Saturday, February 26, 2011

Sponsor a disabled child



A few days ago I received a letter from Bryony Budd and Grace Burgess,  2 volunteers working at the Amani center. The letter was a report asking for donations to sponsor 4 children in need at the Amani center. If you're interested in sponsoring a child, please read below and contact the center at bakhitaj@hotmail.com. Mama Josephine Bakhita who has opted to look after these children due to their difficult circumstances, is retired with a pension, but does not have any other source of income. She continues to work voluntarily however full time at the Amani Centre for Disabled children, which she founded in 1992.

Here is the story of each child:

Joel Yona
Joel is a 3 year old boy who suffers from severs cerebral palsy and mild mental disability. His story is one of great sadness, and consequently he is a child who deserves so much more than he has ever received. Joel is a child of a Masai tribe, but unlike most Masai, his family was severely poverty stricken. Shockingly, the tradition in Masai tribes is to kill disabled children, through slaughter or abandonment. This abhorrent practice is illegal, but the tradition continues to this day. Thanks to the courage of Joel’s Christian father, who saw the immorality of such actions, Joel was spared. His parents took him to hospitals to see if their child could be cured, but on finding that his condition was permanent, his mother abandoned the family. Joel was then put into the care of his blind Grandmother, and lived in great poverty as his family only owned 2 cows, neither of which produced milk thus Joel had nothing to eat. In august 2010 Joel’s father sensed that he was close to death. He went to Amani Mvomero and the staff there referred his case to Amani headquarters, Morogoro. Mama Bakhita visited the family and saw for herself the desperate conditions they were living in. She therefore decided to take the boy into her own home to care for him personally, knowing that without her intervention he would have died within weeks.
Joel requires a mature, devoted and committed care taker as he needs close attention day and night. Joel is entirely dependent on adult care as, due to his disabilities, he has the physical abilities of a 3 month old child. Since he is in poor health he needs also needs medication from time to time, regular feeding during the day and visits to the physiotherapy clinic at Amani, and the health clinic at hospital.
Therefore sponsorship is vital to ensure Joel can be supported by a carer able to devote themselves to his constant care. 

Neema and Rose
Neema Marie and Rose Marie are disabled orphans found in the streets of Moshi Town In Kilimanjaro. Their exact names, ages or even their tribes remain unknown. It is thought Neema is around 7 and Rose 6 years old. In August 2009 they were taken in by nuns, however as the orphanage was for non-disabled children, they were unable to provide Neema and Rose with the care they required. As a consequence they were then brought by the nuns to the Amani Centre, seeking help for the two girls. However, due to their still tender age, Mama Bakhita felt that they required more constant support thus brought them into her home to care for them herself.
Neema’s disability is undiagnosed as of yet, she has no physical disability but suffers a mental disability and most likely ADHD. Neema also has a speech impediment due to a lack of early speech development. For Rose, her disability is physical and partially mental due to severe cerebral palsy. Both children suffer learning difficulties, heightened by the lack of attention and support in their early years.

Michael
Michael is a boy, who was living in the mountainous village Maskati with his single parent mother. He is deaf and cannot speak and as a result was not given any education before coming to the Amani Centre. After Mama Bakhita visited his parish church and spoke about the rights of the disabled to education, Michael became determined to benefit from an education at the Amani Centre. He persuaded his mother travel the long way to the centre with him so that he could meet Mama Bakhita. Having felt so inspired by her words, he requested that whilst here, he could live under her care. Since then, his mother has gained the courage to see that her son, despite his disability, is both valued and regarded by those at Amani. Therefore In her community, she no longer feels ashamed being the mother of a disabled child.

Justification for the sponsorship
The most important priority is the care of Joel as he is completely reliant on adult support . He requires very close attention 24 hours a day. Rose Maria is the next priority, who cannot manage herself well and is very dependent due to her severe cerebral palsy. Neema and Michael can simply be supported by the carer in their daily needs.
The cost of sponsoring these children is explained below, and is worked out according to the costs of education, healthcare, food and resources for hygiene of each child per month.
In English sterling In US dollars

If you're interested in making a donation or fully sponsoring a child:
Sponsorship per month in total=£129 
Sponsorship per month in total= $206
Sponsorship per month per child=£32 
Sponsorship US $ per month per child= $51

contact the center at bakhitaj@hotmail.com

Thursday, July 3, 2008

Thursday 12th of June: The Dar Es Salaam fish market

After meeting with the French Embassy, we had a few hours to kill so Kapembe and Mama Bakhita took me to the fish market, which is a main attraction in Dar Es Salaam.
It was fascinating. We walked through the market encountering a bidding war to buy sharks that were laying on the ground, freshly killed. I walked by women cleaning the fish out, a man cutting through a manta ray, another stall selling a small flat type of shark I have never seen before. In the middle of the market, there is a canteen for the fishermen with smoke bellowing out of big pots and women cooking. A few workers sitting down to eat asked me to take their picture and were very friendly. A few stalls a man was selling tiny smoked fish and cooking them too. Mama Bakhita bought some and snaked her way through them. We kept walking to the other side of the market where they sell shells from the coral reef (amazing looking but illegal), and also spices. Of course, I bought some more cinnamon and cardamom… And off we went back into the Dar heat, dust and traffic to our next appointment.





Monday July 1st: Zanzibar and the spice tour

Early in the morning I set out to do the spice tour without the rest of the group as they are going to go snorkeling for the day. Zanzibar used to have many plantations for cloves, cardamom, cinnamon, pepper etc… I have hear of how interesting the tour is, and given that I love food, I have a feeling I am going to enjoy it. The thing is also, when you think of Zanzibar, one of the first thing that comes to mind is the spice trade. It is an island where Asia and Africa met, not only economically, but also racially and culturally. There is something fascinating, romantic and sensual about Zanzibar.
I will let the pictures describe the spice tour. It was definitely worth it. I learnt a lot about how the different spices are used locally for food and medicine. It was also great to actually see whet a pepper or cinnamon tree looks like, why Tandoori is red and that you can use the sap of a quinine tree as a natural band-aid.
In the tour are some other volunteers from different countries. A few of them are trustees of an organization that fights Aids, two others are a Czech couple visiting from Zambia where they do social work. O it’s really nice to meet other fellow volunteers and hear what their experience has been like.
When the tour is over and I am back in Stone town, I head out for Jaws corner to have coffee with old men who won’t talk to me. And I continue to walk around during the calm afternoon hours when many shops are closed.
Later in the afternoon, the rest of the group arrives and we set out for Nungwi, a beach 1 hour up north where we will be spending a few days for some intense relaxation…





Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Recipes from Amani

All of the below recipes were written down after sitting with the youth and watching how they cook. The recipes are not specific and from organic local vegetables. In general, the quantities were for 3 people.

Pilau (rice with spices)
This is a local dish that can also be found in Zanzibar. We have it at Amani every Sunday.
This will serve 5 people.
Heat oil in pan
Cut onions (about 4) in very fine slices.
Cook until brown
Add pilau spices (flower of pilau masala, or cardamom cloves like in Zanzibar)
Add salt. When the mix is brown, add rice
Stir the rice with the rest and add water

Sweat potato fries
Heat lots of oil
Put potatoes in until soft

Tomato stew w/ coconut sauce and peas or meat
Heat oil in pan
Place thinly sliced onions and brown them
Cut and peel fresh tomatoes
Cover and let cook in its own juices while occasionally stirring to prevent burning and sticking to the bottom of the pan
If you have a fresh coconut, shave insides, pour water over shavings and squeeze out the juices. If not, use canned or bottled coconut milk.
Add small diced carrots and or green pepper
Add salt
Add peas and or meat (precook meat slightly)
Stir and cover some more until the meat is cooked through

Local Spinach (can be cale or any green leaf veggie)

Chop leaves
Brown thinly cooked onions
Add fresh and chopped tomatoes (optional)
After a few minutes stir in the tomatoes with greens
Should be ready when greens have reduced and look cooked through

Cabbage and carrots stir-fry

Heat oil in pan
Brown thinly cooked onions
Add chopped tomatoes
Keep stirring and add salt
Add thinly sliced cabbage and stir
Cover and let cook and stir again to make sure it doesn’t burn or stick
Check flavor and add salt if necessary

Friday June 13th: Learning how to make Batik fabric

A few of the youth living at the centre know how to make batik prints. Maria and Alexi have followed a course, and I am not sure how Aurelia learnt to make Batik but she is the most knowledgeable. They sell them to generate income for the centre and I previously bought one, which I got a vest and bag made with. It’s really beautiful and in some of my favorite colors: pink and grey.
I find out they have run out of supplies. And I am also really interested in learning about this ancient and traditional African technique of making prints.
With some of the money donated (thank you Dolores), Maria, Aurelia and myself went to get Batik supplies. We walked quite a long way to where Maria and Alex used to study with a Batik teacher. She sold us dyes, wax and caustic sodas and we set off back to Amani. Then the teacher walked us to where we should get fabric at a wholesale price and we bought 30 meters.
The rest of the day Maria and Alex showed me how to do different tie-dye effects using pleating techniques. Then we designed some batik using wax. The wax is used onto the fabric almost like paint except it’s wax and it dries within a few seconds. You can paint different shapes, letters with the melted wax. Afterwards, you dip your fabric in dye and where the wax is, the dye does not take.
Some of our designs didn’t take because the caustic soda we bought was not working so it was trial and error but over all it was a learning experience for me. One of the batiks came out looking beautiful. Maria spent a lot of time making the pleats perfect. Once the fabric was pleated into a tight bunch, she placed it into a bucket of hot water with dye and caustic soda. After it had sit in the solution for about 5 minutes, she undid the pleats and the tie-dye design appeared. It was definitely the highlight of the day.





Back at Amani

On Tuesday after I cam back from Zanzibar, I got involved with a project that has been on my mind. Before I left for Zanzibar, Mama Toni, an English missionary who has been living in Tanzania for 7 years and works with Amani, told me about a greeting card idea she really wanted to materialize with the help of someone artistic at Amani. There are currently cards the Amani centre makes that are nice. They are made from banana leaves and say Tanzania and have the map of Africa. They are nice but Mama Toni wanted something more appealing to the urban “Muzungus” (white people) at craft fairs, hotels and shops. I kept thinking about it, as this is something completely up my alley. So with a refreshed mind, one morning I spoke with Constancia, the daycare teacher who runs the arts and crafts, about an idea I had. Why not make cards from local African fabrics and add little elements like some of the banana leaves they already use, some beads or buttons? Make collage type cards that are handmade, that white people tend to like, something that doesn’t have Tanzania typed on it, but that uses African materials and is true to the local culture. And I have tons of beautiful paper donated to me by Elizabeth (thank you! I finally found a good use for them). So we played around with a few ideas for a day. It was a lot of fun. Everyone got involved, from Kapembe the driver (and jack of all trades), to the teacher and the youth. By the end of the day we had 10 beautiful cards made to show to Mama Toni. We narrowed it down to 5 with her. And now those are being duplicated. We have gathered scraps of leftover African fabrics, dryed banana leaves, buttons, beads and that’s it, anyone can get to work. Even the current group of high school students visiting from Scotland has been helping. The cards look beautiful. Each card will be sold for 3500 tsh and hopefully this project will bring money to the Amani centre.
The next day, I got my second bout of Malaria and got tested. I had 2 parasites again and just took a one day treatment, rested for the day and quickly got better.



Saturday May 30th to Sunday May 31st: Zanzibar and Stone town

It’s hard to describe the beauty of Zanzibar. All I can say is that when I look back at the experience, I feel like we landed on another planet, a small paradise or maybe as best described by a fellow volunteer who lives there, it’s like being one the TV show LOST.
I went with the rest of the volunteers from the Amani centre. None of them were coming back to Morogoro and this was the last leg of their Tanzania journey. I promised them they would see me party as we were going to go out with a bang and I had been quite tame so far.
For our means of transportation, we choose to go by air so we could enjoy the view of the coral reef. We left on a small propeller plane and it was funny to see everyone’s reaction. Scared of birds getting caught in the propellers and us crashing. Unfortunately or fortunately I almost never feel scared in the air.
As we arrive, we are greeted by a friendly and small airport with a gardened lawn with the words “Smile ur in Zanzibar” spelled out.
We take a small bus into Stone Town, the main city in Zanzibar. Not only I am excited to be in probably most certainly in one the most historically charged places in Africa, I am also curious to experience the black out. There hasn’t been any electricity for a few weeks now, and the prospects of it coming back on while we are visiting are very slim.
We arrive shortly before the sunset at Jambo hostel. We find out they have a generator and quickly get ready so we can walk around town. As we start our walk, I feel like I am in Venice meets Havana meets Palermo. The streets are so narrow, windy and intricate. Some passages exude a gutter smell, some wider streets are adorned with street vendors who sell spices, hard-boiled eggs, oil. Everywhere there are carved Arabic wooden doors and I decide that they will be a running theme in the photo journal of my trip to Stone town. Everywhere we go we run into locals who look like they are a mix of African and Indian. Their facial features are beautiful. The women all wear hijabs and walk by fleetingly, avoiding our gaze. I start to realize how much this place is different from the mainland. The buildings are run down but you can tell city once was a booming financial and cultural centre in Africa and Asia. The days of the spice and slave trade are still embedded in the atmosphere. I have never been to a middle eastern country, have never traveled to Northern Africa, but this could be what it’s like.
On our first night we go to Mercury’s lounge. It’s named after Freddie Mercury who is from Stone Town. We enjoy the local live music and dancing. It’s not Tarab, I don’t know what it’s called but it’s amazing and makes you want to be able to move every part of your hips the way Tanzanians do. Some of the volunteers order a Nargile. I try to smoke it and breathe in as much as I can but nothing comes out to everyone’s amusement. Finally, after the 5th attempt, I manage. We then go to a local Reggae club. I didn’t know this but there is a big rasta movement in Zanzibar. It feels really good to the dance. The men get higher as the night progresses. One asks me for my hand, I show him my “wedding ring” but he says we can lie, which is quite an amusing and resourceful comeback. In any case, the answer is no.
On the second day, Lauren, one of the volunteers and myself, decide to get up early and wander around the streets. We start our walk along the water where the small wooden fishing boats are anchored and make our way towards the fish market. The market atmosphere is great. People stare at us wondering what we think is so interesting about this market. Do we want fresh fish to grill? Not really. We are more here to soak in the local culture. We start to walk back towards the inside of the town and find ourselves caught in windy streets, enjoying having to find our way and stumbling across different shops.

After having quenched our first for shopping and indulged like the tourists that we are we head out to the Anglican Church to visit the old slave market site. The history of Zanzibar is closely tied into to the slave trade as the bigger the spice trade got, the higher the demand for slaves was. The history lesson we get from our guide is very interesting and sad. We learn that in 2 small underground rooms, which we visit, an average of 75 men and women waited for days to be whipped at ground level and then sold. In these cellars, the tide would come in and the humidity and dirt would cause disease to spread. The cramped quarters also caused many to dye of suffocation. He tells us about that the longer a slave survived, the more his or her value increased. The beating and torture was the selection process.
As the day progresses, the heat increases and we decide top at a local restaurant for lunch. My grilled fish is great even though it arrives one hour and a half after arriving. That’s the way it is in Tanzania. Everything is cooked fresh and you usually have to wait 35 minutes for your food, unless it’s something very simple like chips or an omelet. You just get used to it after a while.
After lunch, we decide to visit Prison Island, which is a short 15 minute boat ride away. It also includes snorkeling. We board a small fishing boat with our snorkeling and head out. As we move away from the island, we get to enjoy the view of Stone town. It’s such a beautiful place; it reminds me of Venice, Palermo and Havana combined.
As we get much closer to Prison Island, we stop the boat and jump in the water to snorkel. The reef is beautiful and the water is crystal clear. We don’t get to see any amazing fish but we swim around for about 45 minutes.
Then we park the boat on the small beach at the tip of Prisoner Island. The island was used as a quarantine centre when there used to be the plague on the mainland and the British Empire wanted to stop the disease from spreading to the island. The island itself is not very special. It has now been reconverted into a very high-end resort and used as a sanctuary for turtles. We get to pet and observe the turtles. They are absolutely huge. Some of them are over 200 years old. They are actually quite friendly and if you feed them and lift the food up high, they will pull their entire body up. They look so impressive and prehistoric that can understand the old sayings that represent turtles as being wise.
Before sunset we head back to Stone town. The boat ride back is beautiful and we criss cross with other fishing boats as the light starts to set. We then rush to the Africa House to enjoy the sunset. Being that we are near the equator, the sun sets extremely fast but we manage to see it and it is one of the most beautiful sites of the trip.
That night, we head out to Forodhani gardens for dinner with our flashlights. It’s just a few streets away but the streets are so windy and unsafe since the power shortage, that a man from the hostel ends up taking us around for the night. Forodhani gardens hosts a night market where you can buy street food like the Zanzibari pizza, fish skewers, sugar cane juice, or tea masala. I try all of them and we sit around with the locals enjoying the food. My favorite dish is the Zanzibar pizza. You pick the ingredients and it is cooked in front of you. The stall owner spreads a roll of dough thin and then mixes ingredients of your choice, which are then wrapped in a thin layer of flat dough. The whole thing is cooked in a pan and comes out delicious.
I love street markets and have never experienced one like this specifically at night. This was definitely a highlight to a day which was close to perfect.

Mama Bakhita bio part 2:

In 2002, we carried out a demonstration for our 10-year anniversary, which was a milestone. It was time to evaluate our achievement, the positive and the negative and to set new goals for the next 10 years.
But the year that followed, in 2003, I suffered two major personal blows. My niece Elena had been sick for a long time and was very close to my son Eric. They loved each other and even shared clothes as they had grown up together. They were both first born and shared a close bond. But for a long time, my son did not see his cousin at the Amani compound because she was too sick to visit. When she was taken to the village, he knew something was going on. On the night between the 9th and 10th of April, news broke that his cousin had died. On the evening of the 10th, the youth at the Amani compound were having a night vigil, singing solemn hymns in memory of Elena and he participated fully. Later on he felt sleepy so the youth escorted him to his room. The morning of the 11th, the caretaker went to his room. Being a young girl, she could not understand the condition Eric was in. I was not at the centre that night. After asking a nurse who was a neighbor to come examine him, she pronounced Eric had dyed 3 or 4 hours earlier. The whole family was in the village mourning the death of Elena and the afternoon before he passed away, was when they buried her. So at 12 noon, on the 11th, is when news broke at the village that Eric had dyed as well. This shocked the family members, the village community and for me, I was almost tong tied because he was the most healthy community member at Amani despite his disability. I think at the moment when he dyed, I was dreaming that 2 walls at the Amani centre had collapsed. So the following day at 12 when we received the message, I told the community I am sure when he was dying I had a dream of a wall falling apart and thinking how will I manage to repair this wall. To this day I cannot bare the thought that he dyed in my absence. The youth at the centre did not know how he felt, or how to really understand how to help him. After the news, Uncle Toni, his wife, some family members prepared the body and came back. The following morning of the 12th of April, he was buried. So this was a big sad event for the family loosing two members in 2 days. The cousin was buried on the afternoon of the 10th and that night, my son dyed and was buried the 12th.
I was so wounded, that the whole of 2003 I could not work to my full capacity. In May I traveled to the Netherlands and thought I might forget my sadness. Fortunately enough, the organization there knew what had happened to my son. So whenever I visited, there was a moment of short mourning. Even after coming back, I could not concentrate much on writing so I depended on Uncle Toni to write short messages that I felt were important. But even in that sadness, I vowed and prayed to get much courage to serve the disabled.
That year, many positive donations happened. It was the year when we received the pick up truck from Bean Feast in Scotland, which enabled Amani to visit many disabled especially in the rural areas where the roads are rough. Also the same year, the Japanese government approved a project proposal for the construction of a multi story building. One interesting event was that the day my son Eric passed away, the landline of our Parish priest which very often was disconnected, by some twist of fate, was reconnected and the first call he received was to inform him of the death of my son.
The first few years after my son passed, I could not talk of the event, but now I can speak about it as history. Now I see my second son as being the Amani project which I have dedicated my life to. That is why I don’t have a home of my own. My home is at the three centres. I enjoy going to our Mvomero centre and farm on the weekend. It’s a special place with the animals, garden and of course I love visiting the youth. You can spend time tending to the farm and do physical work which I much enjoy. When I go to Mikese, I enjoy the nature there and during farming season, to work physically with the youth.
I wish that what I am doing now will be taken over by someone who is dedicated, committed and will not use the centre as a loophole for his or her own interests. Someone who will make sure to keep contact with all the friends of Amani, the people I have been corresponding with for many years. I don’t expect that person to be like me but hope to have someone who holds the interest of the Amani centre close to his or her heart and is good with communication.
When I manage to handover the management of Amani, I would like to be an advisor for the centre’s staff. If they get stuck, I could help. This is how I see myself retiring as I still wish to remain in the community. I feel that during my time at Amani, I haven’t done as much fieldwork as my profession requires as I have focused on management and communication. I’d like to be able to stay a few days at Amani, Mvomero, Mikese and then visit the many outreach centres we have created.
My idea is that because in Tanzania there is a lack of training and trainers, there could be a group from abroad of professional that will create a partnership with Amani. We will do intensive training for the Tanzanian or the Amani staff or whoever. We could do this for all the 57 parishes in the Morogoro Diocese. This could have much impact within the Morogoro region and Tanzania. It would send out a message that at least there is a place in Tanzania where people with disabilities are cared for. This is my wish because if a number of Amani workers including the youth who live and work there get intensive training, they are the ones who will carry the sustainability of the project. The foundation is already there, but now it needs to be carried on.

To be continued...

Friday, May 30, 2008

Cross your fingers or say Merde!

In French, you say Merde when you wish someone good luck. I know it may sound strange and rude but that's how we do it.

So please say Merde or do some other trick for the Amani centre community as there are a few projects on the way to get more funds.

Yesterday I mailed an inquiry letter to Oprah's Angel network to fund a new bus and training seminars (Thank you Ken for helping me edit the letter and make it sound great and straight to the point- GBMA).
We just finished a project for funds from the US Embassy in Dar Es Salaam to install an irrigation system at the Mvomero farm.
We also are supposed to meet with UNICEF officials in Dar Es Salaam hopefully on June 11th if all goes according to plan (this is Tanzania so you never really know for sure until the same day).

The Fundi

Fundi is the word for tailor in Kswahili.

There is a tailor who has a shop across the street from the Amani centre. He is a Muslim man in his thirties who always greets me with a huge smile. He is usually playing the radio and Islam chants. He has asked for my hand already but I have a fake wedding ring so that solved the problem when I showed my wedding finger.

I have been buying African at the market fabrics and he has made me some things including this great jacket in Masai fabric. We sit around and I show him a sketch then he takes measurements. He sometimes makes the close too large or long but I think he does it on purpose as he is quite conservative. For the jacket, I had leftover fabric and he offered to make me a bag. We didn't discuss the design at all and when I came back to pick up the bag, it was the coolest little pouch bag ever, I love it.
We manage to communicate even though there is a major communication barrier. Now all the other Mzungus (white people) are giving him business so he is quite happy. I have been sketching dresses and skirts for the other volunteers.
Definitely getting my need for designing and shopping satisfied at the same time!! I have had to control myself at the Saba Saba market as there are many fabric stands and I always find a new print I love. The art is so creative here and full of bold colors.
Now I am on my way to Zanzibar tomorrow and I heard there are amazing fabrics there too. I will be back on Saturday the 7th and then there will only be 3 more weeks to go at Amani. I can't believe I am already in my last month here.




Mama Josephine Bakhita- Biography Part 1

Dear Friends and Family,

I apologize for not keeping up my blog in the last 2 weeks. To be honest, I feel settled now so have not experienced as much the need to keep a journal. But I know you love the stories!!! So I have several in store. This particular post I think is one of my favorite so far. I hope you will find it inspiring.
It turns out Mama Josephine Bakhita, the founder of the Amani centre (who is actually named after a Saint) has had a very interesting life. After many night time conversations with her, I have found her to be an inspiration not only as a woman, but also as person who has had many challenges in her life and has managed to always look forward and even laugh about it.
I thought her story should be shared so I asked her if she had a biography I could use for the blog. She did, but it was only 10 lines long. This is how I started meeting with her. She sat by my side telling me about her life story while I played journalist, asked questions and typed. Enjoy.

"I was born in Nthongolo Mountain in Makuyu village in 1948. I was the 4th and last child with two brothers and one sister.

When I was 4 years old, our mother died. My aunt adopted me and my brothers who were adults stayed with our father. I left the mountainous village for the district of Kilosa in Chakwale village.
From 1953 to 1957, I was in pre-primary school but in those days it was called bush school. My two aunts and uncle were supportive of my studies. After I started primary school. At the end of December1959, we moved to Mvomero. In 1960 I finished primary school there and the following year I moved to Mhonda primary school in Turiani. It was about 35 km from my home so I lived in the boarding school, which was run by nuns of the Roman Catholic Church. There I finished 4 years of upper primary school until 1964. My favorite subjects were Geography, History and Bible knowledge and of course English. In 1965 thank God I passed my exams and moved to Southern Tanzania to a district called Masase district where I joined Salvatorian secondary school, which was run by nuns of the Roman Catholic Church from Chicago, America. Most of my teachers were nuns and Peace core volunteers from America. In secondary school we got extra learning about social issues like psychology. My English teacher, Sister Genevieve campaigned hard for us to read so in my intensive reading, I read a number of books about social issues, culture, history and politics.

In March 1965 my aunt, Antonia Anton, who had adopted me when I was 4, died. She was the last born of my grandparents so carried the name of my grandfather. She passed away during childbirth but the baby survived. She was very loving and never beat me or scolded me and taught me a lot about life values. She never spoilt me and encouraged me to be active and work hard for things. The only thing I disliked was cooking because I didn’t like to sit down in the same place. So instead I helped with getting firewood, getting water from the well or milling maize using the mortar and pestle.
My aunt was also a religious lady so she brought me up to praise the Lord. Due to her way of life, I learnt to pray for the assistance of God. Her death disheartened me for many years and for at least two, I wasn’t myself. My father due to culture barriers and ignorance didn’t encourage me to go to secondary school and I only saw him on Holidays.
So after the death of my aunt, I was left without a guardian and felt like an orphan because since 1953, I wasn’t close to my father. I was unable to afford secondary school. It was during the school holidays that I realized I couldn’t go back to school and had to do something. So that’s when I decided to approach the Dutch missionary bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Morogoro. His name was Hermanus Van John Elswijk. My grades were average in every subject except Mathematics where I was very bad. Nevertheless, he still decided to help me.
When I was in my last year of ordinary secondary school, there was a nun who was giving us guidance to different professions. When it came to me, she spoke about teaching, being a nurse or secretary. Then she mentioned social welfare. As a profession it was regarded as very low but it is one that deals with handicapped and invalid people. Those two words were engrained in my head.
When I finished secondary school, the Bishop asked me to join a teacher’s training. I trained for one year as a teacher but decided to join the social welfare office in May 1970. I followed short series of training and one year of Home economics. It was in 1976 that my guardian Bishop and the government sponsored me for a three year advanced diploma in social work.
During that time of my life, in November 1973, I got married to my husband who was a banker. In 1974, I gave birth to a baby boy named Eric. After one year he suffered from Meningitis fever, which caused him to develop a severe disability both mentally and physically. I thanked God that I was a social worker as I understood and accepted the situation. I had met with many people with disabilities before through my profession.
But nevertheless, that’s when I experienced rejection from my community and my employer. My husband and I separated due to this in 1980 where we lived in Moshi at the time. After the separation, I moved to Morogoro and stayed in an old people’s home as I couldn’t find a home of my own, but my employer was not happy with that so I moved to Chamwino, a slum area in Morogoro.
My son was not accepted fully, as usual, women are often blamed for giving birth to children with disabilities. But it was at this poor, humble area of Chamwino that my son was accepted and it is where I had respect from the community. They accepted me, as they couldn’t believe an educated and literate person had moved to their area, as they were poor and illiterate. Most of them were clients who had been coming to my office and now they found I was living in the same neighborhood and they felt honored. I was still a full time social worker but I was trying to see how many hours I could put in to start an advocacy campaign for people with disabilities.
My son and I lived in very poor conditions. The mud hut itself was dilapidated and there was no toilet. It was just a pit, which was full and open with a few sheets hung around it for privacy. There was no running water so we had to fetch it a quarter of a kilometer away. Being a government employee my salary was very small for my son and a few extended young family members. But with all this poverty, I didn’t despair and continued to work toward better life conditions. I felt that given the situation, I had to do something.


In 1990, I identified 15 children with mental disabilities, and mobilized my fellow community of mothers to group our children for learning. This first class started under a mango tree. I continued to identify more disabled children, as there were many in Chamwino due to the poverty and illiteracy level. Chamwino being a slum area, families live in small quarters and abject conditions.
In 1991, I started to build the first part of what would become the Amani centre compound. I used my small life savings to finance it. Two sugar companies invited me to conduct workshops for their daycare teachers. What they paid me helped me to continue funding the construction of the Amani centre. When I had time, I also helped with hand labor for the construction. At that time, a Dutch family donated funds for my son’s tricycle. I used the leftover money from the purchase to buy construction materials for the building of the first house. I also received help from a Dutch organization that gave me a donation to finish the construction.
In 1992, the Amani centre began in a small living room with 25 intellectually disabled children. The same year I handed over the centre to the Catholic Diocese of Morogoro and remained there as the director, social worker and founder of the Amani centre for people with disabilities.
In those early days, we quickly reached a number of 45 identified disabled children in Chamwino alone. By 1994 we had identified 400 in the Morogoro municipality. By 1995, the Amani centre had grown into two buildings. In 1997, the Canadian Embassy funded the construction of a multipurpose hall, which is now used for daycare and different activities. In the centre of the compound, we maintained a flower and vegetable garden, which made the centre look completely different and a far cry from when it was just a mud hut.

During the Nineties (1992 to 1997), I ran Amani with a few assistants who had primary school level education. I carried out the activities and visits, which was a lot of work.
In 1993, I invited young girls and a few boys to live and work at the centre in exchange for secondary education. The idea came to me so I could help the poor sisters and/or brothers of the disabled. By educating them through secondary school and living at the centre, they were still with their siblings. Therefore they would be good caretakers for the disabled and be educated. I also wanted to help poor girls as for many years, girls’ education was not considered valuable in our society. I felt educating the girls was one way to help them to be good citizens in society and speak for the rights of people with disabilities.
After 1997, the centre had grown so much that we applied for a big plot of land In Mikese, 30 km away. I thought that the disabled youth that was now over 18 should have something to do. In Zambia I saw disabled youth be active in farming and animal keeping and gardening. So I thought it best to apply for more space where the disabled over 18 could live and work.


In those years, officials from Caritas Netherlands (present Cordaid), asked a volunteer to advise me, as Amani was too much to run by myself and a handful of professionals. So that’s when I hired more people: a bookkeeper, a vocational training teacher, social workers and a nurse.
The Amani centre then became a full administrative organization and I was able to delegate some activities and focus on management and development. Since 1994 I have been traveling to attend different workshops. The first one was in Jamaica and led me to create CBR (Community Based Rehabilitation). I have also traveled to a few African countries: South Africa, Lesotho, and Zambia. In Mauritius I learnt how much parents there care for their disabled children. I also traveled to Europe: Norway, the Netherlands, Denmark, Italy, and Great Britain. My experience there taught me that due to good resources, the government there cares to see every citizen gets his or her rights whether disabled or not. One idea made me sad when I visited the North of Norway. There my host told me that in their area no disabled children are born due to early termination of difficult pregnancies. Otherwise, in developed countries, the parents are empowered by the government and receive good services for their children with disabilities a well as equal opportunity.
It’s at this point that I felt guilt when I visited centers for intellectually disabled. I thought what good am I doing to the disabled I have identified in Tanzania Morogoro after seeing how well the disabled were taken care of abroad. I am not giving them quality services like in the other countries I have visited. So when I came back I continued to advocate for the rights of the disabled through the Amani awareness group, home visits, CBR, press interviews, televised workshops and seminars.

Since 1995, Amani gained international credibility due to receiving foreign volunteers and organizations. They raised awareness in their respective countries and have carried on helping us.
The Amani project has changed my life. Before I started, I was always feeling a sense of guilt because I thought I had failed to be a family woman. I was a failure not to raise more children and sometimes I felt I lost confidence in society due to having a child with disabilities. I even felt like personally I am disabled. Also, I didn’t have confidence in my work, my family members. So after starting the Amani project, identifying many families with disabled children, I gained courage and felt a sense of purpose.

In 2002, we carried out a demonstration for our 10-year anniversary, which was a milestone. It was time to evaluate our achievement, the positive and the negative and to set new goals for the next 10 years.
But the year that followed, in 2003, I suffered two major personal blows. My niece Elena had been sick for a long time and was very close to my son Eric. They loved each other and even shared clothes as they had grown up together. They were both first born and shared a close bond. But for a long time, my son did not see his cousin at the Amani compound because she was too sick to visit. When she was taken to the village, he knew something was going on. On the night between the 9th and 10th of April, news broke that his cousin had died. On the evening of the 10th, the youth at the Amani compound were having a night vigil, singing solemn hymns in memory of Elena and he participated fully. Later on he felt sleepy so the youth escorted him to his room. The morning of the 11th, the caretaker went to his room. Being a young girl, she could not understand the condition Eric was in. I was not at the centre that night. After asking a nurse who was a neighbor to come examine him, she pronounced Eric had dyed 3 or 4 hours earlier. The whole family was in the village mourning the death of Elena and the afternoon before he passed away, was when they buried her. So at 12 noon, on the 11th, is when news broke at the village that Eric had dyed as well. This shocked the family members, the village community and for me, I was almost tong tied because he was the most healthy community member at Amani despite his disability. I think at the moment when he dyed, I was dreaming that 2 walls at the Amani centre had collapsed. So the following day at 12 when we received the message, I told the community I am sure when he was dying I had a dream of a wall falling apart and thinking how will I manage to repair this wall. To this day I cannot bare the thought that he dyed in my absence. The youth at the centre did not know how he felt, or how to really understand how to help him. After the news, Uncle Toni, his wife, some family members prepared the body and came back. The following morning of the 12th of April, he was buried. So this was a big sad event for the family loosing two members in 2 days. The cousin was buried on the afternoon of the 10th and that night, my son dyed and was buried the 12th.
I was so wounded, that the whole of 2003 I could not work to my full capacity. In May I traveled to the Netherlands and thought I might forget my sadness. Fortunately enough, the organization there knew what had happened to my son. So whenever I visited, there was a moment of short mourning. Even after coming back, I could not concentrate much on writing so I depended on Uncle Toni to write short messages that I felt were important. But even in that sadness, I vowed and prayed to get much courage to serve the disabled. "

TO BE CONTINUED....


Sunday, May 11, 2008

Sunday May 11th 2008: Getting involved

Throughout the weeks I have been maintaining my blog, some of you have given donations. The bulk of it was used last month to purchase food after a shortage and I thank you again on behalf of the Amani centre for children with disabilities.

I am reaching out to my friends and family today to raise awareness about the Amani centre’s pressing need for donations.
Although Amani has partners in the Uk and Netherlands, it needs to increase its network of supporters as every month the organization struggles to make ends meet. This is mainly due to the rise of costs in food and fuel, and expansion of the centre.


To the right side of my blog are links to the Amani center’s websites and a BBC article about it, which invite you to read. But here is also an overview of the current activities:

Establishment:
The Amani Centre was founded in 1992 by Josephine Bakhita who herself is a mother of a late intellectually disabled child. The headquarters and school are based in Morogoro municipality at Chamwino along Dar es Salaam – Iringa highway.



However in order to bring its services closer to the rural communities the Centre opened outreach Centres at Movorero and Mikese – more rural areas 80Km and 30Km respectively out of town.

Amani Centre Vision:

To ensure that persons with mental and multiple disabilities within Morogoro Diocese are identified, registered, and assisted to get such basic needs as health care, physiotherapy basic education, food, shelter, safe and clean water on a sustainable basis.



Amani Centre Mission:
To ensure that mentally and multiply disabled persons rights and needs - both in and outside of the Morogoro Diocese - are being acknowledged and respected.

Amani Centre program:

Since it’s establishment, the organization has worked with children with a range of disabilities both mental and physical. The size of the target group within the region of operation is vast.
Through Amani’s outreach clinics and awareness raising - 3,667 children have been identified within its catchment area as having some aspect of physical or mental disability. Of these, many have had relatively minor disabilities and sight problems, and we work closely with the Disability Hospital in Dar Es Salaam to refer for corrective services.
Nevertheless this still leaves a vast number of children with mental and multiple disabilities within the region who are the focus of our Community Based Rehabilitation.
The support of this marginalized group is essential within a poor country like Tanzania. The experience of Amani - on both personal and professional levels - is that giving birth to a disabled child in this economic situation has severe effects for the family as a whole. Not only does the disability bring stigma and isolation; it also incurs further burden and cost to already impoverished families and makes it difficult for the mother to work. Medical treatments, therapies and nutrition are expensive and these services are often located up to 200km from the family home, thus incurring additional travel and subsistence costs – which prove too often to be impossible to match.

Therefore families with Disabled children are amongst the poorest in the society, and those most in need of emotional and practical support and education from our community based rehab services.

The Amani Centre, among other things is involved with the following activities:
- Building safe and loving communities of intellectually disabled youth,
in urban and rural centres. Whilst we strive to enable disabled youth to live successful and fulfilled lives in their own communities, this is often not possible and conditions in which some of members have been found are heart breaking. There are thus currently three such residential communities run by Amani: one in Morogoro town, and two in rural sub-centres; they are aimed at serving those intellectually disabled and multiply disabled youth who are unable to live with their own families for some of the sad reasons documented above. Here, the children and youth are enabled to experience the love of a faith based community, freedom, skills and knowledge learning, as well as to practice independence and build relationships with other community members. Much more of how these communities function is written in a further document entitled ‘the Amani community’.

- Day care for the disabled

One of the main daily focuses of Amani’s work at it’s Headquarters in Morogoro. Those physically and Mentally disabled children who are able to walk to Amani Centre are taught and cared for by a special needs teacher, several community workers and voluntary youth. The centre has three classrooms and an excellent school hall. This allows mothers to have a break from their children and allows the children to play and learn together in a safe and controlled environment. Children can also receive healthcare and physiotherapy during their school day – as necessary

- Community Based Rehabilitation (CBR)
This vital aspect of Amani’s work is done through regular home visiting and outreach to children and their families who cannot travel to the Centre in Morogoro and Mvomero. Community workers and the physio visit them in their homes (normally on bicycles – which can be up to 7 miles away!) to deliver medication, counseling, physiotherapy or educational exercises relevant to the child’s disability. They can also deliver simple provisions to the neediest of families, and help create equipment for physically handicapped children out of local materials. They also update themselves on the health and development of the child since the previous visit. In this way, the children are rehabilitated most importantly within their own communities, neighbors and relatives can all be involved in the rehab; furthermore monitoring of the conditions and appropriate referrals to our partner disability hospital in Dar Es Salaam can also be made.


- Health and Physiotherapy
The Amani Centre’s Head Quarters in Morogoro houses an impressive physiotherapy room with equipment from a UK donor charity. We have been able to distribute several wheelchairs to the children we serve in the local community. Several children come for outpatient physiotherapy, however, many of the neediest children who would benefit from using the equipment and skills on offer are unable to get to the centre as there is no transport available and mothers find it impossible to carry the bigger children on their backs …although some do try!



- Secondary education support.
The Centre supports girls from poorer backgrounds and families of children with mental disabilities, with the aim to return and support their respective families.

- Farming and Vocational Trading for Disabled youth at Mikese and Mvomero (rural outpost farms).



Disabled children and youth either live on site or come from local villages. This enables the children to learn valuable skills and can therefore help their communities and families. The courses being given include tailoring, mat- making, poultry and goat keeping in which the disabled children are involved with the guide of voluntary local youths.

- Income generating activities schemes.

Amani Centre conducts different small income generating activities for the sake of its sustainability, such as craft production and small scale farming in it’s two rural outposts.

- Public awareness and capacity building
This is of great importance to Amani’s ethos and is carried out by Amani Centre awareness group – via drumming, singing and dance, as well as talks and demonstrations. Mothers are invited to the Centre with their children and friends to be taught how they can care for and love their children as they would any other healthy child. Amani also has a very good local public profile and carries out talks and awareness raising in local schools and religious groups and within whole villages.

- Outreach
Whilst Amani has done well to create awareness and identify the disabled population in the more urban surroundings of it’s headquarters – many rural areas remain untouched. It is here that many of the worst cases of disability, poverty, mistreatment and neglect are witnessed. Amani collaborates with partners to run outreach clinics in rural areas to register, administer healthcare and make appropriate referrals for all manner of disabilities.


How to make a donation:
If you are interested in making a donation, even $10 or $20 would make a difference. To give you an example, it cost $360 including transport to buy rice, wheat flour, sugar, oil and beans for the center (about 45 people) to last us 1 month. $20 is less than you would generally pay for dinner in a restaurant. $10 represents maybe 3 coffees to go.

Donations so far have been deposited into my savings account through Paypal. Signing up to Paypal is free and can be done by going to www.paypal.com or to login: https://www.paypal.com/us/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_login-run

It’s a great way to make secure online payments and transfer money. You will find my account by typing in my email address: didine1031@gmail.com. I have been taking the money out of my savings in Tanzanian shillings and giving it to Amani. Paypal states exactly what was deposited so I know what is donation money and what is my personal money.
The Amani center is a Non Profit Organization and Non Governmental. I am working on finding out if the donations can be tax deductible and will keep you updated.

Please specify if you’d like your donation to go towards a certain aspect of Amani for example education, physiotherapy, food or day care.

I personally think what is urgent right now is to fight the food crisis. There are different ways: donating money for food and fuel, but also, Amani has been trying to raise money for a tractor and irrigation systems for the Mvomero farm to increase its self sustainability in the culture of crops. Currently all the farming is done by hand and the water supply is obsolete. To own a tractor and improve their irrigation system would have a great long-term effect.
Another example: the youth that lives and works at the center in exchange for secondary education, often struggles to buy notebooks at the beginning of their term.
Also Amani has been trying to raise money to buy a new van as the one they used to pick up disabled children for daycare has broken down for good, thus preventing many children from coming to daycare for the past 6 months. Part of the money has been raised, but there is still a ways to go.

If you have any questions, please email me at didine1031@gmail.com. If you decide to donate, I will give you a personal update as to where your money was used.

Monday May 5th to Saturday May 10th 2008: The right of passage

Ok so you are going to think I am getting lazy with this blog and skipping days as I just combined a whole week into 1 post.
But the truth is I slept a lot this week and feel like it was a blur. Before I explain why, I just want to say this is not as bad as it sounds, and I know I said that already with the post about the bus crash. But it’s true.
When I first arrived in Tanzania, I was so careful about mosquito bites to avoid getting Malaria. All the other volunteers said you can be as careful as you want, you will most likely get it as everyone does here. So I remained cautious but knew it would happen eventually. Luckily, mosquitoes don’t even like me, but seriously, EVERYONE has malaria. They don’t tell you at the Center for disease control. What they also don’t tell you is that there are different grades. 1 or 2 parasites is ok, doesn’t even sometimes need medicine, 3 or 4 starts to get bad, 5 or 6 you get delirious.
I don’t mean to underestimate the seriousness of Malaria as I know how many adults and children die from it, but at Amani, it’s like they take turns. How are you today? Oh I have malaria. And the next day it’s another one. And so on and so forth. And they just go on with their lives having very low-grade malaria every so often.
Anyway, I finally was diagnosed with Malaria this week. I guess the snotting and sore throat wasn’t from the cooking in the smoky hut after all. The night sweats and headaches too. I got tested and have 2 parasites.
Let me tell you, Malaria is a strange disease unlike anything I have ever experienced because I have done so much sleeping this week and feel so lethargic, it’s ridiculous.
Needless to say I didn’t get very much done and on top of it all, Mama Bakhita’s computer crashed and I cannot connect to the internet from her laptop. We have still managed to get some things out but I feel bad and hope all our/ her files are not lost.
So yes, this is the reason why this week is a blur. The one thing that is clear is that I feel like I am officially in Africa. I know it sounds strange but it was like a right of passage to get Malaria. To put things into perspective for you, it’s like getting the flu. As long as you get tested every 2 weeks, you have very low chances of getting high grade Malaria as it takes that amount of time to really develop.

Sunday May 4th 2008: Too much talk and Chickens

Attention vegetarians and chicken lovers, this posting might not be for you.
Today the GAP volunteers living at Amani (Michael, Leoni, Claire, Rachel and Nicole) can’t stop going on about how they are going to buy live chickens at the market and kill them.
I decide to join them as I haven’t been into town for a while but make it clear I will not take part in cutting a chicken’s head off. No thanks not for me.
So after lunch in town and the best omelet I have had so far in Tanzania, we head out to the market and get 4 chickens.
On the way back in the Dalla Dalla, Michael and Claire are holding the 4 chickens which have been attached by the legs but 2 let loose and it gets quite amusing as they try to regain control in the mini van.
We get back to Amani. I go up to my room waiting for them to finish killing the chicken but the girls just come back up and say they were unable to go forward with their plan. The only ones who killed the chickens were Michael and Leoni. So I head back down to help with the cutting. I end up cutting almost all the chickens and getting an anatomy lesson. When that is done, all the Gap students are gone and I am given the task to cook the 4 chickens, legs included.
The work in the kitchen here is unlike anything you have ever done. The food is all cooked with firewood and in this instance, for hygiene, we have to boil the chickens first which takes over 1 hour as the coals are not taking fast. We have to manually tend to the wood and coals. The hut is filled with smoke and very hot. My eyes are watering and I can barely breathe but all I can think of was how do these girls do it, I can’t be a pansy AND where the ---- are the GAP kids, this wasn’t my idea in the first place!!!
Anyway, I finally get some help after giving Rachel the evil eye. Seriously! I learnt a lot in this kitchen but feel like a sweaty mess. Finally the food is served! I get my favorite piece while still snotting from being in the smoky hut. We get some beers and down them with our food. It turns out to be quite the meal. So it was a great idea after all but moral of the story: don’t say you are going to do something and brag until you actually get it done.

Saturday May 3rd 2008: The most unforgettable bus ride ever…so far

This morning the bus leaves at 6:30 am and I sit in the front in the second row. I start a conversation with a middle-aged man next to me who speaks very good English. His name is Michael and he is from the region. He is an accountant for the local government.
At 7:15 am, we are still talking and I think to myself, this 9-hour bus ride will be nice. When suddenly we start to swerve a little. As I look up, I see we are about to crash into another bus. Our bus is going so carelessly fast (typical here) that it doesn’t have enough time to avoid a stopped bus ahead of us, but has just enough time to swerve to the left and crashes into the side of it.
Everything happens very fast but at the same time I feel like I am seeing it all in slow motion as Michael and brace ourselves for the impact. We take the shock in our knees as we hit the chair ahead of us.
When we stop, people start climbing out from the windshield of the bus, which is smashed. Passengers are moaning and bleeding, mainly from head injuries. I feel shell-shocked and give way to others who are injured. One man has blood pouring out of his mouth, another woman is crying, so I feel like I am ok compared to them. They manage to open the door and I finally get out.
I ask where the driver is as his side of the bus is smashed. He has been taken to the hospital.
Once we are out I pour some water on people’s hands, which are covered in blood. I realize the I pod pouch I was holding before the crash is gone. I go look for it and come back realizing this is the least of my worries now. A young man comes up to me and points to his lip asking me repeatedly “Is there leakage Is there leakage”. I see there is a small hole going through his mouth right below his lip. I tell him “pole sana” I am sorry and give him a large bandage leaving him feeling powerless.
Eventually I sit down on the edge of the road. I am the only white person. I get up again to look at the front of the bus and the surroundings. I realize we were so lucky. Not only the bus is smashed, I nearly took the front seat which would have sent me flying through the windshield. Also, we stopped on the side of the ditch without falling into it and 30 meters ahead of us was a ravine without any rails. So maybe the driver wasn’t so bad after all.
I sit down again and my right leg starts to throb and swell. I am told another bus is coming to take us to Morogoro. I am able to walk so I know my leg isn’t broken and I will just have a bad bruise. This whole time, I am getting texts from Ken and can I just say to the world: I love you Ken.
I spend the rest of the journey chatting with Michael but keeping an eye on the road. At one point we nearly get into an accident again with the new driver and the whole bus starts shouting at him. That part is actually funny.
When I get back to the Amani center, I get a very warm welcome. A little autistic girl named Hussina who recently joined us gives me a big hug and I am so pleased to see the change in her since I left.
I catch up with the other volunteers and Mama Bakhita and share the tales of my journey back to Morogoro.
I feel like leaving the Amani center for a week made me appreciate even more the life there. It’s a peaceful place and by the way, Amani means Peace in Swahili so it is quite fitting.
Even though I loved everything I saw this week and traveling with Heather and Dan, it was also tiring going from one place to another. Anyway, this is all part of traveling.
I am just very thankful to be alive today. I will never take a HOOD bus again!!!! They are maniacs.

Friday May 2nd 2008: Visit to Ilkurot Masai village

After returning from Ngorongoro crater, I want to visit a Masai village as this is the homeland to their tribe. But almost give up as the price for the cultural tourism programs are ridiculous. I finally find a decent one to visit a Masai Boma specifically from Ilkurot. My guide will be Masai and comes to pick me up at 11 am. This is the only way you can see how they live unless invited by a friend. They are very private people and for example will rarely allow people to take pictures of them.
We spend the day walking. First we got to the Masai market where I get some fabrics. Then we take the Dalla Dalla to the Masai highlands. The views are breathtaking and it feels like we are high up. We run into the Sheppard and his children. My guide Jeremiah is great and explains to me many things about Masai culture, old and modern, how he started this cultural program for Ilkurot. We sit down a bit and then visit a manmade sand cave used to gather sand, which is then sold. The Masai are known to have a keen sense of business and this is one of the recent trades they have become involved with. I’ve noticed how much erosion there is in the region and how soft the soil is so it is very easy for them to dig very long tunnels into the hills. We walk into one which is maybe half a mile long. It’s both fascinating and scary as we go deeper into the darkness. I pull out a little flashlight and we cross a mother holding a bag of sand accompanied by her son who is holding an oil lamp. I wonder how safe this is. I thought I was going to visit natural caves but I guess this is just as interesting in a completely different way.
It has now been hours since we left Arusha for Ilkurot and our last stop is a Masai Boma (compound) where I visit a healer. He is away but his 1st wife is a trained healer too so she asks me what I would like to know. I have some questions but honestly do not feel like taking Masai medicine. Even my guide says maybe it’s best that way as it could make me sick from not being used to these types of cures (often made from cow blood)!
At the Boma, I most enjoy being around the healer’s children who are adorable and curious. The mother asks me if I want to take the youngest back to America as that would make her very happy and all I can do is smile and laugh as I can understand the question but also don’t quite know what to say.
I go back that evening with happy grin on my face. Today was great. We spent hours walking and I feel like I learnt something.
I go to bed early as I have to catch the bus tomorrow at 6:15 am. Am taking a Hood bus directly to Morogoro this time.




Tuesday April 29th and Wednesday April 30th 2008: Ngorongoro crater

The crater is one of the most famous animal viewing places in Africa and part of the World Unesco heritage site of Ngorongoro conservation area. The crater formed 2.5 million years ago when a mountain imploded. Since then, it has been a haven for animals due to the grasses and water that lie at the crater floor. Wildebeest, flamingos, lions, elephants, etc… all live and thrive and eat each other there.
So on Tuesday we leave Arusha in the afternoon to head out to our campsite where we will spend the night before visiting Ngorongoro crater on Wednesday.
The campsite is nice and the tent lofty. The showers are apparently warm but I feel too tired to take one.
We join a Dutch father and daughter who have also signed up for the Safari and they show us their pictures from their day at Lake Manyara national park. Seeing them makes us even more excited and hopeful to see the big 5: Lion, Rhino (nearly extinct), buffalo, cheetah and Hippo. Dinner is very good and we go to bed content.
On Wednesday we head out for the crater very early. It’s foggy and grey so as we drive down so don’t get to enjoy the view of the crater which is 20 km wide. On our way the only people we cross are Masai who are allowed to let their cattle graze in the conservation area. . We meet with a Masai man who gives us fuel before going down any further into the crater. The road down the cliff is very bumpy.
Once we are there, it’s hard to describe how beautiful this natural site is. Cliffs that form the crater edge surround us, but inside, it feels like we are a small dot in a vast plain.
As the day goes by, we encounter 2 lions after a kill who are sitting around the carcass of a wildebeest. We are so close to one of the lions that it is unbelievable. They don’t seem to care and I understand as they are at the top of the food chain so how could we bother them? We see many herds of gazelle, antelopes, buffalos and interesting looking birds including ostriches. We drive by a pond where Hippos are rolling in the mud. Just before stopping for lunch we find 4 lionesses waiting for a dead hippo’s body to float to the edge of the water. For some reason, they will not swim into the water. The stench of the carcass is more or less bearable depending on where the wind is blowing.
Just before leaving the park we see 2 black rhinos who in return stare at us. We are the only ones to have spotted them so it feels like a special moment.
We leave the crater so happy and fulfilled. On our way back, we manage to catch amazing views as by then the sky has cleared up.