Nancy McCarthy's blog

The Coming US Elections from Tanzania

It has been very interesting to be in another country during the presidential election. Honestly, I have not followed, nor has Mike really, the campaigning other than hearing a bit about Palin and how negativism has begun to filter in a bit on both sides. We don’t see the commercials so we don’t know what the truth really is. We’ve heard some silly stuff, reportedly from Al Jezeera, which I question. Everytime I watch Al Jezeera, I think the coverage of events seems fairly objective. I don’t think it is the Osama bin Laden controlled network that is implied in the U.S. at times.  At least it is late in the campaign process this time for the negative campaign ads, if that is happening. Many Tanzanians are very interested in the US elections. Admittedly, they have liked Bush for one reason: he stopped the extremist Islamic groups from further harming Tanzania. They do not look further. These peace-loving Tanzanians remember the 1998 Embassy bombing in Dar all too well. Their understanding of other American issues is minimal. Of course, as we do, they see politics from how it will effect them. When we try to explain other issues that are important to American people, it makes little sense to them since those issues are not at all relevant here. It is about poverty here, governmental corruption, raising the standard of living, improved health status, and education for all Tanzanians. At least in my opinion, Tanzanians expect less from their politicians than we do. There is a reverence here that confuses me at times. Kikwete, the President of Tanzania, just came through this district, changing his itinerary moment by moment, causing weeks of much futile planning and work for an arrival that never occurred, at least in Rujewa. He was an hour north of here for a few hours.

 

We received our ballots several weeks ago and have already voted. We know they won’t be counted unless the continental U.S. vote is so close that absentee ballots from international Americans could sway the vote one way or another. It was interesting that the PC got absentee ballots to us before Delaware County did. We had made all the arrangements in Delaware County before leaving the States.

 

More immediately, it is also interesting that the U.S. Embassy in Dar es Salaam has made arrangements for numerous congregation points in this country for Americans to watch the election returns. For security reasons, they will not be announced to the general public. So, Mike and I will be going to the closest location to Rujewa. We just got an email this morning that we are to submit a list of PCVS attending and are allowed to bring 3 Tanzanians. We are thinking of those who live in Rujewa who are very politically interested. There are many who follow international politics here, much more so than we do in the States. But among the many, some are more focused on American politics and it is these individuals who will be invited to go with us.

 

We are looking forward to watching US election returns with Tanzanians, both other PCVS and other Americans who reside in Tanzania. The Embassy is encouraging this for the exchange about American politics it assumes will occur. All part of the PC Mission of cultural exchange.

Underutilization

Mike’s path here is finally showing some personal promise for him, not that he hasn’t been busy contributing to the betterment of this community in numerous ways. Despite the fact Peace Corps has told  Mike to move on and work with others, he has diligently worked with the man he was originally assigned to as well as others. This man seems to feel Mike’s worth lies in taking pictures and bringing in money with few parameters to it. Of course, this is not the role of Peace Corps. It is really a shame that this man cannot work with Mike rather than just seeing him as a bank. Mike has not given him one cent. He does not ever print photos which is expensive here, but he does download them on the district computers in case the district wants to take them on a disk to be printed. Mike has been called a “difficult funder.” The constant statement requesting paperwork about activities accomplished because “they want to know what you are doing” has truly been demeaning and impolite. But the man is a bureaucrat with a paper fixation. Mike did submit a 12 page report on his activities with comments after each activity indicating that the next step was the district’s, not his. It was all true, but had not been looked at in that way before since all the projects had come to a halt. At least now, most of those comments have stopped and this man knows Mike’s hands are tied until the district makes the next step.

 

A few weeks ago, I made frank comments to this man; nothing he has not heard a zillion times from Mike, Peace Corps staff, etc. One time when Peace Corps staff offered to call him to tell him the same again, I said, “What for? You’ve already done that quite a few times.” I got laughter with that response. Somehow this man seemed to get it a bit recently when I said, “Peace Corps volunteers show up with big hearts and only a little money. We offer what we know and want to work with people to help themselves. But we don’t have hardly any money.” I repeated it a few more times for his benefit and it seems to have stuck some. Now, I’m counting on frequent regressive moments, so don’t think I think he’s got it permanently.

 

A few months ago, Mike started joining me working at the hospital, as the DMO (District Medical Officer, a MD, in charge of all health services and facilities in this district) has plenty of worthwhile health projects to benefit the people of this district. Again, Mike has done all kinds of important work for this district, but has not brought in one penny and this is a money-focused country.  Soon, he will fund a Community Theatre outreach program, as will I, for schistosomiasis (a few blog posts back).

 

Mike has consistently tried to find one individual he can teach how to write grants and proposals that would bring international money directly to this area for its health needs. Either they can’t get themselves organized, they sabotage themselves, or they can’t even begin to think beyond waiting for basket funds to arrive (international monies that the Tanzanian National Government disperses to districts after the amounts are bled off in who knows how many ways).

 

Recently, Mike approached the DMO and said that he wanted to offer the hospital this opportunity: He would teach and mentor, over time, a small number of individuals so they could go after international money for the district’s health needs. The DMO elected 4 people, but then 4 others who the DMO said were not so likely to profit, wanted to be taught also. I really don’t think they have one clue what Mike is offering in terms of skill acquisition. They just know that being more educated usually opens doors socio-economically. My input was start with them all and they will self-select into groups: those who just want to know how to use the internet and those who really are motivated to do all the work it takes to develop the skills to bring in international monies. The latter is a whole lot more work than any of them can even envision at this point. It is definitely work for those who like to challenge themselves, not a common human attribute in most places in the world, at least not at such a high level of personal challenge.

 

So, as Mike is trying to explain that these are not skills very many Peace Corps Volunteers have, the contents of the long-term training, equipment needs and how important this could be to this district over the long-run, the DMO looks at Mike and says, “So do you think I am underutilizing you?” Mike laughed and said, “You are underutilizing both of us.” When he told me, I laughed aloud.

 

Now you may not understand the significance of this, but this is very significant. It’s like turning a corner here that has not been turned before. The concept of underutilization is unheard of here. The message has been to fit into the culture, help us do what we want to do for our community, but don’t foist your American model on us, even when you have an easy solution that may mandate a ever-so-slight cultural change and we have none. There is rhetoric about exchanging ideas, but it is fairly one-sided. Such is life in a developing country. We understand it and just continue to work with it. They know what they know and can only absorb more so quickly.

 

But now, to hear “underutilization”!!! What?? So, Mike is writing up the specifications for the equipment he needs to set up a small classroom for 4 people he will mentor and 4 other people who he will probably just end up teaching how to use google and email. The DMO seems “on the case” as Mike would say, tracking down the equipment and/or money and classroom he needs to start the project. He will be a very happy Peace Corps Volunteer if this all comes together. Even with numerous hurdles ahead, you all know Mike is not one to give up easily. We both know it will not proceed as quickly as it would in the U.S. His “mentees” will be sick with malaria, have family deaths that interrupt class attendance, some equipment will disappear into thin air, and the other zillion things that go on here in Tanzania to slow progress. But, whether he actually gets these 4 people to the point that they are each able to submit a grant to an international funder really isn’t it as far as I am concerned (It may be for Mike). They are taking action beyond waiting for international monies to arrive to do community projects. This is an important step. A big important step. Too bad it is just in this small corner of Tanzania to our knowledge, but at least it is here. Maybe word will get out. Maybe if someone successfully writes a grant proposal that brings in international money, the notion of really working hard to help oneself and one’s community will get a greater hold in this little corner of Tanzania. That would be a great legacy for Mike and he will have been “utilized”.

Psych here

It seems that in Tanzania, most people don’t talk about their feelings much. There is a “collective” mindset that exists here, meaning that they just don’t talk about issues very directly, so feelings are not expressed either. Americans are viewed as very direct here. I think I’ve developed the reputation of being someone who does express my feelings, although I’ve scaled way back from how I would be in the U.S.

 

Yesterday was the first time I’ve had any experience with psych here, and it came threefold. Most communities have a few individuals who are harmless, who don’t always make sense when they talk, or are generally disorganized in their behavior, but really don’t attract that much attention to themselves. Typically, most of them hang out and just greet everyone they can all day long. Like I said pretty harmless.

 

Yesterday morning, Mike and I were waiting on hospital grounds for a ride to Mbeya with the hospital vehicle and saw 3 men physically directing another man to the hospital. One of them was the hospital guard. He broke loose once but they restrained him again and got him inside the hospital. Later, we found out this man can be violent and needed some medication to correct his behavior.

 

On the way back from Mbeya, we stopped to eat dinner and while we were there, we saw a middle-to-older age woman we had seen at this particular outdoor restaurant before. When we’d seen her before, she had partially disrobed, but no-one paid much attention. Women are always breast feeding their children here, so to display breasts is not a big deal. She looked pretty disorganized, but there were so many people at the restaurant that night that neither Mike nor I commented on her behavior. Last night, the restaurant was not crowded and she showed up again. She went near the kitchen, which is in a self-standing small building and basically begged for the scraps from the big communal plate we had just finished eating. She held out a piece of a filthy rice sack and collected the bones and whatever else was left from our dinner. Then, she proceeded to take off her shirt. Mike thought maybe she knew we were with doctors that could help her and that her back had some problem, as she was approaching us showing her back, which was mottled in color. No, that wasn’t the case. One of the doctors we were with said that she is a schizophrenic and went on to say that they have difficulty here getting schizophrenics to take their meds. Sounds just like the States.

 

Probably most importantly, awhile later, one of the docs got a call that one of the other docs here at the hospital (and one that I know, like, and work with frequently) needed emergency transport to Mbeya to the referral hospital for psychiatric reasons. He seems to be a gentle soul to me. The story was that he has lost 3 family members and he feels like he is going to die. Mike and I asked if the docs we were with wanted to return to the Mbeya Referral Hospital to be with him, but they declined, saying that they were arranging emergency transport for him and he had not left Rujewa yet. Our cars did pass each other on our way back to Rujewa and both cars stopped. They had him lying down on the back seat covered with a blanket. We said a few things and off they went to deliver him to the Mbeya Referral Hospital.

 

Mike tried to tell the head doc here that this is what I did in the U.S., but they do not have psychologists here, so there is no way for him to understand. In the meantime, I wonder about the doc. I asked and he went through this for the first time 3 months ago. We were here in that time frame, but did not know about it then. In the U.S., he would have gone to counseling and this second occurrence probably would have been prevented. I wonder what meds they put him on or even what meds are available here. I will ask and I hope the answers are good. I have no idea if he was on meds, but I doubt it. I am guessing they  probably gave him some valium or something and what is going on in his mind will not resolve. We’ll see where this goes. He is a really good guy and I would do what I could for him, but I must be invited in. Since it is not in their culture, I’m guessing an invite won’t come and he will struggle with his psych issues until it gets him again. I hope not though.

 

Schistosomiasis

This will be an odd blog entry for us. In Tanzania, there are national programs for malaria, leprosy, AIDS, tuberculosis, and a few others, mostly funded by the World Bank or basket funds, which are international funds too. We live in a rice producing region of Tanzania. One of the diseases with very high prevalence here is schistosomiasis. Americans have never heard of this disease, but it is basically a type of eggs/worms. The parasites, which use snails as hosts, mature and live on the edges of fresh water lakes, streams, or in rice paddies. What happens is that by wading, swimming, bathing, doing laundry in fresh water lakes or streams, or working in the rice fields, the parasites penetrate a person’s skin and make their way to the liver, bladder, or other bodily organs. There they grow into worms. The eggs of the worms cause inflammatory reactions and scarring. In our area, the rice farmers hire children to work the rice fields, as they can pay them less than adult workers. The children get infected, they are tired, anemic, school attendance drops, parents cannot afford the expensive medical treatment (the pills are very expensive and the government cannot afford to offer them freely as they do the ARVs and other medications which are funded by international sources). See how it is?

 

The symptoms can take 4 weeks to years to develop; symptoms indicative of schistosomiasis are many, but most commonly is bloody urine or feces. So, unknowingly infected individuals may urinate while swimming or bathing and infect the fresh water. Where the Masaai are famous for their nomadic pastoral lifestyle, they are not the only tribe in Tanzania that lives this lifestyle. The Sukuma live in our area also. Some of the most beautiful, pristine lakes and water ways of Tanzania are full of these parasites. One PC volunteer, a very bright, wonderful, young woman about 24, who lives near a lake and uses this water to wash her dishes or do laundry has contracted schisto. She has not bathed, swam, or done her laundry in the water. She boils all water that she drinks, but somehow has gotten schisto. Peace Corps Medical here had treatment readily available for her and she started treatment probably within one day of noticing and reporting her symptoms.

 

When we got word that USAIDS is coming through with a malaria program in November and December and already have projects in the works for other diseases or know what services are available for others, Mike and I have decided to focus on schisto. There is no national program, no international interest or money, no nothing for schisto. There are 4 wards in our district that have unbelievably high schisto rates among the children. In 2005, local medical professionals tested children from many elementary schools in many wards (like big precincts) of this 6,000 square mile district and this is what they found:

 

WARD	# CHILDREN	TOTAL URINATING	%
	INTERVIEWED	BLOOD /BLOODY FAECES
Usangu	1803	1178	65
Msangaji	805	489	61
Mahongole	1276	617	48
Igurusi	2600	1275	49
Mawindi	2513	753	30
Ubaruku	2866	1033	36
Rujewa	2144	793	37
Madibira	1721	512	20
Chimala	2534	512	20
Mapogoro	1489	259	17
Ruiwa	873	592	68
TOTAL	20,624	7,934	39

 

 

Yes, you are reading the chart correctly if you notice that in Ruiwa 68/100 elementary age school children were urinating or defecating blood. In Usangu, they found 65/100 elementary age school children were schisto positive. These areas are major rice producing areas and also some of the areas where the nomadic tribes tend to live. By the way, for those of you who might be worried about us, we live in Rujewa, where the rate is 37%, but we use no water from fresh water lakes or streams. We live on hospital grounds and use water from the hospital well that is piped into our home.

 

All this leads up to the fact that we recently have both written up small grants ($500 each with 25% in-kind from the district) for our local community theatre group to go to high incidence elementary schools to perform dramas about schisto and educate children how to prevent contracting it. These visits are timed so that the group will also perform in village squares on Saturday or shopping day, so adults will get the information also. Community theatre is how info is best disseminated here. With no electricity and no ability to afford batteries for a radio or the radio, this is how info gets around. Imagine the touring troups in old England as that is what it is like here. 

 

We are also working on $5000 grants each with 25% in-kind from the district to put latrines at high incidence schools. Community members know that schools are usually the first place you can find sanitary latrines, so go there when they know they need to go to a bathroom. We will find out on Monday how many latrines $10,000 USD and $2,500 from the Tanzanians will buy. Mike and I have told district officials that we want reliable, good workers who will make latrines to specifications in a timely fashion. And no alcoholics on these jobs. They just laugh and say we know Tanzania too well.

 

Where most of our blog entries are meant to be entertaining, I have not written for a long time about our projects here. We’re moving into schisto because no-one else cares about it because you don’t die, it doesn’t get media attention, and it is mostly children who suffer from it. Way back Mike said that he wanted to come to Africa to help African children. So, this is a good project for us. I hope you all approve of how we are spending US taxpayer dollars and/or contributions here in Tanzania. Children with bloody urine or feces due to worms is just not acceptable. Anywhere. Our projects are only part of what the district hopes to be able to do this coming schisto season. They have been promised funds to build more latrines, test children, buy the expensive treatment for schisto, train health workers on the importance of treating children, provide more community outreach information, on and on. They just don’t know if any of the promised money will arrive or arrive on time to do the prevention they want to do. At least Peace Corps can build a few latrines and educate the most effected areas. The district medical officer is excited that the money will come directly to us and we have complete say on how it will be spent. World Bank monies and basket funds come directed to a targeted disease or service, yet may not be what the district needs. The local medical professionals spent weeks working on a budget, based on district needs, for funds that were to be received from the World Bank. Then they were all told that the money needed to be spent on X, Y, or Z, whether your district had that health problem or not. It is interesting being in a position that the man in charge of all health services in a huge district is excited that the money is coming directly to you and can be spent in the most important way. It is what keeps us here despite all the complications of living here.

The old man selling Wamasaai art and coins.

I was in Mbeya yesterday and was waiting in a plastic chair (are there any restaurants in Tanzania that have other than plastic chairs?) for the hospital vehicle to come pick me up. I am always reluctant to start up conversations with strangers in other cities as eventually, it always comes down to they want something from you, usually money, or your shoes, or book even though they don’t know English, or they want to go with you when you return to America. I could fill up several Concords by now. I almost immediately told this older man that I had spent my last hamsini (4 cents) on white people food because the bank line had been too long to get more money out of the bank. That no matter how hard it might be to believe that a white person doesn’t have money, it was indeed the case this time. I had water with my lunch because I did not have enough money for a soda.

 

But he sat down. Now we are taught about the art of being boring to discourage strangers talking to us. As our conversation continued, he told me he was 76 years old and that he had been a driver for the city of Mbeya for over 30 years. His wife had passed away but he thanks God that he has 4 children who live close to him and that he has only lost one of his children. He now receives about 20,000 Tsh a month pension (about $17-18 USD). So his business is going up to Arusha and buying artwork from the Wamasaai and selling it to tourists in Mbeya. Apparently, there are quite a few more tourists in Mbeya than I realized. He also sells old African coins. He said doctors or well-educated people collect them, like in the U.S.

 

Some of them had round holes in the center, which I found curious. He said that they were from the time before African men wore trousers with pockets. Back then, men would wear their money on a string or rope around their necks or waists and carry it around that way. He showed me several and they did have very old dates on them.

 

Our conversation continued and I told him why I was here, for how long, all the general information that Tanzanians want to know about me. He thanked me for giving two years of my life to help improve the health of Tanzanians.

 

Then, he said he needed to go, but he wanted to give me a present. He took out three of the coins with the holes in the center. I tried to refuse them, knowing that this man probably would not be alive if his children were not helping feed him. He insisted that I take his presents to me. So, I did. I looked for something to give back to him, but lettuce that Tanzanians don’t eat isn’t much of a present. I looked through my purse, but I travel with very little so as not to lose anything. I had nothing to give this nice old man in return. He said it was not a problem, he wanted to give me these coins because I was helping Tanzanians. What a nice memory this will be.

My Worth Here, Thankfully Mike likes me alot

We began quarterly supervision and monitoring with all the home base care volunteers that were trained back in May. Kaitlyn, a wonderful, but younger, new health volunteer was placed in a community about an hour north of here. She came down to experience home base care supervision, to meet all the district officials (and did she meet them all), and to visit us for a break. We fed her lots of good American food after she’s been eating rice and beans most days. Turns out she loves her village, but the food selection is not what we have here, and certainly not what we have when we can ride in the hospital vehicles to pick up white people food in Mbeya.

 

All this is background for the event when we went to visit a very remote village whose village executive officer is rather uneducated and tribal. Almost immediately upon our entry into his office, he asked what was Kaitlyn’s bride-price, did I want cows or money? It took me awhile to realize that he thought I was her mother. I answered in Kiswahili that I would not take any cows for her or any money either; that in America women choose their own husbands. His facial expression was normal, but he stopped talking for awhile so he could absorb what I said. Then, he offered 100,000 Tsh. or about $80 USD. Then he upped it to 1,000,000 Tsh., or about $800. I reiterated that Kaitlyn would choose her own husband. End of subject.

 

As we were leaving, for a joke, I asked what my bride price would be. With a flat expression on his face, he told me 10,000Tsh. or about $8.00 USD. Well! I never thought of my worth here in Tanzania as a woman, but now I know it is $8. I am laughing as I am writing this, just thinking about this experience. How fortunate I am that Mike thinks I am priceless!

 

What a way to develop empathy for all the elderly women in this community. Enough said.

Marital Mentorship Comes to an End, at least for Now

To summarize our marital mentorship failure, I think it would be best to just copy the text messages we’ve received from our mentee.

 

-Dear parents, how are you? I’m doing fine with a full glamour b’se of _____’s positive dimension towards the subject matter! We’re always chating to each other. So, before the mating concession going deep she would like to meet me face to face! So as we’ll be a bit busy we’re going to meet each other. Thanks 4 y’r parental care!

 

-I emailed her to express my feelings. So she responded thru mobile and said she is “half-half” or else she meets me. U can also play y’r part as experienced parents so to soften her mind.

 

-Breaking news! I have made investigative talks to some friends of mine who know of ____a lot. They’ve advised me to stop! B’se she’s unsettled, too aged, and pompous woman. These are her co-staff and classmates. So they’ve recommended such a thing. Surely my task is still unfished. As parents, what are y’r views?

 

The next time I saw our mentee, he was asking about the new Peace Corps volunteer about an hour from here. I told him that she had no interest in getting married (which is the truth) and that she would probably be serve best in an advisory capacity in terms of advising him how to interact with other female American volunteers.

 

So, we are fresh out of anyone to refer to this young man as a possible marital candidate. One never knows what tomorrow will bring in this great country though, so we will keep our eyes open.

Mid Service Medical Checkups, Focus Group Experience, Elections

We are happy to announce that we both flew through our mid-service medical check up in Dar. No bugs anywhere, teeth OK, BP in check, etc.

We have a new American, Jackie, working at the PC Dar office who is very good. We basically determined what we wanted to talk about one afternoon and broke out in various sessions. I lead the section on behavior change and Mike did one on using media to promote projects. I attended the massage session; a line of women each massaging each other in a line of chairs. Works for me.

The focus group experience was the best experience I've had with PC staff since filling out my initial application, which means the best experience I've ever had with PC staff anywhere because you fill out your app on line. Jackie facilitated a focus group with the 8 of us health vols who arrived last year. (Two have gone home.) The health program in  Tanzania only started in 2004, so it is up for review, redesign, refocus, etc. She had a whole list of questions prepared. I'll list some of them: If you feel you are having impact, what is the most important impact you feel you are having in your village? How should training have been different when you first arrived in Tanzania a year ago? Do you feel that staff assist you in doing your work? Do you have any ideas on how things should be changed or different here at the office in Dar? What did you think of the new process that was used to place this year's volunteers at their sites? It went on for over an hour and a half. Many different views were expressed including the contention of a few of us that continued information distribution is not necessary; everyone knows the facts about HIV/AIDS. It is all over the air waves and there are signs everywhere. You have to be in denial if you think you can't get AIDS here.You have to be hearing and visually impaired to not know how the disease is transmitted and how to protect yourself from getting it. We felt there was room for vols to serve in small villages and in sites like ours where you essentially work on a district public health level.

They will be asking "stakeholders" to participate in other focus groups. Stakeholders are funders, government officials, office staff, and NGOs who work with Peace Corps among other groups. Interestingly, our DMO has told us to tell PC Dar he wants to volunteer to participate in the stakeholder focus group.

Mike had a talk with Jackie about the One Laptop per Child program and why PC has not jumped on that for Tanzania. Mike has spent some time looking things up and there is plenty of HIV info on the internet in Kiswahili; certainly buying a few indestructible $200 laptops for a school with HIV info loaded on it would be a cheap way to really get kids on the computer and learning earlier about HIV. She said that perplexed her too.

So, it seems like Jackie is really moving things along here. I initially thought she was just a former PC volunteer (Mali) in the administrative hierarchy. We just found out she went to Harvard, so I suspect she comes from a political family. Her husband is Rwandan; he is currently in Samoa setting up internet cafes but is due to join her here soon.

We expect our new Country Director, a woman, soon. The last one got fired, although Mike and I had no complaints about him.

By the way, we are all invited to watch election returns at the US Embassy in Dar. Mike and I have done so much traveling recently, I really doubt we will go. It is a once in a lifetime opportunity though. We'll have to see how we feel closer to the day. Right now, I have no travel planned and am going to be very happy to stay home here in Rujewa for the  next year.

Thanks for reading. 

Marital Mentorship

Out of the blue, Mike got this email a few months ago:

 

“I'm categorically sure that u're doing fine along with your beloved wife mama Nancy. Thank u a lot to assist me in many cases related to e'mail applications. I say again, thank u. Above all, I'm in a trouble of seeking a God-given wife, would u please tirelessly assist me too. I'm gona be garteful if at all u expose me to the American Lady who is also a PCV to Tanzania. She has to be good lookng, pletty, intelligent and hard working, no matter what religion she belongs to. Please regard me as your son in an urgent need of parents' care and much marital mentorship. Share this idea with mamangu Nancy as far as it hot to me. Say hi to Mamangu  Nancy. Thanks.”

 

Now, when we got this, we first thought it was a joke and had a really good laugh.  So, Mike responded, “Please send your vita so we can help with your mentorship. Thanks, Mike and Nancy”

 

Later it became apparent that he was serious, quite serious. This is university educated young man who is quite linguistically talented. He does better speaking English than writing it. He is about 30 and we’ve known him since January. He did ask Sara, my niece, to marry him when she was here in March. We all just laughed, including Sara, thinking he was teasing her.

 

Then again, we received this email: “Today I'm of a view related to seeking more help from u. I need to get married to any American Lady but not yet seen desipte i've got that idea for so long... I'm seeing my age growing very fast and intrigued with the concept of marriage”.  So, we told him we would have a little meeting with him regarding this issue of marital mentorship. He showed up almost immediately and we discussed the differences between American and Tanzanian marriages. Now American marriages run from A to Z in terms of reasons why people get married, but in Tanzania it is essentially for reproductive reasons. Once he heard what an educated American would expect from a marriage, although he thought he could live up to those expectations, he settled on initially meeting an attractive health professional we met a few months ago who clearly stated that she was approaching 30 and needed to start bearing children with no hopes of a man in sight. She is quite attractive, we thought. Certainly smart, well dressed, has a car!!! Having a car is almost unbelievable here—means you are raking in the money. She lives about 2 hours from here. We did talk with her about how it is very different in America and the need to reproduce is not such a mandate. She said that in Tanzania you are nothing as a woman unless you have produced a child. The women support this societal attitude and will encourage a divorce if a woman has not produced a child after a reasonable period of time. A PCV in Southern TZ said in her village one man was married 4-5 times before the village members even started considering that maybe he was the infertile one.

 

So, the man we are “martially mentoring” contacted her and stated his marital intentions and although they have never had a face-to-face yet, they talk frequently and he says she is ½ -½ about marrying him.

 

We just think this is so funny. We would never have thought we’d walk into “marital mentorship” here in Tanzania.

 

So, last night we were out with some of the “big potatoes” (as they say here) of this district and asked how they met their wives and what they looked for in a marital partner. One highly educated man said that he sent out the word that he wanted a teacher who would cook and had a figure 8 type of body.  He also said that he is supporting her higher education now so that she will become more educated as he needs someone to talk to, although I’m not sure what he wants to talk to her about yet. More later on this as it becomes more apparent. The other man, less well educated but still certainly a "big potato", said he wanted a woman taller than him so that he could enjoy both sensual parts of a woman simultaneously. I’m sorry, but no more explicit details than that. We asked what the women look for in a man and it isn’t a whole lot different than what happens in the States sometimes—a doctor or a man with high earnings potential. Most women here have no sexual interest at all, unless it is their profession. The conversation went on to preferences of nose shape (broad) and so on. We were told that Mike’s nose is a very good African nose. Now I can tell you that has to be the first compliment Mike has ever received in his life on his nose. I guess mine is acceptable, but not optimal. They did in turn ask Mike what he looked for in a woman and he answered “a good brain and a good heart.” They thought this was curious and just accept it as part of how Americans do marriage. They did not ask me why I married him; I don’t think it would occur to them to ask as they likely don’t think anyone as educated as Mike would get a refusal from anyone he asked. End of story.

 

Where we know that marriage in Tanzania is often arranged and certainly marital expectations and ideas are different, the fact that it is so blatantly started as a reproductive proposal even before the first meeting surprised us. Not much societal confidentiality or “Western-type” etiquette about it at all. That’s what it is here.

 

Marital fidelity is encouraged by the churches. The HIV/AIDS campaigns encourage limiting sexual partners. But honestly, until more recently, it did not bother most women if their husbands were unfaithful. It is just how it was. With the HIV/AIDS rate most do care now, but have no say over their sexual lives.

 

So, the big meeting between the young man and the female medical professional is coming up. I just hope that serving as marital mentors doesn’t mean we have to foot the bill for the wedding. As a matter of fact, I know we don’t because invitations to the wedding are sent out many months in advance, since no-one has enough money to pay for their own celebration. We just sent about $15 to a young woman who is to marry in November. She will be married about 7 hours from here by bus and we will not attend; I’m sure she knows this. But it is how it works here and we are a part of this community, so we got an invitation, which basically means give me money. I don’t have any idea how many invitations she gave out but it would be interesting to know.

 

We’ll let you know if sparks fly at the first meeting of our "mentee" with the female medical professional. We just don’t know yet if sparks have anything to do with a decision to marry, at least in our marital mentorship program.

“Vote for Sherrod Brown” the T-shirt said

Yes, today we were in church and a man walked in with a T-shirt on that said, “Vote for Sherrod Brown” in red, white and blue. So, see, we are really not that far from home.

 

Today is Sunday, kind of a typical do-nothing day that turned out rather well. Church was very hot as usual. Something about that church just makes it hot. All those bodies coming to pray. No such thing as personal space in buses in Tanzania, or churches for that matter. By the end of the service, so many people have packed in, you can’t sit back in the pew anymore unless you consistently maintain the elbows out posture.

 

I finished reading Obama’s first book and did thoroughly enjoy, with some sympathetic sadness, his experience of meeting his family in Kenya. It was written in 1995, only 13 short years ago. And how little things have probably changed since then for his family in Kenya. The family squabbles over money that really doesn’t exist, the bitterness between family members, the striving of some and languishing of others, a few AIDS deaths. It is Africa.

 

The grandmas group are mostly sick. 5 of the 9 of them have fevers, so Mike’s business lesson for them was cancelled yesterday. They’ve all been sick for weeks now. Ajentina has had a fever for 3 weeks. Amina’s ankle always hurts. Jeni is traveling to visit the relatives of the man who just left her to tell them their son is not financially supporting her or his son. I wonder if they care or even have anything to offer if they do care? We go back to Dar next week for Mid-Service Conference and I will go to the duty-free shop retailer to see if he thought their products were sellable in the duty free stores at the airport. He already told me their products were not perfect, like anything hand made is? He gave me some flack about being able to get giraffes from France for $1.50 apiece and selling them for $3. But how is that going to help Tanzanians? Do tourists really want to buy perfect giraffes from France at the airport in Dar es Salaam when grandmas are sewing to earn money for school tuition for orphans? I guess I’ll find out.

 

Mid-Service is really a mid-way health check-up. We go to the dentist. They check our blood and feces. I’d rather skip the dentist as I hear he doesn’t touch teeth anyway. Seems like it would be just as good to send samples in ourselves of the other body fluids or products needed. I guess they want to lay eyes on each of us.

 

Today, Mike’s sister and her two children in NY skyped us and we got to talk to the boys about their extracurricular activities. Lee was more conversational than usual, which I liked. Kathy didn’t have much to say about politics now, other than she was tired of it.

 

Sheila went to hear Obama at the Democratic National Convention in Denver. We are sure she found this to be a wonderful experience as she has been working for Obama for over a year now. It is fun to see her so starry eyed over a candidate; I hope he lives up to her expectations of him.

 

When she was here for a month she told us about a group in Denver that sends medical equipment and supplies to developing countries. I checked out their website and the average shipping container contains about $400,000. worth of wholesale equipment and supplies. While Sheila was here, we spent a day driving to Madibira, about an hour north of here—the area of Tanzania that was just annexed into Ruaha National Park to make it the second largest park in Africa. The Sukuma tribe, similar to the Masai, were paid money for their land; some have stayed in a settlement up there, but many have left for other parts of this region and perhaps Tanzania. The point is that Sheila has pictures of all these empty dispensaries that the district has been able to get the money to build, but not furnish or equip. It will hopefully be very handy for her to drive about 20-25 minutes down I-25 in Denver to talk in person with this group who sends shipping containers to developing countries. I hope this works out. I told the District Medical Officer he needed to appoint someone to work with us on this project as if we do it, none of his staff will be able to continue pulling in international monies after we go. So, the process is looming ahead of taking the head health man (not health facilities like the District Medical Officer) for the district through the process of applying for a huge amount of international money. He has few computer skills, so we will start by opening up an email account for him and go from there.

 

Mike will fix the hospital’s photocopier tomorrow. There is a plan among the district’s computer people to let some computers become non-functional so that the employees who use the computers scream about it. Maybe then the District Executive Officer will see the computer project that seemed to be so promising when we first arrived as more important.

 

I just finished a project for Peace Corps. I kind of fell into this during the weeks we were helping PC Tanzania train the new volunteers. Given they are recruiting older volunteers, the language classes need to be redesigned for older language learners. Older language learners learn differently than younger ones do, primarily due to expected cerebral changes as you age. Since PC’s focus has until recently been younger volunteers, the teaching modalities used are particularly poorly designed for older learners. With my foreign language teaching background, psychological knowledge of adult learning theory and having been through PC language classes and still learning Kiswahili, I was in a unique position to contribute. It was very interesting really and I will be interested to see what PC does with my work. I feel sure it will be forwarded to the African Regional HQ and onto Washington, D.C. PC is well aware they need to adjust to accommodate older learners. But it is such a huge organization, and governmental at that. I’m not expecting anything too quickly.

 

Today and the next 2 days are immunization days for any child under 5 in this district. All health facilities are open and all vaccines (a whole host of vaccines like polio, MMR, etc.) are free. There are certainly enough diseases to vaccinate against here. Too bad there is no malaria vaccine. Getting people to come into the facilities from the far reaches of the district is difficult due to impassable roads, no transportation, etc. I will be interested to hear what the counts are in contrast to the estimated population of children under the age of 5.

 

Another news worthy item is that on Friday, Mike and I went to Madibira to visit the new PC volunteer that was just placed there a week ago. We arranged for her to get a gas tank so she could use the stove in her house. Mike needed to fix the stove anyway. She has no electricity, but does have a refrigerator. The house has been vacant for a year, so we advised that she use the refrigerator for her food storage to diminish the likelihood of attracting any undesirable creatures. She seems mature for her age and we like her. She was getting a lot of how the last volunteer was perfect, spoke beautiful Kiswahili and the tribal language of Kihehe, did all these projects, etc. So, we had to tell her that when we visited with the DMO the village government officials only complained about the last volunteer being gone too much, etc. We have had communication with the last volunteer there and she said the village government (now different people) were not cooperative so she went off on her own to find people in the community to work with. Hearing all this seemed to have a good impact on the new volunteer. It is interesting how when someone leaves, they are elevated as if they were perfect, isn’t it? Makes us wonder what will be said about Mike and I once we leave. We are glad the new vol heard that there was more to it than what she was hearing.

 

So, that is about the news from Rujewa. Nothing exciting but all is OK. Hope all is OK with whoever reads this.