Ok so I wasn't exactly in trouble. Just a small reprimand of sorts. Today in the confusion and rush to get to Kimanganuni Primary School Hilary, Daddy and I showed up about 20 minutes late. Which under other circumstances may be viewed as "African time" but since there was a teacher and 5 children sitting around waiting for us…well the head master asked to see us when we finished. Ooops!
This week has flown by as the past few months have. It is almost scary. Definitely feels sad and exciting at the same time. No wonder my body doesn't want to sleep at night, it is caught between hurrying up time and slowing it down. Only 2 more full days left of October!
I suppose I am not exactly sharing much information or really getting anywhere; again I blame the music. Bedouin Soundclash fortunately has very distracting songs :)
Last week was insanely busy by African international placement student standards. So many meetings and things being moved around; preparing for 3 groups and a presentation kept me leaping from one thing to the next while still keeping track of what I need to be doing for Nairobi this coming weekend and Arusha the weekend that just past.
The groups went well and Friday arrived with me in tact. Corey came to the Moshi office Friday afternoon for my midterm evaluation which I think went well. I had emailed him pages of reflection and critical analysis from my experience since we do not have weekly meetings so I think it helped having those things out of the way. I brought up some things that I want to change (the direction of one of my groups) and William and Amani shared their own thoughts on my work so far. Oh that reminds me, at one of the meetings last week William said we could ask any questions we felt needed answering that were related to Community Engagement, so I took advantage and asked a few questions that had been swirling in my head for the last little while. It felt good to actually be able to question an organization while still working there and William is so great at his job I wasn't afraid he would be mad or criticize me. I didn't get all the answers I was looking for, but it was worth it to get the questions out there and some answers.
So midterm. I'm supposed to be getting an email from Corey with more details tomorrow so I don’t have much more to say about that, but midterms aren't exciting to read about anyway. After our meeting on Friday I was lucky to have a few free minutes to call my sister to wish her a happy birthday and then check my voicemail (yes I have voicemail!) and call Niki back. Then I walked very fast home to change and clean up for dinner. I was invited out with Corey, his girlfriend Shanna, Tim, Lyn and Corey's friends Hannah (former Mkmobozi employee/Scottish), her husband Frank (Tanzanian) and their amazingly adorable son Caleb who is 14 months old. We went to the Indotalian restaurant where I love their pizza. It wasn't a super late night for me because Steven had asked me to arrive at work the next day at 8:45am for the foster care training. I did managed to hem my new pants before going to bed and am pretty impressed with my non sewing machine abilities, I can make more than stuffed whales and trees!
The foster training went well and was a total disaster by Western training standards. The participants were asked to show up between 8:30 and 9am, and I was to facilitate a game while Steven ran to the bank. Well, Steven went to the bank and returned and at 10am I was still sitting in the meeting area by myself. A few calls were made and by 11am we had five of the eighteen confirmed participants. The first activity that was planned involved me reading a statement and the group deciding whether or not the statement would be considered abuse. I found this activity quite difficult because I am not completely aware of cultural norms here, only laws and what Mkombozi policy is. Two of the statements I found especially difficult to read and even more difficult to keep a straight face listening to the participants discuss and decide which column they fit under (abuse or not abuse). The exercise is not meant to teach or train people in what abuse is but to show that there are no clear cut definitions.
After the activity I presented my training on Child Development and then Trauma. I found it quite fun. I asked the participants before starting about their own kids ages and asked them to contribute as much as they wanted at each stage I was talking about. Some were really helpful and agreed with what I had said or gave examples where I had spoken in psychological speak. At other times one of the participants would ask Steven to translate what I had said into Swahili, but for the most part my presentation on Child Development went smoothly in English.
When it came to Trauma, it was a bit more difficult. I wanted to make sure everyone understood but also felt comfortable talking about different aspects of what trauma is which was very difficult. Steven ended up translating almost everything I said which started more discussion, but then I wasn't quite sure what the discussion was about which was disappointing. Steven did try to keep me in the loop which was helpful. After I finished they all thanked me and Steven said he was going to do more training in Swahili, so I thanked them for listening and headed back to the office for a while.
In the afternoon I caught a ride to Arusha with Corey and Shanna which really saved time and it was nice to sit in a car with music that wasn't Phil Collins and not worrying about if the driver knows what they are doing (ok less worrying about the driver). Hannah and Caleb were getting a ride too, which provided some fun and peek-a-boo when Caleb wasn't sleeping.
Corey dropped me off at Chocolate Temptations and I met up with Katrijn for a chocolate mint milkshake. We caught up on the last couple weeks then decided sushi and a movie sounded like a good plan for that evening. I was excited to finally go to the cinema in Arusha, but when we arrived a movie called "Bank Job" was playing and neither of us had heard of it or were excited to see it. I wanted to see the Indian movie but it had started an hour earlier and wouldn't start again for two hours. What we discovered when searching for the washrooms in the complex was that we had found some new stores to shop in. In Bata we both bought some flip flops for quite cheap which I am excited to have to wear around my house and not track dirt everywhere all the time. Then we found a cool clothing store with nice clothes I think are reasonably priced but not Africa-priced. For example, really cute fun shirts for $30 isn't bad, but its not a good deal either. Especially knowing that 3 weeks ago the exchange rate would have made it cost $4 less! Can someone talk to Harper for me?
We went up to the top floor of the complex and decided that if we couldn't see a movie, then why not have some beers? Pirates Cove is a bar that apparently mzungus frequent regularly. The tv had a weird countdown of "best of" something songs which we couldn't figure out but Rihanna, the Fugees, Madonna, Justin Timberlake and Outkast were among the videos.
What started as a five second bathroom break just turned into a 15 hour lay over…When I went to the bathroom I discovered the water pressure had returned to the house and jumped on the opportunity to shower with enough pressure to rinse my hair and to turn the heater on! Yeah! Hot, powerful shower. Then I decided to cook dinner, watch a movie and well…now its Thursday morning.
So back to the bar…. I suspect it wasn't exactly coincidental, but Didas, the guy who fixed my computer, happened to show up at Pirates Cove later that night. I say not quite coincidental because he had text me earlier saying he thought he saw me on the street in Arusha and I had replied that it probably was me but I was on my way to the movies… anyway he joined us and insisted on buying us each another beer. We chatted until just after midnight then realized that 2 girls travelling across the city alone should probably get a taxi earlier than later. We were whisked across Arusha to Backpackers and I promptly fell asleep without noticing the annoying car horns and noise that comes with any night in Arusha.
Sunday had all the promises of the pool but didn't quite work out. I was craving french fries so we went to Via Via, which really turned out to be a crazy annoying adventure. They said they were going to open in 15 minutes so we went in and got a table then waited over an hour before they had the keys to open the kitchen, only to find out they didn't have almost everything I tried to order which left me settling for Chicken Masala and chips. By the time we had paid our bill, Emily had text to say that there was no space at the pool so we went to the hotel bar and relaxed with her and Phillipe until somehow the whole day had disappeared and it was time to head back to Moshi.
I think I was grumpy when I got off the bus because when the taxi driver tried to charge me 5000 shillings to get home, I started throwing out my limited Swahili (I totally could have walked but was tired from the hot bus ride). Shillingi ngapi Uru Road karibu Mkombozi? Well he dropped it down to 4000, then I snuck in with a elfu tatu? And the drivers around started to offer 3000…so he did too. I was still grumpy though.
This week while flying by, has been very up and down. Monday evening when I thought all was well and good to head home I ran into a couple very large unexpected road blocks. The first one involved one of the boys at the Centre, which I won't go into detail on an open blog but was definitely a situation I had been warned about and was not prepared for. Then after tactfully removing myself from that situation I was given a note from my little friend down the road which I read when I got home and was overwhelmed by her plea for help from me because of how her step mother treats her. I'm not sure if it was the combination of the two events, the fact it was the end of the day or a combination of a few things but I was hit by an enormous feeling of helplessness and text Corey for some supervision. (yeah technology!) Turns out he couldn’t really help through texting but recommended talking to William.
The next morning first thing I sat down with William and explained my previous evening. He said that he will have a social worker investigate the little girl's situation and as for the boy at the Centre, I guess I handled it well and for now there isn't anything to do. He explained that here cultural norms reflect that young people see someone they are interested in and possibly confuse attraction for love, especially those who have not had experience with love in their lives. Quite often young girls and boys get together based on attraction, sleep together and then the girl gets pregnant = instant family. That’s normal, and no one argues otherwise. This can be very confusing for youth here when a Canadian shows up and doesn't understand why strangers throw around "I love you" like it means nothing. To the speaker it means everything, to the person on the receiving end…um….its almost funny. Perhaps this is just a reflection of me, but I can't wrap my head around someone saying "I love you" without knowing their last name, age or really anything about them other than their first name. Love at first sight is one thing, but professing your love at first site borderlines scary.
So the week went on, the boy has been avoiding me I think, which I am ok with for now. Amani has been in Arusha doing trainings so Daddy has been accompanying me to the schools for the support groups. Yesterday we started the resilience research and I brought my camera along to the school to take some photos of the beautiful church, which you can see to the left.This morning I went into town to get some US and Kenyan money and a loaf of bread for breakfast tomorrow. I'm trying not to think about how much money it is in Canadian. Oh and my house is being cleaned now! I am interested to see if there will be a noticeable difference in the floors, they are that cement type stuff which shows nothing and everything all at the same time (so specific I know…).
I also made a home movie one night of two gekkos chasing each other around the walls while I was trying to watch a movie.
The little girl gave me another note on Tuesday, this one was her phone number. I didn't call it because of the astronomical costs of calling here, but instead wrote her a note to give her on my way home Wednesday. I didn’t' see her, but 2 older girls were waiting at the end of my laneway and gave me a long letter and a really good drawing of a giraffe. The letter is in Swahili, so I hope this afternoon to have either the nurse or one of the girls in the office translate it for me since William is away today.
Another week down, one less to go…I'm off to Nairobi tomorrow morning where if I can pack my backpack and fit my laptop you will probably hear from me soon, but if my packing is horrible, then I will be back on Tuesday. I'm spending Sunday night in Longido and need to bring a sleeping bag for that which has thrown off my whole packing plan, but I know its worth it, so its ok.
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