My title is a quote from my mama, another one that holds true for almost everything, but mainly celebrations and dala dala rides! Just today I ended up having to stand, completely squished between 6 others standing along with the lucky 18 that got "seats." Since I couldn't see anything out the windows I completely missed my stop (usually the conductors call out stops... but he didn't call mine!), so when I finally told him "Susha Quarters" he looked at me funny and that's when I realized I had some walking to do! Luckily for me, it wasn't dark yet and there was a beautiful view of Mt. Meru as I wandered home. 

The days are just flying by and Njiro is starting to feel more and more like home! Aside from occasionally not having power and every once in a while no water (land lord issues), everything is good! I went with Jim out to a Maasai farm where they were trying out conservation agriculture techniques along with a planting method in bags. It was nice taking  a break from being in the city and spending a day where the only thing to hear is tall grass and corn stalks brushing up against each other in the wind. 

To gain a better understanding of the milling process here, I took another field trip, aka a 45 minute walk behind our house, to find some local mills in a nearby village. We were trying to get a good grasp on how long maize is soaked before being processed through the machines and if it made a great difference if the kernels are dry or not when they enter.  

For now with GCS and Twende, I've been gathering information on all of their products and projects, planning out what tests I can run, and have started writing a grant with Jim for his animal powered battery charger project.

Boy, did I plan this summer right... I am not only here with organizations that have amazing initiatives, but what really tops it off is the food I'm going to be cooking these next few weeks. Matoke was one of the first dishes I've learned so far and it included all of those vegetables in the first picture below - how can that not be good!  I am loving the idea of spending so much time with my Tanzanian mama and Farida while cooking up some of the most delicious food I've ever had. It is going to be so excited making this cookbook and then sharing it with everyone back home. Finally, the secret will be revealed as to what you can eat here. I have already come to the conclusion that no matter the cost, I must make real, fresh juice for myself when get back to school. Avocado, orange, passion juice is something I can't wait to have until next time I return here (which who knows when that will be!) 

" If you love something, take care of it, and it will last" 
                        To love - to take care - to last 
A much better version of the acronym "KKK" was referred to at my first church service in Tanzania. It holds true for almost anything- your body, a relationship, or even a car. 
                      I think it's good to keep in mind!

Starting with a long church service and then an afternoon party, my second Sunday here was filled with celebration for my mama's eldest brother's 70th birthday! Being the only mzungu there, I was introduced to so many people and was able to meet a lot of my mama's family! It was super neat being able to see the traditions for big occasions like this. For cutting the cake, her brother cut the first piece and was fed a small piece of cake by his wife. Then, all of their closest relatives had to go up to the front to receive a bite of cake before everyone else. After eating the entire rest of the family was introduced and I was then called to introduce myself in front of everyone in Swahili- I think they enjoyed my broken attempt :) 

We now have a tentative schedule set for cooking. Farida, mama, and I meet on Sundays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays from around 10 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. It takes so long to cook most of the dishes we've done so far, especially when we use the traditional coal stove rather than gas, and not to mention buying all the ingredients fresh that day! It's safe to say though... the time is definitely worth it, yum!!!

I have been here officially two weeks now! It's always so hard to believe how fast everything goes by, especially when days just blur together here. I now have a pretty set plan for the 8 weeks I have left here, it's just a matter of squeezing it all in! Jim and Jodie, founders of Twende and GCS are both finally back in Arusha, so it makes things a little easier to figure out as far as how I can help. I will post a blog about my activities in the office soon :D but for now:

COOKBOOK PLANNING!

I visited my mama and Cradle of Love again on Saturday to finalize my plans with the cookbook. So let me share what my plans are!!! Since the women's organization I was going to work with didn't work out, I quickly brainstormed a solution. I am so lucky I did not come over here thinking my plans would be set in stone, and have some connections for when things don't turn out they way I expected. The new plan is still going to be making a cookbook, just allocating the funds to organizations that I know could use it in a meaningful way. 

Instead of just young women, I'm going to use my cookbook to fundraise for females of ALL ages in Tanzania :) To do this I am going to raise funds for THREE organizations instead of just one. Since my original goal was $7000 for Faraja, I figured if I am able to raise $2000 or more for each, I would deem my project as a success! So let me introduce you to:


Cradle of Love: of course! As most of you know, I love babies! I'm going to be volunteering at Cradle of Love for a few hours each week and will be sponsoring a baby girl with the funds I raise. It costs about  $1800 a year for each baby and with over 40 babies now, the cost to run the home is rising. Every time I go, I am overwhelmed with how much love and care these little abandoned/orphaned babies need. The home was created by Davona Church, and is based out of the U.S. They are recognized as a tax-deductible donation, so I think they will be the easiest to reach my goal, and hopefully more!!! If I find any businesses or individuals willing to donate, but only if it can be deemed tax-deductible, they'd be able to write a check directly and can purchase the cookbook separately if they'd like! I will post pictures and some info about my favorite babies soon :D 

Wanawake Afrika: meaning African Women, as I mentioned in an earlier blog- this is the organization the couple I was going to work with at Faraja, Mike and Sue Sanders, before learning how corrupt the management was there. They are now working to support the graduates of the Faraja center with scholarships to continue schooling. Since I have gotten quite the range of scholarships and grants for my time at Tulane, I think it would be great to return the favor to a young woman who really needs it! I hope to meet with them soon to finalize details and see if there is anything else I can help with.

Hekima:  meaning "wise" in Swahili, it is an organization my mama is highly involved with and I had heard about it many times last year when she'd go to meetings. Since she is my best source to continue making a successful cookbook, I can only hope to return the favor in some way. The whole idea of the group is a support network that allows each member a chance to make a better life for themselves through entrepreneurial endeavors. There are 37 members currently, mostly older women, that work together to make ends meet. Their main system is micro-loaning, where they each pay a certain amount each week to put into a larger group account. When a member has an idea to improve their business, they are able to loan out 5 times as much as they had given in order to make a big purchase. My mama just bought a fridge with this money in order to sell fresh juice and cold sodas during the day. Last year while I was in Arusha, the group attended a training session on how to make yogurt and how to preserve food. I am hoping with the $2000 I raise for them, they can not only increase their lending capabilities, but also plan a training session for the entire group! The women here are absolutely inspiring, always doing whatever they can and working hard to make sure their families are taken care of. It is going to be an honor meeting the members of the group and seeing how these funds will help, including my mama! 


Since my mama is so busy with meetings, she's having a good friend bibi Farida, who I met briefly last year, come and help with cooking because she only works a few days a week now. The biggest problem I have found here is the lack of jobs that offer any type of continuity. People are so willing to work at the lowest of wages if they know they will have some type of consistent income. With both my mama and Farida self-employed and working part-time, they are happy to spend time teaching me to cook. I am paying for all of the food costs and have agreed to give them S5000 for each recipe I learn for the cookbook by the end of my stay (aiming for about 30-35 so approximately $100 USD) with some of the grant money I received this spring. Hopefully, with some free delicious meals, quality time with their silly American mzungu daughter/granddaughter, and a little incentive to offset the number of hours spent, they will find this experience just as rewarding as I will!!! I am also hoping to get a recipe or two from Cradle of Love, Wanawake Afrika, my favorite restaurants in town and perhaps on the coast so everyone can contribute at least a little bit of Tanzanian culture :D 

Extremely excited!!

I have been slowly gaining back my confidence to travel around by myself and the last two days were spent visiting! Last summer, I consistently had someone with me, mostly my partner Soren. Traveling alone as a mzungu can get a little draining. Dala dala rides are usually just fine, but every once in a while, if there are teenagers sitting next to you, it can call for an uncomfortable ride knowing they are just talking about you and laughing hysterically about it. I enjoy when I'm completely ignored, just as everyone else is on the dala dala! At least these instances are great motivators to keep working on my Swahili, I just wish I was better at memorizing! I have at least gained back all of the vocab and grammar I learned last year and am learning new phrases and words every day. On Tuesday, GCS had to run some errands in town so I decided to go with and visit Mt. Meru Hospital. I was worried my favorite staff member, Nuru, and the bili lights Soren and I had built would  both be gone, but luckily both were there :) Nuru was super surprised to see me again and of course asked where "Sony" was. After chatting, she escorted be to the NEW neonatal room, which is so much better than the one we worked in last year! There was a new doctor in charge and he informed me that there was an oxygen concentrator that hasn't been working after I'd told him what I did last year. Unfortunately, I don't have the kind of tools we were using last year, so I told them I'd make sure the EWH group knows and will come to help as well when they arrive! The nurses showed me to the bili lights and a baby was right there underneath it! I had a pretty big fear that they'd either not have it or they'd have it stuck in a corner, I always love nice surprises! She was saying how "it cures babies so fast" and that the staff loves it. I was glad we had made it so easy to move, considering they moved it to an entirely different building! After chatting for a bit, I headed out and Nuru invited me over to her house, so I am excited to head over there sometime soon!

On Wednesday, I set out determined to finally go see my mama and volunteer at Cradle of Love. I figured Mama John wouldn't be at the house when I arrived around 11:30 (it takes a little over an hour to get to Makumera from Njiro via dala dala) and ended up basically doing some type of gesturing/bad Swahili/simple English to try and ask her house girl when she'd be back and when I thought I'd be back. I figured, since it was a big market day, that she would't get back until at least 3 and it'd give me some time to visit Cradle of Love. It happened to be lunch time so nobody was around to let me in their gate, so I went further up to visit TCDC and drink a soda while I waited. TCDC is where we took our Swahili classes and had repair labs and became such a comfortable place to always go back to in our second month at the hospital. Finally, I was able to get into Cradle and was told the older babies were still asleep, but I was welcome to go into the nursery (a first!!!). My heart just melted putting my little scrub attire on and entering a room with 9 precious newborns (0-6 months). There were a few other volunteers there, so while we were all holding and feeding babies, it was nice hearing about their adventures so far and what they've liked about Arusha.  But my goodness, seeing how a helpless little bundle of love can feel safe and comfortable just by being held close is something words can't describe. After wandering around the nursery for a while with a sleepy baby named Priket, one of the staff members, Rhoda, proclaimed, "Unapenda watoto!"  (you like children!) with a big smile and of course I replied, "Ndiyo, kabisa!" (Yes, completely!). Time went by way too fast, and I realized I had to go since it was already 4:30. One of the trickiest parts about being here is how quickly it gets dark out. It is basically pitch black by 7:30, and it's never advised for anyone to roam around too much after that. With a quick visit to my mama's, I was able to explain the cookbook project to her and ask her if she'd be willing to help me with cooking now since my main source is gone. She said she'd think about it because she's so busy and didn't know if she'd have the time. I inquired about the women's group she is in and my brain started churning about how I could bring all of this together. 

I survived my first outing by myself  and decided to pick up some fresh fruits and veggies to add to the collection in the house. It is amazing how cheap and delicious the local produce is here. The bananas, cucumber, tomatoes, oranges, and avocado pictured were purchased for 2000 shillings or $1.25 at a stand that is literally a 45 second walk from my house! I am so excited to start the cookbook process and take full advantage of all the deliciousness Tanzania has to offer :D

So where am I?? Just outside of Arusha again, but on the other side of town. It's a nicer area of the Arusha region called Njiro. It is pretty crazy the kind of things I have access to here. A local theater, currently playing Men in Black III, is only a 15 minute walk from my house! I have checked out both of the nearby supermarkets and they really do contain everything I'd need! Granted, I am not really willing to pay $10 for a box of Coco Rice Krispies... but hey I have the option if I wanted! Among these luxuries, I can get fresh fruit and vegetables for... just about $0.10 each right on my street which is wonderful. Hello big, ripe parachichi (avocados)- so much gaucamole to be made in the near future :D  This weekend wasn't too eventful. Saturday was filled with food and fun as there were two going away parties, one at our house for Mo, who was with GCS for two months, and another for a volunteer at St. Jude's. I had never really heard of the School of St. Jude until arriving and it seems like such an amazing school program! It is primarily run (and founded) by Australians and has really efficient and organized management to keep the school up and running through sponsorship and donations. Check them out here. They go to African drum and dance lessons during the week, so I'm hoping to join :D 

Today was really my first day in the workshop, I've been introduced to all of the current projects GCS and Twende are working on and will probably be working on a maize grinder - hand held and then how to mount it on a bicycle. Pictured below is the maize sheller! It is really neat that I get to work with such a new company, I really want to get a sense of what it's like to run a business and all the demands and challenges. It's such a small team over here, I think it is going to be exciting to see how it grows! 

My project that was supposed to be with Faraja took quite a turn. The volunteers I had been contacting informed me that they unfortunately had to end their work early due to some corruption found at the center that they could no longer tolerate. I am pretty sure I wouldn't even be welcomed anymore after what I've heard! This kind of thing isn't all that of a surprise, sadly it's all too common here. People donate to such big projects and a lot of embezzlement and abuse occurs. I am glad I at least have plenty of connections throughout Arusha to continue with my cookbook and ensure the funds I raise go to an excellent cause! I will probably help Mike and Sue, who I was supposed to help at Faraja with, in their new efforts to send girls to better schools and help them become independent!  Their new non-profit is called  Wanawake Afrika. 

I'm hoping to make time to visit my Mama this week/weekend, it's just so hard making it out there (will probably be at least an hour and a half travel time each way) when there's still daylight! I'm also anxious to go visit Cradle of Love again to get some quality play time in with the cutest babies in the world <3