I recently wrote a grant and after many revisions it has been passed on to Washington DC and put on the Peace Corps website. The grant is for a water tank for my village that will be able to serve the hospital as well as the village. A PCPP (Peace Corps Participatory Program) is a grant you write through the Peace Corps who then pass it on to the headquarters; if it is passed it then goes on the website for people to donate. The risk with this grant is that you may not get the money raised or you may not get the money raised in the timeframe of your service. It is my hope and prayer that we may get this money raised in a timely fashion so that we may start building! In case you are interested my proposal is here below:
“Milo is a promising hardworking village with an unfortunate water shortage. The water tank that is being used now is gravity fed with a large source but the tank is too small for the villagers to get water daily. This problem is further exemplified with the fact that Milo has a hospital that services all of the surrounding villages. The hospital is not exempt from the water shortage which puts many people in stress. This project will build a holding tank that is 60,000L which can service 3,000 people. The whole community is involved in this project by donating not only the work to build but also their village resources including rocks and aggregate that will be needed.
With the work of building this tank, new trades will be learned as in how to build and repair the tank. The district is sending their water engineer and also their masonry technician to make sure that the villagers understand what is happening and how to make repairs. After the tank is finished the village will be able to more easily receive water and also have the skill set to make repairs to that tank.”
In the grant itself there is a breakdown of number of people effected by the new tank, schedule of work, budget and many other interesting things about the project. If you are interested in seeing the whole grant email me your name, address and email so I can forward it to Washington and you will be sent the whole grant. Also if you are interested in donating go to the link below.


https://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=donate.contribute.projDetail&projdesc=621-224

Amadeus, also known as simba (lion) because of his “big
fierce mouth”, is one of my best friends here in Tanzania. He is always there
wanting attention sitting next to me with his head on my lap or laying on top
of my feet. He loves to play fetch and run after chickens and ducks BUT there
is one problem. Amadeus runs after people too lol, children and people are
super scared of him and they run away so of course he runs after them. He also
runs after cars, motorcycles and bikes if they pass his way. And God forbid
someone walks by my house! I watched the dog whisperer and found that I need to
get his energy down by walking him more so I take him for long walks everyday
where he makes a horrible sound because all he does is choke himself the whole
time trying to run! What to do next? Well I got him neutered, this was not an
easy decision because come on, we are in the VILLAGE. To get ready I took him
to a neighboring village through the woods so he would be happy and bought him
some big fish. This made him happy but when it came time to tie him to the tree
he wasn’t exactly the happiest dog in the world. It took 5 guys to get him into
position and then I left because I couldn’t watch (how will I ever have kids?).
It didn’t take too long and he is healing nicely in the house and I have kept a
fire going so he is warm and I have been feeding him like a king! I hope this
procedure will calm him because having him run away all the time terrorizing
the village is going to get himself killed!!
Random story time:
·
I was reading a sesame street book to the
preschoolers (trying to translate) and when I talked about Oscar eating trash
one boy started yelling “He eats soap”? so of course I stopped and said yes he
eats soap so he then said “He eats soap and doesn’t get sick”? … This boy spent
the rest of the day whispering to the others that Oscar eats soap and doesn’t
get sick lol
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I have been helping my friend sell things in her
shop because one day I hope to be able to sell all by myself! It is great, you
sit there and talk with people, get free food and have to do basic math for
change and what not. Yesterday I was behind the counter and someone came in and
was so surprised that I can do the math for change, I told the guy that I have
a university degree and I can do math but he said the translations must be very
hard to do in math. Well so far I am able so I hope he is wrong.
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My favorite family here is the Kilwale family.
The dad was an amazing man with great English so we talked all the time. He had
cancer and when he got super sick I went to see him every day because he loved
to speak English. Over the next 6 or 7 months I grew super close to the family
and I feel like I am part of it now. Mzee Kilwale has 15 children and out of
the 15 I know 12 extremely well and of course I know 24 of his grandchildren
that scream my name when I walk towards the house. I am also good friends with
his brother and sister and know pretty well another 2 siblings. Sadly Mzee
passed away in July but I still make a point to go visit Mama Kiwale and all of
the children and grandchildren. They are so kind and I love walking up to the
house feeling like a celebrity because I have kids everywhere chanting my name
rushing up to me for a hug. The relationships that I am making here are amazing
and are helping me to grow as a person in ways I didn’t know was even possible!