June 7-8
I started off the weekend by visiting the fundi to check on the wood drawers and tables for the wheelchairs. He had finished all of the drawers and they looked fantastic, but he was still working on the tables. So I decided to come back later in the afternoon.
Joseph took me out to breakfast which was a good way to pass the time until the fundi finished. It was a traditional Tanzanian restaurant, but they had a few things I recognized from home like a Spanish omelet, toast, and hard-boiled eggs. Joseph wanted me to have something traditional like “kuku soupu” but I wasn’t too sure. Now I understand why he’s so skinny! Kuku soupu, which is apparently one of his favorite breakfasts, is a plate of boiled chicken and boiled bananas, with a little cup of broth that you dip everything in. Talk about low-carb. My toast was really good but I’m definitely going for the chicken soup next time.
Later we went to the Mountain Village Serena Hotel where Joseph’s dad works. I needed a quiet, relaxing place to do some brainstorming and writing, and the Mountain Village is definitely the place to go for that. Sitting in their garden you have a stunning view of Lake Duluti. Plus you get to sit in really cool giraffe chairs that Joseph made himself. His father was recently named the chief of their tribe so I felt pretty important to be spending time with the chief!
Back to town to see the fundi who had finished everything. The tables were perfectly finished and the drawers look really neat and professional. I’m so excited! He was a really sweet guy, and he gave me a really good price. So if you want any kind of woodwork done in Arusha, I know the place to go.
Sunday was pretty relaxing. I saw a bunch of old friends in town, and then headed back to Moshi in the afternoon. Back to work tomorrow!
Monday, June 9, 2008
The Maasai Drives a Landcruiser
Friday, June 6th
Back to MobilityCare this morning to keep working. With the woodwork outsourced to the fundi in town, we still had to make the steel brackets, cut the pipe, and weld various bits together.
The morning got off to a good start with peanut butter and banana sandwiches. In case you haven’t noticed, I eat these a lot when I’m here. The bananas are just so good! I’m going to start counting how many bananas I eat each day, but if I had to guess I would say I’m eating at least 5 or 6 each day. Mmmmmmmm.
Joseph cut the large piece of pipe into the smaller couplings and then I drilled most of the holes for the screws. If nothing else, 2.007 taught me how to drill holes. Thanks! Joseph was working really fast and within no time he was welding everything together. Everybody has promised that they’ll teach me how to weld this summer, but I was in no rush to learn today.
So I took the prototype small-business wheelchair outside and wheeled it around for a while. Yesterday we finalized the design of the drawers and desk, but somehow I had forgotten about the umbrella. Originally it was supposed to slide right into one of the hollow pipes behind the user’s shoulder. But in riding around I found that my arm kept hitting it when I reached backward. Not good, but nothing we couldn’t solve. I took the chair back inside and shared what I found with Daniel and Joseph, who both quickly agreed that we needed to change something. We found a new spot on the outside of the sideguard where there is space to mount a holder for the umbrella. And by moving the umbrella to that spot it covers the user so much better. So it seems like a win-win.
After we finished everything up we headed into town, which was really bustling with people. The streets were literally packed from end to end. Luckily Joseph knew exactly where he wanted to go. His church is doing some major renovations and they need five new toilets, which his mom had volunteered him to buy. The first toilet store didn’t have what he was looking for so we went to a second. And then a third. Who knew there were so many toilet stores in Arusha? He finally found what he was looking for, and now I know exactly where to go if I ever want to buy a toilet in Arusha. You never know when that may come in handy!
One of my favorite things about Tanzania is that people don’t really plan things too far in advance, and some of the best times happen completely unexpectedly. Tonight was a perfect example. We went to a place called Triple A which is a radio station, restaurant, bar, night club, barber, and car wash all rolled into one compound. I definitely recommend passing by if you are ever in town. We had gone to get tea (called “chai” in Swahili) because it was getting dark and chilly, at Triple A’s restaurant, and found out that they were hosting the Miss Arusha 2008 pageant in the main hall later that night. There was no way I was about to pass up that opportunity!
Tickets were 10,000 Tanzanian Shillings (about $8) and it was well worth it. Ironically the tickets stated that the show started at 8pm, everybody said it started at 9pm, and it didn’t end up starting until well after 10:30. I didn’t mind that it was starting so late because I knew I could sleep-in the next morning, but it seemed crazy that it would start 2 and half hours late! And everybody seemed to know that it would start so late, as half the crowd didn’t show up until 10pm. When I asked why everybody was so late all I got was, “This is Tanzania. We’re not in a hurry. We’re on African time.” Good to know!
There were 12 contestants who competed in formalwear, swimwear, a design of their choice, and answered interview questions. Although most of it was in Swahili, my favorite DJ was one of the presenters and he happily translated the important parts into English. From the first round I picked number 8 as my favorite and I guess I have good taste because she won! Aside from winning a car, refrigerator, and television, she will go on to compete in the Miss Tanzania pageant later in the year. I hope she wins!
*The title of this post was inspired by a Maasai named KinyeKinye who I met today. While I was having some tea at the Triple A restaurant I was surrounded by a group of about 8 Maasai. The Maasai are one of the most well known tribes in East Africa because of the bright red cloth they wear. Apparently the Maasai I met today were Tanzanite brokers who must be doing quite well because they had a really nice car! And although their bright red "shukas" looked cozy and warm, I caught most of them wearing pants and jackets underneath. Oh those Maasai...
Back to MobilityCare this morning to keep working. With the woodwork outsourced to the fundi in town, we still had to make the steel brackets, cut the pipe, and weld various bits together.
The morning got off to a good start with peanut butter and banana sandwiches. In case you haven’t noticed, I eat these a lot when I’m here. The bananas are just so good! I’m going to start counting how many bananas I eat each day, but if I had to guess I would say I’m eating at least 5 or 6 each day. Mmmmmmmm.
Joseph cut the large piece of pipe into the smaller couplings and then I drilled most of the holes for the screws. If nothing else, 2.007 taught me how to drill holes. Thanks! Joseph was working really fast and within no time he was welding everything together. Everybody has promised that they’ll teach me how to weld this summer, but I was in no rush to learn today.
So I took the prototype small-business wheelchair outside and wheeled it around for a while. Yesterday we finalized the design of the drawers and desk, but somehow I had forgotten about the umbrella. Originally it was supposed to slide right into one of the hollow pipes behind the user’s shoulder. But in riding around I found that my arm kept hitting it when I reached backward. Not good, but nothing we couldn’t solve. I took the chair back inside and shared what I found with Daniel and Joseph, who both quickly agreed that we needed to change something. We found a new spot on the outside of the sideguard where there is space to mount a holder for the umbrella. And by moving the umbrella to that spot it covers the user so much better. So it seems like a win-win.
After we finished everything up we headed into town, which was really bustling with people. The streets were literally packed from end to end. Luckily Joseph knew exactly where he wanted to go. His church is doing some major renovations and they need five new toilets, which his mom had volunteered him to buy. The first toilet store didn’t have what he was looking for so we went to a second. And then a third. Who knew there were so many toilet stores in Arusha? He finally found what he was looking for, and now I know exactly where to go if I ever want to buy a toilet in Arusha. You never know when that may come in handy!
One of my favorite things about Tanzania is that people don’t really plan things too far in advance, and some of the best times happen completely unexpectedly. Tonight was a perfect example. We went to a place called Triple A which is a radio station, restaurant, bar, night club, barber, and car wash all rolled into one compound. I definitely recommend passing by if you are ever in town. We had gone to get tea (called “chai” in Swahili) because it was getting dark and chilly, at Triple A’s restaurant, and found out that they were hosting the Miss Arusha 2008 pageant in the main hall later that night. There was no way I was about to pass up that opportunity!
Tickets were 10,000 Tanzanian Shillings (about $8) and it was well worth it. Ironically the tickets stated that the show started at 8pm, everybody said it started at 9pm, and it didn’t end up starting until well after 10:30. I didn’t mind that it was starting so late because I knew I could sleep-in the next morning, but it seemed crazy that it would start 2 and half hours late! And everybody seemed to know that it would start so late, as half the crowd didn’t show up until 10pm. When I asked why everybody was so late all I got was, “This is Tanzania. We’re not in a hurry. We’re on African time.” Good to know!
There were 12 contestants who competed in formalwear, swimwear, a design of their choice, and answered interview questions. Although most of it was in Swahili, my favorite DJ was one of the presenters and he happily translated the important parts into English. From the first round I picked number 8 as my favorite and I guess I have good taste because she won! Aside from winning a car, refrigerator, and television, she will go on to compete in the Miss Tanzania pageant later in the year. I hope she wins!
*The title of this post was inspired by a Maasai named KinyeKinye who I met today. While I was having some tea at the Triple A restaurant I was surrounded by a group of about 8 Maasai. The Maasai are one of the most well known tribes in East Africa because of the bright red cloth they wear. Apparently the Maasai I met today were Tanzanite brokers who must be doing quite well because they had a really nice car! And although their bright red "shukas" looked cozy and warm, I caught most of them wearing pants and jackets underneath. Oh those Maasai...
Friday, June 6, 2008
Off to Arusha
Thursday, June 5th
I got up early this morning and set off for Arusha. Last summer I spent almost all of my time in Arusha so I was really excited to be going back. When I pulled up at MobilityCare everybody was sitting outside enjoying their morning tea break. It reminded me of so many times I had spent with them, sitting outside on our breaks talking about everything under the sun.
Hugs all around a lot of jambos later, we went inside to get to work. Last year it took a few days of getting to know each other better before any real work began—interesting difference between the working styles of each culture. So I was surprised when we pretty much got right to work today. If this is a sign of things to come, this is going to be a really productive summer!
Daniel wheeled out the prototype small-business wheelchair that we had finished up in January and we all crowded around. We pulled out the drawers and played with the table, checking to see if we wanted to make any changes. We all decided that the table was performing well, but the drawers needed to be tweaked a little. Lucas, who as the affectionate nickname Mr. Excellent, had a really good idea to take the drawers and desk to town to a woodworker who would be able to make them more faster and better than we would be able to at MobilityCare. We took everything apart and loaded it into the car, not wanting to waste any time.
We went to three different stores looking for a special plastic that we wanted to make the desk out of so that it would be waterproof, but nobody had what we were looking for. So we decided to stick with wood for now and we can change to plastic later if we need to, after all this is an experiment. We went to another store to get 35mm diameter pipe to make the stand, and then to the fundi (in Swahili you can use the word fundi to describe anybody who makes something with their hands, so in this case we called the woodworker a fundi) to drop off the drawers and desk. There was a lot of back and forth in Swahili and I did my best to keep up, but it was kind of like watching a tennis match with the ball going back and forth really quickly! The fundi is going to call us tomorrow with an update, but he guessed that he would be done by Saturday and he gave us a great price. So I was happy!
With everything finished for the day it was time for a break. Last time I was in Arusha they had been busy building this enormously tall building that was covered in shiny blue glass. Word on the street was that this new hotel, called Naura Springs, was being funded by the President of Uganda, and when it was finished it would be one of the best hotels in town. So of course I wanted to check it out.
Plus, there is a huge conference going on in town this week called the Sullivan Summit, which has brought over 3,000 American business people—mostly those with African roots— together to try to solve some pressing problems. A bunch of famous people like Jesse Jackson and Chris Tucker were rumored to be there and I was hoping to catch a glimpse!
The Naura Springs Hotel is quite spectacular and it was so nice to sit outside on their patio, having a cold drink and doing some people watching. I swear I saw a famous basketball player. I couldn’t tell you his name but he was enormous. It was a really nice place to relax in the evening and I’m sure I’ll be back again soon.
I got up early this morning and set off for Arusha. Last summer I spent almost all of my time in Arusha so I was really excited to be going back. When I pulled up at MobilityCare everybody was sitting outside enjoying their morning tea break. It reminded me of so many times I had spent with them, sitting outside on our breaks talking about everything under the sun.
Hugs all around a lot of jambos later, we went inside to get to work. Last year it took a few days of getting to know each other better before any real work began—interesting difference between the working styles of each culture. So I was surprised when we pretty much got right to work today. If this is a sign of things to come, this is going to be a really productive summer!
Daniel wheeled out the prototype small-business wheelchair that we had finished up in January and we all crowded around. We pulled out the drawers and played with the table, checking to see if we wanted to make any changes. We all decided that the table was performing well, but the drawers needed to be tweaked a little. Lucas, who as the affectionate nickname Mr. Excellent, had a really good idea to take the drawers and desk to town to a woodworker who would be able to make them more faster and better than we would be able to at MobilityCare. We took everything apart and loaded it into the car, not wanting to waste any time.
We went to three different stores looking for a special plastic that we wanted to make the desk out of so that it would be waterproof, but nobody had what we were looking for. So we decided to stick with wood for now and we can change to plastic later if we need to, after all this is an experiment. We went to another store to get 35mm diameter pipe to make the stand, and then to the fundi (in Swahili you can use the word fundi to describe anybody who makes something with their hands, so in this case we called the woodworker a fundi) to drop off the drawers and desk. There was a lot of back and forth in Swahili and I did my best to keep up, but it was kind of like watching a tennis match with the ball going back and forth really quickly! The fundi is going to call us tomorrow with an update, but he guessed that he would be done by Saturday and he gave us a great price. So I was happy!
With everything finished for the day it was time for a break. Last time I was in Arusha they had been busy building this enormously tall building that was covered in shiny blue glass. Word on the street was that this new hotel, called Naura Springs, was being funded by the President of Uganda, and when it was finished it would be one of the best hotels in town. So of course I wanted to check it out.
Plus, there is a huge conference going on in town this week called the Sullivan Summit, which has brought over 3,000 American business people—mostly those with African roots— together to try to solve some pressing problems. A bunch of famous people like Jesse Jackson and Chris Tucker were rumored to be there and I was hoping to catch a glimpse!
The Naura Springs Hotel is quite spectacular and it was so nice to sit outside on their patio, having a cold drink and doing some people watching. I swear I saw a famous basketball player. I couldn’t tell you his name but he was enormous. It was a really nice place to relax in the evening and I’m sure I’ll be back again soon.
It's amazing what you can do in a single day
Wednesday, June 4th
I don’t think I could be any more exhausted today, but boy do I feel accomplished! Yesterday Faustina gave me the names and phone numbers of the three wheelchair users who want to participate in my trial of the small-business wheelchair: Peter, Richard, and Hilda. I met up with Samson, who I luckily had tracked down the night before, to see when he would be available to visit these people. We need to start building each of their wheelchairs but we need to take individual measurements so each one fits correctly, which is why I needed Samson to come along.
I expected him to say that he would be free sometime next week but when I showed up at the hospital he was all ready to go, tape measure and notebook in hand! Joseph called Peter, Richard, and Hilda and all of them said they were around, so off we went. Moshi itself is a really small town, but these three people probably live in three completely opposite corners, each one off a crazy dirt road with potholes the size of bathtubs!
We went to see Peter first and at several points I thought I might be pitched from the car because it was so bumpy. I met Peter last year when I was working on the folding three-wheeler and it was so great to see him again! We caught up with Peter pushing himself up an especially steep part of the road to his house. It’s amazing to think that Peter pushes himself up and down that same road with the crazy potholes several times a week. I touched him on the arm when I said hi (well really when I said jambo) and he’s certainly got the muscles to prove it!
Peter gets by day to day by repairing radios and umbrellas. He’s really good at making simple repairs, but he just doesn’t get enough business right now. When I asked him why he said it was because he can’t go very far from home with his tools because he has nowhere to put them, and also because people don’t take him seriously because he doesn’t look like a real business. This made me even more excited to be working with Peter because I really believe that with a small-business wheelchair and some capital to purchase the necessary tools, he will really be able to boost his business. He already has the skills and the determination, he just needs a little help getting a jumpstart.
With the measurements to start making Peter’s new wheelchair and lots of details about his business, we set back down the crazy dirt road and went off in search of Richard. I had also met Richard last year and while I remember how much fun he was to work with, I definitely did not remember the ridiculous road to his house! I swear at one point we crossed a river (okay so it was really just a huge pothole that was filled with water, but still). I ran through the same questions with Richard as I had with Peter. Richard also has been trying to start a small business but has been frustrated that he does not have all the tools he needs and does not get recognized as a real business. He is really good at making and repairing shoes, and just needs a little help to get his business going. He has a partner that he plans to work with and he thinks this will help him cover more ground and attract more business.
While I was chatting with Richard a crowd of people in the village had gathered around to see what was going on. Joseph was translating everything because Richard doesn’t really speak English, and I think my new audience really enjoyed that! I wish I could have stayed and talked to Richard longer but there were still miles to go before I could sleep. He was sooooo excited about the project. In fact, I later found out that he had called KASI that morning to find out when I was coming to see him!
Next we went to find Hilda, and after fording the pothole river and cutting across town to another crazy dirt road, there she was. KASI was anxious to include at least one woman in this project and of course I had no objections to that! Hilda recently learned how to make batik fabric at a training session that KASI ran. She also does amazing embroidery and has her own sewing machine already. The problem is that she doesn’t have the capital to really start her business (familiar theme, huh?) Hilda will also be working with a partner, who can help her by going to town and collecting the different materials like cloth and dye. Then Hilda can take some samples and go around to people’s houses to see if they want to buy something. I talked to Faustina about this when I saw her later today, and she was really supportive. Apparently Hilda has a lot of friends who will definitely buy from her! She’ll need a lot more capital than Richard or Peter to get started, but the return should be much greater.
With measurements for the three wheelchairs and tons of notes about each business scribbled in my notebook we finally headed back to town. I stopped by KASI to apologize for being gone all day, and they couldn’t believe how much I had done! I had planned to cook dinner in my apartment tonight but my stove seems to have a short circuit. So I went out and got some milk at the shop across the street and enjoyed my off-brand corn flakes.
I don’t think I could be any more exhausted today, but boy do I feel accomplished! Yesterday Faustina gave me the names and phone numbers of the three wheelchair users who want to participate in my trial of the small-business wheelchair: Peter, Richard, and Hilda. I met up with Samson, who I luckily had tracked down the night before, to see when he would be available to visit these people. We need to start building each of their wheelchairs but we need to take individual measurements so each one fits correctly, which is why I needed Samson to come along.
I expected him to say that he would be free sometime next week but when I showed up at the hospital he was all ready to go, tape measure and notebook in hand! Joseph called Peter, Richard, and Hilda and all of them said they were around, so off we went. Moshi itself is a really small town, but these three people probably live in three completely opposite corners, each one off a crazy dirt road with potholes the size of bathtubs!
We went to see Peter first and at several points I thought I might be pitched from the car because it was so bumpy. I met Peter last year when I was working on the folding three-wheeler and it was so great to see him again! We caught up with Peter pushing himself up an especially steep part of the road to his house. It’s amazing to think that Peter pushes himself up and down that same road with the crazy potholes several times a week. I touched him on the arm when I said hi (well really when I said jambo) and he’s certainly got the muscles to prove it!
Peter gets by day to day by repairing radios and umbrellas. He’s really good at making simple repairs, but he just doesn’t get enough business right now. When I asked him why he said it was because he can’t go very far from home with his tools because he has nowhere to put them, and also because people don’t take him seriously because he doesn’t look like a real business. This made me even more excited to be working with Peter because I really believe that with a small-business wheelchair and some capital to purchase the necessary tools, he will really be able to boost his business. He already has the skills and the determination, he just needs a little help getting a jumpstart.
With the measurements to start making Peter’s new wheelchair and lots of details about his business, we set back down the crazy dirt road and went off in search of Richard. I had also met Richard last year and while I remember how much fun he was to work with, I definitely did not remember the ridiculous road to his house! I swear at one point we crossed a river (okay so it was really just a huge pothole that was filled with water, but still). I ran through the same questions with Richard as I had with Peter. Richard also has been trying to start a small business but has been frustrated that he does not have all the tools he needs and does not get recognized as a real business. He is really good at making and repairing shoes, and just needs a little help to get his business going. He has a partner that he plans to work with and he thinks this will help him cover more ground and attract more business.
While I was chatting with Richard a crowd of people in the village had gathered around to see what was going on. Joseph was translating everything because Richard doesn’t really speak English, and I think my new audience really enjoyed that! I wish I could have stayed and talked to Richard longer but there were still miles to go before I could sleep. He was sooooo excited about the project. In fact, I later found out that he had called KASI that morning to find out when I was coming to see him!
Next we went to find Hilda, and after fording the pothole river and cutting across town to another crazy dirt road, there she was. KASI was anxious to include at least one woman in this project and of course I had no objections to that! Hilda recently learned how to make batik fabric at a training session that KASI ran. She also does amazing embroidery and has her own sewing machine already. The problem is that she doesn’t have the capital to really start her business (familiar theme, huh?) Hilda will also be working with a partner, who can help her by going to town and collecting the different materials like cloth and dye. Then Hilda can take some samples and go around to people’s houses to see if they want to buy something. I talked to Faustina about this when I saw her later today, and she was really supportive. Apparently Hilda has a lot of friends who will definitely buy from her! She’ll need a lot more capital than Richard or Peter to get started, but the return should be much greater.
With measurements for the three wheelchairs and tons of notes about each business scribbled in my notebook we finally headed back to town. I stopped by KASI to apologize for being gone all day, and they couldn’t believe how much I had done! I had planned to cook dinner in my apartment tonight but my stove seems to have a short circuit. So I went out and got some milk at the shop across the street and enjoyed my off-brand corn flakes.
Let's make a website
Tuesday, June 3rd
Rise and shine! I got up early and made myself a peanut butter and banana sandwich for breakfast. The peanut butter here is as real as it gets; I seriously think it’s just ground up peanuts and nothing else. And the bananas are delicious! Everything I ate was probably grown right in Moshi—talk about supporting your local farmers.
I met Faustina, KASI’s secretary, this morning and we began working on a website for them. They had been meaning to make a website for a long time now, but things had been really busy and they needed some motivation to get started. Last year Shirley Fung, another one of the MIT Public Service Center Fellows, developed a guide called “How to Make a Website at an Internet Café.” It’s a really neat document and has helped several people around Moshi to make their own websites. As per the guide’s suggestion, we decided to use GooglePages. It’s very simple to pick up and if you play around with the layouts and fonts, you can come up with something pretty professional looking!
We talked a lot about who the audience of the website would be and what information they would be looking to find. Faustina told me about some of KASI’s recent events and I had an idea to have a section called “News” on the homepage. The plan is for Faustina to update the site once a month with new stories about what’s going on. (Hopefully this will keep people coming back to the site!) We had another idea to do a “member of the month.” I spent a lot of time showing her how to use the program and of course we spent a lot of time chatting, so the site isn’t quite done yet. But I promise to post the link as soon as we finish. Stay tuned!
While we were working on the website I heard some drumming come from outside. I was so intrigued that I popped my head outside and found a whole ensemble of traditional dancers and drummers practicing for a performance. I thought I would just watch for a bit but after a few minutes they spotted me and I was dragged out onto the dance floor! Luckily there are no photos of me, but I’ll never forget my attempt at traditional Tanzanian dancing in the middle of a regular Tuesday afternoon.
I left KASI around five and set off to find Albert and Samson, two wheelchair technicians who work at KCMC (Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Centre). They work with Abdullah who I probably talked a lot about last year. Unfortunately Abdullah is in South Africa right now for a training program on special wheelchair seating, but he should be back at the beginning of July.
For a small town finding these guys in Moshi was such an adventure! Both of them had new cell phone numbers so tracking those down was the start of the battle. I called Albert first and the person who picked up was only speaking Swahili, so Joseph talked to him and was told that the wheelchair workshop had closed. That was our first tip that we had the wrong number! One of Joseph’s friends said he had Samson’s new number so he gave it to us but it ended up being a different Samson, who of course had no idea what we were talking about. We finally found them at a bar outside the hospital and it was so great to see them! I didn’t stay long because it was already dark but we made plans to meet tomorrow morning.
Rise and shine! I got up early and made myself a peanut butter and banana sandwich for breakfast. The peanut butter here is as real as it gets; I seriously think it’s just ground up peanuts and nothing else. And the bananas are delicious! Everything I ate was probably grown right in Moshi—talk about supporting your local farmers.
I met Faustina, KASI’s secretary, this morning and we began working on a website for them. They had been meaning to make a website for a long time now, but things had been really busy and they needed some motivation to get started. Last year Shirley Fung, another one of the MIT Public Service Center Fellows, developed a guide called “How to Make a Website at an Internet Café.” It’s a really neat document and has helped several people around Moshi to make their own websites. As per the guide’s suggestion, we decided to use GooglePages. It’s very simple to pick up and if you play around with the layouts and fonts, you can come up with something pretty professional looking!
We talked a lot about who the audience of the website would be and what information they would be looking to find. Faustina told me about some of KASI’s recent events and I had an idea to have a section called “News” on the homepage. The plan is for Faustina to update the site once a month with new stories about what’s going on. (Hopefully this will keep people coming back to the site!) We had another idea to do a “member of the month.” I spent a lot of time showing her how to use the program and of course we spent a lot of time chatting, so the site isn’t quite done yet. But I promise to post the link as soon as we finish. Stay tuned!
While we were working on the website I heard some drumming come from outside. I was so intrigued that I popped my head outside and found a whole ensemble of traditional dancers and drummers practicing for a performance. I thought I would just watch for a bit but after a few minutes they spotted me and I was dragged out onto the dance floor! Luckily there are no photos of me, but I’ll never forget my attempt at traditional Tanzanian dancing in the middle of a regular Tuesday afternoon.
I left KASI around five and set off to find Albert and Samson, two wheelchair technicians who work at KCMC (Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Centre). They work with Abdullah who I probably talked a lot about last year. Unfortunately Abdullah is in South Africa right now for a training program on special wheelchair seating, but he should be back at the beginning of July.
For a small town finding these guys in Moshi was such an adventure! Both of them had new cell phone numbers so tracking those down was the start of the battle. I called Albert first and the person who picked up was only speaking Swahili, so Joseph talked to him and was told that the wheelchair workshop had closed. That was our first tip that we had the wrong number! One of Joseph’s friends said he had Samson’s new number so he gave it to us but it ended up being a different Samson, who of course had no idea what we were talking about. We finally found them at a bar outside the hospital and it was so great to see them! I didn’t stay long because it was already dark but we made plans to meet tomorrow morning.
First day at work
Monday, June 2nd
It was really quiet when I arrived last night, but Moshi came alive this morning! Everyone was hustling and bustling about, but I could barely keep my eyes open. Ahh jetlag. Nothing a little Tanzanian coffee can’t remedy.
Joseph and I went to a cute little restaurant called Central Garden to get breakfast and to discuss the plan for the summer. As some of you know, my project has grown exponentially over the past few weeks due to the awesome success of the project on GlobalGiving. I knew I would need help driving around to meet all my different community partners, and although I’m trying my best to learn Swahili, I definitely need help translating. Joseph and I met last summer when I was working in Arusha and we hit it off pretty quickly. He’ll be starting at the Moshi University College of Cooperative and Business Studies in September, so he’s free for the summer and seemed like the perfect person to help me with my project.
With a good plan and some much needed caffeine, we set off for KASI, the Kilimanjaro Association for the Spinally Injured. I was introduced to KASI last summer and I was blown away by the awesome work they were doing. I don’t have enough time to do them justice by fully explaining what they do, but I promise I will soon. Just trust me now that they are a spectacular group of people doing really great work.
Recently I had the awesome opportunity to fundraise for the project of my choice on a website called GlobalGiving. I decided to raise funds for KASI and if you haven’t seen my project page already then you should definitely go check it out now:
http://www.globalgiving.com/pr/2100/proj2060a.html
The project has been extremely successful and we managed to raise over $9,000 in just a few weeks. The project was part of a competition and because it raised the most money, GlobalGiving is awarding us an additional $3,500 in pursuit of our project. We have big plans ahead of us and I was so excited to get going!
Dr. Henry Nyamubi is the Executive Director of KASI and we had been e-mailing a lot over the past few weeks with much excitement. He has some really great ideas and I can't wait to see how everything works out. There is a lot more that I could write about today but Moshi is calling me and I want to get out and do some exploring. I promise I'll write more soon.
It was really quiet when I arrived last night, but Moshi came alive this morning! Everyone was hustling and bustling about, but I could barely keep my eyes open. Ahh jetlag. Nothing a little Tanzanian coffee can’t remedy.
Joseph and I went to a cute little restaurant called Central Garden to get breakfast and to discuss the plan for the summer. As some of you know, my project has grown exponentially over the past few weeks due to the awesome success of the project on GlobalGiving. I knew I would need help driving around to meet all my different community partners, and although I’m trying my best to learn Swahili, I definitely need help translating. Joseph and I met last summer when I was working in Arusha and we hit it off pretty quickly. He’ll be starting at the Moshi University College of Cooperative and Business Studies in September, so he’s free for the summer and seemed like the perfect person to help me with my project.
With a good plan and some much needed caffeine, we set off for KASI, the Kilimanjaro Association for the Spinally Injured. I was introduced to KASI last summer and I was blown away by the awesome work they were doing. I don’t have enough time to do them justice by fully explaining what they do, but I promise I will soon. Just trust me now that they are a spectacular group of people doing really great work.
Recently I had the awesome opportunity to fundraise for the project of my choice on a website called GlobalGiving. I decided to raise funds for KASI and if you haven’t seen my project page already then you should definitely go check it out now:
http://www.globalgiving.com/pr/2100/proj2060a.html
The project has been extremely successful and we managed to raise over $9,000 in just a few weeks. The project was part of a competition and because it raised the most money, GlobalGiving is awarding us an additional $3,500 in pursuit of our project. We have big plans ahead of us and I was so excited to get going!
Dr. Henry Nyamubi is the Executive Director of KASI and we had been e-mailing a lot over the past few weeks with much excitement. He has some really great ideas and I can't wait to see how everything works out. There is a lot more that I could write about today but Moshi is calling me and I want to get out and do some exploring. I promise I'll write more soon.
Back in Tanzania
Sunday, June 1st
I’m back! In Tanzania, that is. When I got to Amsterdam I managed to switch my seat to a window seat in the 8th row, so when my plane landed at Kilimanjaro International Airport I was one of the first people off. There had been a mix-up with the visa I got last January, but I explained what happened to the immigration agent and he waved me through without any problems. One of my bags came through quickly, and of course then my luck had to turn. I waited for at least 45 minutes scanning the tiny conveyer belt for my bright yellow duffel bag, which was nowhere to be found. I finally gave up and went to the “lost baggage” stand. I gave the woman my name upon which she promptly told me that my bag had been left in Amsterdam. At least they knew where it was! Being back in Tanzania, I was in too good a mood to let that bother me. So I crossed my fingers, gave her my number, and hoped my bag would show up on the next flight.
And off to Moshi I went. It was already dark when I arrived, but the area I’m staying in seems really nice, and if I’m not mistaken it’s within easy walking distance of the main bus stand. I hope I can sleep tonight because I have a big day ahead of me tomorrow.
I’m back! In Tanzania, that is. When I got to Amsterdam I managed to switch my seat to a window seat in the 8th row, so when my plane landed at Kilimanjaro International Airport I was one of the first people off. There had been a mix-up with the visa I got last January, but I explained what happened to the immigration agent and he waved me through without any problems. One of my bags came through quickly, and of course then my luck had to turn. I waited for at least 45 minutes scanning the tiny conveyer belt for my bright yellow duffel bag, which was nowhere to be found. I finally gave up and went to the “lost baggage” stand. I gave the woman my name upon which she promptly told me that my bag had been left in Amsterdam. At least they knew where it was! Being back in Tanzania, I was in too good a mood to let that bother me. So I crossed my fingers, gave her my number, and hoped my bag would show up on the next flight.
And off to Moshi I went. It was already dark when I arrived, but the area I’m staying in seems really nice, and if I’m not mistaken it’s within easy walking distance of the main bus stand. I hope I can sleep tonight because I have a big day ahead of me tomorrow.
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