Bio-Intensive Farming in Tanzania Aug. 2006- Sept. 2007

2007-10-05T16:50:00.000+03:00

2007-09-12T21:44:00.000+03:00

here, some pics: 1 from up in the hills, karate near the compost piles, and a couple from the goat roast party....

2007-09-12T04:52:00.000+03:00

Nate- Feb 26 1957-June 16 2005
today i was in AH church- once we settled into the pew i remembered that that minister will be making a sermon, and i looked to my father next to me and said- 'uh oh dad i think we made a big mistake !'- he, not-knowing my thinking, agreed with a nod and said 'maybe'- but to my great surprise the whole experience was fantastic. the 1st hymn we sang was Bethoven- joyful joyful we adore thee- I thought of Nate =how Nate loved classics alongside loving alt-punk and so forth that people more expected of him- the unexpectedness of Nate- as we were singing that hymn- all about joy and thankfulness of god and the triumphant song of life- I was thinking this is the perfect hymn to have sung at Nate's funeral- then i was thinking how can i say that - it's all about joy joy joy-not at all a comfort recognition of the tragedy or fleetingness hymn for a time when we've just lost the one we adore- yet I kept thinking no! this song is perfect - it's not at all a funeral song but Nate was all about that joy - I sometimes leaned on Nate to carry that vision of joy and triumphance for me. I thought at his funeral we could all be singing that song because now it was up to us to carry it for each other- you know I said some 'whatever' things at Nate's funeral- it's only after this much time that I think i've come to the point where i could make a speech that would be a proper tribute to Nate. I was reading and rereading that hymn all through church trying to understand how i could think it was an appropriate funeral hymnn- i kept thinking no! impossible! it's of no comfort- and yet the words kept bringing up Nate for me.
Meanwhile, lately i have come to the conclusion that i don't believe in grief.

2007-09-10T11:51:00.001+03:00

back in the u.s. so i'm uploading some photos! thinking i'll go back to the past posts and add pics= above is myself with Sommy,one of the agriculture trainers; friend, Solomon; a massai woman; outside a bar near the border of malawi; and friends Elly and Fay inside a bar in Arusha

2007-09-07T07:25:00.002+03:00

ah ha- i am in the airport in Dubai, en route home from Tanzania- i was just in Zanzibar- I was reading Scibbling the Cat- in that book the writer says you shouldn't just be able to fly from africa and step off the plane the next day in the us- it's too many worlds apart for that. No problem for me- I started from Zanzibar on an all night ferry to Dar es Salaam- in the middle of the night we were gripping our mattresses to hold ourselves down in the rough seas - I with my eyes squeezed tightly shut to fend off threatening sea-sickness- on the lower decks people were getting sick all over the place- especially children- then we arrive at 6 am in Dar and run to catch a 6-30 am bus to Arusha- that should be an 8 hour ride but instead due to breakdowns is a 12 hour ride. next afternoon, a bus to nairobi (5 hours) and now the 1st of a 3 leg flight from Nairobi through Dubai, Hamberg, then JFK- when I arrive JFK i will have felt like I've traveled from someplace afar. I am worrying a bit about thrombosis- isn't that where you get deadly clots due to sitting for two many hours on end too many days in a row? So here in Dubai i have been walking up and down the corridors- with my heavy labtop in my backpack. there is an amazing looking $24 middle eastern buffet in a lounge full of sheiks and so forth- I had just decided to splurge and go for it but they don't take credit cards so instead i found a place on the floor in the hall to sit and use the free internet connection.

2007-08-27T15:29:00.000+03:00

I have been thinking about chickens again. Last January one forlorn morning I was on my way to nowhere when I spotted a truly impressive Massai character with red dyed braids down his back, and full get up, walking with a westerner also in Massai wear with long hair- struck up conversation- Massai’s name was ‘Merinyo’ – ‘warrior’- They had a traditional medicine project in their village. Seven months later- last week I finally visited.

Merinyo’s slicker friend Langai came to escort me- the westerner was back in switzerland.
We took public transport- a dilapidated Landover that takes the Massai to their villages starting on paved road, continuing on open countryside. When the Landover had me and all the Massai packed in like tuna fish, we took off. Four of us to the front seat- the driver reaching between us to shift gears. The driver bragged that he had announced he’d depart at 3, and here it was -3- with us departing. I thought he’d said he’d depart at 2, so offered cheerfully ‘Africa time!’ He looked at me like I’m a fool and said ‘Not ‘Africa time’!’ 20 minutes later on the outskirts of town we pull into a mansion. Driver jumps out leaving the engine running. After quite a while Langai reaches over to turn off the engine. He’s just spotted the driver leaving in a taxi with the priest- owner of this Landover- apparently they have some sort of errand to run.
I conversationally remark to Langai how it’s funny; were a driver in America to leave a transport packed full of passengers with no explanation the passengers would get angry- Langai says ‘even here it’s not good’ – I am thinking it is like we are so many goats packed in, without need for room or explanations. 50 minutes later our driver is back- I have forgotten to ask what he was doing, and we’re off! We reach the turn off from the paved road an hour later, drive a bit into the brush, and come to a halt. Langai tells me the conductor –in charge of selling tickets and collecting money- sold all possible places to sit in the truck, and so is coming by dala dala -he’s not allowed to ride on the roof in town. Langai says it’s like an old Swahili saying: “be careful you don’t sell all the seats or you’ll have to ride on the roof” I think the conductor was having a few beers in town as we wait for close to an hour. - we’re out in the flatlands with big sky and dry, open landscape and are firmly back in ‘Africa time’ now. Our conductor finally appears, hops on the roof, we all get back in and set off.
People here pass around live chickens as though they are umbrellas, not animate. One guy for example was riding his bike holding the handlebars and also with his last two fingers holding a chicken. The funny thing too is how amiably the chickens tolerate it all. I was thinking on that truck we were packed in like goats but it also reminds me of chickens- appreciation of our animate-ness reduced to something like cargo.
That said, I loved the ride. The traffic police were surprised to see me riding in the ‘massai truck’. Traffic police - whose job seems to be to flag down vehicles, remark on their un-roadworthiness, and accept a small bribe to disregard it.
When we got out to Massai-land there is something beautiful about the way of life. Family clusters scattered across the countryside- a ‘patriarch’ and his 1st wife and their children in one ‘boma’, his subsequent wives and their children each in their own boma, the bomas forming a big circle. Around that circle a brush fence for protection. in the center of the circle another circle with brush fence to keep the livestock. We had dinner when we arrived after dark in the boma –dark warm womb-like mud hut- with Langai’s father, 1st wife, Merinyo, fellow warriors, and children. Much warmth and laughter in the boma- Obvious harmony and mutual enjoyment between men and women. It’s easy to hear nothing but stories of oppressed Massai women, but I think it’s not that simple.

2007-08-27T15:16:00.000+03:00

here's something from back in march

So my home: I was relaxing one evening when the mouse scurried in - my scream sent him back out. Everyone here is amused that I am troubled by a mouse. (surely daphne you can accommodate a mouse?) But I plugged up the hole with a face cloth and haven’t seen him since. One night a cat came in through my window and landed on my head on top of the mosquito net- I jumped - but fortunately cat had the wherewithal to jump back out the window. My other pets are little lizards which scurry around up high and knock little pieces of cement down from the tops of the walls. I’m very happy for the geckos to be with me. Then I have a small population of little harmless ants. I don’t mind them at all as they are just wandering around, not infesting food. I’m close to living outside as I have two doors and can sweep ants and crumbs easily out. It’s an easy home to maintain as it’s about the size of most American bathrooms, and per tradition here I put down a nice sheet of linoleum on the floor. Everything wipes up or sweeps out easily. I’ve got a cast iron wok and wooden spoon with which to cook.
Outside my door it’s the dirt road, getting muddy now as the rains are starting again, where a lot of tour operators are. One is Jamal, who’s around a lot, nice guy, I see him most evenings and we can share a cob of corn, or as last night, fried cassava and fish from an outside stand- that’s a cheep dinner for here- about 20 cents- and a popular one in the rainy ‘low tourist’ season. There’s one shop run by a young woman carol. She has a fridge with beer and soda, so her shop becomes also a makeshift pub. This is supposed to be a tourist area; it’s full of budget hotels, but there are very few tourists partly because it’s rainy season, but I’ve never seen a huge tourist presence anyway. But there are usually five or so around.

2007-08-24T12:15:00.000+03:00

was just out in massailand for a few days- it's amazing how they are and how they live but it was hard to have much of a conversation and there was not a lot to do! when i at last pulled out my camera the kids just flocked to me, and the handsome warriors too, for that matter- all eager to have their picture taken- for some of the kids eager is an understatement- we spent a long time and all my camera batteries on various photo opportunities- I'll make them a CD - for me it was great just to break the ice and have the excuse to get close to all of them! and their animals too! we tired of shooting in the boma -house- and went out into the cattle and goat yards to include them in the documentation- That's not at all the most interesting thing i could write about the massai, a tribe romanticized not only by western tourists, but also by the other tribes here- but it was the highlight of human interaction

2007-08-18T10:24:00.000+03:00

i talked with a woman working for the porters' union in moshi- they have a survey for porters to rate the companies they work for, and they also write up reviews of the better companies. they can't write warnings of the bad companies, however- because it is all so touchy. she says they are always getting banned from this or that national park, and threatened to be kicked out of the country/ it is a very dirty business, she says. i may go to moshi to volunteer a bit for them to see what they do. my guide friend elly has dismissed them as some european's idea of a good thing, but that they make no difference. he's quite jaded. though so was she, actually. she said it's very hard to make an impact on the industry and it can be depressing even to try.
onto cheerier news though- we had a beautiful cook out up there on the shamba with all my beloved shamba coworkers- a truely touching send off, and the mojitos were a hit- i think should the farmers catch on they will be growing more mint! which is a natural pest repellent for a garden; we mix it with most of our crops. i keep trying to upload photos, but that day i was able to upload was like a miracle! never before neve since

2007-08-16T13:28:00.000+03:00

we have our goat party today- and will also teach the locals about mojitos, as we have an underused supply of mint on the shamba, otherwise still feeling busy, meeting with this person and that - i've been out doing urban gardening with a volunteer and trainer - we make a nice garden out of a sack, where there's no land for a regular garden- hmmm. i've just now been offered a 2 week position out 'in the bush' managing some volunteers - could just fit into my flight schedule!

2007-08-09T18:09:00.000+03:00

tomorrow is my last day at work- it's good! we're having a farewell dinner for me at a chinese restaurant tomorrow night, and then next week they are firing up a goat out at the farm- i'd like to spare the goat, but it's an honor, the guys our there in tengeru are pulling out the stoppers and everyone's looking forward to delicious goat, so.... goat's are great for people to cultivate over here anyway- much less destructive to the environment than cows- so it's good to support goat cultivation too. The other day we caught three birds by putting sticky solution on a stick over where they've been devastating our leafy green crops- we were all so excited to catch these rascally birds, and grill them- but when i saw how small helpless and beautiful they were i was a little taken aback. It takes a strong heart to be a farmer.

2007-08-02T12:03:00.000+03:00

What is it about chickens on buses? it was 6 am and we were on a most annoying bus; sealed windows and air conditioning, when the fresh window breezes are some of the saving graces on these buses. Plus i was thinking, what happens should we plunge over one of these bridges into the river, and can't crawl out the windows? The bus was filling and many had a chicken in hand, leading me to wonder- what is it about chickens? is it a portable lunch option, like carrying a lunch box? I had set out from Arusha a few days earlier- My first bus ride started at 5.30 am to arrive at 9.30 pm in Mbeya, on the border of Malawi. Spectacular landscape- baobob trees, monkeys, mountains, rivers, open stretches- By 8.00pm I had begun to have enough. We'd reached a check point of sorts in the middle of nowhere- my seat had begun to be cramped in any position and i was relieved we only had 1.5 hours to go. Then a uniformed youth troops through like something out of the Chinese Maoist army and says in Swahili - that's it, sleeping here tonight, continue in the morning. I choose not to pay attention to such nonsense. But my seat mate turns to me with a big grin,'he says we're sleeping here tonight!' "Where." "on the bus!" "On the bus." I look at him like he's crazy and go out to see the crowd of passengers arguing in the parking lot- 'lets pay whatever bribe needs to get paid here and move along', I am thinking. Next thing I am in a 'bar' at the side of this checkpoint with a couple other fellow passengers. "I'm very happy we're sleeping here tonight!" the woman says, "I'm absolutely single and was thinking how would I find accommodation after dark!" "But you're Tanzanian!" says the man, "we're all brothers and sisters- We help each other!" It was cold, and these two were proving too pollyanna-ish so i returned to my place on the bus. luckily my seat mate had exited, so i had two seats to stretch out onto. Most everyone else though had to make due with their one seat, and sit upright as they had been the past 15.5 hours. The bus had become one big slumber party. One person would say something and the whole bus would crack up. Someone else would say something and the whole bus cracks up. They were so good-spiritedly handling the situation once they'd realized that no amount of arguing would change this particular officer's view that buses need be off the road by 8.00 pm, not the usual 10.00pm, due to the hazard of traveling after dark, and he had taken possession of our driver's license. The officer could care a less that our bus was full of people of all ages, babies, children, ill people, old people- that we were so close to our destination, and that sleeping on the bus was hardship! One woman on the bus was in a high fever or crazy and belting out Church songs every so often, waking up the entire bus- again, my bus-mates take things in stride and after trying to quiet her start laughing-
Anyway, dawn came and we sped off to Mbeya, where our driver was now 3 hours late for the morning crowd waiting to set out to Arusha. On the way to Mbeya, the police stopped him for speeding.
Anyways. At another point in my travels, we landed off a crowded dala dala that had gone through the most beautiful countryside, staggered into mid morning small village and it was like Dr. Seuss; Circus-like African beat music blaring in the background and everyone, all shapes and sizes and ages going by on bicycles- the size of the bike having little correspondence with the size of the rider- the music making everyone seem on parade- I could have waited there all day, was loving it there- but a woman came by on her way to a funeral and decided to take on passengers for a bit of cash, so we hopped a ride with her to the next middle of nowhere town. I was loving these small towns and happy to linger. But soon enough we found transport on a motorcycle to take us to our destination- Matema, on lake malawi. for me it was a bit anti-climactic to arrive, beautiful mountain edged beach though it was, as the trip there was so much fun. oddly enough there was no fish to be found there, only rice and beans- no avocado, the occasional banana. and homemade beer made from fermented black tea and sugar-

2007-07-23T11:55:00.000+03:00

sorry for that last post i think it was a little smug.
that said i have another observation- the national parks here- it's a little odd. they seem like islands of international interest and influence- some luxury hotels in the Serengeti go for upwards of $600 a night- The daily entrance fees for the parks are very high- and have just risen-I heard it was to reduce the tourist traffic and environmental impact that comes with it. I think it wasn't the Tanzanian government's idea to raise the fees. It's almost as though the parks are international property, not a part of Tanzania. They are little international islands; I'm not sure who is in charge but it seems like it's not altogether Tanzania.

2007-07-19T12:29:00.000+03:00

We've been having earthquakes lately here! Sometimes 2-3 a day since Sunday. a volcano 500 km away is becoming active, creating the quakes-
so,in any case, a few quick comments about cars, kids and cats:

cars, first; - a pedestrian here has all the negotiating power of a cow- if a car is backing up and you're in the way you'll get a nudge, just like a cow. the other day a car came careening too fast around a sleepy corner, spun up onto the sidewalk and hit a woman who jumped away just in time only to get a bump not a serious hit- the driver came running out of the car and inspected his bumper!, then went to check in on the lady. I asked him if he was drunk, and told him he was dangerous, with bad behavior. Oh don't talk like that mazungu he said.

Kids- Kids here are communal property, not the exclusive property of parents- the other day i was visiting my old home-stay family, and there was a very cute, happy baby i didn't recognize, amongst the other mix of kids, cousins and neighbors- who's this? ah, this is the son of my daughter who lives in Scotland. She came to visit and brought him; she's back in Scotland now, and he'll stay with us for a while. How long? Until he's ready for primary school!
At solomon's complex, there are all sorts of kids running around and it's hard to keep them all straight. There's a set of twins, for one, and a couple of others, who live in the complex with their grandparents. Their mother lives an eight minute walk through the banana grove away. I’m told the kids think it's fun to live with their grandparents, so they just stay there instead. I may not be getting the whole story, but I think it may be just as simple as that- kids bounce around here a lot more than at home. They seem happier for it; more free, and more in the company of all their cousins and friends.

The dogs and cats here are also very free. flea-infested, malnourished, and tattered. But free! it’s so rare to see a neurotic dog or cat. They are contently lounging with all those of their kind alongside the roads and so forth. Never yapping. never jumping or creating a public nuisance- unless of course you come across a pack of them at night, which is another story.

Some volunteers here I know here went on safari and decided to sleep outside their tents under the stars. Those wacky volunteers. They were sniffed by a hyena according to one, and only feet away from some buffalo wandering through. If true, they truly risked their lives! I have to say safari operators are lax on warning tourists to stay in their tents. The safari I went on last year I left my tent in the middle of the night to pee outside, 10 feet away. Back in the tent 20 minutes later I heard lions growling near our tent! They don’t attack tents because they look for a neck, but me out peeing would have made a nice target.

2007-07-08T18:55:00.000+03:00

finally some shots! above are the fields near our farm, mary digging, william our top consultant harvesting, below is a farmer group with their new compost pile. there's another of our trainer javasson making compost, there's elly with the theif, solomon and i walking down a road, mary with her son,elly's mom with her grandson and neighbor kids, a few of us in a banana beer shack, several of the beautiful hills i always rave about, a couple of waterfall shots for good measure,cute kids- one sneaked in of kilimanjaro though i wasn't actually there- i can't see the photos as i list them, so i think you can figure which is which. there are a few posts interspersed as well!

2007-07-08T13:54:00.000+03:00

2007-07-08T13:39:00.000+03:00

for some reason the internet has smiled upon my picture uploading today, so i'm putting on as many as i can. I have been staying at solomon's place while he's in zanzibar and i think about how to deal with my fleas at home. i am hoping to employ the idea of crop rotation. by removing their biggest feeding source, myself, they will die off naturally without my needing to spray anymore chemicals. i do love being at solomon's place. it's a complex of families renting rooms around the main house where the family who are the landlords live. all within a gate, which is the only way even modestly living locals feel safe from thieves. within our gates out back, though we are only a 40 minute walk up the hills from town center we have three cows and several chickens and roosters. most of those renting the rooms share the one outhouse and one bathing stall. you duck the cow to enter the outhouse. the people are some of the nicest i've met here - so warm and enveloping= taking me in as their family/neighbor- all the kids politely call out shikamoo mzungu to me everytime they see me. several of them like to come in and play in my place while i cook on the kerosene stove- they like it even better if solomon is there-= when they get too tiresome i say now it's study time, hand them a swahili english book and they stop right away and settle on the couch to sound out words. i figure they get a lot of play time, but not actually a lot of study opportunity. kids here are like sponges for any sort of teaching effort. they adore it if i help them to read or scratch out arithmatic equations in the dust- anything

2007-07-08T13:30:00.000+03:00

the parliament has just passed a new budget where they raised the tax on petrol. they called it a poor-friendly budget because the lowered the cost of kerosene. however by raising the price of petrol the price of everything that the poor depend upon has gone up overnight. my dala dala ride which was 3 hundred shillings is up to 4 hundred, and because the farmers transport their produce via dala dala the price of vegetables has also gone up. my friend working on his house suffers the price of cement going up. It's a very unpopular budget- i hear absolutely everyone grumbling about it. I hear in dar people are protesting more openly, refusing to pay the fares on dala dala and so forth, but here in arusha everyone complies. a bit polite. i wonder about the revolutionary history of tanzania because it seems everyone is too polite to object to anything, and also mostly extremely disinterested in politics, unlike the kenyans when i;ve gotten to nairobi.

2007-07-08T13:19:00.000+03:00

a little bit of a rant

2007-07-04T14:31:00.000+03:00

The music here, Swahili hip hop/ pop / 'Bongo (slang for Dar es Salaam)Flava' is so feel-good! Everyone's listening to the same music all the time. It's not like there's 20 different radio stations. that could seem a bit sinister radio control, but we're all listening to the same songs on the dala dala and everywhere else all the time- all tapping our toes to this or that same catchy tune - It's Uniting! That said, the black panthers who've lived here in exile since the 60's and the community that has grown up around them are soon to launch a free radio station which ought to be very refreshing and educational.

Lately I've been feeling a little like a grumpy colonialist, here are some thoughts:

The garden plans and the Nursery plans have lives of their own. We want them to become companions.
When you are directing too much and not allowing people space to stretch and exercise their legs you can feel that you are the only one providing forward energy. The minute you let up, the ball stops rolling.

For example we went through the entire garden bed by bed determining what was in each bed, what had been before, and what was next to come. I left it in the hands of our shamba (farm) manager who i had compiled it together with, as i got busy with other activities. A week or two later i revisited to find no info had been communicated to the shamba worker, several beds had been planted with no relation to our plans, and what had been planted in nursery had no connection with what we'd put on paper. It's as though we did the garden planning just as an exercise, without any connection between planning and actual planting.
A car that stalls, a conversation that halts. That's what it's like. And the planning conversation is halting- i guess that's my red-flag that we're not on the same page. Like this morning we're going along writing down the expected harvest dates of each bed,'Innocent', a brilliant young recently graduated horticulturist, and I.
So I ask,
"what's the expected harvest date of the 1st bed?" he tells me.
"what's the expected harvest date of the 2nd bed?" he tells me.
"what's the expected harvest date of the 3rd bed?" he tells me.
"the 4th bed?" I ask- he looks at me blankly. "4th bed what?"
as though it's too much to expect he's thinking along with me; he's just answering questions.
I know this is a classic colonialist quandary and i'm in the role of the colonialist getting frustrated with those 'silly locals' -there's a flaw in our dynamic not in him, but i'll say it's a steep learning curve for us both sometimes, and meanwhile it's exhausting!
Or Mary, our great farm worker takes her son, 'Good Luck' to the doctor this morning, leaving us volunteers and trainers a bit stalled on the shamba as we can't find the machete we need to chop up materials to prepare the compost pile. Mary comes back a few hours later just as I'm leaving and says oh, no problem, I'll bring it!. Where is it? I ask, wanting to avoid the situation in the future. I'll bring it! From where? Turns out it's at her house as she was using it and forgot to return it to the shamba, 'cool?' she says- "no, not cool!" i reply and march off feeling like an uptight mzungu, to the dala dala. "see you tomorrow!" she calls out cheerfully.
On the dala dala I cram in with the throngs of women and others returning from market- On Wednesdays is a huge women's market in Tengeru- the village of our shamba. It was some mzungu's idea to sponsor stalls and space for a women's market. Unintended consequences being that many smaller thriving markets up in the surrounding hills died as everyone began instead trecking to Tengeru. Finally enough people disboard the dala dala that i score a proper seat in the back. Aiming to talk to no one as i'm exhausted from my morning. No such luck. The woman next to me is a teacher from Dar who 'loves friends'. In spite of my attempts to be cold by the time i reach my drop-off she's sure i'll be welcoming her as my guest in America. This is a day i'm ready for Tanzania-Light so I treck to my pizza-cappucino place and order a nutella crepe for lunch. I have an interesting re-occurant flea infestation problem with my room. Latest opinion targets the cat who had kittens up on my tin roof as the culprit. I sprayed once inside, but if they are multiplying on the roof and dropping down it may be time for a different approach. Just so you know life is not always all cheerful conversations about flip-flops over here!

2007-06-17T17:59:00.001+03:00

The other evening as i was walking home from work along the street i often walk, full of people, out of nowhere a street kid with a knife came up behind me and cut the strap of my small bag- i heard nothing but felt something (the knife), wheeled around and yelled- he backed off without the bag- i looked increduously at him and he looked like he was about to try for another lunge! i unthinkingly yelled mwizi! ' thief'. luckily people didn't react! and after thinking about another dash for me/my bag he disappeared-
hmmm. it's sobering how i didn't hear or sense a thing until he was upon me- good wake up call. Seems theft with knives is up since high tourist season has begun- my gentle thoughtful organic trainer colleague keeps insisting the answer is to kill them all. Round up the street kids who've been given no opportunities in the world, and kill them\? yes i think so, he says. i am trying to appeal to his organic sense. if farmers have pest problems we ask them about their compost, rather than prescribe pesticides. soil health = plant health = fewer pests. So what about all these people walking by the four year olds on the street with no home and no hope of education complaining about street kid crime? on the otherhand, the villagers have no working police protection, and deserve to defend themselves from those terrorizing their villages- bands of theives showing up with machetes at night. A cheery post today!

2007-06-16T17:59:00.000+03:00

2007-06-16T09:48:00.001+03:00

venders line the streets here outside hospitals selling avocados and bananas to the visitors - it's nice hospital fare- (may be one of the few nice things about the hospitals). generally here we eat avocados and bananas on an almost daily basis- the towering avocado trees are everywhere, as are of course many different varieties of banana trees. We eat them chunked up and mixed in with the food- no plate of rice beans and fish would be complete without it.

heading into my final stretch i'm seeing the obvious finally before my eyes -all the work yet to do- i.e. on our demonstration plot no one could find our records/garden plan when a volunteer ventured to ask. When same volunteer wondered outloud who was actually in charge on the plot we were also hard-pressed to answer. just around the same time i realized we have no assessment system in place for new farmer groups. so we've been creating records, assigning responsibilites, putting together assessment systems- just assessed a new group for the first time the other day- makes me wonder what we've been doing all this time! we've been working just without a lot of structure- been super busy as we had a great farmer/teacher visiting from an organic group in kenya- common ground- kindred to us, but perhaps a decade ahead?- he trained us farm staff and volunteers for the week- but i was also managing the training. As we hadn't really had an official curriculum, we'd been scrambling to assemble one-
I think i'm bringing the missing german element into our work - structure and rules- We here have chuckled imagining how the germans coped trying to colonize this country with its disregard for european ideas of time and rules- how they must have thrown their hands up shrieking and fleeing the country crying 'take it! take it back!' There little trace to show they ever were here.

immediately tailing on his visit friend celia arrived with all sorts of adventurous energy- somewhere along the way my bed became infested with fleas meaning i took up my flooring bombed the room with a toxic spray and cleared everything out to be washed, washing much of it myself.

Elifasi

2007-06-02T11:47:00.001+03:00

Farmer, Elifasi in backround, HIV awareness trainers 'Placid' and 'Daphne' in foreground.
Life here's continuing along nicely.. Much to my friend Celia who's visiting from DC's dismay the rains are continuing longer than I was told by everyone they would. OF course people like to tell you what you want to hear, and i was assured that we're in the cold dry season now- finally today we've gotten a glipse of the sun. Last night celia and i were in a local bar and met a massai man 57 years old who was well versed in history, politics, and geography, telling us all his thoughts on religion, Nyeyere Tanzania's liberation president, Zimbabwe, Bush and Iraq- he was very interesting. and had refreshingly independent ideas. We regretted he wasn't just a bit more sober, but Celia was thrilled to find such a kindred spirit here.

2007-06-01T13:32:00.000+03:00

I just had a conversation with a local guy who helps run HIV awareness training for students, which includes condom instruction. He’s born again. Does your church prohibit condoms? I asked. We can’t talk about them, he replied, because that would bring sex into people’s minds. If a woman in your church was married to a man who is HIV positive what would you advise her? She must pray to Jesus, he replied. And she should have unprotected sex with her HIV + husband and pray to Jesus? Yes. All things are possible with Jesus. What if the woman was someone you really cared about and wanted to live, like your mother or sister- someone you’d really be sad if they died. There are two ways to die, one of the flesh, the other if you’ve accepted Jesus, you go home to Jesus. So if the woman has unprotected sex and prays to Jesus but then dies of AIDS then goes home to Jesus it’s not that sad? Yes, that’s right.

I had to ask, of course; doesn’t your job conflict with your religious beliefs? But he’d found a way that it didn’t (of course people here desperately need work)

I remember us Americans having such conversations with nuns and priests that we came across when we first got here, and being so outraged and exasperated.

Feeling that same outrage now, but then I think, well maybe it’s good he’s working in an HIV awareness NGO even if a contradiction, because he represents what I think a majority of people here believe. They are what people are hearing every week in church, at funerals, in schools, at home. it's not fringe, it's mainstream. So getting exasperated seems a futile reaction. Be happy someone’s enlightening you to how people here are thinking about things.

Fund for Elifasi's children

2007-05-09T16:41:00.000+03:00

The day before yesterday i went with elly out into the hills to the widow of my farmer friend Elifasi, Anna, to arrange for the fund for her children's
education. Elly is going to manage the fund, and talked to her and one
of her daughters,Constancia, and i saw that Anna was pleased by what he was saying,
encouraging her daughter to take this education seriously and talking
about how he could help them to arrange the schools- saw relief slowly enter
into Anna's face to see that someone was helping and was going to start
arranging things- schools here are a big job- Her husband had been in
the process of trying to find a school for this daughter when he died.
and there are 4 other children to arrange for as well. School is free until kids are about 14,(if they can afford a uniform)then those who can afford pay about $500 per kid per year to go to a private boarding school. There are government schools but the teachers' pay is abysmal, and the education too. I've heard tale of large classrooms of kids going unattended to for hours while the teachers chat in the teachers' office. Yesterday after hours of jumping through bureaucratic hoops we managed to open a joint account for those three. All three must be present to withdraw funds, to ensure the money goes to education, with some amount to compensate Elly for his work. Anna says she wants to start using the money to help her two older kids, and then see whats left over for the younger ones. Anyone interested in contributing can send a check made out to me, Daphne Jochnick, at 19 Gin Still Lane, West Hartford, Connecticut 06107. My father will deposit it into a joint account we set up, and wire the money over here. it has been such a hopeful thing to see Elly, Anna, and Constancia start working together!

2007-05-02T14:49:00.000+03:00

had another mouse incedent -this
one a baby who was skittering around. Luckily a local friend was over to
handle the event (reluctantly!- thought it was women's work! but i
assured him that it's man's work) the cats keep skreeching and yowling
and landing on my roof like handgranades going off, so i'm hopeful
eventually they do their job.

things here are good. i've been working on curriculum and such things
so more in the office, but wanting to get back out to the shamba...

just had the greatest hike this weekend with three fun tourists in their early
twenties, my guide friend elly and his friends MS and Jerry as our guides,
and friend solomon. it was great- out in the high foothills,
gazing out over vast expanses onto mount meru and mount kilimanjaro,
then decending into little dugout shacks for drinks at night. we had an
incident with a thief and elly and fellow-guide M.S.were quite heroic in apprehending them. They caught one and delivered him first to me to appologize, and then to the village leader, who
happens to be ms's father. then they held the thief there until the
second one appeared with the rest of the stuff, they actually sent out
'warriors' to search for him, and found him very drunk at 3.00 am,
having used my cash to good purpose. it was nerveracking at one point as
our 3 guides had disappeared to catch the thieves. so solomon, one large
male tourist and i ran the half mile to see what was going on- found them w/
thief, surrounded by villagers, with ms holding a machete.... we didn't
know what side villagers were on, turns out they supported the
apprehension of this notorious thief, but it was hard to figure out at
first. In the morning we had a meeting with the father and wife and
someother associate of the first thief, the thieves, and a friend of the
thieves, and the village leader, and my bag, to itimize the returned
things, to determine that only the money was missing, $15, which,
unfortunately as it had gone to booze, was not going to come back. In
this case, once returning the possessions the theives went free, as
opposed to being killed, so it was all quite benign.

a more interesting blog

2007-04-18T15:38:00.000+03:00

I think i need to make this a more interesting blog. so i am thinking, what sort of interesting thing has happened here of late. the rains have been falling and the dirt ally-ways muddy. but that's not so interesting.
the other day i was walking along down the hill admiring these three ladies' flip-flops. they were aqua-marine blue, and i'd just bought some of my own which paled in comparison. they were giving me stern looks, noticing that i was staring at them a bit. I thought, i better break the ice, and in Swahili said, i like your shoes! they burst into smiles and said, but bwana, you've got nice flip flops yourself! went back and forth like that. People look stern then you say a word in swahili and worlds open up. I like the older people who come along looking so dignified, and sometimes stern. I say 'shikamoo' "i take your feet", it 's important how you say it. Young people say this to old people with a little urgency, almost like they're asking the old person, how is the world? is it all ok? Then the older person says, 'Marahabah!' "i accept you under my feet" or one interpretation was: "delightful". That's the translation i like, because the older person doesn't just say 'marahaba' quickly, they practically sing it and draw it out. As someone said, 'they have fun with it'. So although this exchange is offensive in that it's a relic of slave-master times, the ritual way people say it back and forth i've come to enjoy, and i think it's a youth acknowledging the elder and checking in, and then the elder declares the world delightful.
Hmmm. don't know that i managed a more interesting blog.
What else. You may be surprised to know how muslim TZ is! I was. It's about a third muslim, a third christian, and a third traditional. I meet very few who've kept their traditional beliefs. in the hills massai spill out of the lutheren churches in all their blankets and so forth, praising jesus. The mosks here compete with eachother with their loudspeaker prayers. i like how the muslims pray so frequently through the day. It's like gramma and grampa stopping their day to have tea at tea-time, regardless of what's going on. When all the various loudspeakers are declaring prayer-time at once though, it gets a bit operatic. My favorite place with the brick-oven pizzas and cappucinos is closed until the end of may! I just found another corner of town where the 'wazungu' means 'european', used for any white people, also means 'those who walk in circles', hang out. These little nooks around town i've decided are 'tanzania light'. when I no longer feel like being in tanzania, I go to one of these spots and I'm almost not. They're full of US AID workers, UN Tribunal workers- the Rawanda tribunal is held here in Arusha-, etc. Another world. Then there's the English woman i've befriended who lives in my neighborhood in a $4.00 a night hotel. (that's cheep even for here) She's been dating a massai guy for four years, who has two wives. I'm going to go out to his village with them this weekend. He's coming to England for a few months, later this year, and hopes to drive a bus. She was trying to explain to him you don't just come to england and drive a bus. there are licenses, and "in England like in america people care a lot about things, like not getting into accidents, things like that"

2007-04-03T17:56:00.000+03:00

Just back from a long weekend in Nairobi. I met with my Washington DC sleuth-reporter friend Kristina, there to do a stories on an orphanage she's been connected with over the years in the Kibera slum (of 'Constant Gardener' fame), and Baraka Obama's interesting tribal background, the Luo tribe. (for one thing the Luo don't believe HIV exists- but i had to leave before she did her interview on the fantastic luo women we met there) She and I had a great time sampling the budget hotel offerings of the city, -actually she didn't take to them quite as readily as myself. We also had endless interesting interactions with the people she's connected to there in Kibera. At first glance Kibera was actually a vibrant and appealing place, with all sorts of life and bustle, open markets, people frying fish and dishing out chai, vegetable stands, little winding allies full of business and life, no sense of 'ghetto' danger you might expect. Our first day at the orphanage the director sat me down with a group of neighborhood women who volunteer there, for me to talk to them about HIV. I've learned from my earlier days doing this sort of thing not to preach about condoms, etc, which they've all heard, but rather try to open up discussion. I think it's one of the most important areas for improvement- open communication about this taboo subject.
The second day we met with an HIV positive group- all but one of them women. They talked about how they had fallen ill and so tested and discovered their status. All but one said when she told her husband, the likely source of infection, he left her and the kids behind without himself testing. So then there they are in Kibera with 5 or so kids to provide for. I realized eventually that most of them were confessing that they prostitute to raise the money they need. Their clients won't pay full fare if they use a condom, so they don't. They get ARV medication for free, but no food, and no business initiatives that they are aware of. with all the money pouring in for AIDS in Africa, and especially to famous Kibera, is there really no initiative to address poverty? they and the orphanage director were unaware of any. Isn't that amazing. All that money going to ARV's. Not even to food. Meanwhile, as long as poverty is not addressed, the recipients of the ARVs may feel no option but to knowingly spread the disease! I've read it and heard it before, but as it slowly sank in it was shocking to be sitting there with these women and realize what they were saying! They were fresh-faced bright young women, some with toddlers in tow. Some of them counsel in their neighborhoods, educating about HIV and encouraging others to test. They said if they could have some other way to make money they would stop the prostituting. Since they have no land available to cultivate i asked if they knew about 'sack gardens', we promote for urban settings- a 3 foot tall narrow sack filled with soil and poked with holes, out of which grow veggies. They said they have no room even for this. Walking around we saw that's not true, there is room. But the orphanage director said she'd tried growing veggies but with all the open sewage the flies contaminated her greens and it wasn't safe. Kibera was starting to feel less like a paradise. Indeed the latrine we used was one of my more shockingly unsanitary experiences. I feel like it's Kenya's shame not even to provide proper sewage construction for this place. It's also such a tough situation there that many residents are trapped without any land to farm, which sustains so many other east Africans through hard times. Well that's my social commentary for the day, address poverty, not just AIDS infections. Or you're getting nowhere. To end on a positive note, Kristina and I had a great time, nice to have some female bonding. The women we met there who were locals volunteering (in hopes of eventually getting paid) were some of the most vibrant women I've met, and we had a truly great tea party one afternoon. They wanted us to sleep over there in their actually very cozy house, then said next time we come back they'll have fancier houses so we don't have to stay in hotels. We described our hotel accommodation to them and assured them we weren't fancy. Kristina and I also managed one night out on town for live music. I want to end on an assurance note that we were being very security conscious through all of this and not doing anything unnecessarily risky!

Good News

2007-03-28T16:31:00.000+03:00

Just to add in some good news since i tend only to report the tragedies. My old friend Megan has just moved back to the states -Boston-from Uganda and just had her second child a week and a half ago- a healthy happy George Calvin. And my cousin who i grew up with Katherine who all used to claim looks like Megan just delivered her second healthy child, Lucy!
There's a two and a half year old here, Vera, who runs to take my hand when she sees me coming down the dirt road, guiding me to my destination. Kids here are so unregulated, running around playing freely with eachother in the dirt roads. When they see me they'll say Shikamoo Mazungu,a funny greeting: "I take your feet, Whitey."

2007-03-27T17:17:00.000+03:00

no time to post! just a note to say i'm enjoying my room with it's plain tin roof with one leak, cats landing on it sounding like hand granades going off. getting to know the people around, the night guard, the men running the sewing machines out front, the women frying cassava root and fish in the eveinings, the tour operator guys roaming the streat, the woman around the corner who gives me fish, etc, and it's all begining to feel homey!

2007-03-14T16:10:00.002+03:00

ELIFASI
Another blog submission so soon, but things are happening… yesterday I got a shock as I learned that Elifasi, one of our most favorite and effective farmers, one who led the group I first trained in September and one whom I was looking forward to working closely with in the months to come on the ex-pat farmers’ market – this is a farmer who I had a picture of from my first month here and I would always check in on that picture because Elifasi was so smart and so busy, that I wanted to be sure we weren’t wasting his time with ineffective meetings or trainings- probably the strongest leader of our farmers and in his community- father of five young kids, always helping his community, widely loved and admired, anyways, you know what is coming- I learned yesterday he got killed Saturday evening in a freak car accident- truck rolled back down a hill and hit him as he was walking home after dark. Today I went with a couple of our trainers to visit his family which had people from all around gathered, people will be there day and night for a week- tomorrow we’ll go back for the funeral. It was really hard not to cry, but Sommy our trainer saw some of my tears, and said, ‘be strong! If they see you cry they’ll cry too!’ The trainers and I were thinking of ways to support his family as school is only free through age 13. One of the former volunteers long ago took on one of his kids to sponsor. We may run an educational farm tour that stops at his farm- as it was a model example of our work, if we can get his widow to keep it up- she could earn some of the revenue from the tours. I see that it’s almost a luxury just to be sad when a person dies because you’re heartbroken and will miss them so. For many it’s distressing because you know with his death your children’s future is in jeopardy. In this case it’s surely both- people all around are stunned, in disbelief, and heartbroken to lose the great Elifasi, and also it’s a tragic loss of a critical resource to his family and community. The thing with Elifasi and with Moses, a young translator we lost to a motorcycle accident back in September, is they had internal bleeding from trauma, and there’s no trauma surgery here. Both Moses and Elifasi survived their accidents long enough to talk to people on their cell phones, but died under hospital lack of expertise.

ELIFASI

2007-03-06T18:16:00.000+03:00

2007-03-05T17:02:00.000+03:00

2007-03-05T16:21:00.000+03:00

So life goes on here.... we are excited that the group of 30 farmers we selected, each a high performer/leader and representing a group of 10-20 farmers themselves, are now well networked and showing a lot of initiative. Prior to this the groups we trained were all out touch with one another. Now this leaders' group has them networked, not only with eachother, but also with marketing and microfinance resources, since that strategic planning meeting we did. Very refreshing to attend a meeting that the farmers themselves arranged and ran, as i did a couple of weeks ago. They've gotten a name for themselves, 'KIHA' a chairperson, secretary, treasurer, etc.- they have just applied for a grant that they outlined themselves. We've moved out of the parental sort of relationship we had with them and now are more like one of many consultants available to them- at least it's seeming that way, though it's still early. I've been working a bit with them on getting an organic market together for the ex-pats.
on another note i just returned from a week-long tour of the coast- pangani, bagamoyo , and finally Dar where i renewed my passport. The journey down -man, traveling in tanzania by bus is not for the feint of heart- not so much the danger factor as the comfort lack- the buses i rode were like tin boxes that heat up under the sun like a sauna. helped along by the fact that chairs fold out from every direction so the bus is solid packed with people, either sitting or veiing for space in the isles, zero shock absorbers. but the beaches upon destination were beautiful. the towns very sleepy, very hot. people sleep out on their porches at night. fish markets in the evening with delicious grilled calamari and fried fish, rice and beans cooked with coconut.
My little humble 1-room home of sorts in arusha is going along well- had a set back with my kerosene stove, left it outside as it was smelling, but it got rained on, so i keep drying the wicks, but they retain moisture as they got wet, then soaked in kerosene which seems to keep the water locked in. ( is this becoming one of those very dull blogs?) well, the stove has been a certain lesson in water and kerosine behavior for me.
interesting headlines here. seems tanzania has lost millions over the years in uncollected tax revenues from mining companies. another headline is that women are unable to afford sanitary pads, which hampers their activities. Funds are set up to provide pads for girls so that they don't miss school.
Another headline was about the bad state of hospital in dodoma, where many government offices are, in the center of the country- women in labor are two to a bed, with dirty /bloody sheets.
BUt back to me and my life here, it's not all toil and strife! i have found a place with outdoor seating that serves u p perfect cappucinos. They also do the best brick-oven pizza's i've tasted anywhere, ever. But what i'm truely addicted to is their avocado tuna salad, served with brick oven baked garlic bread. I like to go there and spend an afternoon studying swahili. impatient to get fluent in swahili, so i've begun to study in earnest. down on the coast the children were so amazing. So innocent and unspoiled and happy to interact. I swam with a bunch who'd just learned to swim the day before- they were so joyful! I traveled down there with a friend of mine here- the kids there all called him uncle and me auntie, and they treat you like you're all related too (which of course we all are, though americans forget this more than people here i think)Down in Bagamoyo is a big swedish funded art institute on the hill overlooking the ocean. So you would see young tanzanians practicing the violin here, painting there, doing acapela choir, drumming and dance- it was neat. Along the roads guys are digging out logs into canoes for fishing. Guys also fish by swimmiing with flippers, goggles, and a spear. People are extremely poor and there is so little work opportunity, yet life is good there, too.

World Social Forum, Nairobi 2007

The World Social Forum attracts traditional people and activists from all over the world to air their concerns and ideas. I find myself constantly referring back to ideas I heard there as we go on in our work at GSC. I naturally focused on agriculture, women and HIV sessions, also attending some economic and trade sessions. Below I quote from what I found to be the most relevant areas of seminars. At the end I have bullets with what I consider ‘take-away’ messages to consider for our Sustainable Agriculture and HIV work.

Jan 21 ‘07
Gender, Food, Agriculture and Trade Session
Dr. Vandana Shiva, wwwnavdanya.org. author of, Seeds of Suicide
Pelum Association- 160 organizations in East, Central, and South Africa.

South countries are competing, not cooperating. Guatemala: 2% owns 90% of land. Corn we used to grow to eat. Then we grew to feed the chickens, now talking about growing it to run the cars (bio-fuel). Bio-fuel is green but not good for local environments. Export agriculture is not good for South countries. South countries need exchange of produce with other South countries. We need to link gender and trading with HIV.
Diversity of seeds: Sacred to us; not to be traded in for ‘green revolution’. Since ’87 we’ve been saving seeds, creating a culture of diversity. Cancer is a gift of the chemicals- the green revolution destroys small farmers and destroys the health of the people. Don’t wait for the G-8 to decide, start a culture of diversity now by preserving and cultivating indigenous seeds. Small farms run by women produce more per hectare than large-scale agriculture. Large-scale agriculture is the most inefficient farming per hectare there is! The future of food is the future of our seeds.

Micro-finance loans:
In Bangladesh we’re mobilizing and lobbying our governments because they are accountable to us, unlike the NGOs. In Bangladesh 30 years of micro-credit has done nothing to help women farmers. Women do the manual work, mostly in environments of dangerous chemicals, hard labor and little results. Men control marketing and access to money and info. Rich people are eating organic. The women don’t own the land, don’t control market, but are responsible for repayment of loans. In India women farmers are committing suicide. They take out high-interest loans from other lenders to repay micro-finance loans.

Some radical wings of churches have been able to activate change.

Fair Trade
3rd world has given up subsidizing farmers due to structural adjustment. No fair trade until reduce 1st world subsidies.
World Trade system- Cancun said stop export subsidies, but U.S. didn’t act. There are also internal issues in the South countries, i.e. in Kibera slum in Kenya. Rich Kenyans are renting at high rates, taking $$ from the poorest of the poor. This has to be addressed so when trade is made fair, it doesn’t just benefit the elite individuals and companies.

Strengthen Regional Trade.
Is Africa a player or spectator in World Trade agreements? We need Inter-regional trade. A country goes from diversity to horticulture, and now it can’t feed itself.
African countries punched below their weight with China by negotiating individually not regionally or on a Pan-Africa platform. China wants our raw-materials that create jobs in China. Can’t we say, 'we know what we’re giving you- we’re exporting jobs -so you must compensate for it.'? Bring training, or open factories, here.
“To be cynical, Africans are strongest in exporting their capital. It’s not about aid or trade; how about us North countries stealing a bit less?”

Women:
Women’s sexuality is denied. The dignity of women is non-existent. They are treated as though they are lacking in intelligence with nothing to contribute. Once a bride-price is paid the man has full ownership. The woman is there to provide service, can be abused at will, with a denial of citizenship rights.
When women come to family planning the husband says she’s being promiscuous. Why did I pay a bride price for you if you can’t have as many children as I like? Men respect our rights as far as family laws.

Gift Economy vs. Free-Market Economy:
www.gift-economy.com
The free-market economy traps us in relationships of only giving in order to receive. Gift-economy is the traditional economy of the south- what our mothers and grandmothers have known. Always cook enough extra for the unexpected guest. Share amongst neighbors.
We’re torn now between the free-market economy and the gift economy. We compete in the free-market economy but are expected to share the profits in our local gift-economy. We’re torn in both directions.

HIV:
(This was an HIV+ solidarity group which was packed to the rafters and one after the next, men and women from everywhere stood up to testify about living life positively after their diagnosis. I quote them below)

Stigma:
Remember stigma and discrimination starts inside yourself.
Being HIV+ is not the end of life, it is the start of a courageous new life.
The answer to stigma is access to treatment. If I am getting treatment and extending my life and caring for my self, family, and community I don’t have to care what anyone else is thinking about me.

Policy and Education:
The International Community of People Living with HIV-Aids counseled the WHO on stigma in South Africa and Swaziland.
#1: To do advocacy you must be educated.
#2: People Living with HIV/AIDS must be not on the receiving end, but on the policy-making side of the solution. We HIV+ people are really important in the community in reducing HIV. We have to decide to live, and to engage and educate the health care workers.
We need to get in touch and educate the media and our allies amongst the policy-makers.
We must tailor the message so people understand where we are coming from.

Men:
Men need to be given meaningful involvement in the prevention of HIV, need to be visible in a high level of advocacy. Our men are going outside their countries to talk about their serio-status, selfishly getting resources- they need to be seen in their own countries!

2nd line of treatment: Nothing is being done.

Some testimonials:

Military: People died due to lack of basic information about prevention, and lack of information about living positively.

Teachers: Teachers face a triple stigma. Students greet me, ‘good morning Madam AIDS. Parents withdraw their children. Colleagues are no better- we get regular transfers. Teachers Living with HIV organization started up, creating awareness amongst parents. Since starting the dialogue the community has become very supportive. Teachers can now transfer to where they need to be for treatment.

Yemen: There was so much discrimination. We started education. Now we have our own support group and it’s doing very well.

Some Take-Away messages:
Many say export agriculture not good for South countries. Need to grow food, be able to eat off the land. Be careful with cash-crops. Trade inter-regionally; cooperate with other South countries- think about trading inter-regionally, rather than competing for international market.
For GSC farmers: Look for near-by trade opportunities, i.e. HIV patients in Babati.
Providing organics to HIV groups in this area- WIA? Care providers. Use SA harvest when our volunteers need food. Hire Mary or someone to prepare.

Promote awareness of and appreciation for organics in TZ, especially Arusha area i.e., “Small farms run by women produce more per hectare than large-scale agriculture”.

Preserve indigenous seeds, create a culture of diversity.
I am thinking seed banks- and we should see what he is doing in that regard.

Be sure Organics is relevant to marginal people, not just a service for rich people.

Be careful with micro-finance, not a magic bullet. Many farmers are in trouble due to micro-loans.

Check into what progressive church movements are up to.

Fair Trade: internal issues. Even at this small level we need to keep eyes out for corruption and misuse of funds.

Gift Economy- be aware of the dilemma farmers may face being pulled both to entrepreneurialism and towards the traditional ‘gift-economy’.

One of the most interesting comments in the HIV session was that the answer to Stigma is access to meds. It’s very pragmatic- if I’m extending my life and able to care for my family, I don’t care about stigma. Deborah and I discussed this re. the Arusha World AIDS day- a lot didn’t go right, but the testing tents had people lining up across the lawn, and that was essential. Part of what stigma does is blocks people’s access to information and treatment; getting people access to information and treatment is part of the answer to stigma.

R.I.P. Rick Bell

2007-02-12T11:55:00.000+03:00

Amazingly, another young cancer-death.
Rick Bell, the very recent husband of my childhood friend Beth Tener, passed away last week after an often painful battle with cancer.
Rick was a facinating and endearing man who i knew only a little but was touched by him and by the way he was in love with Beth.
Here's a dream I had the week before he died:
Rick and Beth and Nate and I were swimming or in
small boats out in the ocean somewhere far away like out in the South
Pacific exploring islands. They were all the sort of normal nice
tropical isles you'd expect and we were turning back, but then rick
showed us the way through a channel to a most amazing island washed in
beautiful light and peacefulness unlike anything we'd seen and there was
no question we had to go there! I think it was a bit prophetic. more
than being about beth, nate or I, it was about rick showing us this
amazing place he had found.

January Monthly Report

2007-02-05T16:46:00.000+03:00

hmm, the postings 2007 have been scanty- new strategy is to copy and paste e-mails. In anycase, since last posting I moved into my own little tin-roof room that though humble as a cement bare room can be, comes w/two doors, one leading to a back stoop where i can cook with my kerosene stove- got my mattress, sheets and so forth, and am happy for now just to have the independence/convenience it provides. As for work, i'm including here my January report to give an overview. I'm not sure i still have a readership! but if someone is still with me here, I offer a short tale:
Yesterday took a day trip with a friend i met on the street one day, Joyce. After meeting me months ago, Joyce and her brother organized a group of their friends to get trained as trainers of HIV. She's since started her own organization, Youth Against AIDS and Poverty. She's a live wire, and her parents just gave her some land on which she hopes to open 'the joyful nursury school'. Joyce was eager for me to visit her land. Though i've been too busy lately i agreed with trepedation to go yesterday. After a hours's wait on the roadside of arusha we got a crammed bus out about an hour into the countryside. We dropped off and waited for our next transport, as it turned out an old station wagon with two rows of back seats. 10 of us crammed into the petrol smelling car, some youths helped push us down the bumpy dusty road for a jump start. 20 minutes later we dropped off in a village, and started on a 45 minute treck to the land- 'Do you think this is remote?' she asked? 'this is just like a little Europe!' She is irrepressibly cheerful and thought it hilarious when i replied i found it a little remote. Once at the very beautiful plot of land, we trecked on to visit her brothers, grandparents, and so forth who also live out there. Though i'd resented the initial difficult transportation i'd begun to enjoy the trip and we had nice food and visit with them. On the way home we fit into a bus that had seats filling every conceiveable space plus about 10 of us in standing room only behind the driver. Joyce undounted continued to carry on her travel tour, pointing out this and that school and hospital out the window from her position of leaning deeply over the seet in front of her.
January Monthly Report
Networking:
I met with several groups who may be good partners for us down the line. The most interesting was an NGO called ‘Engender Health’ which engages men in workshops to help round out their role in the family. The group I visited with was in Nairobi, but I will follow up with their Arusha branch. Deborah and I have been discussing how to better integrate the SA and HIV components of GSC, and working on gender relations within our farmers’ groups is an area we agree HIV and agriculture intersect. I also plan to follow up with Baraka who presented gender at our Strategic Development meeting, and see what contacts he can provide.
At the World Social Forum many seminars focused on trade agreements and the dangers of the green revolution. Protecting indigenous seed diversity/ seed banking was a focus. Seed Banking is an area we can work on with our farmers. I also attended many HIV sessions, far more outspoken than what I’ve heard in Tanzania. I’m anxious to locate the progressive factions in Tanzania who are making headway, and learn from them if we can tweak our programs.
Program Development:
Deborah and I have been meeting to discuss the direction of our programs, looking at the populations we choose to train, and the content of the trainings.
Javasson suggested we could select farm communities more severely hit by HIV and better incorporate nutrition into the trainings. This is a subject I will explore more with the SA staff.
I’ve been meeting with Harold to determine how our farmers can move forward.
Harold and I went over the agenda and cost a trainer of trainers course tailored for our top 30 superstars, which I then went over with Deborah and the SA Staff. The course content and design seems excellent, the problem is cost. I am continuing discussions with Harold to do at least a partial barter of trainings. Deborah and I are also discussing using GGF or other grant possibilities.
Market Opportunities:
The farmers have gotten a market opportunity through Faida MaLi. We have held meetings with the ‘superstar’ group of leaders, and I have participated with Sommy and Harold (Faida MaLi) visiting the groups to access their readiness to get into the organic flower growing business. The SA staff and Harold agree that beyond a chance to generate income, the flower business gives them on the spot market training.
I have also continued communications with the expat. community, hungry for our organics. We hesitate to initiate a farmers market before we have confidence the farmers will come through. Sommy suggests Elifasi can successfully lead an effort. I put together a market survey for the ex-pats, reviewed by marketers at Faida MaLi, and sent it out to the ex-pat network.
I have been working on an M.O.U. for Faida MaLi with Harold and Deborah.
Demo Plot:
I have been regularly working at the demo plot, encouraged to see more crops going to market. This next week Mary will report for the first time at an SA meeting and we’ll find out what her spending and earnings have been.

Please see attachments for copies of the Faida MaLi TOT proposal and the Market Survey

2007-01-15T12:17:00.000+03:00

Back after holiday haitus!
> thanks so much for the amazing array of birthday wishes! incredible
> website effort mom/marcia!!

hometown.aol.com/marciawdc/daphne.html

so touching! i had mostly forgotten it was
> my birthday, though happy enough to be 40 -
> i had gone out on safari with Dave Bryden who's been visiting from dc,
> to arusha national park. it is an amazing resource less than an hour
> from arusha, far less visited than serengeti, etc- we walked with an
> armed ranger on an incredible 1.5 hour walk into the foothills of mount
> meru- had a close brush with the fierce warthogs- actually completely
> harmelss but when we startled a group hiding in bushes causing them to
> bolt i jumped behind the ranger with the gun and i think i heard david
> yelp. we also walked amongst stately giraffe, by the actually dangerous
> heards of water buffalo, and got beautiful views from a lookout point up
> in the hills. then canoed around hippos and waterbuffalo forging accross
> the lake in front of us- all in all exhilerating.
> It's been fun to have david around as he's taken the initiative to seek
> out interesting individuals and groups while here- in Nairobi we visited
> a group working on battling male-female stereotypes who conduct
> trainings to help men be good partners to their women, in tanzania we
> visited with a widows' group, an orphanage, and through taking david
> around my life here conducted a bit of a 'reality tour'. for example he
> could see the life of the housegirls working 7 days a week in my
> ex-homestay, and got to know the situation of the guides and porters who
> are my friends, met with the agricultural trainers in neighboring
> village Tengeru. My guide friends run a safari company but started
> explaining it to us in ways they never had explained it to me on my own.
> They are unique in that they are all former guides and porters who run
> the company, and share the money in an equitable way after putting aside
> money for office expenses, amongst office workers and porters and
> guides. This differs from the standard safari company run by
> entrepreneurs who've never done the tough work themselves, make a big
> profit and pay their guides and porters a fraction. This is a group of
> porters and guides who got fed up with their treatment and found a
> benefactor to branch off and start up a company of their own. They also
> direct funds to a local orphanage and some other development projects-
> this was the orphanage david and i visited. yet they have nothing in
> their brochures advertising any of this as a selling point! and had
> never bothered to mention any of it to me although i've been friends
> with them for months- David and i are trying to get them to revamp their
> image to play up this grass-roots, worker owned and run element, as we
> know many travelers are rightly concerned about the porters/guides.
> Imagine if they were advertised as such in the lonely planet guidebook-
> they'd be flooded with clients! It's funny I don't find a strong
> capitalistic/entrepreneurial streak running through a lot of the
> tanzanians! bye for now/ out of time! love daphne
>

2006-12-28T06:00:00.000+03:00

here i walk through a dirt road village up through the hills on myway home from town and it could be any remote hill town almost- sleepy dogs and beaming sunshine on kids waving franticly and women and men hanging out- just as i round a corner there's a group of massai guys ina circle who've started chanting very cool different tones, then one gets in the center and starts jumping straight up into the air, getting good lift while the rest chant- the jump comes down with a loud stompwith one foot on the ground, then retreats and the next gets into thecenter to jump. watched for a while. villagers passing by were mostinterested in the fact of me witnissing the event. old men kept comingup to me and saying- this is massai-land! they are jumping! and othersuch bits of information. Someone invited me to stay and have chips-french fries- which are fried up everywhere, a sure temptation, but i decided after staying a while to move on. The chips sometimes are friedup as an omelet w/egg, mmmm. and what's really tasty if done right is they're accompanied by grilled beef, chicken or goat skewers... Yesterday was interesting also i met with a micro-finance guy- he'dstudied in Ahmedabad and says "if you want education go to India; if youwant money go to the U.S.! Sorry!" That cracked him up. he was so goofy and then so astute all at once. tickled to hear i'd been in ahmedabad in '88 almost thesame time he was studying. He has a successful lending program, one branch working w/HIV widows. Unlike us who offer transportation compensation and/or sodas with our trainings, he charges for his. Says that way they value the training. i of course agree, and it's an ongoing question here whether our farmers are coming for the training or the soda. The 30 high performers we're confident about, though. I was reading a booklet on Bio Intensive Agriculture from the phillipines. It's the same philosophy and techniques going into action in such different parts of the world. In that booklet also they instruct to minimize monetary and material benefits/compensations given along with trainings. Even tools. It seems obvious, but people here are v. attached to handing out sodas and pocket money.

report on strat. planning meeting

2006-11-30T11:21:00.000+03:00

The strategic planning meeting was a success! it
It took our ngo, global service corp, squarely out of the center-
Our farmer leaders were having open exchange, not only with each other,
but also with visiting representatives from various fields vital to
their growth: - micro-finance, media (to raise public awareness), market
training-both the trainers and also visiting farmers who'd been trained
by them, gender specialists talking about who in the household is making
the decisions and controlling the resources, political representatives
talking about how agricultural extentionists and village representatives
can campaign together to raise the support for organics in the region-
Although we'd gone for hours and it was past lunch it remained a highly
energetic exchange. Covered on radio, tv, and a couple of different
newspapers; - public profile for organics in this region.
We had some fresh moments of exchange; in one, the visiting farmer said
they'd been tricked into converting to organics because just as the
coffee prices (their crop) rose, their coffee got wiped out by pests-
upon questioning our trainers said they'd been improperly trained in
organics and were going half and half, organic and conventional, which
doesn't work. Our trainers offered to include them in our trainings. In
another moment william challenged the media to support these local
farmers rather than flocking around the president and politicians when
they come to town, asking them why in the history of organic farming
here we'd never seen them at a meeting before- They said they are ready
to partner with our farmers on getting the word out about organics. As
the various consultants talked about what they had to offer our farmers
queried them if they charge for their services or if like our organic
farm training it is offered free of charge. In william's group he had
some farmers plus the agricultural extentionist- when one of the farmers
was expressing doubts about succeeding in the market the extentionist
cut in to encourage her saying the extentionists and village leaders can
campaign together to support organics in the region- This seemed like
something fresh, to have politics and media and microfinance, gender
relations, market training and the farmers all together getting excited
about this common project!

William, Javasson, Sommy, and I met for a follow-up/general BIA monthly
meeting today:
We determined follow-up steps to yesterday's meeting.

Follow-up steps:
Sommy is going ask the farmers in attendence yesterday to meet within 10
days and come up with proposals and action steps. The farmers were
making connections between themselves and the fields represented, and
seemed full of ideas, so we are eager to see what comes out of it. And
feel this is a good independent step for them to take now, brainstorming
on their own and reporting to us.

William will assemble a series of meetings with village leaders and
extentionists starting in January.
he also has the Dec. 12th crop calendar and record keeping training
coming up during which he will follow up with the farmers on this
strategic planning meeting.

Sommie and Javasson are going to put together a new farmers' group for
BIA trainings composed entirely of agricultural extentionists.

Deborah and I are going to put together an MOU for Faida MaLi and GSC-
We've been talking about at least partial exchange of trainings (we
would need to pay extra for their trip to Dar trainings, for example)

Faida MaLi talked about including some of our farmers as guests on their
trainings in Tanga, and we have invited the farmers who were there
yesterday to come to our Dec. 12 training. Harold, of Faida MaLi who
helped facilitate yesterday wants to attend a training with Sommy and
Javasson to learn more about how we teach.

William wants us to ask Faida MaLi, since market research is part of
what they do, to research the organic market potentials for this region.

of course i'm very enthused- in part because i felt like we were doing something real rather than having yet another meeting that's going through the motions, which i find so common here- nice speals with zero relevence on the ground; and it was my biggest fear and what i at all costs wanted to avoid- wasting the farmers' time- so i felt so pleased to see all these different previously un-networked sectors interacting, and i myself and other gsc organizers, except those presenting (william) totally outside the action way on the fringe- loved that. i know my tendency here is to get very excited thinking we're breaking ground in revolutionary ways that will result in great long-ranging change, and i'd be wise to temper this enthusiasm a bit... for example the demo plot where last month i'd been so thrilled to institute changes is now contending with setbacks as our main worker is sending the harvest to the compost pile rather than marketing it. Deborah my superviser feels if you think you can create change here in less than 5 yrs. you're dreaming- yet, the strat.planning meeting was an energizing exchange with new connections forged, and i can't see that not having ripples.

2006-11-28T18:25:00.000+03:00

Here's some human interest writing from a while ago, to lighten up all this work-writing:
wanting to e-mail about my phone, my family, aunt laura, about manu-chou, about fay and ededwin, and about harry and Ikunda, so sebastian, about Rahel, Placid, yusuphu and mary. So can i start with the phone? how my phone got pic-pocketed last week at lunch time, boarding the dala dala perhaps with Placid my Tanzanian 'counterpart' or workpartner in Tengeru which though reminded almost daily, i'd forgotten was a notorious cell-phone theft town. And then when nearing our destination on the DAla Dala (arusha) i searched unfruitfully for my phone and Placid says in horror -"someone has absconded with your phone!"
How i've been hanging out with these youngsters in their 20's and want to hang out with w/older, but can't seem to find them, so for now enjoying the youngsters. It's odd to lose your phone here because you've written a lot of texts on it, it's personal like losing your computer. And the sympathy! Placid texted several friends in alarm reporting my phone had been taken - At home they reacted with shock and such sympathy! Then within minutes though, people reveal theytoo have had their phones stolen - Placid has had 2 taken, my house father also 2, the 4 tanzanians i work with in tengeru have each had their phone stolen - and once they get onto these old stories it's often relayed with great amusement! The sympathy and shock at the loss of my phone is in great contrast to the reaction to news of personal losses, Nate, Vicky -which is often diverted eyes and a brief 'i'm so sorry' and change of conversation. What else. Agnes the house girl, and aunt laura, a grown unmarried sister who lives with us. laura is very chritian. she's up praying from midnight to 2 am most nights. she's a bit younger than i -beautiful, tall thin, killer gifure like many women here- chiseled features and long braids, burning eyes. she could be an intimidating character- want her in my corner for sure- she's usually laughing and has got great business schemes -open a spa for income and then open a joint center for elderly and hiv+orphans, to care for eachother. she barks at the kids in the house, is the only one who seems to discipline them, and she bakes cakes late at night after most have gone to bed. i like her- she'd take shit from no one and is very funny. Agnes the house girl who walks around the house spreading calm and good will and taking care of all the things that need to get done. agnes is very amused by me. the kids: fay and edwin- i've bragged too much about well-behaved african kids -as penance have landed in the household with unruly undisciplined little tyrants. cute as can be and not as bad as i say. but little edwin gets away with murder-screaming at the dinner table, giving his big sister a bloody lip, whining, and no one says much. whenever he sees me he bursts out "hi Dafna!!!!" it absolves him for me of many sins. then there's fay who i share my room with. she says things to me before sleep like, "daphne, i like you. let's pray', then she closes her eyes and starts chanting, 'father bless us bless us bless us' the other night she said 'daphne i like your nose, it's big.' i like fay too. although all this togetherness does make me miss having my own space where i might start being more creative. Fay is a little fat and everyone thinks it's funny. teases her about her belly. she could care a less, also thinks it's funny.

2006-11-27T18:48:00.000+03:00

They have the ideas but not the know how ... you are bringing in
some expertise that they don't have-- the micro-finance person, he
extention agent . They probably want/ need to put together a farmers
cooperative that could do some market research on what they should
grow extra, could do the marketing and the business end. Not every
farmer with surplus food should need to go out and do their own
marketing. One role of this meeting could be training to form a
cooperative and have some farmers take leadership roles in the
institution. Use the meeting to start the process. Then they might
want to create a business plan, a roadmap to where they are going and
where they would like to be in the next ew years. Alternatively, if
they have a good thing going, they might need an infusion of capital
to capitalize on it-- that is where microfinance comes in. They
could actually pool some of the money into a farmer's micro-credit
savings and loan. Another idea because they are in a central tourist
area-- potentially more of a cash cow than just farming-- they could
look into entering the tourist economy. Eco-tourism (remember that
farm we stayed on in Monte Verde in Costa Rica). Or marketing
produce to international hotels and touring agents-- definitely a
niche market for organic produce.
hope this is helpful--Amy

2006-11-21T13:38:00.000+03:00

You mentioned in the beginning of the email that your organization is working to have solutions come from the people and communities themselves. perfect. the challenge when brainstorming, I've found, is to not lead to much with your own ideas, even when you think they're perfect for the communities you are working with. If it's going to come from them, it has to come from them. But how to facilitate it so that happens, if that's the best role?

I agree that bringing farmers together with extensionists and others who could provide tangible assistance as part of creating larger infrastructure locally and elsewhere is an exciting opportunity;. Could you talk with some of the farmers you've been working with, and ask them how they think the meeting should be organized to get the best results. Could the farmers be empowered to make a considered request of the officials in attendance to help them with marketing training, market infrastructure, etc? I agree with you that then breaking into small groups is the way that the most people will get to directly share ideas and create solutions, which can then all be shared with each other. That's what I'd think too, but does that fit with local custom and experience?

seems like it would be useful for the farmers to think of some bottom line requests for the officials, what they want to get out of the meeting, what the follow-up will be, etc.

strat. development:

2006-11-20T09:48:00.000+03:00

sorry for the long pause- i've been soliciting help on my strategic planning meeting, and have gotten great responses which i'll post-

my info. solicitation went as follows, and then i'll post some of the responses:

here's the situation:

my organization, GSC, started out in '96 with the agricultural mission
of addressing aids in this region by improving food security. Teaching
farmers Bio-intensive agriculture so as to improve the nutrition of
their family and communities- that much has been accomplished now with
farmers producing plenty of organic veggies- more than enough for their
families and communities.
At issue now is farmers with too much production who haven't themselves
come up with a way to market the produce.
A main concern for GSC is that farmers take active roles and don't get
accustomed to being spoonfed solutions.
To expand the GSC mission, my local counterpart and i have gone out to
discuss w/ farming group leaders their ideas on what's next. we 've
talked to many over the months, and have also recently held a small
meeting of nine of them to discuss their ideas and to network with
eachother. these same nine are coming to a meeting the end of nov.
which will also include an agricultural extentionist and a village
political representative, a micro-finance representative, a
representative from another ngo working with farming villages, and a
couple of farmers who've worked with a market training ngo, to let our
farmers know how the market trainings have worked for them. I am to
come up with an agenda for the meeting, and envision dividing our
farmers into small groups mixed with the other peo. at the meeting to
brainstorm. the question is what to ask them because i've already asked
them a million times what their problems are and what solutions they
see. they've told me a million times, market and market training is the
solution along with post harvest preservation techniques like drying
produce. i can't bear ask them yet again those same questions and waste
their time. I actually feel like the info. gathering is complete and gsc
ought to move ahead aligning w/ market training partners, but boss
insists on this last strategic development meeting. it seems like
there's potential for a productive meeting as our farmers will have a
chance to brainstorm with these outsiders who approach the issue from
different perspectives, but how to best make use of this combination of
people. any thoughts? any strategic development resources i might check
out? the info i've looked out doesn't seem really to apply to such a
mixed group- seems more for meetings where everyone has a common history
within a single organization. the reason i like this meeting is it
potentially expands the idea of organic farming beyond GSC and our
farmers to a regional and also political issue, where extentionists and
municipalities could get involved to make organic farming something the
whole arusha region supports - something that puts arusha on the map and
as an attraction to the many tourists, ex-pats, and international
businesses that congregate here. That's the way our bio-intensive-ag
expert/leader, william, is thinking and why he's invited the
extentionist and municipal leader to the meeting. William is himself a
resource as he's involved in the Tanzanian organic agricultural
movement, and has much info he could report on at the meeting as to
what's happening with organics in TZ. A part of me would like to set up
the meeting so that William reports, the farmers with market training
report, a couple of our farmers report, and then we all divide up and
brainstorm. Brainstorm how, though?

2006-10-30T11:27:00.000+03:00

So my Sunday is I work a bit in the office (one of our two days a week with reliable electricity supply) then am walking up the road when a fellow strikes up conversation. As answering his questions a guy who hustles on the streets who's become a friend in a way, Ganga, walks by. I like Ganga and am a bit aimless so I catch up to him accross the busy streat as he is heading up the hill into the village. Next we are sitting in a local canteen, he who has nothing has insisted on buying me a simple lunch. I eat his greens and he eats my meat. I like the way we manage to talk with his little English and my little Swahili, he's got some unusual skill at communicating even with such limited language; v. smart. And tells me how he grew up 35 km outside of Dodoma the original capital city (more a small town) in central TZ. And so for 3 yrs. his father got him to walk to school through woods though it was dangerous with lions, etc. his farmer parents had no money so while the other kids had uniforms he tied a kanga around himself. the 4th yr the teacher told him that's it, no more school without a uniform. That's why no english he said. I don't know why it struck me so but i felt like crying. Such a good guy, now in his 30's selling trinkets, so smart and so many like him here. If they don't have money for uniforms as many don't, they don't get education. Comes on the heels of Megan and I failing to accompany a street boy late at night with a bloody leg asking for a bandaid, to the hospital. we pointed him the direction only, then repented, tried to find and accompany him, only to find him gone. No money, no help from the hospital - not for an alone kid with a gash in his leg at 10.00 pm, not for anyone.
In the Arusha Times they polled locals opinions of TZ joining an East African Federation w/ Kenya and Uganda: "Queen Alex, a resident of Njiro told the AT that what she hated to hear most is the talk about East African Federation. She said that TZ is a peaceful country and should not be contaminated. 'we do not want wars, conflicts and the other awful things that happen in neighboring countries.' She claims that in the event of a political federation, TZ will also be drawn into bloody conflicts. 'let's remain with our poverty but live in peace. Federation? No.'"
counter that commonly held opinion with this exert from Ben Terrall reporting in Counter Punch magazine on Haiti:
Rene Civil, a grass roots activist recently re-arrested speaks to an international delegation: "'we're here to end all forms of discrimination, we're here to end all forms of violence. The violence of not being able to afford to buy a meal to eat, the violence of not being able to have a house to live in, the violence of not being able to go to school... 'you always hear that it is the people in Cite Soleil, it's the people in Bel Air who have all the weapons, but what's actually happening is the poeple with the most weapons are the people who live up in the hills who have a house where they can store the weapons, who have cars to transport the weapons. And yet it's these very people who carry the weapons who continue to demonize the poor in Cite Soleil and Bel Air.'
Civil asked the delegation 'for your support in making sure that his demonization of the poor does not continue because the real problems that they have are not weapons, they are the social problems that they face. It's that they cannot eat, it's that they cannot have a roof over their heads. And I ask you to get this message out to the media, that this is a demonization of poor people, and actually what's happening is that they're suffering because of the economic and social problems in this country."

2006-10-22T13:57:00.000+03:00

as i go about linking into ex pat community hung ry for organics to farmers who want to pro vide for a market , have to give thought to what an expat who w\ orks with another farming marketing group up north - they've succe eded in helping farmers double and triple their incomes, but she's been researching the social effects of the success. with the extr a income alcoholism and aids rates have gone up, as m en now afford prostitution. unintended consequenses! at this point my group s' mission has been to increase food security for farmers and some rural dwellers who before weren't even farming much. now they have full beds of vegetables which feed th eir famil ies healthy variety, and save them the cost and bad effects of chemical pesticides, etc. but they are itching for a market and feelin g a bit let down that our group hasn't provided one for them. our mission originally didn't include a market plan, it was rathewrt to improve the local health, and food security should they get struck by aids/ they aren't on the bri nk of poverty / hunger. i worked with a newly trained group on friday and asked them about their experience before our training, with conventional farm ing. they said they couldn't always afford the chemicals, and had trouble with market. i asked how they planned to solve the market trouble now that they are learning organic. they said that they didn't need to solve it because we would provide them with the market! so i found out that that's been the misunderstood expectation, and let them know that we don't actually provide the market, but together we can work on the problem- that they themselves have to re search the market and see what is oversuppli e d an d what's in demand, figure out what they want to plant- be t hinking about market already now that they are prepar ing their beds for planting. that was new for th em, they figured we would make the choices on what to grow. they got more enthused actually because they had a lot of ideas about what to grow that they didn't think they had a choice about. and they got enthused about finding their markets. it's this sort of disempowering presumptions, that they don't need their o wn ideas, because all will be provided, that we are trying to route out. i think our trainers have been feeding them with ideas of what to plant which aren't market based, which has been part of the problem. i like my assignment which has been to route out passivity, it's tricky sometimes. on the demo plot we run my counterpart and i have made some changes. rather then have the two hired helpers (my swahili and karate teachers) be only partially trained in organics, work for a wage and follow expert s' instructions, they are going to get full trainiing just like any of our other farmer grou ps. they will then be res ponsible to make their o wn choices in the management of the plot, and will earn a share of the profit s. they were energized with these changes as were my co horts and i. . based on what the ex pat friend of mine observed w/ her group, if we do help some of the farmers link with marketing groups and training we may need to investigate that their training also includes money management. I feel like these changes in the program away from passivity as much as possible are positive and are just like what i w as t rained to do in acupuncture. we were a lways on alert to keep pati ents taking responsibility for their own health, and not coming in passiv ely to get th eir health and life 'fixed ' by the expert. western medicine sets up a passive r elationship with patients just like development projects set up pas sive relationshipos with people here in tanzania. so it's a similar challenge, it's fun for me to work with it on a macro level rather than micro.

2006-10-19T19:41:00.000+03:00

some of the most enjoyable people i've met over here are from the democratic republic of congo- i keep running into these great strong, vivacious, women from there with great sense of fun/humor- gives a different perspective on what i've always thought of the place. on the otherhand a less enjoyable thing i've encountered here in arusha is enthusiasm for george bush and his "punishment of the muslims" lots of local hostility here to muslims and the east indians. tanzanians traditionally feel like your boss at work ought to take a paternal sort of care of employees, helping them to move forward in the world, helping out if they're in need or trouble etc. the guides i know complain of the indian run guide companies only paying bare minimum and keeping their workers down. strongly bitter towards the indians around for not giving back to the community. on the other hand an australian guy i know who runs a lodge opinions that were it not for the east indians nothing would get done in this country...
i'm at work traipsing around villages and consolidating strategies w/farmers, followed by lunch in the dives back in town-
dad would not approve of the tradition here of expressing sympathy any time you notice someone exerting themselves physically- you are carefreely hiking about and are greated everywhere by the eqiuvalent to i'm so sorry for your exertion! the required response is to thank them and offer sympathy back for whatever work they might be finding themselves doing. follwed of course by several rounds of how are you doing? to which you may say, i'm cool!, and you? they tell you they're clean, and how's your home doing? so peaceful you say, and their work? going along beautifully they replyy, and so on. i've gotten a massai and a meru greeting under my belt as well , impresses greatly in the hills.

progress at home, and project report for September

2006-10-09T10:53:00.000+03:00

things are beautiful over here. sat. i took an amazing
hike with a guy who lives around the corner from me- like a fairy
tale out here with hills and clouds and little wooden bridges and cows
and sheep, massai, children strolling around. one of my more beautiful
hikes. i got my family to give me their teenage son's room- he's away at
school- so i have my own space. it makes a huge difference- i really
need a place to recharge or consolidate or something- sort through my
ideas. we stopped in at a family my neighbor friend here used to stay
with- way up in the hills. they still have a little hut where someone
could stay and he doesn't want it, so i am considering it- it is like a
different world up there in the hills- i really was loving it up there-
only like a 20 minute walk down to a main road i live along, but a
different world. work is going well - my 'boss' and i appreciate
the way eachother thinks and we're making a lot of changes with the
agriculture program.NAME: Daphne Jochnick

Country: Tanzania

Reporting Period: month of September, '06

I. Project Update and Accomplishments:

I am working on an over-all assessment of and strategic planning for the
BIA program, traveling between Tengeru and the Arusha office. I helped
to organize a successful BIA trainers meeting at the end of Sept. in
which we discussed the BIA mission and ways in which we want to change
and move forward with the program. We will be ironing out the mission
over the next several weeks and have a strategic planning meeting
scheduled for the end of November. To prepare for both the meeting we
held in September and the November strategic planning meeting I have
been meeting one on one with each of the BIA trainers as well as William
and several other people relevant to the BIA program to elicit their
ideas on how we can best move forward with the program. I also met with
one of the high performing farmers to get his input. The consistent
message so far is the need for GSC to assist with marketing. For the
September trainers meeting we invited representatives from Fido Mali, a
nonprofit which works on marketing initiatives with Farmers. William
and the trainers were impressed with the presentation, as were Deborah
and I. I will be working with William on other marketing groups we may
want to partner with. Deborah and I will be looking into
micro-financing groups that we may want to partner with. In preparation
for the November Strategic Planning meeting Sommie and I will be meeting
with high performing/key player farmers one on one or two at a time, to
elicit their ideas on how the program can move forward. Specifically
where they would like to see themselves over the next 5 yrs. and how GSC
can help them reach their goals. I will be looking into organic
certification groups, marketing groups and micro-financing groups who
may be of use to our farmers. In the November Strategic Planning
meeting we
will be going through all of this information.

I have been helping to assess the state of affairs in Tengeru and have
been meeting with Deborah to discuss how we can best use the talents of
the people under our employment in the BIA program; William, Mary, the
trainers, and myself. We have been clarifying and tweaking the roles
that people play- streamlining William's role, and expanding Mary's and
mine, to take on some of the managerial duties that William has been
doing. William will be training Mary and I in record keeping. Initially
I will assist Mary in record keeping for the Tengeru Demo Plot; all the
money coming in, going out, monthly reports on expenses and income. As
Mary gets comfortable with the record keeping I will phase myself out of
this position and she will take over all together. I have been out at
the plot 4 days a week. Placid and I have been overseeing what happens
on the plot. Now that placid is out, Sommie and i will be an occasional
presence. The goal is that Mary and Josephu who work the plot will be
trained enough that they can essentially run the plot with minimal
oversight. this means they will handle all phases of BIA on the plot
including companion planting, crop rotation pesticide application and
record keeping. As I say, Sommie and I will continue to be an
occasional presence, as is of course William, on the plot.

II. Challenges/Problems:

Our challenge is to keep the relationship between GSC and the farmers
dynamic so that we assist them on their initiatives and not take the
role of doling out services to passive recipients. Deborah and I are
keeping this idea of a dynamic relationship foremost as we iron out our
mission statement and next steps. She and I are discussing how our
current role has been primarily a training service. Our future role may
include facilitation. We facilitate those who we have trained to
partner with organizations who can aid them to take their next steps,
ie. marketing organizations, micro-finance organizations. organizations
who can assist them in realizing their goals now that they have the BIA
training.

We are also looking at the problem of groups whose member range from
very committed practitioners of BIA to farmers who continue with
conventional practices and aren't putting trainings thus far into
action. We are talking about forming new groups of farmers who have
shown initiative in practicing BIA. These can be the groups on whom we
focus our attention, and who can become leaders and inspire others to
come on board.

These are just the ideas we are talking about at this point as we
brainstorm our future direction. I will continue to get input on these
and other ideas from the farmers themselves and trainers as we prepare
for our November meeting.

2006-09-21T16:30:00.000+03:00

Most mornings i start out by taking a 40 minute dala dala ride to the neighboring village where we have our demo plot. it's a great ride through beutiful countryside packed into a mini bus- the conductors swinging half in and half out of the bus like cowboys, recruiting riders as we go, traditional or bongo flava (swahili rap out of Dar Es Salaam) in the backround- great microcosom of local life- i haven't tired of it yet. everyone here that can afford a cell phone communicates on it by text messages- so there is a nice absence of phone conversations. the two locals who work on the farm are great and don't speak too much english -they give me swahili instruction out there on the farm, calling it shamba ki-swahili darasani- farm-yard swahili class. one of them has begun teaching us karate after work! he has nothing but he's probably a blackbelt,though he's never tested, and he teaches several guys and boys in his two
small bare concrete rooms, and now me. it is very cool. others in our ag. program are studying it as well- we had several of us lined up near the compost heaps practicing one afternoon.
This weekend i went on another amazing
hike in neighboring town Moshi- the same guide that took us on a wild hike last time i was in africa. these guys traipse up and down the mountains like it's nothing.
we swam at the waterfall which was like swimming in the ocean in
maine- freezing! just as we were leaving the water a couple of other muzungu women and their guide cme to go in. i thought, they must be swedish- sure enough they were. the last part of the hike included winding steep
downhill trails, you sort of free fall, running down with gravity whipping around sharp turns - and then even when the trail started winding upwards we kept
running, so we probably ran the last 2, 3 miles- it was a lot of fun and
of course gloriously beautiful.
The bio Intensive Ag. program is based here, all our bio-ag experts live out here, and many teach at the agricultural institute which is hosting our demo plot- about 21 double dug beds demonstrating companion planting, crop rotation, and natural pestisides, and several compost heaps. I may even move out to this village and commute into arusha, rather than the reverse situation i'm in now- it's called Tangeru, is very beautiful, and a lot sleepier than arusha. My group sets up homestays here, as well. the idea of getting my own place is still a possibility but for now i like living with others and having more of a sense of community. Plus in my current homestay the food is excellent. they want me to cook them lasagnia. it's been interesting to get information from all these characters as to what is working and not working regarding the trainings with the farmers. one guy went out and interviewed about 300 of the farmers one on one, so i am going to help him sort through that info. since that month intensive training i haven't had such a direct aids focus- the farming techniques of course are to produce better nutrition and economy, so it is still about aids.

the other day while walking my great 40 minute walk home from the center of town a young woman befriended me- interested that i was teaching about hiv- which is how i explain my work because it would be hard to convince anyone i'm a farmer.. anyways she wants me to meet with her and her friends because she says they want to know more about how to prevent hiv- i thought that was great that they are so interested- in my homestay they have two young dogs yapping outside my window at night, so i am a bit sleep deprived-

2006-09-20T16:48:00.000+03:00

debbie it's good to read your comment and think that things could have seemed so insurmountable initially in the u.s. too, and we've really come so far- so possibly also for africa- though i'm not sure the condom will ever catch on. as for me i spend a lot of my time now on the bio-intensive ag. demo plot which is great physical work and spectacularly beautiful- then i also am meeting one by one with the players of this agg. program to ilicit info. on how we are stuck and how to move forward- concensus is that we need partner w/ marketing experts- meeting on that next week

long pause, Vicky Rest in Peace

2006-09-20T16:45:00.000+03:00

it was a shock to hear of vicky's 'passing' unreal - amazing- yes she seemed at peace when i saw her july 4, and she and i had a very good phone call before i left. she was so encouraging of my going to africa- she thought it was absolutely the right thing for me to do. i did want to return and be with everyone there for my own sake too- but being here honors her too- i know she'd see it that way- it was a weird sunday already for me, then i got the news on e-mail about vicky. 15 minutes later as i was slowly sort of stunned walking home, i got a phone text that one of our tanzanian translaters, not yet 30 yrs old, got killed in a road accident- it's amazing, life- deaths like this put the whole thing in a different perspective- nothing seems as real or concrete= not the dusty road i was walking on, the trees, or the sunlight- everything is in a haze of suspended belief or awareness of other realities- i mean of where are they now? aware of some other dimension where i think they are, that's also here i think, amidst us. and amidst all of this that seems so real. like the lyrics of that song i wrote first thing on my blog- 'that gravity, is not the only, force at work, in this world...'

2006-09-08T14:48:00.000+03:00

this evening i move -i'll be sort of renting a room in the house of an older couple off a bit east of town which is more of a village feel= enthused about the move-

2006-09-05T19:42:00.000+03:00

Spotlight: African grandmothers bring stigma to TorontoHDN Key Correspondent Team**************************They came from far and wide. They came by foot, by train and finally by plane.Over 300 grandmothers from 10 African countries, came to meet their Canadiancounterparts to share their stories of grief and pain over the loss of theirchildren to the HIV epidemic.In a unique meeting organised by the Stephen Lewis Foundation (SLF) in Toronto,a few days prior to the opening of the 16th International AIDS Conference,African grandmothers broke their silence over how stigma and discriminationundermines their efforts to hold families together and care for orphanedchildren."To be honest, I don't know whether my children have the HIV infection or not.There is so much stigma attached to ‘the condition’, as it is called in mycountry, that my children are afraid to know their status," says Joyce KajechiGichuana from Nairobi, Kenya.The soft-spoken, petite 63-year-old mother of three has six grandchildren of herown and has adopted six other children orphaned by the HIV epidemic in Kasaranidistrict, in Nairobi, Kenya. Three of these children are HIV positive. “Thesechildren are doubly burdened. Not only are they orphans, but they also facestigma and discrimination [associated with HIV]. If they get love and compassionI know they will be able to overcome it."Joyce is not the only one. Whether it is Martha Nduhi of Kenya, Leah Motlalepulcof South Africa, or Antonia Igres from Tanzania, their stories are strikinglysimilar.While statistics on the pandemic's effect on grandmothers are scarce,approximately 13 million children in sub-Saharan Africa have been orphaned byAIDS – a higher number than the total of every child under-18 in Canada, Norway,Sweden, Denmark and Ireland combined. 40 to 60 per cent of these orphans live ingrandmother-headed households.But how many people are aware of these statistics? More importantly, how manyreally care? Stephen Lewis, the United Nations Secretary-General's special envoyfor HIV and AIDS in Africa, realised that unless people living outside Africaexperienced the emotional battering that he felt when he saw the bodies ofpeople who had died of AIDS related illnesses, being abandoned in the morgue bytheir families would they be unable to understand the trauma of HIV-relatedstigma.The meeting between the African and Canadian grandmothers was a step towardsbridging this gap. "Grandmothers have stepped forward to care for millions ofchildren orphaned by AIDS. They have displayed the courage to overcome their ownfeelings of helplessness and emotional stress compounded by the stigmasurrounding HIV. As caregivers, many of them face discrimination, which makesfinding support that much harder. We wanted this meeting to help build a bond ofsolidarity between the grandmothers and let the African grandmothers know thatthey were not alone in their grief," says Stephan Lewis.But even Lewis did not anticipate the overwhelming support the Africangrandmothers received from their Canadian counterparts during their two-daymeeting. The age-old African ways of speaking without words broke down allcommunications barriers. They sang and danced, laughed and wept together. “Wewere afraid that language barriers would separate us, and our capacity to helpmight be reduced to fundraising alone. This meeting has broken all barriers.Although I was aware of their problems, I had never got involved in doingsomething about it. This meeting has given me an opportunity to act as theirvoice so that I can share their stories and raise awareness about HIV within mycommunity. I believe that awareness can reduce the stigma surrounding theepidemic,” contends Jo-Anna Page, a 63 year-old Canadian grandmother.While exchanges like this help in understanding HIV stigma and discrimination,it will need more than just one meeting to challenge the myths andmisconceptions that continue to perpetuate discrimination against people livingwith HIV (PLHIV). There has to be a sustained multi-pronged effort bynon-government organisations like the SLF. But more importantly, there has to begreater political will. Unless national governments demonstrate that they carefor every person infected by HIV by implementing laws that reduce stigma anddiscrimination against PLHIV, it is unlikely that the children of JoyceGichuana, will ever want to know their status.

2006-09-05T15:23:00.000+03:00

i'm on my days off now- after the month long training, and prior to beginnning my work here- start that tomorrow- i also moved out of the catholic run place to a place downtown- the catholic place was nice with its sort of pastoral grounds, gardens, banana trees and avocado trees all around, massai warrior guards lounging around with their blankets tossed around their heads, viscious dogs patrolling at night- it all made for a certain exotic environment. my new place though includes fried potatos and beans up on a roof-top deck for breakfast along with passion juice and coffee/tea- and my little tiny room is right overlooking the main drag. theres a guy just accross the street selling cassettes so i get to hear the traditional pop blaring much of the time- i really like it! especially since my fancy mp3 player broke after a week when i tried out a battery that i bought at a street stand... no more handsome family.

a ghastly disease feeds off a ghastier oppression ips news

2006-09-04T10:42:00.000+03:00

A Ghastly Disease Feeds Off a Ghastlier OppressionIPS News Agency25/08/2006Stephen LeahyTORONTO, Canada, Aug 25 (IPS) - Gender inequality has become the main driverof the HIV/AIDS epidemic, especially in Africa, where 70 percent of thoseinfected are women.A new powerful international agency for women is needed to turn thissituation around and address the growing problem of violence against girlsand women, experts and advocates say."Rape is extremely common, especially by older men who are infected with HIVwho believe that having sex with a virgin will cure them," said BettyMakoni, executive director of the Girl Child Network, a Zimbabweannon-governmental organisation.In rural Zimbabwe, a teacher rapes 30 or 40 of his girl students and nothingis done about it, said Makoni at the International AIDS Conference inToronto, which ended last week. "Where is the world outrage?" she asked.The Girl Child Network has helped 30,000 girls in 500 centres acrossZimbabwe, where an estimated 25 percent of the population aged 15 to 49 isbelieved to be HIV-positive. At the conference, Makoni was awarded theinaugural Red Ribbon Award by the United Nations Development Programme andUNAIDS."There is no right to life here for women and girls. They are treated assemi-slaves," she said.Stephen Lewis, the U.N. special envoy for AIDS in Africa, agreed. "We willnever subdue the gruesome force of AIDS until the rights of women becomeparamount in the struggle," he said at the conference. "It's a ghastly,deadly business, this oppression of women in so many countries on theplanet."The United Nations estimates that up to three million women lose their livesto gender-based violence and four million are sold into prostitution eachyear, while two million suffer genital mutilation. One woman in five is avictim of rape or attempted rape.Women also make up the vast majority of illiterates in the world due to lackof educational opportunities.To aggressively tackle these issues, Lewis has appealed to the UnitedNations to create an international agency to advocate for the rights ofwomen, similar to UNICEF. The proposed agency would have a billion-dollarbudget, employ thousands of staff and have widespread operational capacityon the ground where it is needed.Lewis and his supporters say a U.N. agency for women would be able tosupport and fund these programmes, extract donations and make sure women areinvolved in development, trade, culture, peace and security.Women in poverty face different problems than men, but development policiesand programmes are not designed to meet the needs of girls and women, saysJoanna Kerr, executive director of the Association for Women's Rights inDevelopment, a Toronto-based international organisation of women's groupsinvolved in gender equality and human rights.Women do not earn cash salaries and are not permitted to own land or openbank accounts in many parts of the world, leaving them powerless and poor,Kerr told IPS."In many parts of the world, women can't even negotiate the use of a condom.HIV/AIDS cannot be effectively addressed without getting at the root causesof poverty and inequality," she said.HIV/AIDS prevention programmes will be ineffective without programmes toreduce violence against women, especially young women. These issues are notjust African but apply to Southeast Asia and Latin America, she says."There is no powerful voice for women at the U.N.," Kerr stated.For example, young girls are raped every day in refugee camps, and a newU.N. agency for women with strong operational capacity could take action onthe ground and ensure their safety, she said. An agency with enough staffcould also make sure the needs of girls and women are addressed, such asproviding sanitary napkins and ensuring proper toilet facilities are built."Such obvious things are often not provided," the activist noted.The U.N. currently has a small agency for women called UNIFEM -- the UnitedNations Fund for Women -- but with a relatively scant 40-million-dollarbudget, limited mandate and few in-country staff, it is far from what isneeded.So where is the money going to come from for a U.N. women's agency? Globalforeign aid is more than 100 billion dollars and is expected to reach anestimated 130 billion by 2010, Lewis told the High-Level Panel on U.N.Reform this summer."Is more than half the world's population not entitled to one percent of thetotal?" he asked.The panel is charged with making recommendations regarding the reform of theU.N. and could recommend that the U.N. General Assembly create this newagency.The need for such an agency is "obvious" and there is a mounting clamour foraction, says Kerr."I see big, empty buses on the streets of Toronto and I wonder about theequitable distribution of resources," said Makoni last week. "In Zimbabwe,girls who used to walk 20 kilometres to school don't attend because theydon't have sanitary napkins. They try to use sticks instead."But it is far from certain the U.N. will create a strong and effectiveagency for women, Lewis readily admits. He urged those attending the Torontoconference in his final speech as U.N. envoy to "enter the fray againstgender inequality.""There is no more honourable and productive calling. There is nothing ofgreater import in this world. All roads lead from women to social change,and that includes subduing the pandemic," he concluded.

2006-09-02T14:53:00.000+03:00

we spent the last week conducting our trainings- i wound up doing a bit of a cooking class- sauteeing broccoli, oregano, dill, thyme, etc- because they had all these things to sell and don't really know how to eat them- i'd never cooked it that way but i have to say- broccoli sauteed with chives, garlic and dill- i've never tasted it so good! the cooking was the most enjoyable part of training for me. this was a group of farmers, mostly women- our organization has already sent volunteers to train them on these topics so most was review- except the cooking - we had further challenges when discussing aids because the group had a mix of ages, and male and female together- the set up therefore was perhaps not ideal- but the idea to throw us out to teach while a little painful was a good one, as you get a sense of what you know enough to teach and what you don't, and what works and what doesn't. the agriculture they have taken on with great enthusiasm- they have beautiful organic beds of a variety of vegetables and herbs- the group's leader has a business supplying safari companies with brocolli and all those italian spices, but they have plenty left over to eat, and i am confident that now they will eat them (they haven't been). after i sauteed/steemed some up the second morning before nutrition class, they cooked it themselves that night for dinner. we arrived the next day ready for a full day of aids training, but they immediately set up the propane stove and my frying pan, brought me all sorts of produce, and we had another cooking session. they were impressed with my style of taking handfuls of things and slicing it straight into the frying pan, forgoing the cutting board- i've always been proud of that technique and was glad at last to get some recognition. then the aids training. on nutrition day i also made a huge salad from their lettuce, broccoli, arugula, basil, thyme, oregano, dill, fennel, and some tomatoes we'd brought. there's not a tradition of salad here. i added olive oil we'd brought, salt and lemon from their trees. we just missed avocado season sadly. the salad was also a hit except some didn't like the basil, and some didn't dare eat uncooked oil- they usually use animal fat, so that may have required more of an explanation. after all that broccoli and salad, i didn't mind the peanut butter sandwiches and soda- for people getting very little sugar products the few sodas they drink a year maybe are just providing a bit of carbohydrates, so i'm not so sure they're even bad- though i was outraged when i first heard that was our plan. these guys are all so healthy and robust looking i feel a bit funny lecturing them on health- but aids is of course a sneaky killer, and for people with aids nutrition and hygeine become essential, and food security/economic stability- so the classes do all make sense. on the way to our aids classes (we all got dropped off in different villages)- the women of my group all got on the case of our two men, because we were supposed to do condom demonstrations. our two men, one from tanzania and one from ethiopia were saying it wasn't appropriate for them to do the demonstration, that the women should do it. (the demo consist of unrolling a condom onto a dildo) we got very outraged that two men who were supposed to be leaders in this field were setting an example that they wanted nothing to do with condoms, and told them they should in that case stay home rather then set the project back- my partner, the tanzanian came through and i have to say it was a rough task to talk about condoms with the group. they all hated the idea of condoms. the women we trained wanted nothing to do with them and would barely touch the ones we handed out. the young men we trained though, seemed very interested, which is good. the women were older, and surely married, so to them what's the use after all, i guess. our feedback to our director was to seperate the groups by sex and age, and also that we need somehow to target men more. it feels so hopeless talking to married women about aids here. what are they going to do? i think one thing useful we do is just facilitating conversation, because no one really talks about sex here. also dispelling myths about condoms and aids, and myths about how you can catch it (ie. it's ok to eat together with someone who has aids) friday marked the end of our training. this morning the others from my group dispersed. two went off to mozambique, two to lesotho, one to dar es salam, and one more returning tomorrow to ethiopia- so i'm without all my buddies all of the sudden- but it 's a relief too as the training has been very busy.

2006-08-25T12:51:00.000+03:00

with all the grimness of what we've been looking at, our director pointed out an interesting observation- the programs to address aids- developing economic oportunities for women, bio-intensive agriculture, examining the male - female power dynamic especially within marriage, protection and education/economic oportunities for at risk children- these are all positive developments for society. she pointed out that aids may give africa another chance to look at gender relations/dynamics, shine light on what has been a source of suffering prior to aids, and maybe force some change that otherwise wouldn't occur.
i'd say more about the delights of living in arusha, hmmm. people greet me like their long lost neice, even if it's a begger i am walking by that i haven't got it together to find my small change to contribute. the other day someone greeted me who had been on the bus i was on in march that got stuck for a day and a half in the mud- . last night i ate dinner with a local friend at an indian barbeque place- tables open to the street- you pick your skewer/ shish-kabob and then choose from an array of about 20 different curry vegetable/pickle dishes, laid out like a salad bar, all you can eat- . some kids accross the street were dancing to bongo-flava, the swahili hip hop- and the scene on the street was so laid back and amenable. i thought i was taking a little bit of a digestive risk, but suffered no back-lash. we usually take taxi's to get around after dark but downtown feels safe.- where we are staying is a bit in the outskirts- accross a bridge notorious for after dark theives. our place is set back in a courtyard. it is a hostel and also a school- run by catholic nuns. after 11 they let out a pack of vicious sounding dogs to guard the grounds, so you don't venture out unless you call the guard on duty to your side first. tonight we plan to venture out as a group onto the local nightlife. i cought a little of it last week- every thurs. night there's live music at a place near by- last week it was supposedly open mike, but dominated by one band that was very together, professional sounding local traditional flavor- no cover at that place, but you pay a dollar fifty rather than a dollar for your beer. arusha is known to be a very expensive place generally for locals. there's also a fancy hotel nearby which i was unaware of when i was here in march. there, for a hefty 2 dollars, you can get an excellent expresso/cappucino- feels obscene to pay more than what could give a couple of people a decent dinner, but every so often-

2006-08-24T17:48:00.001+03:00

we've now moved from training on aids to training on nutrition, and then next week we'll go out with our local counterpart and conduct 5 hour trainings....
i had finally a moment of scepticism this past week. we were listening to a visiting speaker who works with Pathways providing palliative care and home health and hospice services. he spoke so passionately about the care they deliver i was actually moved to tears, as was another of my classmates who'd lost an aunt to aids a couple of years ago. he looked at us very compassionately and gravely and said something like, 'and sometimes, the patient will die'- all of the sudden i felt like i was back in the gw hospital he reminded me of one of the doctors. anyways it is amazing the level of in home care he descibed= training family and community members how to care for the patient so they can be cared for at home- providing 32 day trainings to them on all aspects, plus sending in supervisors to make sure all's well; counselors to help them handle the grief, having a contact person assigned to them at the hospital so they can access expert care immidiately at any time- i was thinking gee whiz we should have been living in africa.... but then at the very end when asked what are the challenges they face it began to seem like all of that is the ideal of what happens, far removed from what happens in practice.
the next day we were visited by nuns who run an amazing counseling service- counseling and encouraging people to get hiv testing, and also caring for and trying to raise money for schooling for the outrageously ballooning number of orphans due to hiv here- i read in one of my papers orphans due to aids in africa account for 80 percent of orphans worldwide- can that be true? in anycase it's a huge problem that the tanzania govt. is not yet talking much about let alone dealing with and these nuns are doing an amazing service- also helping provide food to a lot of communities who've been hit by aids and are going hungry. they spoke for the first 45 minutes on how they counsel people. only listen, never be shocked by what the client tells you, never judge, never advise, offer empathy not sympathy and so forth. i was truly inspired. then a question of condoms came up- and we heard, ' they shouldn't use them because in that case the person is walking away from the light. the women who use them lead to prostitution. they are unreliable anyway because they come at such a range of prices so they probably don't all really work. " someone asked about the situation we have been discussing this week that affects a huge number of women in africa. what about the woman who is married with children, and her husband works far from home. she's quite sure he has girlfriends and likely doesn't use condoms. She has zero leverage to negotiate with her husband to use condoms with her, because there is the attitude that if a woman shows interest in condoms she's a prostitute. actually a woman i know here is in this situation. she's never been tested. i was encouraging her to get a test. she said she couldn't because if she was positive, her husband would likely leave her, even though it would have come from him. he would probably be in denial and not get tested himself. even if she tested negative she would have to keep putting herself at risk with her husband because it is impossible for her to discuss sex with her husband, and even the mention of a condom can lead the husband to accuse the wife of having affairs, and possibly kick her out. it's a very common situation. and a huge disincentive for a wife to get tested. it is ironically a disease mostly affecting women in africa, and yet the women are in such a compromised position to do anything about it. another factor we learned is that women are generally much more vulnerable to stds. and a woman with an std the involves any sort of skin sores is 4 times more at risk for aids. So this has all been a pretty heavy topic this week. we heard from a massai woman who has a women's organization for the massai who was very interesting also. there are so many factors to reckon with when attempting to diseminate info. for one there are age sets here- the massai but also many other tribes here have the boys go through puberty rituals with all the other boys their age, they are an 'age-set' and there are leaders among them. if you go to a community and try to hold a general info. session you may get nowhere. first you get invited, then the age set leaders decide who you should talk to, and so forth. but back to the nun, that wasn't the question someone asked her. rather a classmate who is also a catholic, from mozambique asked what about the situation of a husband who know's he's hiv + and he wants to protect his wife and family, but continue in the marraige- what about condom use for him?- she asked because she said another rule for catholics is to protect your family above all else. the question's answer wandered off into any topic except the actual question. we didn't push it too much- the nun was a saint with the work she is doing, and yet the condom thing...
the bio-intensive farming has certainly been the most hopeful segment of our work thus far- another interesting point the massai woman brought up was that if presenters go into the massai communities with a package talk, they'll listen politely but dismiss it as something to do with the outside world and not them- if they are to take any of it seriously they have to be a part of the conversation from the very begining- it can't just be a delivered lecture- it has to be a conversation which they can own as their own.
next week we're going out to do our nutrition etc. trainings in the villages and we've been instructed to bring soda, white bread and peanut butter to offer a lunch! i couldn't believe it! but the trainings are a bit of a give and take i guess- some incentive along with the info-

2006-08-22T17:23:00.000+03:00

continuing to have interesting trainings on aids, with all sorts of local presenters offering great insider perspectives

2006-08-19T10:27:00.000+03:00

i didn't intend to sound too enthusiastic too soon about this program, but the discussion on aids was interesting, with our local counterparts having plenty to add from their life experiences. and the bio-intensive aggriculture program has so far been great. our group is paired off, with one american paired with the woman from mozambique, one paired with the woman from lesotho, myself paired with a tanzanian guy in the sustainable ag. program, and the ethiopian american paired with a guy from ethiopia- after these three weeks of training the mozambique pair will set up trainings -training trainers- in mozambique for the year, the lesotho pair in lesotho ( tiny country surrounded by south africa), the ethiopian guy in ethiopia, and the ethiopian american and myself will stay here in the arusha area- my focus will be the sustainable ag. program, and the guy i'm paired with, placid, will be my partner in trainings- my understanding is that i'll be going out into the field with the three tanzanian sustainable agriculture experts accompanying them in their trainings with the farmer groups- (who are often mostly women). placid and i may also be conducting basic trainings, follow up visits, info. gathering- but mainly my role is to help oversee the program -help with its strategic planning, and see that some of the office's goals are getting carried out in the field. the tanzanian experts have been our teachers this past week and they are great teachers, very knowledgeable, and extremely progressive in their thinking. the farmers are aparently very eager and grateful for the trainings. as it is they have been tilling the same surface soil and depleting it for years- so these techniques help them bring new life to their soil, crops, selves-
our teacher says these were old practices that everyone used to know until the 'green revolution' with fertilizers, pesticides, etc came in, and now most have lost touch with these techniques. our ethiopian guy is sceptical that it will work for vast tracts of land due to the labor intensiveness- he asks some good questions. nevertheless even he is largely impressed. following a day or so of class we actually conduct the work we've been learning about- making the compost, digging the beds, and then we've traveled into the countryside visiting farmers who have adopted the techniques. another advantage of the technique is that you grow many times more on the same size of land, and it takes only a fraction of the water- water collection and irrigation techniques are included- so i don't know- so far i'm so impressed- what a great training to be in this mixed group and have excellent class teaching followed immediately by putting it into practice followed immediately by visiting those who've been practicing it- i have heard that the bio-ag. program lacks organization and hints that i will have a big job on my hands in trying to help iron out the kinks.
our director as i said is an african american woman who gave up her medical practice in california to come run this program, working for much the same compensation as the rest of us- obviously its an act of love for her and she is doing everything to make sure we're getting every oportunity for training- goes out of her way. the other day we were supposed to have a rare afternoon off- instead our director, deborah, squeezed in a trip to a natural medicine establishment where they have a garden growing all sorts of local medicinal herbs, practice reflexology and massage and i think also acupuncture- they offer an herbal medicine training there which i will probably take at some point.
Our living situation has grown more extreme as we are all sharing one hot shower and one sink- and have several others besides us also competing for the facilities! i'm not sure why we are being quite this economical as it would only put them out about $5 a night to give us each a private room- but it has been a great bonding element-soon we're supposed to get a bit more space-
as good as the program and participants is, i will say i miss my independence! i am the one who on occasion defers the group plan, as all this togetherness is a bit of a shock to the system- it is certainly giving up the control over schedule and planning that i'm used to- so i miss a bit my previous trip where i was randomly meeting all sorts of interesting people and encountering surprising situations- it's a stretch in that regard, but the advantages are great- getting to see things, meet people, hopefully have some sort of a positive impact that i would otherwise never do.
the underlying thing is that i just love being in tanzania- love the environment, the people, swahili, even the food, while i maybe don't love it, is perfectly healthy and tasty- and the views of mount meru and mount kilimanjaro are great. it is weird in arusha with all the tourism and economic polarities- muzungu walking around shelling out hundreds for safaris walking alongside people living on under a dollar a day- there's tensions between the tanzanians who've come into money working ie. for the war crime tribunals, and the one's who are on a more typical tanzanian economy too. such beautiful people on the whole here though. i also love the corn being grilled on little fires everywhere- a cob of hot fresh corn off the grill for 10 cents.

2006-08-16T08:35:00.000+03:00

so it's 8:30 am now and i am sneaking in a bit of internet prior to our 9:00 start- very busy schedule here right off the bat- here's our focus so far:
our first day was devoted to the situation of AIDS in africa. how initial approaches, presuming the aids epedemic in africa is due to promiscuity and lack of basic awareness, emphasize abstinence and if more progressive, condom use-
our discussion was about the economic factors that put so many women and children in particular in environments where they are at risk of contracting aids, and nutritional factors that make people likely to contract once exposed and likely to have a rapid onset- the cycle of poverty and aids that make aids so epidemic in a place like africa. so i guess it's a difference between looking only at the actual act through which people catch aids, assuming that it is a matter of choice, and an approach that looks at the context- why are people sexually exposed, why once exposed are they so likely to contract the disease, why it progresses so quickly-.
For example in poverty with limited nutrition the immune system starts out weakened, so the virus is much more easily spread - if a woman's husband dies of aids she may lose rights to property, nutrition further declines, and may resort to prostitution to support her family- further increasing her risks. similarily the many orphans that have resulted from the epidemic are starting from a weakened immune system and are vulnerable to sexual exploitation or contracting for sex to support themselves.
More appropriate approaches to the epidemic continue to train in basic awareness of the disease, how it's spread, and how to avoid it, but also are economic/nutrition based- giving widows means of livelyhood, orphans adequate protection/nutrition, and tactics such as bio-intensive farming. the latter has been our focus for the past couple of days.
bio intensive farming is a kind of organic farming that uses compost and raised beds - it is labor intensive at first with a lot of work going into making the compost and triple digging the earth, rotating it with the compost, raising up beds so that you create healthy soil and more surface area for planting- but the payoff is multiplied output on the same tract of land, healthy soil producing more nutritious crops, and no need for the expense and side effects of chemical fertilizers or pestisides.
we have been out at a neighboring village which has an agricultural school, demo garden, and the head of the school heads our sustainable ag. program. we spent a morning making a compost heap and a day today making a raised bed-

gravity

2006-08-12T12:32:00.000+03:00

for some reason i have come to tanzania for the year with my mp3 player loaded mostly with the Handsome Family, an alt-country band that Nate used to love- they're country by sound but their lyrics aren't-here's one song:
there's a blind man
who hears angels
he hears them whispering inside potatoes
and from the curling leaves of blooming plants
and in the winding tracks of crawling ants
He stands ouside under the sky
listening to starlight drifting by
because gravity
is not the only
force at work
in this world

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I'm here with five other women all taking a month training all living in one dorm room sharing two bathrooms- one''s from mozambique, one from lesotho s.africa, one latina american from dc, one ethiopian american from seattle, and one other american from n.carolina- we're headed by an african american woman from san fransisco who left her medical practice to come run this program in tanzania- it's a great group- as much as i abhor being encased in a group esp. in the 3rd world, i like this group.

2006-07-29T04:16:00.000+03:00

africa- condo is almost ready to be rented - 7 days left to go