Was going to go to dinner with S. on Sunday but it began raining. and raining. I attempted to take some photos of the rain but they don't quite look as strong as the rain was, it really does pour. And, unfortunately, that old pop song that I don't recall any other words except "...and the rains down in Africa..", what the heck was that? I can hear it in my head, unfortunately every time it has rained here.

Did I mention that I stopped the malaria meds after about 5 days?  I started them on Friday while still in CF. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday I awoke and my whole body was trembling and I grit my teeth so much in my sleep that my gums bled a bit. I know I was out of it due to jet lag but I swear this was more. Very vivid dreams, not scary but vivid and frustrating--like those dreams in which you are trying to get out of a room and can't and no one is listening to you and and.....I was also nauseous for the entire time.  I am not sure if it stopped the anti-depressants from working or was "just" a side effect (doc said I could take this malaria pill not the other since I'm on anti-deps) but I felt extremely depressed. My second night I hit a real bottom, thinking I just needed to turn around and go home, that I could not stand to be away, could not do anything, extreme and bottom. Yet I had not done anything at that point, just met a couple of people and was in a perfectly fine hotel room. By Wed. I decided I could not do these pills.  I spoke with folks who live here, asked what they do. A few said they had not taken pills in a long time, that they are very careful about prevention with insect repellents, mosquito nets, and try not to go out after rain or at night (did I mention it gets dark by 6:15pm??? I guess it's ok since I don't know where I'd go anyway).  I felt much better on Wed and like a new person by Thursday. It is strange to shower nice and clean and immediately slather on insecticide and I know DEET is not good either but I decided it is the lesser evil.

Today I decided to check WebMD for side effects and for symptoms of malaria, just in case. Very interesting. Apparently the Malaron I would take daily for more than 3 months is also used to treat malaria. For treatment, it is taken for 3 days. waitaminute! Is this logical? I can be sick for 3 months by taking it and if I don't kill myself out of depression then I risk liver damage and for some reason it was important to note patients should have a spleen in order to take the pill. Or, I could chance it and risk taking it for 3 days. hmmmm.  People here also said the malaria is not as bad here or as easy to "catch" as we are told in the US.   Then I looked at comments people made on WebMD about their experiences, a few had no problems, on the other hand--several noted that when they returned home and after they stopped taking it they felt very sluggish, experienced loss of memory (not on the label); one person said this took several months and another said it took a year to re-gain all memory lost. These folks said they could not recall simple things that they did everyday. Then there are rashes, liver damage, one woman said she felt pressure in her chest, could not breathe and US docs thought she was having a heart attack. Then they realized it was malaron side effects (also not on label). Side effects included dizziness, a lot of dizziness, rashes, vomiting, diarrhea, gas (yup, that farting and burping stuff you really don't want to do around people you have never met), severe headaches (yup, for 4 days for me).  I had some of these and decided to quit.  I also notice--what did docs give patients to relieve the symptoms of side effects? Prednisone, steroids.  Or, they will give you another med to take with the malaria med to reduce side effects.  Sheesh!!!  Give me the Deet.

Seems the slathering may be doing well since S. who is on antibiotics for 3 weeks (an alternative preventive med that was not recommended due to my long stay) and was not using any bug spray said she is being bitten a lot by mosquitoes.  I know the last few years in CF, they loved stinging me, so far so good and I will continue lotions, potions, and sprays on me, in my little house.

Saturday

A lazy day Saturday. Pretty much lazed around reading a Val McDermid mystery, a favorite. Some watermelon--very fresh, sweet and juicy.  Opened a bottle of Guinness Foreign Extra Stout. Never heard of it, but nice, a little thicker/more syrupy than what we get in the US. Sharp, then a little sweeter and hoppy, more like US Guinness stout.  Nice full flavored. The bottle says it is brewed with extra hops and barley. hmm. $1.12 US. 1750 TS (Tanzanian Shillings). Pretty much a bargain for a Guinness.  It's good to be lazy sometimes!
But it is Saturday night and I'm also hearing the thumping of rhythmic music from somewhere outside my bungalow, guards partying down? Landlady? Who knows. Music is the world language and playing loud when one has neighbors, is world ritual.

In case you did not think the palm tree yesterday looked so large, here are pics from another perspective that may help:

Lower part of the palm tree

Palm tree to the left of the shaggy brown tree

Bits and Pieces

Ok, gross, there was just a tv ad for snail "gel" to spread on your face and body-gets rid of wrinkles, brown spots, stretch marks, smooths the whole body. EWWWWW

Today, Saturday, I went with Anna and Rama (the contract driver) drove to check out a conference facility. It was a long drive, or maybe it was the traffic. This road is the busiest one in Dar-the main road to and from the rest of Tanzania so there are many many vehicles and humongous trucks, over-packed buses, tuk-tuks (sp?), pedestrians, on and on. Seemed about 2 hours but I'm still fascinated looking at the places people live and shop and the trees and mud and ditches.  This road has some ditches that were concrete. some still being dug out and some dirt.  I'm guessing they are for rain runoff since everything would drown in the rainy season, I'm not sure what else it's used for. Oh, then again, I did see a boy climb down into a ditch (like the other day, 5'? more? seem at least as deep as I am tall), he walks over to the drain pipe (dirt on top forms a bridge for pedestrians and vehicles between road and shops), and unzips his fly. Then I saw an adult man do the same.  Once again the conveniences are for men!!  And so this was a lesson about drainage, water and sewer supplies, cleanliness, etc.

We have to drive into this area of "shops"-shacks, beach umbrellas, stalls really where folks are selling food, clothes, material, buckets, brooms, bicycles and tires, cars and car parts.  A very bumpy drive over rocks and big holes and trying to avoid people and vehicles. We carefully follow up a hill and here is this building, behind a guarded gate of course.  It's plain, looks like common grey office buildings, with a tiny reception desk and a larger office where we are led to the person to negotiate with . She takes us on a tour, outside, down several short stone staircases into a little courtyard surrounded by doors to rooms. Really looked like a convent to me. ok, what I guess a convent looks like. She shows us 3 rooms. convent-like. One bed, concrete walls and floor, overhead fan, mosquito net, stall shower, the world's smallest sink, no towel. Oh, and no windows. Didn't feel clean and I was just thinking, yes I'm spoiled, I cannot see me staying here one night never mind possibly a week! Am I spoiled? The meeting rooms were small, each in a separate building, too small, then we stopped at the more public bathroom. Oh kayyy, hole in the floor.  A little voice is going "please please Anna, no no no not here".  We returned to the car, thankfully she shook her head, nope, not good enough for her either, she even mentioned the outside walls of stone had no upkeep.  I was soo grateful!  tomorrow morning (Sunday) we are going to try another place, leaving at 9am.

 Roads are pretty scary, I've never seen trucks, cars, buses so over-loaded that they tilt. We were behind a truck that had lumber piled on the back, there were ropes tying the bundle but they bounced around, tilted towards the road, and no, no little red flag on the end.  Then the bus in front of us, I thought maybe the road tilted but nope. It was the weight in the bus--people stuffed in hanging out doors and windows. Then it turned the corner and tipped. Quite a bit. But the driver caught it somehow and it just went on. Construction crews on very slanted roofs framing floors that are off kilter. Things I would really want photos of so they can show themselves. But, from a moving car with blacked out windows  it's hard to take pictures.

It is these moments I think about those tea party & repugs clamoring about less government and here we are packed in traffic and police types or army? or troopers? are pulling cars and trucks over not for bad or unsafe driving but to see if they are insured, issuing tickets you can pay on the spot. The little corruptions. So here is the govt that has laws but people don't pay attention-stop lights & signs, would they really like to live with coal trucks, lumber trucks, buses, crashes --really, the newspaper prints the license plates of cars in accidents, including when someone is killed (common), No sewer systems, very few paved roads, lots of potholes (today the one we always drive around was filled with big rocks... thanks for helping there.  No street lights, no control over public transit or how many people fit in a bus, ferry, cars with piles of mattresses tied to the roof or pouring out of the trunk, I saw a Masai man on the street with a very sturdy knife in a holster on his hip, blade was about 2 ft, really, they are tall very thin people, and nobody is disturbed, many hire them for guard work-they are warriors.  The richest have kids in private schools and live behind walls and guards. The poor are outside cutting the grass with scythes. It suddenly occurred to me that I never hear lawnmowers, they cut by hand with blades.  I see here how things we take for granted, even down to whether we are ok driving next to a truck towing 2 huge tanks of fuel, or the tallest truck I've ever seen.  Those "little govt" people would wimp out even with private drivers, schools, homes, etc.

On my bathroom window  this am. Thought it was a leaf. 2-3 inches long. Gel huh?

OSHA shot of the day. Ladder leans against tree, guy is in tree after climbing ladder or standing on top of ladder and is now cutting branches

mmmmmm snail gel

Ok--couple of photos

May 23

Karibu! (welcome)
Anyone see anything wrong with a dinner of fresh pineapple, slices of gouda cheese, a dried out croissant, and red wine? Nope, I thought you'd agree, perfectly fine. Stopped at a small market on the way home, must remember to not try the baked goods again. But they did have wine. One of the gifts here is I get to have South African wines. yum.

Aside from the African music videos (remember, the dancing. Today I tried to copy Elaine's dancing from Seinfeld. Harder than you would think), I don't get a big variety of satellite tv stations unless I buy more. So, I've come to watch BBC entertainment, dinner with The Weakest Link and So You Want to be a Millionaire Brit versions. The WL woman is a trip, quite rude to the contestants and very dry humor. The most entertaining thing so far was on the Millionaire, the question was "what was another name for Indians that colonists used" or some such. The answer?  Ha! Red Indians. uhhh, nope, that would be red skins.

A bit about work--some things on my work plan: learn the process for accreditation in Tanzania & Zanzibar, develop and disseminate a survey to identify  current faculty experience, knowledge, degrees, etc. Then analyze, write a report on findings, and use info to draft a plan for the quicky MSW program for them, Get the needs assessments that have not been turned in yet, "analyze" and write reports. They wanted a draft of guidelines for field manuals but, since no one seems to be understanding it, I think I have to back up and develop some sort of needs assessment for students, faculty, and field instructors to find out what they know and what they do. Then, perhaps start with a workshop on the importance of field, then start a draft, perhaps with faculty. Oh, and yes, something about a teacher evaluation tool for assessing their work. Don't know if this is for admin or students. Then--wait! wait! consult with schools developing curricula (at least 4 schools already did this), but since there is a gap in how the curricula relate to what actually transpires in a class, I'll be working on syllabi, again maybe a training/retreat where faculty split into groups to develop syllabi.  Before this, however, we may have to do a syllabus workshop-what is it,what for, etc.   Three months eh?  This may be the start of a beautiful relationship, we will be extending the work plan for as long as needed -6 months, 6 years, who knows. Someone asked yesterday if I can stay, maybe even teach this fall. hmm. no. But it looks like project mentors come for several weeks at a time, during school breaks. That could work--winter in Tanzania rather than northern Iowa? Let me think...ok!  Cindy, if you are reading this--the UNAIDS rep wants "someone" to do real research on the impact on kids and children's welfare of having social workers in the country. hmm. thought of you immediately. 

Ok, 'nuff work. Today's photo, guess what it is:

very white samosas? nope
illegal substance? nope
those nice little hot towels they give in restaurants? nope.

give up?  ok. This is what the housekeeper did with my grocery bags. I had them stuffed one into another in the closet, a big bag holding all the others. She took them out of the closet, folded them this way, placed them on an old frying pan and into the kitchen cabinet. I kept saying "no" "not necessary", she laughed at me. It's her job. 

good night, good day whatever is appropriate.
Asante sana--thank you very much; for reading.

A new week begins

Things I learned today:
I am a volunteer not an employee who has to work the same hours as everyone else. So I went in at 10 am and left at 4pm because we had a meeting. Going to try to work in the office from 10 til 3:30, maybe sometimes just go to a cafe with wireless. That said, there is a lot of work, I'm working on a plan with tasks & timeline and it appears it will go into another year or 2.  Let's see, some schools have been teaching MSW and/or BSW but don't have field manuals, don't know what students are doing in field, don't meet with a seminar. They have strong looking curricula they've been working on but no syllabi, no instructions for field instructors or students at at least several schools. I'll be developing at least a draft or suggestions for the field manual and stuff for faculty and agencies; they want a workshop developed to train these folks; a survey to learn what faculty degrees are in, what they know, maybe values, and skills-a bit of needs assessment for what a "not so quicky" MSW program would look like for faculty since many are not social workers to begin with. There are several really good folks I've met so far who are concerned about doing this stuff right. Basically, a lot of groundwork and trying to get people to do what they are supposed to do to get started or to change what they've been doing.

More things I learned:
 it is very difficult to take photos out of windows of a moving car. So far I have not walked in any areas, I'm walled in at the house or in the office or in a car that likely has really dark film over the window to keep the sun out. So I did take a few photos from a moving car.  They drive on the "English" side here, driver's seat on the right, drive on the left necessitating turns across 2-3 lanes of traffic if one wants to turn right. People walking, bikes, motor scooters/taxies, walking between cars with their wares to sell passengers & drivers. And if anyone is in front of you, in the way just honk your horn, don't stop even if it's a person crossing the street.  There are no white lines on roads here so a lot of sliding pretty darn close to the "lane" of facing traffic.

After feeling privileged and weird with having others clean my clothes, dishes, house,etc. Margaret who cleans for me reminded me it is her job. I also learned there are laws protecting household help with minimum wage, hours worked, vacation (28 days), etc.  And Margaret did a fine job slicing up my pineapple for me.

my kitchen/living room

my bed with mosquito net. As a kid I thought having a bed with curtains around it would be like a princess. It's not, it's more like sleeping in a big laundry bag.

see, they have real bathrooms here

My first pineapple. that thing sticking out from the bottom, you know, like a stem. Truly fresh, best I've ever tasted, not woody, juicy and full of flavor. must buy more. How about a diet of breads and fruit? Does that work?

the pool on the property. It is lovely, particularly that hot water heater on the bench. I'm not sure if they expect people to use it, I have sat and read there. But I let the water heater stay on its own bench.

my tiny house

the front gate to the 'compound'. strange feeling, surrounds everything, wire on top, locked all the time. must be what rock stars feel like, isolated and constant staff, well, ok not quite rock star.

the Big house, the owners of the property

the back of tiny house viewed from bedroom back window. Workers clothes, I don't know why there is so much red but it is lovely with the yellow wall.

Yogurt is not to my liking, sugar is added and it's a bit loose. I grabbed a box of "whole grain" Cheerios just like at home, it has a lot more sugar and a lot less fiber (1gram!).  Unfortunately, the best things so far are bread products baked at the stores and cheese, also juices are quite good and fruit-pineapple and papaya and mango are in season--all excellent. The less I move and the more starch I eat, I will weigh 300 lbs if I'm not careful by the time I get home. My first plan is to put the music channels on and dance as wildly as I can for 30 minutes. Not a pretty picture but the outside of my house windows are also blacked out. I hope. 

Today, pics of my tiny house.

first week

My first week here, so much coming at me and still a bit of jet lag (we are 8 hours ahead of cdt).  I got in around 10 pm last Sunday, the 13th.  They put me up in a lovely hotel for the first 2 nights. Somewhere along the way I lost most of Saturday and Sunday sitting scrunched in economy class all the way. Always comfortable, even more so for about 20 hours. 
 I expected Monday to be an off day, catch up on sleep, do nothing. I was wrong. I was picked up around 8:30 to attend a staff meeting so I could meet folks. Could hardly keep my eyes open. Got back to the hotel around noon and can't even recall what I did.

I guess I went for a walk towards the Indian Ocean a few blocks away.  I have not felt concerned or scared walking in a city in a long time, but here I did feel nervous, I was the only white person and a woman--a big lesson for me, this whole trip is but this was the first one--what does it feel like when you know no one around you looks like you? The streets are crazy busy, cars, bicycles, walkers, people selling fruit, shoes, belts, electronics, you name it; pushing wagons, carrying large packs on their heads, people hanging out talking. Not really any sidewalks so I walk along the road in dirt and mud (rain on and off, still rainy season) but I have to watch in front of me for people, cars, bikes, etc. but I also have to watch on both sides--cars park perpendicular to buildings and inch out backwards into traffic and I have to watch behind me and at the ground, clay, which has mud, puddles, rocks, tree roots, bumps.

A couple of kids asked for money, I said "no" pleasantly and kept walking, they followed my, closer, and one suddenly....reached out and touched my hair and ran off.  Hmm. One man asked for money, I was taking some photos so I turned to walk away while putting my camera away (little point/shoot) he reached out to touch my wrist. I  said "no" more firmly but also added the noise I give to the dogs when they are doing something bad--"uh uh"(or close) and he stepped away immediately. I continued, there was a bunch of kids sitting under a tree. We said hello, as I walked on one ran up behind me and touched my hair, then ran back, everyone giggling.  I hadn't realized it, I've no seen anyone with hair like mine, the kids just wanted to touch it, feel what it's like.

So many challenges-seeing how poor so many people are while there are many wealthier, the smells of spices from little grill restaurants put together with corrugated roofs, plastic chairs (see photo from hotel window, that's the roof of one.  New accents, both sides in conversations have challenges. But also--beautiful Indian Ocean with waves, greens, turquoise, blues; skies are so blue then covered quickly in dark clouds of rain. But it is always hot.

from hotel window

from hotel window

Indian Ocean, there's a road here and the photo was not worth risking my life to get a closer shot

hotel room...very different from what you'd expect from photos above

leaving today on a plane....

Spent the last 3 days packing and unpacking my bags, trying to get it all lighter and smaller. Well, smaller I did get-2 carry-on, 1 a backpack and 1 very stuffed carry on sized bag to check through. This is amazing for me considering how I have packed almost as much for a week long conference trip.  Waiting at Cedar Rapids, will leave in @ 1.5 hours.

Number One

I'm using this as a journal for my trip to Tanzania. I'm leaving on May 12 for about 3 months to work with schools of social work as a program mentor, assisting in strengthening social work degrees in the country.  I will be living in Dar es Salaam and working with the American International Health Alliance. Check them out at http://www.aiha.com/  There may be volunteer opportunities of interest for you.

Today is Thursday May 3rd and I am still awaiting my flight confirmations. And I did ask for photos or address of my living quarters. I can then find it on google maps at least.  I will learn greater patience-lesson 1.  I signed the contract about a month ago and communication is slower than what would be comfortable for me. In the meantime, I wander around stores wondering what I should pack and what I need to buy.  I'm an over-packer. Always have been, and now I'm to pack the lightest possible for 3 months. Oy. I will have to practice pack this weekend-only way to save some time. I read a recommendation online for long trips-to have one outfit to wear, one in the laundry, and one clean-in-waiting.  I think that means I would just have 3 outfits for 3 months. A challenge for a woman with US privileges, my 2nd lesson--how little do I really change up clothes at home even with a closet full? Not much, the same comfortable quick clean clothes cycle around most often.

Slowly, step by step...