Tanzania 2010

Tuesday

Today is Megan’s bday so I woke her at 7:30 with a birthday greeting. Today we are going to Pasua for home visits. This was the most difficult and emotional part of last year’s trip and I thought it might be easier this time because I knew what to expect. Silly me. It is dry season here now and so there is no rain even when the skies are cloudy and look like rain will come. We are told – “it is too cold to rain”. It is in the 70’s and 80’s every day!!!

My point here is that after our visits Nie asked what I was thinking as I had become quiet. I just shook my head because I knew if I spoke the flood gates would open and the dry season would be over. It is easier to write this in a lighter note now but it is beyond explanation to try and describe the poverty and environment these people live in. Following are the stories of the 3 families we visited. I am only including 2 in this email as it will be quite lengthy and the 3rdfamily is one we are working more closely with.

Fatuma (Lee Ann and I visited her last year and she remembered) lives in a one room mud hut with no windows, electricity or plumbing. There is one bed for her, her daughter and 2 grandchildren. Besides the bed there is a chair and a couple stools. Her rent is roughly $5/month. Fatuma is HIV positive. She was in the hospital for 2 months with malaria and lost her job at the milling industry. It was then that her daughter and grandkids moved in to help. Since then they have received a loan from TAFCOM to sell vegetables. It is a rough time now because of Ramadhan (sp?) which is the month that Muslims fast, therefore sales are down for all the food vendors. Nie explained that the loans have no interest and if the family is unable to make the monthly payment that is ok. There is no sense of entitlement or taking advantage of one another so if someone can’t make a payment it is truly because they cannot afford to. The 2 grandchildren go to school which is free but there are expenses which total about $50 per year per child.

Marcelena has 3 rooms with concrete floors. She pays about $25/month (30,000Tsh). However her 5 children live with her. There are 4 girls and 3 boys. All 4 girls are single mothers the youngest being 16 with a 5 month old. The youngest was in school prior to becoming pregnant and wishes to return. This family has also received a loan from TAFCOM and is using the funds to expand their food stand. Marcelena is HIV positive and was diagnosed with skin cancer last year. Her husband died of AIDS 15 years ago.

 Pamela – By far one of the saddest situations and the family where we have put much of our efforts. No one knows her age but she is old and in ill health. She has 2 rooms and pays about $7/month rent. Fortunately her landlord lets her stay if she cannot pay. She has a couple couches, some water basins and a sheet to separate the sleeping area. She has 3 “grandchildren” that are not blood relatives. The children are Rajabu (boy age 11 and the size of a 7 year old), Hadija (girl age 7 and Asha (girl age 4). Their parents both died of AIDS and were neighbors of Pamela. No one else offered to care for the children so she took them in. All 3 children have AIDS and Rajabu has recently come down with malaria. Pamela is unable to work because of her age and health, therefore has no income. She lives on the support of TAFCOM and neighbors.

After returning to the office in Moshi we went to the YWCA for lunch. It was excellent and cheap. We then returned to the office and met with 2 women from KCMC who are working on diabetes research. One was from Tz, the other from San Francisco. It was an interesting conversation about why diabetes is a problem here as the diet would not be indicative of such a disease.

Nie and Beatrice (helps out with TAFCOM) took us to an Artists Village. It was a beautiful walk and the setting for the artists was extremely picturesque and rustic. There were many nice things but I was good and did not spend any money!

In the evening, Mona and I took Megan out for her birthday dinner. We dined on the rooftop of the Kindoroko Hotel. (Lee Ann and I stayed there a few days last year.) You could see Kilimanjaro as the sun was setting. Seeing this mountain is not an every day occurrence because of its height and the cloud cover so it is always a special treat when you can see the top. Sadly the snow is lessening on the top because of climate change.

Our server was Kevin and he remembered Lee Ann and I from last year – how cool is that!!