November? My Lulu facilitator and I visited her again today in her family home. We had plans to visit another Lulu participant, but that didn't work out.** So, since we were in Kulwa's neighborhood, we decided to follow up with her. We have only seen her one time since our last visit because we've heard that there's been illness in the family.
When we entered the family courtyard today, we first notice an elderly bibi (grandmom) sitting on the stoop. We assume she is the grandmom who we heard had been sick, so we greet her and ask about her health. She answers that it's been "so-so," or it is as it is. As we were chatting, another woman, still a bibi but a bit younger than the first, comes out of the house. She looks in good health and has a broad smile on her face, but as she warmly greets us I realize that her stomach is swollen and distended, almost like she's pregnant although she's too old to be. She tells us she's the grandmom and the women we were just talking with is her mother (the great-grandmom of Kulwa and great-great-grandmom and Kulwa's daughter). This woman is the one who has been sick, as her swollen stomach can attest.
We enter the house and I am quickly handed Kulwa's baby girl, who is now about 3 months old. I am super happy to see that the little baby girl looks strong, is holding her head up and seems perfectly happy and healthy. Unfortunately, the same can't be said for the rest of the family. In addition to Kulwa's grandmom, Kulwa herself has been sick, on and off again since giving birth. She says she's been constantly taking malaria medications, which can be detrimental to her health if she takes long-term. She's been to the clinic and they sometimes say it's malaria and other times they say it's something along the lines of "maternal fever," a sickness they believe mothers get after giving birth. We talked a while with the family, inquiring about the medications they both have been taking, what the doctors have said and their overall feeling as of late. Both patients seem resigned and don't have much faith that the doctors or the medications were helping. Instead, they say they are relying on God's intercession to heal them and have been going to church every day.
From my experience of being sick in TZ I can understand Kulwa and her grandmom's frustration with and lack of faith in the doctors here. Many of the medical professionals are under-trained, hospitals are understaffed and have outdated equipment, and the medicines can be counterfeit or expired. The system here doesn't inspire trust, nor should it. But what I am ill equipped to understand is this family's resignation that there is no solution to their problem. As an American, my culture tells me that there is an answer to any question, that if we work hard enough, we can overcome any hardship. Here in TZ, unfortunately, questions that could be answered often are not, systems that could be fixed are left to rot and ruin, and sick people like Kulwa and her grandmother who have illnesses that might be simply treated and cured are often misdiagnosed and they are left to whatever fate befalls them. And they are told that that's life, that there is nothing different or better out there, which is why they pray daily for intercession from God, because it's the only hope they know of.
I pray daily, but I don't just pray that people like me and Kulwa and her grandmom are healed. I pray and I work toward fixing a broken system, toward bringing up the people's education so that they can demand for better systems, so that they themselves can raise kids who will also be educated, more educated, and that they will be able to contribute toward fixing the broken system. It's a lot to pray for, a lot to work towards, but I know that it's possible, even if Kulwa and her family don't know it's possible. That's why I stay here, through the sickness and the medicine and the yucky feelings. I stay and I fight for Kulwa and her grandmom, who don't know what they're fighting for.
*I've changed this young lady's name.
**Things rarely work out on the first try so we've always got to be flexible and have backup plans.
I bring all of this up just to say that I'm not alone in this. Being constantly sick, constantly medicated, and constantly in the dark about why you're sick is very common for the people of Tanzania. I cannot know what it is to be Tanzania, nor can I know what it is like to live how they live, even as I live here alongside them. But from my experience of being constantly sick, I get a small glimps into the hardships that they face and I can sympathize all the more about their struggles.
Take for example Kulwa. Remember when I visited Kulwa,* the young woman who had just given birth in late November? My Lulu facilitator and I visited her again today in her family home. We had plans to visit another Lulu participant, but that didn't work out.** So, since we were in Kulwa's neighborhood, we decided to follow up with her. We have only seen her one time since our last visit because we've heard that there's been illness in the family.
When we entered the family courtyard today, we first notice an elderly bibi (grandmom) sitting on the stoop. We assume she is the grandmom who we heard had been sick, so we greet her and ask about her health. She answers that it's been "so-so," or it is as it is. As we were chatting, another woman, still a bibi but a bit younger than the first, comes out of the house. She looks in good health and has a broad smile on her face, but as she warmly greets us I realize that her stomach is swollen and distended, almost like she's pregnant although she's too old to be. She tells us she's the grandmom and the women we were just talking with is her mother (the great-grandmom of Kulwa and great-great-grandmom and Kulwa's daughter). This woman is the one who has been sick, as her swollen stomach can attest.
We enter the house and I am quickly handed Kulwa's baby girl, who is now about 3 months old. I am super happy to see that the little baby girl looks strong, is holding her head up and seems perfectly happy and healthy. Unfortunately, the same can't be said for the rest of the family. In addition to Kulwa's grandmom, Kulwa herself has been sick, on and off again since giving birth. She says she's been constantly taking malaria medications, which can be detrimental to her health if she takes long-term. She's been to the clinic and they sometimes say it's malaria and other times they say it's something along the lines of "maternal fever," a sickness they believe mothers get after giving birth. We talked a while with the family, inquiring about the medications they both have been taking, what the doctors have said and their overall feeling as of late. Both patients seem resigned and don't have much faith that the doctors or the medications were helping. Instead, they say they are relying on God's intercession to heal them and have been going to church every day.
From my experience of being sick in TZ I can understand Kulwa and her grandmom's frustration with and lack of faith in the doctors here. Many of the medical professionals are under-trained, hospitals are understaffed and have outdated equipment, and the medicines can be counterfeit or expired. The system here doesn't inspire trust, nor should it. But what I am ill equipped to understand is this family's resignation that there is no solution to their problem. As an American, my culture tells me that there is an answer to any question, that if we work hard enough, we can overcome any hardship. Here in TZ, unfortunately, questions that could be answered often are not, systems that could be fixed are left to rot and ruin, and sick people like Kulwa and her grandmother who have illnesses that might be simply treated and cured are often misdiagnosed and they are left to whatever fate befalls them. And they are told that that's life, that there is nothing different or better out there, which is why they pray daily for intercession from God, because it's the only hope they know of.
I pray daily, but I don't just pray that people like me and Kulwa and her grandmom are healed. I pray and I work toward fixing a broken system, toward bringing up the people's education so that they can demand for better systems, so that they themselves can raise kids who will also be educated, more educated, and that they will be able to contribute toward fixing the broken system. It's a lot to pray for, a lot to work towards, but I know that it's possible, even if Kulwa and her family don't know it's possible. That's why I stay here, through the sickness and the medicine and the yucky feelings. I stay and I fight for Kulwa and her grandmom, who don't know what they're fighting for.
*I've changed this young lady's name.
**Things rarely work out on the first try so we've always got to be flexible and have backup plans.
Tuesday, February 25, 2014
Spring Ministry Newsletter
Chris and I are back in Tanzania and trying to surface from our jet lag-induced fog. In the following days I hope to put up pictures and stories and maybe even a thought or two about our trip. In the meantime, click here to download and read our latest quarterly newsletter for MKLM.
Tuesday, February 04, 2014
The Best Reward After Living in Tanzania After 2 Years
We've been in the US for 2 1/2 weeks so far, which means that we're at the halfway mark. It's been a wonderful vacation and every day is like a blessing and a dream. It's hard to believe that we've been gone 2 years and it's almost even harder to believe that we still have another life in Tanzania. My mind just can't seem to grasp two such separate realities and every night I've been dreaming both in Swahili and English and they're taking place in locations that are weird combinations of America and Africa.
So far we have spent at least 2 nights each in NY, NJ, NC, GA and MS. And we are still looking forward to visits in SC, VA, NJ (again) and PA. What a great life we have!
Some constants from our visit so far:
In Jersey City, leaving for our drive to south Jersey. Someone isn't pleased.*
The frozen bay in Cape May. Beautiful but unbearably cold!
Snowing in Charlotte.
Wiley chowing down on some African handicrafts. What a cute little sausage!
Lillie warming up to Unkie. Or maybe it's Unkie who's doing the warming up.
Tristan is being schooled early.
In a mega-show of irony, Adam and Sarah gave us a stuffed amoeba, which they'd bought a while ago before they knew I'd have amoeba during my visit with them.
Wonderful gathering with friends from my time in the Newman Club at NYU. Some folks came from as far as Rhode Island and New Hampshire. What great friends!
We don't see much of these friends in TZ either.
Chris visiting his long-time friend Erica and her newly extended family.
Chris and Andy with fruit.
Chris's grade school friend, Billy, and his wife.
We got to meet my sister's new beau.
Me and mom on a trip to a small NJ seaside town. Cold, but beautiful.
Me with my nieces. When did they get so big!?
Typical "Bo" face.
I love this photobomb by Maddie.
Just after I served up some serious butt-whipping in Scrabble. Maybe I shouldn't be boasting about beating my 96 year-old grandfather and 87 year-old grandmother in a board game.
Hanging out with Chris's mom on her 60th birthday.
Expect many more pictures and stories of wonderful things because the trip is only 1/2 over, folks. WHAT!?
*This other picture was taken before the snow started.
Someone was happy to be reunited with his winter wear. That is, until the snow started.
So far we have spent at least 2 nights each in NY, NJ, NC, GA and MS. And we are still looking forward to visits in SC, VA, NJ (again) and PA. What a great life we have!
Some constants from our visit so far:
- Snow! It's followed us from NY to NJ and down south as well. Who decided to make our visit here in the winter!? Never again!
In Jersey City, leaving for our drive to south Jersey. Someone isn't pleased.*
The frozen bay in Cape May. Beautiful but unbearably cold!
Snowing in Charlotte.
- Babies! Everyone's had a kid over the past 2 years. Love 'em!
Wiley chowing down on some African handicrafts. What a cute little sausage!
Lillie warming up to Unkie. Or maybe it's Unkie who's doing the warming up.
Tristan is being schooled early.
- Amoeba! I've been sick since I left Africa and today is the very first day since getting here that I've not been medicated. Let's hope it stays that way.
In a mega-show of irony, Adam and Sarah gave us a stuffed amoeba, which they'd bought a while ago before they knew I'd have amoeba during my visit with them.
- Friends! If I ever doubted it before (I didn't), we have the best friends in the world. Our friends are the most supportive and have been some of our biggest cheerleaders from the very beginning. And now on this trip they've gone above and beyond to welcome us back and ensure we have the best trip ever. Our friends have come from states away to see us; they've cooked us meals, payed for outings, driven us through snowstorms, listened to countless Tanzania stories. We are so fortunate to have such amazing people in our lives.
Wonderful gathering with friends from my time in the Newman Club at NYU. Some folks came from as far as Rhode Island and New Hampshire. What great friends!
We don't see much of these friends in TZ either.
Chris visiting his long-time friend Erica and her newly extended family.
Chris and Andy with fruit.
Chris's grade school friend, Billy, and his wife.
- Family! Everything that I said about our friends can be said, and more, about our family. Our family is amazing. They put up with us moving to the other side of the world, and all the pain that goes along with that, and then when we come home they put us up for days at a time, give us their car to joy-ride around the country, give us money and gift cards so we don't get stranded 1/2-way on our trip, take us out to meals, and any umpteen other things. I can't say enough about how wonderful our families are and how much we owe them for all the support.
We got to meet my sister's new beau.
Me and mom on a trip to a small NJ seaside town. Cold, but beautiful.
Me with my nieces. When did they get so big!?
Typical "Bo" face.
I love this photobomb by Maddie.
Just after I served up some serious butt-whipping in Scrabble. Maybe I shouldn't be boasting about beating my 96 year-old grandfather and 87 year-old grandmother in a board game.
Hanging out with Chris's mom on her 60th birthday.
Expect many more pictures and stories of wonderful things because the trip is only 1/2 over, folks. WHAT!?
*This other picture was taken before the snow started.
Someone was happy to be reunited with his winter wear. That is, until the snow started.
Wednesday, January 15, 2014
More to Sell
I was just going through the bag of Sr. Peg's stuff and I realized we also have some wallets to sell.
Thanks so much, everyone, for your interest so far. We've been so blown away by the overwhelming response!
Trip Home?
On Friday Chris and I will be headed out of Tanzania for a 5 week trip back to the US. Barring any unforeseen circumstances or freakish weather, we plan to spend at least 2 nights in the following states: NY, NJ, PA, NC, GA, SC and MS. It's going to be whirlwind of a trip, but we are so excited and feel so fortunate to be able to see as many people and visit as many places as we are planning.
The past few days have been busy with packing, planning with family and friends, readying things for the house and the pets here in Mwanza and taking care of everything that needs to be done for our work ministries, which we'll be leaving behind for other people to take care of. But in the back of my mind I keep finding myself a little bit worried about leaving and not quite as excited as I would've thought. I mean, don't get me wrong. I'm SUPER excited. I'm mostly excited to see people and catch up on the lives of friends and family. And I'm looking forward to the materials things I've missed. Let's be honest, that means mostly food! But at the same time I'm not, like, DYING to go home. I'm not homesick or thinking, "If I don't get out of here, I'm going to go crazy." I've even found myself thinking about how much work goes into leaving and making sure everything's taken care of, then flying halfway around the world and how tired and sick we are when we arrive and a little thought creeps into my head. Is it even worth it?
I know. I know. That's crazy. Of course it's worth it! I don't really mean that. But I keep having these thoughts floating through my head until it finally hit me the other day. I've adjusted so much to my new home that I don't feel like life here is that unusual anymore. I still have days when I get frustrated or haven't a clue what's happening. But all-in-all, I'm really comfortable living here in TZ and I, gulp, like it. I still miss things from the US, most especially family and friends. (And some foods.) But I've adjusted and it's not as hard as it used to be. I feel at home here.
I guess this is the beginning of feeling like I have a home in 2 places. And I won't ever feel completely comfortable in one place or the other. I am leaving home to go home.
The past few days have been busy with packing, planning with family and friends, readying things for the house and the pets here in Mwanza and taking care of everything that needs to be done for our work ministries, which we'll be leaving behind for other people to take care of. But in the back of my mind I keep finding myself a little bit worried about leaving and not quite as excited as I would've thought. I mean, don't get me wrong. I'm SUPER excited. I'm mostly excited to see people and catch up on the lives of friends and family. And I'm looking forward to the materials things I've missed. Let's be honest, that means mostly food! But at the same time I'm not, like, DYING to go home. I'm not homesick or thinking, "If I don't get out of here, I'm going to go crazy." I've even found myself thinking about how much work goes into leaving and making sure everything's taken care of, then flying halfway around the world and how tired and sick we are when we arrive and a little thought creeps into my head. Is it even worth it?
I know. I know. That's crazy. Of course it's worth it! I don't really mean that. But I keep having these thoughts floating through my head until it finally hit me the other day. I've adjusted so much to my new home that I don't feel like life here is that unusual anymore. I still have days when I get frustrated or haven't a clue what's happening. But all-in-all, I'm really comfortable living here in TZ and I, gulp, like it. I still miss things from the US, most especially family and friends. (And some foods.) But I've adjusted and it's not as hard as it used to be. I feel at home here.
I guess this is the beginning of feeling like I have a home in 2 places. And I won't ever feel completely comfortable in one place or the other. I am leaving home to go home.
Tuesday, January 14, 2014
Hand-crafted Goods for Sale
While we are in the US on our vacation we will have some hand-crafted materials for purchase for those who might be interested.
One set of materials we're selling is to support Chris's work. One of Chris's women's group has been dying materials to make what is called vikoi (or kikoi in singular form). Vikoi are tie-dyed cloth with tassels on the end and they are commonly used for shawls, skirts, decorations, carrying babies, etc. Here is a sampling of what we have available to sell.
Various patterns and colors of vikoi.
Thanks to the generous donations from our friends, family and supporters, in the middle of last year we were able to sponsor the training for the women, which brought a facilitator in to teach them how to dye the fabrics. Here are some shots of that seminar.
The teacher showing the women how to prepare the fabrics for dying.
The women practicing folding the fabrics.
In addition to folding the fabrics, they tie it around bottle caps, which makes a nice pattern once dyed.
Dying and setting the fabric. (It's very caustic, which is why they are wearing scarves over their mouths.
Most women were very happy with their final products.
Since then, the women have been practicing their dying techniques, learning about quality control, selling some of their inventory, and building up money to increase their stock. We are so pleased to be able to bring some of these fabrics to the US to sell. It's great to see their pride in their hand-crafts and to see how creative they have become!
If anyone is interested in purchasing any of these vikoi, we're selling them for $10 each (or more if you'd like to make a larger donation). All of the money will be given directly back to the women when we return to Mwanza. This is a great way to support a disadvantaged group of women who are working hard to better their families and improve their lives.
Another set of materials that we are selling are hand-crafted goods made by Sister Peg Donovan's project in Kalabezo. Sister Peg is a Maryknoll Sister who lived in Tanzania for 45 years and just returned to the States. In her time here, she started a pre-school for kids and a craft school for adults in a village, which we were fortunate enough to visit a few months ago when we attended her going away party. The women at Vema (the craft school) make purses, change pouches, computer bags, glasses cases, etc. We are bringing home some materials to ship to Peg but she gave us the go-ahead to sell any if anyone is interested.
These goods are assorted prices, but Peg said basically to see what people offer. Isn't that the African way? So, if you're interested in any of these goods, let me know in the comments and we can talk pricing.
We don't have any pictures of the women making these goods, but I do have the following shots from when we went out to the village back in December for Sr. Peg's going away party.
The outside of the school. Vema means good in Swahili.
It's tradition at special events, such as goodbyes, that the guest of honor shakes everyones hand.
A lot of people came out for the goodbye Mass.
We have limited quantities of all the items and also, since we'll be driving a very small car to NC, GA, SC and MS, I highly suggest that if you want to buy anything you let me know either in the comments below or via email at kreid(at)mklm.org. That way we can be sure to set something aside for you and bring it along with us. Also, everything is one-of-a-kind, so if you see something you like, it may be the only one like it. Get it while supplies last and support great causes in Tanzania!
One set of materials we're selling is to support Chris's work. One of Chris's women's group has been dying materials to make what is called vikoi (or kikoi in singular form). Vikoi are tie-dyed cloth with tassels on the end and they are commonly used for shawls, skirts, decorations, carrying babies, etc. Here is a sampling of what we have available to sell.
Various patterns and colors of vikoi.
Thanks to the generous donations from our friends, family and supporters, in the middle of last year we were able to sponsor the training for the women, which brought a facilitator in to teach them how to dye the fabrics. Here are some shots of that seminar.
The teacher showing the women how to prepare the fabrics for dying.
The women practicing folding the fabrics.
In addition to folding the fabrics, they tie it around bottle caps, which makes a nice pattern once dyed.
Dying and setting the fabric. (It's very caustic, which is why they are wearing scarves over their mouths.
Most women were very happy with their final products.
Since then, the women have been practicing their dying techniques, learning about quality control, selling some of their inventory, and building up money to increase their stock. We are so pleased to be able to bring some of these fabrics to the US to sell. It's great to see their pride in their hand-crafts and to see how creative they have become!
If anyone is interested in purchasing any of these vikoi, we're selling them for $10 each (or more if you'd like to make a larger donation). All of the money will be given directly back to the women when we return to Mwanza. This is a great way to support a disadvantaged group of women who are working hard to better their families and improve their lives.
Another set of materials that we are selling are hand-crafted goods made by Sister Peg Donovan's project in Kalabezo. Sister Peg is a Maryknoll Sister who lived in Tanzania for 45 years and just returned to the States. In her time here, she started a pre-school for kids and a craft school for adults in a village, which we were fortunate enough to visit a few months ago when we attended her going away party. The women at Vema (the craft school) make purses, change pouches, computer bags, glasses cases, etc. We are bringing home some materials to ship to Peg but she gave us the go-ahead to sell any if anyone is interested.
Assortment of purses, coin pouches, glasses cases, computer bags, etc. made my the women at Vema.
Closeup shot of purse with strap. We have this in many different fabrics. You can also see the small pouches to the right, also available in many different fabrics.
This laptop bag fits our Mac computer and it has an additional zippered pouch in the front. (Laptop not included, obviously! ;)
These goods are assorted prices, but Peg said basically to see what people offer. Isn't that the African way? So, if you're interested in any of these goods, let me know in the comments and we can talk pricing.
We don't have any pictures of the women making these goods, but I do have the following shots from when we went out to the village back in December for Sr. Peg's going away party.
The outside of the school. Vema means good in Swahili.
It's tradition at special events, such as goodbyes, that the guest of honor shakes everyones hand.
A lot of people came out for the goodbye Mass.
We have limited quantities of all the items and also, since we'll be driving a very small car to NC, GA, SC and MS, I highly suggest that if you want to buy anything you let me know either in the comments below or via email at kreid(at)mklm.org. That way we can be sure to set something aside for you and bring it along with us. Also, everything is one-of-a-kind, so if you see something you like, it may be the only one like it. Get it while supplies last and support great causes in Tanzania!
Saturday, January 11, 2014
Goodbye, Old Friend
I'd be remiss in not saying goodbye to a Reid family member. Last week Chris's sister's long term friend, roommate and cat, Parker, died. She'd lived to a ripe old age and she had a blessed life, but still we'll be missing her terribly. In fact, we have 6 pictures on our fridge and 3 of them have Parker in them. She was a big lady. She was a sweet girl. She loved to talk. And I'm happy that our new little (read: big) cat looks just like her. I've never known the Reids without Parker.
In her cat scratcher during a visit to Chicago in 2011.
Queen Parker, 2011.
Best friends for life.
In her cat scratcher during a visit to Chicago in 2011.
Queen Parker, 2011.
Best friends for life.
Friday, January 10, 2014
Our Wolf Pack Has Increased by 3
We just finished a busy but great week with our three new MKLMers and they are now en-route to language school for the next few months. Wow, it seems like only yesterday we were up there studying Swahili. Remember those days? Phew, I have to say I'm glad I'm through that tough period!
In the meantime, Chris and I will switch gears and start preparing for our trip to the States starting on Friday! We will be in NY, NJ, PA, NC, SC, GA and MS over the course of 5 weeks. It's going to be a crazy, jam-packed trip, but what isn't, right? We hope we'll get to see you! Also, we'll be bringing some hand-crafted goods to sell if anyone's interested in buying anything to support various MK projects. I'll try to post pictures of stuff before we come so you can see what we've got.
2014 crazy MKLM crew
In the meantime, Chris and I will switch gears and start preparing for our trip to the States starting on Friday! We will be in NY, NJ, PA, NC, SC, GA and MS over the course of 5 weeks. It's going to be a crazy, jam-packed trip, but what isn't, right? We hope we'll get to see you! Also, we'll be bringing some hand-crafted goods to sell if anyone's interested in buying anything to support various MK projects. I'll try to post pictures of stuff before we come so you can see what we've got.
2014 crazy MKLM crew
Wednesday, January 01, 2014
Zambia Recap
It's officially a new year, but before we move on I've got to get our Zambia pictures up online. I already put a couple of shots up on this blog while we were away but here a little more of a recap, along with some videos.
The train was quite an adventure.
We flew from Mwanza to Dar Es Salaam on Friday, Dec 20 and then took the train from there, through the southern part of Tanzania into Zambia. It was supposed to take about 2-3 days, but as things happen in Africa, it took almost 4 days. We had wrong information about when the train would leave but luckily we got there very early because it left about 5 hours BEFORE we originally expected it to. The ride was fine and the views of the mountains in southern Tanzania were very pretty but toward the end we were pretty ready to stop rocking and be on still ground for a little while.
We met some nice Danish folks on the train and when they found out it was Chris's birthday on the 22nd, they gave him a mango and told the kids at our window, who then started singing happy birthday.
Zambian version of Happy Birthday.
When we finally arrived, we had to take a mini-bus for 3 hours into Lusaka, the capital. I think we are fortunate to have lived in Tanzania for 2 years and so we are already familiar and used to this style of transport (meaning, shoving as many people as possible, along with their luggage, into a 15 passenger van). After all that time on the train it just would've been nice to avoid that part.
We spent one night in Lusaka, the capital, before taking an 8 hour bus south to Livingstone. But in that time before leaving Lusaka we managed to go to the mall and see a movie! What a treat!
Chris said it looked like King of Prussia Mall in Philadelphia.
We stayed in Livingston for 4 nights at the Fawlty Towers guesthouse. Not the same as this one, thank God but it was quite a nice place and we'd definitely recommend it.
I took advantage of the pool as much as I could. It was blazing hot in Zambia!
We had a great experience at church on Christma morning. The Mass was in English but the music was all in their local language. I wish I could've gotten a picture of the band because they had a bass player and guitar player, as well as a drummer. They were totally jamming out!
This was the procession for collection, by the women of the church. It went on a full 20 minutes and when it was finished an old lady in the back yelled "Another one!"
We spent all of Christmas afternoon wandering around Victoria Falls National Park.
World Heritage Site!
The train was quite an adventure.
We flew from Mwanza to Dar Es Salaam on Friday, Dec 20 and then took the train from there, through the southern part of Tanzania into Zambia. It was supposed to take about 2-3 days, but as things happen in Africa, it took almost 4 days. We had wrong information about when the train would leave but luckily we got there very early because it left about 5 hours BEFORE we originally expected it to. The ride was fine and the views of the mountains in southern Tanzania were very pretty but toward the end we were pretty ready to stop rocking and be on still ground for a little while.
We met some nice Danish folks on the train and when they found out it was Chris's birthday on the 22nd, they gave him a mango and told the kids at our window, who then started singing happy birthday.
Zambian version of Happy Birthday.
When we finally arrived, we had to take a mini-bus for 3 hours into Lusaka, the capital. I think we are fortunate to have lived in Tanzania for 2 years and so we are already familiar and used to this style of transport (meaning, shoving as many people as possible, along with their luggage, into a 15 passenger van). After all that time on the train it just would've been nice to avoid that part.
Downtown Lusaka, near our hotel.
One of the really good things to us about traveling around Africa is that it puts things into perspective and we can begin to get a larger picture of Africa as a whole, but also of Tanzania. Zambia was definitely more "southern Africa" (as opposed to East Africa, where we live and had thus far traveled) and we were shocked at how different it was. I hope to write a separate blogpost about my thoughts on the development in Zambia, but let's just say for now that we could see some positives as well as negatives to the way the country has developed.
We spent one night in Lusaka, the capital, before taking an 8 hour bus south to Livingstone. But in that time before leaving Lusaka we managed to go to the mall and see a movie! What a treat!
Chris said it looked like King of Prussia Mall in Philadelphia.
We stayed in Livingston for 4 nights at the Fawlty Towers guesthouse. Not the same as this one, thank God but it was quite a nice place and we'd definitely recommend it.
Farty Towels
I took advantage of the pool as much as I could. It was blazing hot in Zambia!
We had a great experience at church on Christma morning. The Mass was in English but the music was all in their local language. I wish I could've gotten a picture of the band because they had a bass player and guitar player, as well as a drummer. They were totally jamming out!
This was the procession for collection, by the women of the church. It went on a full 20 minutes and when it was finished an old lady in the back yelled "Another one!"
We spent all of Christmas afternoon wandering around Victoria Falls National Park.
World Heritage Site!
Picutres will not do this place justice. So beautiful!
Rainbow
We have so many shots, it was hard to narrow it down for the internet.
The folks you see standing on the other side are in Zimbabwe.
For various reasons we didn't get a multi-entry visa into Zambia, so we could only see the falls from this side. Victoria Falls are a mile long and only about 1/3 of it falls in Zambia; the rest in Zimbabwe. So all of this is only about 1/3 of it! Also, this is the low season for water-levels, so imagine how much more impressive it is when the water levels are at their highest. We hear you can't even see the falls because the spray/mist is so dense.
Also, Victoria Falls is one of the world's most popular places for extreme sports. Bungee jumping, parasailing, zip-lining, white water rafting. People come from all over the world to take their life in their hands for the sake of "adventure." Okay, I'm being snarky and just joking. But seriously people, what the f-?
We heard bungee jumpers screaming all the way down. Is there something wrong with us that all we want to do is enjoy a leisurely stroll around the falls?
At the end of the day we ran into our Danish train friends so we all went out for a sunset drink. It was really nice to share this experience with some other folks.
A great end to a great Christmas day.
On the day after Christmas Chris and I got up early and took a river cruise on the Zambizi. It was supposed to be a group tour but I guess everyone slept in because it was just the 2 of us.
And our fearless guides.
We saw this guy just sitting with his mouth open on the bank of the river.
We gave the hippos a wide berth so they didn't, like, knock our boat over or something.
The last thing we did in Livingstone tour/adventure-wise was take a walking tour. It started at 6:30 AM, which is a good thing because it was blazing hot by 7. Still, we managed to see a rhino up-close, a water buck and a lot of birds.
We spotted this white rhino within the first 15 minutes of the walk.
He gave us a little show by rolling around in the mud.
Sharpening his horn. Look at the little eyes!
So beautiful.
I was hoping to see some elephants and zebras but I guess they were hiding out somewhere cooler, probably a wise thing to do because by the end of the 3 hours I was ready for the pool and a nap!
The weather had other plans though.
On the 28th we took the bus back to Lusaka and had a day to rest and see another movie. Nice! And after all that adventure, we were pretty ready to just slow things down and head home. Still, I feel so fortunate to have been able to make this trip, to see more of the world and to spend a low-key, stress free Christmas with my favorite person in the world. I wasn't sure how I would feel traveling on Christmas and not doing the traditional things but I have to say it was wonderful! I might advocate getting rid of gifts from here on out and traveling every year on Christmas. Seriously, that in itself is really a wonderful privilege and gift.
Tuesday, December 31, 2013
Help Spread the Word About our House for Rent
Our house in Columbia is up for rent again.
Would you or someone you know be interested in renting it? It's listed here with Columbia Property Management.
Please help us spread the word so we can stay stress-free in Tanzania and keep doing the work that we've started!
Would you or someone you know be interested in renting it? It's listed here with Columbia Property Management.
Please help us spread the word so we can stay stress-free in Tanzania and keep doing the work that we've started!
Friday, December 27, 2013
Merry Christmas from Zambia
I've been putting some shots up on Facebook, but for those not on there, here are a few shots from the past few days' Christmas trip to Zambia.
The train ride from Dar Es Salaam to Lusaka was long and tiring, but we saw nice scenery and met some cool internationals.
We were so surprised at how developed the country is. Check out this mall with a band playing Christmas music!
We made it to Livingstone and saw The Falls on Christmas Day. We were totally awed!
Yesterday, Boxing Day, we had a nice morning river safari, fully equipped with an early AM beer. Why not, it's vacation?
Last night we met up with our Danish train friends for a delicious Indian meal.
And today we took an early early HOT HOT hike and saw this white rhino up close. Worth the early wake up and blazing heat.
Tomorrow we head back up to the capital city of Lusaka and will probably just chill and take in another movie or 2 before we fly home to TZ on Monday.
Thursday, December 19, 2013
Merry Christmas (a bit early)
We head out to Zambia tomorrow for a Christmas vacation, so I'm taking this moment to wish you and yours a very Merry and blessed Christmas.
Saturday, December 14, 2013
Winter MKLM Newsletter
If you read this blog, you probably know more than what's in our Maryknoll Lay Missioners newsletter. But, in case you want to download it and stuff it in your holiday cards to send to your friends and family, you can download it here. Thanks and enjoy!
Wednesday, December 11, 2013
Parents Meeting and First 2 Sessions of Lulu
I'm excited to say that the Lulu Mabatini program is officially launched and operational. A few weeks ago we held a meeting for parents/guardians/husbands of our participants. This kind of meeting is crucial because girls have very little say in their homes and take on the brunt of household responsibility. We wanted their caregivers to understand the goals of the program and to give their support. Otherwise, they might forbid the girls to attend or make it very difficult because they have too much work to do.
Natalie speaking to the parents about Lulu.
I was really happy with the turnout and participation. Most people said that they were excited about the opportunity for their girls to learn and to better themselves and that they appreciated the work we were doing. That means they will free up some time for the girls to come!
Last Saturday we had our first session for the participants themselves. Right before starting time, the skies opened up and the rain poured down in buckets.
What do you expect from the rainy season?
I knew the rain would effect our numbers but more than that, I was worried because a lot of the girls come from the hills and I hoped that they weren't stuck somewhere cold and wet. However, we had 19 show up and many of them actually came early and beat the rain. (Coming early!? That's an anomaly here where everything runs late.)
The participants introducing themselves in pairs.
Yesterday we had our second meeting and we had 25 participants. The girls were a little shy at first, but they're slowly warming up and hopefully are enjoying themselves.
In an attempt to inspire some creativity, the girls had to draw/color a picture of their house and environment. Many of them were uncomfortable with coloring because they said it's for kids. But for those who did, they really loosened up and seemed to enjoy themselves.
Another cool development over the past week is that we now have a youth facilitator. Her name is Sikudhani* and she was a participant in one of the groups in another part of Mwanza and has been trained as a peer leader. She is a strong, smart, poised young woman and will be a great addition to our group!
Sikudhani is in her early 20's and is raising 2 children.
I can't wait to see how things unfold in the coming weeks as we really get into the meat of our subjects. Over the next few sessions we will talk about planning for your life, communication skills, and saving money.
*In Swahili Sikudhani means I didn't think. There are a lot of names like that here, like Shida, which means problem, or Mashaka, which means doubts. To me that's such an injustice to your child to give them a name that announces your regret at having conceived them. To be fair, though, everyone so far that I've met with a name like this doesn't seem to mind it. Still, it's something I can't get used to.
Natalie speaking to the parents about Lulu.
I was really happy with the turnout and participation. Most people said that they were excited about the opportunity for their girls to learn and to better themselves and that they appreciated the work we were doing. That means they will free up some time for the girls to come!
Last Saturday we had our first session for the participants themselves. Right before starting time, the skies opened up and the rain poured down in buckets.
What do you expect from the rainy season?
I knew the rain would effect our numbers but more than that, I was worried because a lot of the girls come from the hills and I hoped that they weren't stuck somewhere cold and wet. However, we had 19 show up and many of them actually came early and beat the rain. (Coming early!? That's an anomaly here where everything runs late.)
The participants introducing themselves in pairs.
Yesterday we had our second meeting and we had 25 participants. The girls were a little shy at first, but they're slowly warming up and hopefully are enjoying themselves.
In an attempt to inspire some creativity, the girls had to draw/color a picture of their house and environment. Many of them were uncomfortable with coloring because they said it's for kids. But for those who did, they really loosened up and seemed to enjoy themselves.
Another cool development over the past week is that we now have a youth facilitator. Her name is Sikudhani* and she was a participant in one of the groups in another part of Mwanza and has been trained as a peer leader. She is a strong, smart, poised young woman and will be a great addition to our group!
Sikudhani is in her early 20's and is raising 2 children.
I can't wait to see how things unfold in the coming weeks as we really get into the meat of our subjects. Over the next few sessions we will talk about planning for your life, communication skills, and saving money.
*In Swahili Sikudhani means I didn't think. There are a lot of names like that here, like Shida, which means problem, or Mashaka, which means doubts. To me that's such an injustice to your child to give them a name that announces your regret at having conceived them. To be fair, though, everyone so far that I've met with a name like this doesn't seem to mind it. Still, it's something I can't get used to.
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