Mike Sayers January - February 2008
Everything's new
When you volunteer in a developing country for the first time you know things will be different, but not necessarily how they will be different. Here are a few differences that have made an impression on me.
First class travel
My experience of the buses starts with my journey with Leonard from Arusha to Usangi (the location of my teaching assignment). The moment we enter Arusha bus station, we have a couple of young men descending on us, wanting to help us find the right bus. Leonard responds to them, but strides on. Others join in and before long there are half a dozen milling around. I tuck in behind Leonard and fortunately am largely ignored. Leonard knows exactly where to find the bus and so needs no help. Before long we are on the bus, but it strikes me that this could be somewhat intimidating if you are on your own. I am also concerned that this will be very tame compared to Moshi bus station, described by my Bradt guide as 'a descent into hell ... one of the most hellish in Africa', because of all the hassling from men anxious to secure a commission by getting you to their bus. Fortunately, when I get to Moshi I find it has been cleaned up; it is well organised, with bus lanes labelled with their destinations and the hassling pretty low level.The bus leaves Arusha for its first stop, Moshi, at the advertised time (0900), which I am soon to discover is not what should be expected as the norm. The bus driver has his own technique, making liberal use of his horn and coaxing some quite impressive speeds out of a bus that must be 30-40 years old. I start to understand what the Rough Guide means when it describes the Arusha-Moshi highway as 'extremely perilous, and the antics of the average driver are enough to kick in visions of your life in flashback'. We get to Moshi safely, however, and then onto Mwanga where we get on a daladala for the final leg of the journey to Usangi. You are told that daladalas go when they are full. Well, the truth of this depends on what you understand by 'full'. In this, my first experience of a daladala, when it is full (ie all seats taken) it waits for more people ... and more. Finally, when you couldn't possibly pack in any more people, the daladala leaves ... and then stops after a few hundred yards to pick up some more people ... and then stops again to pick up some more. In the end a daladala with 12 seats carries 26 people, plus assorted plastic bags, handbags, boxes and a smallish suitcase or two. This I subsequently find is the norm for daladala travel. One my most recent trip I found myself sitting on a stool (no back) with the man behind's knees for my backrest, a young girl sitting on my lap, and, out of the window to my left, two legs dangling from a body sitting on the roof.The good thing about the daladalas is that by contrast the buses start to feel luxurious. The bus journeys I take from Usangi to Moshi in the weeks that follow I regard as a superior form of travel - positively first class!
En-suite facilities
My first taste of a volunteer's accommodation, at the Flamingo in Arusha, is basic. My second taste, at Usangi, is extremely basic. The difference is to be found in the bathroom, which, in Usangi, comprises a long-drop toilet and a bucket shower. The long-drop requires certain changes in technique which I need not go into. A bucket shower is also not quite as straight-forward as I first thought. On my first night I mix into the basin all the hot water from the kettle with a suitable amount of cold water, and soap myself with it. This leaves the water in the basin soapy, making it very difficult to rinse myself properly. On the second day I refine my technique, using only half the water from the kettle when soaping, emptying the mixture down the long-drop, and then using the remaining half for rinsing. This was an improvement, but I must remember to remove the soap from the basin before pouring the soapy water down the long drop. Fortunately I have another bar of soap.
Table manners
Lunch is provided at school. At lunch time two of the girl students arrive in the staff room to assist. Their first duty is to go round the table pouring water over each member of staff's hands for washing prior to eating. I watch carefully and manage to wash my hands using this method without embarrassing myself. On my first day the meal is ugali and some meat stew. I notice that only mine is served with a spoon. I enquire and am told that the other teachers eat with their right hand, not with cutlery. I suggest that I do the same and after a lesson from one of the teachers I proceed to eat without the spoon. I feel I am doing well, but my efforts produce much amusement. At the end of the meal the form is to walk over to the two students to get your hands washed again. Again I manage this, by observing the others and copying.
At the butcher's
One Saturday I decide to go to Moshi on my own. The landlord's son, Saidi, offers to escort me down to the bus stop. Just before we get there we see a few men with a cow. Saidi tells me to walk over with him to the group and get my camera out. It becomes apparent that they are about to slaughter the cow. I take pictures while they tie the cow's legs and get her into position. The next step is to slit the cow's throat. The blade is sharpened and the deed is done. To my surprise I stay around to the bitter end and capture the final act. Not how it is done in England, but certainly very swift and for all I know as humane as in the abatoir.
Off-putting?
These are some initial impressions of mine of how life is different here. What is the volunteer to make of them? I imagine different volunteers react differently. However, if you enjoy volunteering, then it is likely that such differences will appeal. They will be the experiences that make it all so interesting - the things that teach you about the new country and the things that provide the little challenges that are sent to test you and which give satisfaction when you learn to handle them. All this is, of course, before we talk about the challenges of life in the classroom. Here too there is much satisfaction to be had, but it is not to be easily gained I have found.Notwithstanding my focus above, volunteering is not only about challenges. With most of these differences accommodated, Bela and I have now turned our attention to incorporating life's little pleasures into our existence in the remote Pare Mountains. For a little while now a bottle of wine has been a mendatory item on the shopping list for Moshi. This weekend we have refined our dining experience. We start with an aperitif (some of the wine) drunk with Bela's supply of cashew nuts. Then comes Mr Ismaeli's wonderful food, washed down with some more wine. What is missing now is a cup of coffee to round off the meal; we will buy some. In our imaginations we are re-running the colonial life style. No doubt, it is nothing like things were in those days, and perhaps we shouldn't even be thinking of aspiring to anything colonial, but it all adds to the experience.
Monday, February 18, 2008
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Hope Training - Ngaramtoni
Izabela Tolowinska November 2007 - Fenruary 2008
I arrived in Arusha on 13th November 2007 and can’t believe I have been here 3 months and it is now time to leave. My volunteer project involved providing HIV/AIDS training for the 6 community volunteers of Hope Trust (there are normally 7 but one has been on maternity leave). Hope Trust is a small local HIV/AIDS community organization based in the village Ngaramtoni, 16 km outside Arusha.
Ngaramtoni village is on the slopes of Mount Meru and is about 30 minutes ride in a daladala (shared minibus taxi of questionable safety) from Arusha. It was originally a Maasai village, but is more and more becoming a dormitory village for Arusha. Consequently there has been an influx of other tribes, notably Chagga. Unlike most of Arusha and other parts of Kenya the soil is black not red and when it rains the village turns into a bit of a negotiation hazard with all the black mud!
Hope Trust provides small business grants to selected recipients so that they can start a small business thereby providing income from which they can feed, cloth and educate their children. It also provides HIV/AIDS and health training to schools and community groups in the nearby sub-villages thereby aiming to raise HIV/AIDS awareness, and hopefully dispel many of the cultural beliefs and myths of HIV/AIDS. All this is done by the 6/7 community volunteers.
The community volunteers had previously received some HIV/AIDS training back in 2005/2006 and had expressed interest to get more – so that was were I came in. All sounds very easy but when my Swahili is not very good, there is no ready access to a printer, the flip chart board is made up of a plywood board that leans against a concrete step, with two pointed sticks behind on which to hang the paper, unpredictable power cuts so you are unable to print/photocopy your training material, people do not arrive on time, it becomes quite a challenge! My first training session started on 7th December with an “Introduction to HIV/AIDS” and ended on Monday 4th February with a knowledge quiz. For two of the sessions I arranged for a local counselor and TB/HIV physician to come and do the sessions on Stigma and TB and HIV respectively, as they could be given in Swahili. The training information had to be tailored towards the “resource limited” situation as general healthcare, HIV/AIDS treatment, healthcare infrastructure is so completely different to what is available in the developed world which meant a lot of internet searches, a great deal of preparation and meetings with local HIV physicians which I found extremely interesting as I learnt so much. Unlike in Europe and US, there are very few antiretrovirals (drugs) available, two types of regimens when treatment is first started and only one regimen when that one fails. All so very sad and not surprising that HIV/AIDS care is such a difficult task. Even giving the training sessions was a learning experience and an insight into the people’s beliefs, and understanding e.g. the CVs were not aware of how the HIV/AIDS epidemic has spread and how huge a problem it is compared to the rest of the world, the belief that antiretroviral (drug) treatment is bad because people start looking healthy and so start having sex and consequently pass on the HIV virus or that HIV transmitted can by sharing sweets from mouth to mouth!
The classroom was in the open air, sitting on tree stumps. Fortunately it was under a galvanised iron roof otherwise when it rained we would have got soaked! I worked very closely with the CV coordinator called Daniphord who helped with translations during the training sessions and also when I visited some of the community training sessions with a women’s group and school. He was an invaluable help and I would have been lost without him.
Two other aspects I worked on included putting together a "training syllabus/module" of the topics to be covered for the CVs to use when they go out to the community (schools, women's and church groups) to do the HIV/AIDS training which seems a relatively easy task and one that could be done in a week. However when there is no overall overview of what training sessions where done, the topics and no coordinated planning (topics and which CVs will do the session seem to be decided 2 days beforehand), but we finally have one. I went to one of the school training sessions where class sizes are typically around 100 to see the CVs in “operation”. Even though there is a chalk board only one CV used it, instead the typical format for doing training is standing in front of the class and talking, which is very similar to how general teaching is done.
The third area I looked at was trying to establish collaborations with existing HIV/AIDS groups and/or local clinics. I had a stroke of luck when I was introduced to the District Medical Officer for the Arusha area who is also a HIV physician who was very happy to meet with me and ended up giving 2 hours of his time discussing a number of HIV/AIDS treatment issues with me. He is also in the early stages of starting an HIV clinic in the village where Hope Trust is based and very keen to work with them and help with their community training sessions. My meeting with Dr. Shungu has therefore been the highlight of my work and I feel that this collaboration with Hope Trust will be mutually beneficial.
My volunteer experience with Hope Trust and MondoChallenge has been wonderful and even though there is still so much that can be done in terms with HIV/AIDS education awareness I feel that some small steps have been done in the right direction. My last meeting with the Hope Trust group produced an unexpected surprise when all the CVs handed in their completed HIV/AIDS knowledge quiz forms, all of them got more than 20 out of 33 questions right!!! I shall miss all the kindness I have been shown and willingness to help but hope to return in the not too distant future.
I arrived in Arusha on 13th November 2007 and can’t believe I have been here 3 months and it is now time to leave. My volunteer project involved providing HIV/AIDS training for the 6 community volunteers of Hope Trust (there are normally 7 but one has been on maternity leave). Hope Trust is a small local HIV/AIDS community organization based in the village Ngaramtoni, 16 km outside Arusha.Ngaramtoni village is on the slopes of Mount Meru and is about 30 minutes ride in a daladala (shared minibus taxi of questionable safety) from Arusha. It was originally a Maasai village, but is more and more becoming a dormitory village for Arusha. Consequently there has been an influx of other tribes, notably Chagga. Unlike most of Arusha and other parts of Kenya the soil is black not red and when it rains the village turns into a bit of a negotiation hazard with all the black mud!
Hope Trust provides small business grants to selected recipients so that they can start a small business thereby providing income from which they can feed, cloth and educate their children. It also provides HIV/AIDS and health training to schools and community groups in the nearby sub-villages thereby aiming to raise HIV/AIDS awareness, and hopefully dispel many of the cultural beliefs and myths of HIV/AIDS. All this is done by the 6/7 community volunteers.The community volunteers had previously received some HIV/AIDS training back in 2005/2006 and had expressed interest to get more – so that was were I came in. All sounds very easy but when my Swahili is not very good, there is no ready access to a printer, the flip chart board is made up of a plywood board that leans against a concrete step, with two pointed sticks behind on which to hang the paper, unpredictable power cuts so you are unable to print/photocopy your training material, people do not arrive on time, it becomes quite a challenge! My first training session started on 7th December with an “Introduction to HIV/AIDS” and ended on Monday 4th February with a knowledge quiz. For two of the sessions I arranged for a local counselor and TB/HIV physician to come and do the sessions on Stigma and TB and HIV respectively, as they could be given in Swahili. The training information had to be tailored towards the “resource limited” situation as general healthcare, HIV/AIDS treatment, healthcare infrastructure is so completely different to what is available in the developed world which meant a lot of internet searches, a great deal of preparation and meetings with local HIV physicians which I found extremely interesting as I learnt so much. Unlike in Europe and US, there are very few antiretrovirals (drugs) available, two types of regimens when treatment is first started and only one regimen when that one fails. All so very sad and not surprising that HIV/AIDS care is such a difficult task. Even giving the training sessions was a learning experience and an insight into the people’s beliefs, and understanding e.g. the CVs were not aware of how the HIV/AIDS epidemic has spread and how huge a problem it is compared to the rest of the world, the belief that antiretroviral (drug) treatment is bad because people start looking healthy and so start having sex and consequently pass on the HIV virus or that HIV transmitted can by sharing sweets from mouth to mouth!
The classroom was in the open air, sitting on tree stumps. Fortunately it was under a galvanised iron roof otherwise when it rained we would have got soaked! I worked very closely with the CV coordinator called Daniphord who helped with translations during the training sessions and also when I visited some of the community training sessions with a women’s group and school. He was an invaluable help and I would have been lost without him.
Two other aspects I worked on included putting together a "training syllabus/module" of the topics to be covered for the CVs to use when they go out to the community (schools, women's and church groups) to do the HIV/AIDS training which seems a relatively easy task and one that could be done in a week. However when there is no overall overview of what training sessions where done, the topics and no coordinated planning (topics and which CVs will do the session seem to be decided 2 days beforehand), but we finally have one. I went to one of the school training sessions where class sizes are typically around 100 to see the CVs in “operation”. Even though there is a chalk board only one CV used it, instead the typical format for doing training is standing in front of the class and talking, which is very similar to how general teaching is done.
The third area I looked at was trying to establish collaborations with existing HIV/AIDS groups and/or local clinics. I had a stroke of luck when I was introduced to the District Medical Officer for the Arusha area who is also a HIV physician who was very happy to meet with me and ended up giving 2 hours of his time discussing a number of HIV/AIDS treatment issues with me. He is also in the early stages of starting an HIV clinic in the village where Hope Trust is based and very keen to work with them and help with their community training sessions. My meeting with Dr. Shungu has therefore been the highlight of my work and I feel that this collaboration with Hope Trust will be mutually beneficial.
My volunteer experience with Hope Trust and MondoChallenge has been wonderful and even though there is still so much that can be done in terms with HIV/AIDS education awareness I feel that some small steps have been done in the right direction. My last meeting with the Hope Trust group produced an unexpected surprise when all the CVs handed in their completed HIV/AIDS knowledge quiz forms, all of them got more than 20 out of 33 questions right!!! I shall miss all the kindness I have been shown and willingness to help but hope to return in the not too distant future.
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