Tanzania and the Beginning of SIC!

SIC has finally started! Right now we are in the middle of orientation. We have been reviewing the curriculum while staying at a Mt. Meru University just outside of Arusha. It is pretty cold here and at a high elevation so even walking up and down the hills leaves me huffing. Yesterday we had our first day of teaching practice; we tried to get the hang of working with our Tanzanian teaching partners who translate as we speak. I've learned a lot about teaching and lesson planning in just a short time and that it is important to say articulate and concise sentences that can easily be translated.

We spent our first few nights of SIC in a hostel in Arusha, just outside there were crazy dogs that roamed and howled all night long. At home I am a total dog lover, but here most dogs inspire fear. I try to say "shh" and tip toe around them as they growl and bare their teeth. Dogs are meant for protection and most people keep them tied up during the day and release them at night to bark at the sound of any stranger. Since everyone that works at the hostel goes to bed at about 9 pm, it leaves the volunteers to fend for ourselves against the dogs.

There are 18 volunteers doing VP3 from UCLA, Stanford, U of Washington and U of South Hampton in England. In about a week we will be dividing up into teaching groups of about 3 volunteers and 2 Tanzanian teaching partners each; each group will live in homestays within a village. Our goal is to educate a primary and/or secondary school in addition to community groups--soccer teams, village leaders, mama groups etc. We will also be educating peer educators to continue the teaching after we are gone and running voluntary testing and counseling clinics. The past week we have been reviewing the curriculum and I can't wait to share it with the community. In learning about HIV/AIDS in Africa I have not only seen what a huge problem it is in sub-saharan Africa, but I have also realized what a problem it is in the U.S. More than 1 in 200 people in the U.S. is HIV+ yet it is not nearly as discussed as the risk of pregnancy or STIs.

Orientation has been a great opportunity to learn a lot more about HIV and about Tanzanian attitudes towards the disease. At one point in class we were discussing how to talk about the origins of HIV in a classroom setting. Most of the Americans thought we could mention all the theories (hunter-monkey transmission, conspiracy, punishment, polio vaccine, flight steward etc.) then emphasize that the most widely accepted scientific theory is that hunter monkey theory. This theory suggests HIV evolved from SIV (Simian Immunodeficiency Virus) when a hunter exchanged blood with a monkey it was butchering in the DRC. Our Tanzanian teaching partners were very upset by the idea of teaching this as the only or even primary theory. The first question asked was "was it a white hunter or a black hunter?" Many Africans believe that HIV came from the white world, formed as part of a conspiracy by the American government. It is very difficult for us, as white Americans, to attempt to teach the hunter-monkey theory without appearing to be trying to blame Africans for the virus. Even many of the teaching partners saw this as trying to avoid talking about the conspiracy theory. This kind of tricky topic is what we have faced over and over again as foreigners trying to come in and teach about a very stigmatized disease.

Yesterday we also learned about the VCT (Voluntary Counseling and Testing Clinic) that SIC runs. I am so excited to work with the VCT. The leaders described people taking the courageous step to get tested then running out of the VCT skipping with joy when they found out they were negative. As I will likely get tested with some of my students to help them feel more comfortable about the process, I can't help but feel slightly nervous to find the result. I can only imagine this fear amplified 100 fold by someone who has a much much higher likelihood of having been exposed.

I have much more to say... will write in 3 weeks!

Avery

Nairobi and Zanzibar

Hi!

Right now I'm next to a beautiful white sand beach on the north shore of Zanzibar in a town called Nungwi. It is absolutely gorgeous here with aquamarine water, palm trees and tropical flowers. Josh, Laura and I are taking a quick vacation before SIC begins in Arusha on the 23rd. Last night we spent in Stone Town a historic area of Zanzibar Town known for its narrow streets and Arabic architecture. It was fun to wander the winding streets, and get lost, shopping for scarves and kangas. We ate dinner at a beautiful restaurant on the beach where we watched the sun set.

We left Nairobi on the 15th and took a mini van to Arusha. The border crossing was slightly stressful as we were squeezed into a tiny room where we had to wait and push to get to the counter 45 minutes later. Claire, the new SIC volunteer coordinator, greeted us in Arusha and brought us to a hostel to spend the night. We briefly explored Arusha, a small, quaint town surrounded by beautiful mountains--Kilimanjaro and Meru in the distance. The next day we woke up early and took the 6:30 am bus to Dar es Salaam. We arrived in Dar about 3:45 pm hoping to catch the last ferry to Zanzibar. Our cab driver gave me a mild heart attack swerving through the cars trying to get to the port when suddenly he slammed on the breaks, stuck in a traffic jam. We missed the ferry, and spent the next few hours searching for an open hostel in Dar. The next morning we caught the 8:30 ferry to Zanzibar; it was a picturesque boat ride as we passed small islands and dhows (fishing boats often sailboats).

Zanzibar has been a beautiful and luxurious vacation spot. However, just outside the gates of the touristy hotel district in Nungwi lies an extremely poor village. Today we walked along the beach to Kendwa (a nearby beach), when we turned around to come back the tide had come in and we could no longer walk along the beach. Instead, a local man offered to show us another way which involved trekking through piles of trash, which smelled vile and had been dumped by a local hotel. Monday I am looking forward to going SCUBA diving and then returning to Arusha on Tuesday for SIC!

Back to Nairobi... I just wanted to write a little bit about Nairobi too! I was so happy to spend a few days in Nairobi, one of Africa's biggest and most industrious cities. Still on the U.S. Government's travel warning list, Kenya and especially Nairobi is though to be dangerous, however I found it to be very safe and comfortable. We spent one day exploring the city and visiting the Maasai Market in town where we bargained for beaded bracelets, candle stick holders and t-shirts. Another day we visited Village Market, expat central. When we entered Village Market I was convinced I had left Africa. Situated amongst the embassies in suburbia, it contains everything an America mall does--a large supermarket, clothing shops, jewelry stores, lots of restaurants and tons of white and Indian people. For the first time we completely blended in with the crowd. Our last day in Nairobi we visited Nairobi National Park where we saw two lions eating a carcass, giraffes, wildebeast, lots of zebras, impala and many birds. Afterwards we took a Safari Walk, basically a guided tour through an outdoor zoo, that had pygmy hippos and a white rhino. The guide let us climb inside the rhino's cage to get close-up pictures then took us to pet the cheetah!! I thought we would be petting a baby, but our guide led us right into the cheetah's cage to pet the full-grown cheetah. It was completely calm as we pet and snapped pictures of it.

We spent the last 2 nights in Nairobi with Dr. David Waithaka's family. He lives outside Nairobi in Kikuyu Town. We enjoyed learning about his microfinance community projects and hearing a first-hand account of the election-related violence. His whole family was so welcoming and kind to us and we were grateful to have a nice bed, warm shower and delicious food! The 2nd night with the Waithaka's we ate tilapia cooked whole, which was absolutely delicious--tender and flavorful--yum!

Avery

Chogoria and Village Hopecore International

Hello from Nairobi!

I'm now back in Nairobi after 2 weeks in Chogoria and happy to have Internet access! Chogoria, located amongst rolling mountains covered in tea and banana plantations, is a completely different world. Despite the natural beauty, the vast majority of the people living in the region are stuck in poverty and suffering from constant illness. Kenya has 60% unemployment and a very disproportionate percentage of people below 25. Chogoria feels the effects of the lack of jobs with many people living on less than $1 per day.

As we drove up to the Safari Cafe on our first day in Chogoria time froze as the people digging next to the road, buying fruits at the market and walking to school stopped what they were doing to follow our every move with their eyes. Dr. Mugambe told us many of them had never seen a white person and that there had probably never been such a large group (8 of us) in Chogoria at one time. We explored the market in town which had fresh fruit stands selling delicious passion fruit and papaya and many used clothes shipped over from the U.S. and Europe.

We spent the first few days staying in a Motel as we learned about the village and how to stay healthy. Avoiding malaria is quite a challenge--not only taking the medication, but applying DEET in the mornings and at night, burning mosquito coils to keep the bugs out of our room and treating mosquito nets to sleep under. Our 2 trip mantras were: 1) No one gets traveler's diarrhea and 2) No one gets malaria.

After 3 nights we moved into homestays. I stayed with Dr. Mugambe's sister, Mama Mary. The house was definitely upper class for Chogoria. We had piped water (most of the time) and a toilet. There was no electricity and cooking was done over fire wood in the kitchen. In Mary's home lived her mother who was 90 (or around that--many people here do not know their actual age), one of Mary's daughters, Edith, 2 of her grandchildren, Brian and Ivonne, a housekeeper and her 6-month old daughter and a man who looked after the cow. However, it soon became clear that much of the time there are many more people living there including another of Mary's daughters and a son. It took us a while to figure out exactly who was who in the family as they often referred to friends as sisters or cousins.

During our stay we experienced the illness faced so frequently by our families. 3 people in family had malaria and the little boy, Brian, was coughing and spitting almost non-stop. They said he had been like that since birth. Both my roommate Laura and I also caught little colds. We could see what a challenge it is to stay healthy in this environment. It was a similar story in the other homestays where one person had Typhoid Fever and many others had malaria. When we visited Chogoria’s hospital we also learned the most common sicknesses are malaria and TB as well as AIDS. The nurse described how just a few years ago the hospital was full of people with AIDS, yet increasing encouragement of home care had eased some of the burden.

The day began at 6 am when everyone woke up to begin heating water for baths, milking the cow, doing laundry and preparing breakfast. We took baths in basins by combining heated water with cold piped water. During the day, we worked with Village Hopecore International, founded by Dr. Mugambe to work towards poverty eradication. Village Hopecore uses a 3-pronged strategy of education, economics and health. VHI provides $400 loans to groups of 12 people who must repay the loan over an 18 month period. If anyone in the group defaults, then the other members must compensate for them in order to be able to take out another loan. The groups also receive business training to learn what is an effective business. Many used the loan to buy a cow which provides milk for the family and manure for the farm. Village Hopecore is also the first microfinance bank to give loans to HIV+ people who consistently take their ARVs and so far everyone has repaid.

Our role in Chogoria was to visit two groups of HIV+ people who hope to receive VHI loans. We recorded their stories and took pictures in hopes of raising enough money for their groups to get loans. The unfunded groups build credit by participating in Merry-Go-Rounds in which they loan about $110 to a different member of the group once a month.

Conducting these interviews was my favorite part of being in Chogoria. We interviewed one women who was an HIV activist teaching people to live positively with HIV and also teaching young people how to avoid the virus. However, others had not yet told family members out of fear of being made fun of or neglected. Yet, overall, there is significant progress being made in confronting HIV. In many towns there are murals painted on the walls about AIDS and Voluntary Testing Clinics. The people we interviewed also described how ten years ago people ran away from anyone with HIV. They associated HIV with witchcraft, refused to eat with positive people and forced some HIV+ people to lose their jobs since co-workers did not want to work with them. Now, about 10% of people in Chogoria have HIV and people are much more educated. Although the stigma is far from gone, many people said they feel comfortable making their status public under the current conditions.

The majority of the people we interviewed were women with the classic story of HIV in Africa. Most often their husband was a truck driver or a migrant worker in one of Kenya’s big cities. Usually the women had been consistently sick for many years and only got tested when the doctor encouraged it or as part of prenatal care. However, for women who had children more than 3 years ago they were often not tested for HIV and it was heartbreaking to meet the young HIV+ children.

I am so happy to have been able to work with VHI. The employees and the people on loans are so motivated to improve their situation. I was equally impressed by the village’s rapidly changing attitudes towards HIV. Many of the infected people I interviewed described the shock and depression following their positive test. While some were clearly still stuck in this stage, others described how counselling and friendship helped them to escape depression and look to live a full and meaningful life. HIV is no longer a death sentence and as people see others living decades on ARVs, the village is beginning to realize HIV+ people are going to be around for a long time.

I wish I had time to write more and I’m sorry I do not have time to write better!… I will write soon about the amazing stories of Dr. Mugambe and his employees.

I hope everyone is having a great summer! Take care!

Avery

P.S. Carnivore

The last few days I’ve been in Nairobi with Ashleigh and Josh. The first night we feasted at Carnivore, an all-you-can-eat restaurant featuring crocodile, ostrich meat balls, pork, sausage, chicken, beef, lamb, ribs… the list goes on. It was quite an experience as expats and safari tourists gathered to be served by carvers dressed in Zebra and tiger stripes!