I bought a sheeeeeeep!!!!

Hongera mimi (congratulations to me), today we finally succeeded in buying a new mummy sheep for the family. It was an interesting event for sure walking through the banana trees and sambas (home farms) then reaching the home of the sheep shop owner! 

Which one would you like? :

Once we'd chosen (we went for the white one - a few things were lost in translation but I'm quite sure that all the others were goats!) we had to figure a way to get the sheep home. Our original plan was to send it on a motorbike (as the passenger of course as we knew it couldn't drive itself!) but there were no motorcycle taxis around so we had to resort to walking it home..... There wasn't a sheep lead in sight so the seller simply tied a piece of rope to the Sheep's front leg and then proceeded to drag it along (with much resistance from the sheep) in the direction of hour house. With every step (drag) my heart sank as for me I was just wishing that the sheep would snap out of its seemingly difficult mood and comply with the journey, however things took a turn for the worst when a group of young boys offered to assist and from this point the poor sheep had no hope! She was pulled along with no hesitation all the way back to the house:

Luckily for the sheep she made it back in one piece and on reaching home our house boy brought her tons of 'sheep food' (grass and the waste from our vegetables) and at this point she seemed very content with her new abode. I asked my host mummy why the family even keep sheep as they don't take Sheep's milk and I haven't even any lamb or mutton since I've been here. At this point she explained that sheep are kept as company for cows?? Maybe I should of researched this information prior to making the purchase but my family are extremely happy and grateful for their very belated Christmas give and so much so that they have named the sheep Sarah!!!

Sarah the sheep:

It's been a while - Pole Sana (very sorry in Kiswahili)

Here it is, finally....... Must have been more than two weeks since my last post. Connection has been very poor in community and I have been working very hard, most days not finishing work till 7-8pm and even sometimes the same at weekends. I'm still enjoying being here though and enjoying my work (challenges included!)

This cycles volunteers are getting ready to leave and have only 8 days left in community! I can't believe that the time has come around so quickly. We will be holding our community farewell at the weekend and this will be an opportunity for volunteers to say thank you and goodbye to their host families and our work partners. 

My Swahili is coming on now and I've even been learning Kihaya which is the language local to this region. My host mummy has been helping me alot and we have made an agreement that some days we will speak only Swahili as a way to help me to learn more.

I'm making lots of friends in the community and also friends within VSO as there are a fair few western long term volunteers in the region. (Most about an hour or two drive away but gere thats local) It's also really good that i am becoming known by name in the community as I've been making alot of effort to talk with people and it seems to be payin off. I really feel like I'm a part of this community and despite the fact that naturally I stand out, I feel that I have been accepted by the local people.

I'm hoping to travel to a place called Rubondo island which is a few hours drive from here. It's an island on lake Victoria and is a national park having elephant, giraffe, hippo, crocs, monkeys and apparently an amphibious antelope - (which sounds interesting!) Google it.... We're hoping to go, a group of around 8 of us, at some point near the end of Feb before the next cycle of volunteers arrive so I'm looking forward to that. 

I'm still keeping my fingers crossed that some of you will come out to visit me at some point around my birthday.... It would be amazing if I could arrange to spend my 30th in Zanzibar or serengetti or even Dar but would be even better to do it with my mates from back home!

Mega phone, tug of war, limbo and the TZ version of apple bobbing (Mandazi eating)

Today's event went well. There were a few hitches which were mainly due to not being well enough prepared but over all it was a really successful day. There was panic when it started to rain around 1pm but the gods were really looking after us and by 3pm the sun was shining again! However I got a call from my friend Kasozi telling me that he'd been asked to play football for Kamachumu and that the match would be taking place at the Police station at 4pm - of course this was the time and venue for our sports event.....

In the morning we went out to buy batteries for the megaphone, then we headed out around the centre to announce our event. Was really funny as  one of the TZ lads pre recorded the announcement on the megaphone and then i took the megaphone and pretended it was me talking! It certainly drew lots of attention. However when we arrived at the police station at 2.30pm there was a bunch of kids but no sign of the crowds we'd expected so we set out again making announcements.

Trying to draw a crowd:

By around 4pm the crowds started to arrive for the football game and we managed to poach them into our event and forcibly delay the kick off. 

Colouring stand:

Did you know? (Balloon popping stall):

Women's rights stand:

Once the stalls had finished we commenced with the sports:

Tug of war: (this is Luke, one of our UK vols.....in tug of war he beat every man in the community one after the next)

Mandanzi competition:

Limbo:

Face painting and impromptu dancing:

Overall it was a fantastic day and all the volunteer team really came together to make it happen! I'm 'pooped' now though and ready for my bed. 

Fingers crossed the dogs are quiet tonight!

 

Busy busy busy..........

 What a busy week. Phone and Internet reception have been shocking all week (Hense the lack of posts). 

Everything is ticking over nicely in the community and aside a few massive thunder storms, nothing very exciting or out of the ordinary has happened.

The volunteer teams are now in full swing and really settled in their work. 

Our agriculture team have had their proposal for a a community vegetable plot approved and their courgette seeds arrived from the uk. Their idea is to have a demonstration plot to introduce new vegetables into the usual crops grown here as a means to improve nutrition and boost farmers income. They plan to use the demo plot to show farmers and community members how best to grow their vegetable with the view to the farmer then starting up their own plots and the community members starting garden kitchens.

The health team have been continuing to issues sessions on HIV, Malaria and sexual reproductive health and have also been working along side the agriculture team on their veg plot (as nutrition is part of the health teams work. They have also been working hard on their health magazine which they plan to give out in schools.

The youth team have proposed to start a Balik (cloths dying) business with the female community youth volunteers. The idea is to teach the girls a skill which they can then turn into a business. They have joined up with the gender team on this task. 

Environment team have been writing a mini curriculum for the schools here which uses the uk environment comic Captain Planet as the foundation. They plan to introduce and pilot their session plans and workshops during this cycle so that the next cycle of volunteers can continue with this.

As for me and Aive this week has been busy busy busy. Aside of supporting and advising the teams on their work we have been completing all  our volunteer supervisions. We've also met with all our volunteers host families this week to see how they are getting on and thank god they are all very happy. It was funny listening to them all laugh and talk a out how rubbish we Europeans are at hand washing! (Glad it's not just my family who think we're useless at it).

The rain has been unreal this week, I've never experience anything like it before. Thunder that vibrates through your body and rain pouring from the sky like from a waterfall. It's raining now but I don mind as I'm inside, cosy just listening to is on the tin roof -very relaxing. Also it's a blessing when it rains as it means that we have water for washing clothes and ourselves and for cleaning as the only water we have access to is rain water. 

I can't quite believe that in just over 3 weeks we will have completed the first cycle! I've learnt so much and feel so much more confident about the next cycle than I ever though I would. We've a 5 week break between these vols leaving and the next arriving so lots of time for me to have chance to really get to grips with the community, language and the program. 

Tonight my friend Jodie is coming over to stay. She's my new favourite as she has found Nutella for me (small pleasures) so when she comes over tonight we're going to scoff Nutella and drink Zanzi (the TZ version of Baileys) - happy days! We're also going to plan a trip away in the next two weeks. Just need to decide where we want to go.

Tomorrow is our second community action day. We were hoping to have a drama group or choir perform but unfortunatly were unsuccessful securing either. However the volunteers have arranged to hold various stalls (workshops). One will be holding a talk about women's rights and gender issues. Another will be a colouring activities for the kids with a focus on nutrition and agriculture (the idea is that the colouring sheets have information printed on the back so that when the children take the sheets home to show their parents the parents will see the information and hopefully learn something new). Sneaky Beaky. Then we're having a did you know stall - the idea here is to have facts written on pieces of paper which will be placed inside balloons, the participants will pop the balloon then share the fact with the group and hold a discussion about it. 

After all the stalls have completed their activities I have planned a sports activity (with the support of the volunteers) we re gong to run a limbo, long jump, relay, sprint, 3 legged race and if we get hold of some rope we're going to have a tug of war for the finale.  I've made certificates as prizes for the 1st 2nd and 3 rd places and we will also be handing out sweet bananas and mangos to the participants - here's to hoping it doesn't rain!!! 

Watch this space for pics and if I can videos from the day.

(I showed the lion king to my family thinking they'd like it - they didn't - and I had to go through that embarrassing experience of switching it off half way through. Oh well just need to get hold of some more ice age movies as they loved the last one!) 

Visiting........

On Friday i took a long awaited day off work and visited to extended family members of my host family. We went to a village around 1 1/2 hours drive away.My host brother (who was visiting form Dar) drove us (me, my host Mum, Mkiale and a girl called Jamilia who used to live with my host family).

We drove down roads that could never pass as roads in the UK, in this Rav4 driving down what could only be described as foot paths! When we arrived an elderly lady, bursting with more energy than me when i discovered i could buy peanut butter here, burst out of the house and towards the car. She grabbed me as if i was her long lost daughter and we made our way inside. We sat for a while and my host family tucked into a bowl of Senaynay (friend grasshopper) i have so far managed to decline this delicacy!:

Senaynay

We all sat and chatted and i realised that i know alot more Swahili and KiHaya (local language) than i thought i did. My family had brought goodies for Granny (mainly a huge parcel of meat) and whilst we were sat looking through the bags i felt a pain on my back, i jumped and Jamilia put her hand up the back of my top and pulled something that had attached itself to my skin! It looked like a cross between a giant fly and a bee, the family immediatly ran to bring kerosene (which is seemingly the solution to all bug related incidents) and after dousing it on my back told me not to mind! Ive still no idea what it was and it was thrown from the house so i didn't get to take a picture but thust far there's been no further developments! Once i had calmed down enough to sit still we had a photo session:

Me, Janet, Granny (host mummys mum), Host Mummy and the helper.

Granny: (she looks really miserable here but i swear I've never met such and happy and energetic older person!)

Mkiale, Me, Janet and my host brother (Muburaka)

Mkiale, Me Janet and Granny:

Granny:

Lunch time:

Host Mummy, Me, The neighbour (Edita) and Granny. We agreed that in a few weeks i'll visit again and they are going to teach me how to cook traditional food and were going to do some Haya dancing (which is the local dancing and looks like great fun!)

Host mummy, me, edita and granny:

This is Grannys Brother (and Jamlia's Dad)

Once we'd finished eating my host mummy told me that we would be taking her mothers house girl back home with us and she would be helping the family until we could find a longer term replacement, We waited for around 1 1/2 hours for her to return with her belongings and then the 6 of us set off for the 1 1/2 hr journey to Granny number 2's (My host Daddys mothers).

Granny number 2 (the names are far to difficult to pronounce never mind type) had even more energy than the first and she is in her 90's! Her first request was that the next time we visited we bring her snuff! I didn't even know that they had that kinda stuff out here! Whilst we were chatting and catching up one of her chickens made the mistake of wandering into the room - school boy error! - before i could blink the chicken was grabbed from the floor and presented to me as a gift! It was kicking off something rotten (probably knew its imminate fate) and without me even having chance to respond, the chicken was carted off to be put in the boot of the car! I felt so guilty about the fact that it was going to be killed for my dinner so i managed to strike a deal with the family that as it was technically my chicken i didn't want for it to be killed and eaten and i requested that we keep it for laying eggs - fortunately my request was accepted - phew! Lucky chicken!

Granny 2:

Granny 2 and Mubaraka:

When we got home me and Mkiale brought in the washing and she showed off by carrying it all on her head!!!

New Year's Eve:

Zanzi (#delicious)

Happy new year! Me and Jodie:

Pics from New Years outfit

My material for my clothes:

African head wrap:

My outfit:

New Years.....

So still no sheep : ( seems its very difficult to find, at this rate it will end up being an Easter sheep! 

New Years Eve my friend Jodie can to stay and we drank Zanzi (which is the TZ version of Baileys and very delicious), it was really nice not to have to experience the stress of trying to get tickets to a club, not to have to queue for hours in the freezing cold and not to have to experience the awful carnage of trying to fight to find a taxi home! We decided not to go to the Philippine party as it was far to much hassle to try to arrange transport. Our volunteers left it to thelast minute   to decide that they wanted to do something and at 7.30pm New Year's Eve me and Aive were left to try to arrange transport for them so that they could all have a late curfew and all go to one volunteers house to have a party together. Seems they had a really good time though which is good.

After bringing in the new year at midnight TZ time me and Jodie challenges ourself a to stay awake till 3am so as to celebrate midnight UK time also.

On New Year's Day I paid for a cook to prepare lunch and dinner for the whole family and our helpers so that they could all relax a little and take the day off. Me Jodie, my counterpart Aive and 2 of my other friends (Clare and Sjored) also came and we all sat and took Pilau rice, meat and all the usual food (in rather larger than usual quantities). My host brother is also here from Dar and joined us in the New Years celebrations. After dinner we all watched Ice Age 4 on the big telly in the living room and it was really good fun seeing and hearing them all laughing every time one of the characters did something funny. The highlight was hearing them saying Pole Tembo (sorry elephant) each time something bad happened to the Wooly mammoth in the film!

Later in the day the youngsters (me Aive my host brother and my friends) came to Kamachumu inn to have beers. It was really funny as my host brother (who's on his 30s) asked me to promise not to tell on him to his parents that he was drinking beers, I agreed on the condition that he didn't tell on me for eating meat outside the home (as I've stopped eating meat at home as they serve every part of the animal including the internal organs and I just can't bring myself to eat it anymore). He agreed and then we were both happy.

I wore my new clothes which very much pleased my host mummy but I drew the line when they asked me to dance for everyone! 

The material I chose for my clothes:

African style head wrap:     

My outfit: