Time flies when you're having....

fun?  Not always, but it's sure been interesting!  Now that we're back from our big splurge on Safari and all the full time attention that required, we've rejoined the normal day to day life around Moshi and have been trying to get the kids back on schedule with the school work and get into some of the "volunteer" work we wanted to do while here.  No pictures this time as we don't feel comfortable taking them in the Orphanages or at the Women's Clinic, so words will have to suffice.

We love the people here, both the expats and the locals, but man can it be frustrating getting even simple things done!  Just a simple trip into town to get a few things for the Women's Clinic can be a two day ordeal.  Our Pamoja Guesthouse is about a mile out of the centre of Moshi.  We have about 3/4 of a kilometer walk on a very rough dirt road beside homes that are either gated and reasonably nice or shacks that would be considerably worse than anything you'd see in Canada - it's interesting how there doesn't seem to be segregation between "nice areas" and "poor areas"...  despite this, we feel perfectly safe and would venture out at night (despite warnings in the guidebooks not to do so|) except for the fact that there are no street lights and power here is very intermittent - we had it for about 8 hours yesterday (which was far worse than average).  They drive like maniacs here and I'd be worried about getting clipped by accident.

The locals never fail to light up with huge smiles when ever you greet them in Swahili (as simple as "Jambo!" (Hi), responded by "Jambo!", or at least 5-6 sentences which we are slowly picking up.  As I've said before, greetings are extremely important here and they really appreciate Muzingu who take the time to learn it.  We've also discovered local shops (there is a guy next door with a small room behind iron grates who will dispense bread ($0.50/loaf), pops ($0.30/bottle), and other usual sundries like fresh eggs (probably from his chickens in his back yard we can hear at all hours - especially the rooster!).  The kids love going over there for a Orange or Purple Fanta (the Purple is sort of like a grape Dr. Pepper - YUCK! But the kids love it).

There are a few ladies down the street that have a table set up and sell local fruits and veggies... so generally, we just buy what we need for the day.  On every second day or so, we run into town to get stuff we need such as more money from the ATM (which only dispenses it in $160 chunks - 400,000 Tanzanian Shillings) or supplies for our project at the Pamoja Women's Clinic.  Even getting something as simple as ziploc bags which we are using to contain the post-partum kits we are putting together is a huge ordeal as 99% of people have never even seen one.  Same goes for safety pins to hold the diapers together!  It seems there is a special store for most items and we've only found two "supermarkets" - and we treat those like gold!

For these kits, we needed to get ziplocs, 2 cloth diapers, an infant baby jumper, a wool hat, some maxipads and then some medical supplies (vitamins, suture kit, surgical gloves).  I think I may have mentioned this but women need to bring these in when they are about to deliver.   We didn't suspect we'd have a tough time finding diapers/safety pins, and thought that the ziplocs/baby jumpers/maxi-pads would present the biggest issue.... but we found an outdoor "mall" called the Memorial Market outside of town that had baby jumpers galore and we were picking up brand name (used) jumpers for 500 shillings each (there are 1700 shillings in a US dollar).  You had to see this market to believe it.  There must have been 300-500 vendors selling stuff at temporary tables (usually covered by a tarp and some temporary roof) with stuff laid out on the ground, on tarps, what ever.  Mostly clothes, but its like the biggest open air bazaar you'd ever seen.  My guess is that this is where most of the stuff you give to Sally Anne eventually ends up.

Maxi-pads were also easy to find and were surprisingly inexpensive although the girl in the store did raise her eyebrows somewhat when Jen told her she wanted to buy 16 large packages of the most absorbent kind.  You could see her thinking... "poor woman"!

Cloth diapers were the biggest surprise.  They cost about 5 times as much as the baby jumpers...  and more than the average woman could make in a day's work...  We have no idea how they afford them.  Even more than the prices of these items, the experience of shopping for them was quite enlightening/frustrating.  The moment we hit the second roundabout in Moshi (the start of the downtown strip), we end up getting tagged with all kinds of touts trying to peddle something.  I'm pretty used to being hassled by street touts but these folks put it into a new league.  They all want to know where you are from (standard old line), then they'll tell you their line about what ever it is they are trying to sell and then when you make it clear you aren't going to buy from them, the continue to walk with you for the rest of your trip, following you into shops and trying to help you decide to buy something from that shop.  We're sure that they work off of some sort of commission  system as a few times, we were walking down the street unmolested (it helps to walk very purposefully in a specific direction and ignore the touts altogether) but the moment we turn to enter a shop, someone would spring off the sidewalk and enter with you and then act as your "assistant".  It's quite frustrating as you know you are going to end up paying more.

I've noticed that they don't do this when you go into the "supermarkets" (basically old style general stores - our Hawkestone General Store would be a "supermarket" here - and in Costa Rica).  I suspect this is because the supermarkets have the prices printed on the items and they use (IBM) cash registers to scan the items on checkout.  We tried to buy some shampoo and a bar of soap at one shop (with a tout "assisting") and they wanted 5000 for the soap and 15000 for a completely generic brand of cheap shampoo.  When we told them no way, they immediately dropped the price on the shampoo to 5000.  That really annoyed us but we politely walked out and then down to a local supermarket where we bought a brand name shampoo in a fancy bottle for 8000.

Unfortunately, this additional "pressure" has made us somewhat reticent to go into town.  It really gets at Jen and I'm not keen on it either.  We know we are representing our country and don't want to be rude, but these folks are SO persistent it's hard not to be.  We've scoped out different ways to enter the town centre without passing by the spots where they sit to pick up their targets.  Its too bad the shop keepers seem to encourage this as I'm sure they'd do a lot more business if their customers didn't feel so much pressure.  We now head into town knowing which banks/stores we want to hit first so we aren't carrying around bags (when you have a bag, you've shown you are willing to buy something - although getting to the ATM also tells them you CAN buy something).  Then we call for a taxi in our last store (the SIM card I bought for my BlackBerry has been a godsend in more ways than one) and put all the stuff in the car and head home directly.  It sure makes you appreciate the super stores back home!

The last few days, we've been doing school work and shopping as well as acting as nurses for the doctors at two different orphanages as they were doing general checkups.  Jen and I would set up an assembly line where I'd measure their height, arm circumference and weight while Jen would create a small school booklet with their name, sex, date of birth, etc.  Then we'd send the kids off to see one of the doctors for a checkup.  Most of the kids were fine, but many of them had fungal infections in their hair or skin that left untreated could leave disfiguration that could result in bald patches or scars on their faces.  They are also checking on the teenage girls pretty heavily as they are mostly all anemic.  They then schedule secondary checks the next day.  We've seen about 30-40 kids at each of the orphanages and we have another one next week.  While Jen and I are doing this, Rachel and Shawn play with the kids to keep them out of the doctor's equipment.

We've found that they are exceptionally well behaved when it comes to following instructions.  We could give them their booklet and ask them to go to the doctors, and they'd wait there patiently for up to half an hour for their turn.  In North America, the kids would be bouncing off the walls.  The ones we haven't seen yet, or have already been through would play games.  The first day, Rachel and Shawn would play soccer or   a game that the kids played (boys against the girls passing the ball to each other).  Rachel has really been missing the team sports so really enjoyed this.  We've made it a point to bring a new soccer ball to each of the orphanages as we've come and it's been a big hit.

Yesterday, the kids had a sand pile (not much more than a sandbox without sides) and two bags of sand piled on top of each other.  They'd run at the sand bags and then use them as a launching pad to do flips and cartwheels of amazing dexterity.  We were quite impressed by how they'd amuse themselves.   The kids are also picking up that each of the kids doesn't have anything... as you'll often see boys wearing pink crocs or shirts with female specific sayings on them... or girls with pants and boys clothes.  As all school kids here HAVE to have their heads shaved, its really tough to tell the young girls from the boys - especially when they are all cross dressing with what ever fits.

We've loved working with them but are under no illusions that we are changing the world.  These poor kids are coming from so far behind, they'll likely never have anything even the most poor Canadian would take for granted.   I was transcribing from the Orphanage records yesterday to make our lists, and they listed the parents of these kids.  About half were orphans with no known parents, the other half had either a mother or  2 parents that were separated.  Its quite sad to see whole families there.  In many cases, the family breaks up and neither parent is able or willing to care for them.  At the orphanage at least they are getting some meals, a place to stay and the opportunity to go to school (if someone donates a school uniform and shoes for them).   If they make it to secondary school (they start primary school at age 7 so go until they are 15 or so and then move to secondary school for 4 years), they will learn some English but most know basic greetings and answers to questions like "what is your name/age?"

We're here in Tanzania for another month and have been trying to figure out how long we should stay here but we know we'll be here for at least the next 10 days or so.  While its frustrating, the smiles of the Tanzanian people and kids, make it all worthwhile.  There are so many issues here its frustrating because the system is so busted its hard to figure out what needs to happen to fix it all.

Free and fair elections would be a good start.  The last bunch apparently the government went around on such a spending spree buying votes that its out of money now.  Between the government and the NGO's siphoning off the aid, very little of it is reaching down to the people who need it the most.  We're very conscious of not doing things that take away other peoples (potential) jobs but it also seems that the folks who do have jobs are all on a union time card system as they seem to spend as much time finding ways to avoid work as doing it.  We're told that this is endemic here and that once they become adults and get a job, they feel entitled and then don't push for change or to get ahead.  Teachers are especially bad as they make nothing and rely upon volunteers to do most of the heavy lifting but then don't carry on any best practices.

The one exception I've seen is the local ditch diggers (they are putting in sewage pipes along the streets|).  These guys are digging a 4' deep trench along the side roads by hand with shovels and picks.  You see these guys hard at it all day long.  Their stamina is very impressive.  None of them weighs more than 120 lbs.  The soil here is rock hard and they are also digging up some very large boulders.  Its great to see them putting in sewage pipes.  Hopefully garbage collection is next.  They seem to dig deep holes anywhere (the middle of the street is OK), and dump stuff in that they can't burn - water bottles, cans, etc.) and fill them up until its about 1' from the surface and then start another hole.  Everyone has a fire going in their backyard (or in the ditch in front of their house) to burn garbage.  At least it keeps the mosquitoes away!

Power here is pretty intermittent and the internet connection was down for 36 hours because something happened to some tower somewhere.  Until they can get reliable infrastructure, any business would be nuts to set up here even if they had a decent education system (which they don't).  A lot of people think the government actually tries to keep the infrastructure back as it helps them keep the people under control.  This is a democracy but there is a large block on Zanzibar that votes uniformly (Muslim) and they have the most seats and therefore the levers of power.  Until they have a (peaceful) change of government with some competition, I'm not sure things will ever change.  For sure the NGO's aren't helping much as most of the money seems to go into providing the expat NGO supported workers with nice homes/cars etc rather than into the people who really need it.  That's one of the reasons we are so taken with what is happening at these orphanages and at the Pamoja Women's Clinic.  They are really run by people without ties to the NGO's and are doing things on a shoestring directly for the people who need it most.

These folks really are saints and make us feel very humble indeed.  I'm glad our kids are getting a chance to see this as its starting to sink in how lucky they are - which was our main reason for doing this in the first place (we aren't under any impression that any work we are doing will make a significant difference beyond easing our consciences a bit).  We'll certainly never forget the advantages we have as Canadian's.  This is nothing WE did.... we were just lucky enough to be born Canadian.  It makes our problems seem rather insignificant in comparison.  You always "know" that, but living this, really drives it home.

We just watched our first big downpour here... it lasted about 20 minutes and came down pretty hard but now is clearing up so we're heading into town to pick up some supplies for ourselves and the guesthouse/women's clinic.  Wish us luck!