Busy life

12-30-10
Life has been crazy as most of you already know. Thanksgiving was really nice because there was a lot of us PCVs together under one roof cooking all day and just having a good unwind. I was able to talk to my family and even my gma. The next day wasn’t so good when I found out my gma was in the hospital and it wasn’t looking good. Its crazy to think that my gma is gone now, she was a HUGE part in my life, she helped me in every way possible and I don’t know it is just crazy (still don’t believe it). When I got home from Thanksgiving I talked with my mom and she and some family figured out how I could get home for the funeral and I was gone the next day. Many many hours of travel later I was home in the snow! I was so nice to be home for the memorial and a good family lunch where we caught up and talked highly of gma Flo. I was in the states for awhile and I enjoyed every second, I even got to see baby Brianna the day she was born! Congrats to the Nagorski family! Anywho the trip was short and I found myself back in Dar sweating uncontrollably, I jumped on the first bus to Moro and was off to IST (In Service Training)… IST was nice because I was with my whole class (39 of us) and all of our counterparts (people from our vil’s that we plan on doing projects with). I was only there a few days but it seems as though my counterpart got a lot out of it and is super ready for work!.. I left moro with a large group and went to Dar for a few days where I swear it was America! It is so crazy that Tanzania has 2 extremes! We drank frozen drinks, ate cheese sticks, went swimming in awesome pools, went to the mall and even went to the movies! I forgot to mention, this whole time my new site-mate (PCV that lives closest to me) was babysitting my puppy Amadeus aka Ami….From Dar we went to Mafia Island for a nice x-mas BUUUUT it was not that way!! The boat there made me accept the fat that I would die, seriously I came to terms that I would die lol… it was a horrible boat in big ocean waves for 4-5 hours were I was practically drowning in the waves that were crashing into us in the boat. We finally got to the island but had to jump down into a smaller boat to get to land, this was just like getting onto the boat where everyone is impatient and it was just crazy, needless to say a mama pushed me and I fell into the small boat banging up my leg! When we finally got onto land we went to our hotel (its dark by now) and turns out they have no rooms and they only reserved 2 for the next day when they were saposta reserve 5!! We then begged a hotel owner to let us stay at his hotel for half price (we are poor) and he finally agreed, it felt good to get a bed finally but we all woke up with bed bugs! …The next day we went on a wild goose chase to find a hotel in our price range and ended up in the ghetto so I decided right there I was willing to throw a few more dollars out. Tala, Trudy and I went to the other side of the island (nice side) and told the guy at the gate that we wanted to just look and would be out ASAP but he said we still had to pat the 30,000tsh to get in the gates! We argued that we are volunteers and that we are residents and should pay the Tanzanian fee (2,000tsh) but they decided that we make American wages living in Tz so we were turned away. Needless to say we were on the boat the next morning back to Dar! … The remainder of the break was nice and relaxing full of Glee and Modern family and also some hot coco with marshmallows… When I got back to my vil they were super happy to see me and I was happy to get Amadeus back, turns out though that he was being trained in tribal so I had to learn too lol … Now im just trying to get motivated to write out a schedule and to seriously start work b/c I only have a year and a half left and I need to get moving!… Oh I forget I got 4 packages on top of all the stuff I brought back from America THANK YOU NAGORSKI FAMILY, KELLY, COLLEEN, AND OF COURSE GRANDMA!! … I was/am the envoy of peace corps members right now with the amount of American goodies I have! …Anywho it’s the rainy season and my clothes are not drying lol, should’ve thought of that b4 washing all of them! … Ami is too small for his collar and everyone laughs really hard when I carry him, they call him an American dog and are waiting to see what tricks he can do (did I mention I don’t know how to train a dog?). I bought a modum so I can get internet anywhere, but since I left Dar I hasn’t worked but I am trying to fix it so I can be online more often and even better to skype! … feel free to write letters and send anything your heart desires but PLEASE remember to write PEACE CORPS VOLUNTEER on my package or I am stuck spending money I don’t have :/ Missing everyone and hope your new year is GREAT!!! ….

10/07/2010

Man oh man, I’ve been a busy bee these past few weeks! The Priest at the Anglican church and I have been having some really good conversations about what this village needs and we have some really good ideas on how to address those issues. Here once a child turns about 2 they are left home alone when the parents go out to the farm, that means that they do not get fed all day long. After talking with a lot of the hospital staff I have really seen that this is a main component to why the children are underweight at the weighing days. Another big issue is education where the kids are not ready for school, think about it in America before your child goes to school they can count and say their ABCs and maybe even add a little, here is not that way. Parents are at the farm all day and when they get back they need to go get water, cook, clean and do many more chores and after all of that they aren’t about to teach their kids anything. It is not good! What is a good solution? Well start a nursery school!!!! At the church there is also a bible school where there is extra classrooms, there is a large yard, there is a kitchen!! YES we are starting a nursery school here in Milo!!! We plan on feeding the kids and also teaching some basics and just giving them a safe place to go! …. I am super excited and I really hope it all works out! Besides all of that I have been doing nothing too special…. I asked a little girl to help me build a fence for my garden and I have never felt so useless in my life! She is 12 or 13 and she was doing 97% of the work and I was just standing there useless. We first had to go borrow a panga (machete) and go out to the woods and find wood for the frame, she was climbing and yelling down commands to me, which I totally didn’t understand so she had to climb down and do everything! She then said we needed rope, me being the American I am thought about how much money that rope will cost me, she then crawled under some brush and came out with a long vine and told me that was the rope! She then peeled tree bark with her teeth and said that “bark is the strong rope”…. YEA that was how the weekend went lol … I have been thinking a lot lately about how the heck I got here! How many small choices in life led to this moment where I am sitting under a mosquito net? Those questions often lead me to think, If I was in the states, what would I be doing? Ask any Peace Corps Volunteer (PCV) how dangerous that questions is! That is the first sign that you will be sad ASAP! Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE my village and I am doing some good work but man oh man I miss everyone! I got a package from dev and a letter from Erin not too long ago when I was in Njombe and my friend here Jill said “How cute you still have friends” … She went on to say how she stopped getting letters long ago but how your PC friends start to become family because truly, no one can relate to you like they can…. I hope that my PC little family stays close but man I know I will be checking scores of the Lewis basketball/volleyball/soccer/softball and of course some swimming games/meets supporting my friends the way that they are supporting me …. I spent the past 4 years making a connection to a Lewis community and my friends and family from home are my rock and no amount of malaria or giardia or even sand fleas can change that! In other words I might be thousands of miles away but everyone back home, if you need anything I will be there for you! ………… Random thing also, I talked to Courtney the other day and the roosters were doing their normal “cock-a-doodle-doing” and to tell you the truth I didn’t even notice but all of sudden she just says “Amy, is that really a rooster” lol I didn’t even know how to answers besides saying “duh, I live in a village dude”.. I then talked to Resha and I told her my little helper girl went to go get me water (seen as a childs chore) and she says “Amy you have maids?” haha these little moments make me so happy to share my experiences with people back in the states…. Oh man I love my family and friends!!! …. Please keep me in your prayers, and keep your fingers crossed for the nursery school to get started (maybe even next month)!!!!
AMY

9/21/2010

Have you ever read a book in candle light while eating peas and drinking a warm beer? Well that is my night tonight. Today was pretty typical for my time here so far, I woke up at around 7 and finished my book that ive been reading (the white massai) and then rolled over and climbed out of my mosquito net. I then lit my kerosen small burner and started to boil water to make coffee then cracked open some eggs and cut up an onion and made myself a little omlette. I journaled and read my daily prayer book and started to clean up a bit. I swept my house and reorganized my potatoes because I have sooooooo many (gifts). I then got dressed and packed my work bag and was out of the house around 930am yet on my way out an old woman that was bit by a dog not too long ago stopped by and wanted to have oil and so I got her some and then also gave her a few eggs because I have alot any way. She then asked if I was a doctor and I said no but she lifted up her shirt and on her stomach is a huge tumor thing that is in need of attention bc it is open (ew). I told her to go to the hospital and I think she agreed but to tell you the truth she talks too fast and I didnt understand her, I could have promised her my first born child for all I know.I then walked to the hospital but stopping to greet everyone and I also dropped my phone off at the "duka" so they could charge it with their generator. At the hospital I translated some of the book that I am using right now and I made signs for the CTC clinic (where people go to get ARVs and also to get tested). I made some really good posters but forgot tape so I left and talked with some people on the road then went back to my house. At my house I made easy mac lol and read some of my new book. I returned to the hospital about an hour later but before getting there I sat and chatted with some store owners along the way. At the hospital I hung up the posters that I made and talked to some people before going back to the main part of town and just sat and talked with people and simply worked on my lacking language skills. I sat there for a long time before going home to cook dinner. I sarted my charcoal jiko and started to peel peas and soon realized I had no water so I asked a neighbor kid to get me some and in return I gave him gum (great deal). I was about half way done peeling when a woman I saw at the hospital came in my gate and told me she heard about me and that she is HIV positive and she is just starting ARVs, she then gave me A LOT more peas and sat down and helped me peel the rest of my peas. We talked about how I plan on starting a club for people living with HIV and that she is more than welcome and if she had any other questions feel free to ask. I then gave her a few eggs and a few plastic bags and she was off! I finished cooking the peas and read some more and here I am!!!.... FUN DAYS!!! .... On friday I watched baby weighing which was actually really sad because when a baby was underweight the mother was yelled at and not given any advice or anything so I think I will start meeting with the women whose babies are underweight and help them with nutrition and help them to plant a perma-garden (which is a way to make a garden that controls water and has high yields in little space). I also want to have a health club at the elementary school where we will plant a perma-garden and learn about nutrition and HIV/AIDS and of couse play soccer after the meeting (how else do you get kids to show up?). On top of that of course I want to work with the tree group that already exists here. I just want to introduce them to the Moringa tree because it is seriously AMAZING, look into it because it is such a sign and gift from God! It is so useful and can grow anywhere and fast!! Oh I forgot, at lunch I also put up my pictures on thewalls so that my house feels more like home!.... All in all I try to stay busy so that I feel useful here, it is hard because I see a lot of needs but my language is just not good enough to do anything yet, I can understand the jist of what people are saying but I can not hold up a conversation on nutrition AT ALL... I cant wait until I can actually do good work and not just the little things! But I have 2 years to do things so I just need to calm down lol... Missing everyone back home, especially when I have to take freezing bucket showers or im walking a bucket of water to my house! But I believe that this is where God wants me to be right now and I thankful for all of the prayers and if anyone needs any prayers their way feel free to let me know! ...... Also I have found some good TZ music, look up Mr Blue - Tuko Pamoja and also Mama Ntilie ... both good songs! .. Until next time!
AMY

Photos

I am officially a PCV (peace corps volunteer)

8-26-10
I have been at my site now for 4 days and it seems like Ive been here a year!... My new house has 3 rooms, one for me to sleep, one for a spare bedroom slash indoor laundry and the last room is used for my kitchen ... I also have a living room that has a borrowed couch and a table with 2 chairs! My courtyard has four rooms, the last to the right is my bathroom, then a storage room then another storage room and then lastly a kitchen for cooking with wood..... I have yet to really feel like home here but as I clean up and make some personalization’s on my house it is getting there... It is weird to think that I am out on my own now and that I actually need to start working lol..The first 3 months are a transition period where I am going to be learning the language better and also making connections along with an assessment to what the village needs! For now I am just trying to get used to the fact that this is actually my life for the next two years! I guess that I am having my “wow I am really in Africa” moment these days! Maybe its because there are no other white faces around or the fact I have to go walk to get water or maybe even the fact that I cook with charcoal but whatever it may be it is in full swing! .... The other day I went for a walk (as I do every day to try and figure out my village) and I was in the forest preserve and I saw 4 really cool monkeys!! They were black with white around their faces and they had white in their tails! Turns out the forest has a lot of monkeys! Al so I am right above the great rift valley so last year a lion wondered up towards my neighboring village! Not to worry though because that was simply a fluke given the fact that I am so high up!... As of now I am about a 4 hour bus ride from town and the road that you take is the scariest thing I’ve ever been on! ... I concluded that if you do not think you are dying 87% of the time then somehow you are on the wrong road lol ... It is just straight up a mountain!.... I cant wait until I can start understanding the language better so I can actually do something worthwhile instead of chill on the sidelines all day but hey I am learning more and more everyday! .... I really miss y’all and hope all is well!!!!!!!
Amy

"You are a fat man"

Soooo this morning I was getting ready for school when my dada (sister) and mama were telling me somthing that I didnt understand (like always) but they were super exited so I was trying hard to put it all together, after saying it a few times my sisters says "you are a fat man". This was first of many cultural breakdowns that I have so far experienced because as you know,in the USA you do not EVER say someone is fat. Anyway I was trying to laugh it off when they said it again in kiswahili but this time I understood because I knew what to listen for and sure enough they were saying "you eat ugali and rice and now you are fat", I was still not sure as to if this was a good thing or not so I asked and they said it was VERY good. This reminded me of the curtural lesson that we had which was about the fact that if someone doesnt gain weight when they visit then you did not host them well. Well my host family did a great job hosting me because I have gained atleast 5 pounds! Turns out here in TZ girls gain weight and guys lose weight WHOO HOO I went to Africa to get fat. This is a super big turn off lol ... Anywho I am getting super excited and scared for the transition that is coming up in a few days, I am leaving my homestay family on the 17th and I will be sworn in at the embassey on the 18th then off to my sight on the 19th. I am also super scared because Peace Corps has held our hands with a death grip so far and on the 19th I am pushed out of the nest! I am taking public transport to my sight where I am hoping that I will get off at the right stop some 12 hours later and then from there figure out how to get the rest of the 4-6 hours up to my viliage! All in all it seems scary but in real life there is nothing to be super scared of given the fact God is lookin out for me. I am seriously going to a house that has nothing, maybe a bed, maybe a chair but I am not expecting too much. A few friends and I have decided that we have no problem poping up our tents and sleeping in there for awhile until we can afford and or figure out how to buy a bed lol. It is weird how things seem like a big deal when in the states but now I am trying to simplify everything. I am also thinking that I wont have a jiko or anything to cook with so thank God I got my two packages today (thanks mom and grandma!) so I can always eat some granola bars and candy! The hard thing about cooking here is the fact that you need charcoal and kerosine and matches and of course something to cook in and once you have all of that you need something to cook. I will in time have all of this but for the first week or so I might just stop by my neighbors house at the right time and share a meal or two... Life is starting to get real!! ... I feel like I got here yesterday but I guess I have been here long enough to get pushed out of the nest! ............. Today I got a package from my gma and since it had a lot of small ziplock containers of things I decided to share with my family here. It was so cute to watch them get so excited about the different things in the trail mix. They couldnt really understand that there was more than one kind of nut and of course the trail mix had 3 types, also it had dried fruit which blew their mind! They were talking about it and trying to figure everthing out and they were just so happy and it made me so happy! My mama said that I need to send TZ food as a gift and I should send it through the mail but I tried to explain I cant because it is too expensive so we decided that before I go to the states I will go shopping with her for TZ food to bring back for my American family to eat! I also tried to explain how there is no ugali in the USA which is a hard thing to explain in itself because they eat it EVERYDAY and how can the US not have it! When I say that we dont have ugali they then say that we must eat rice everyday! Think about it, in America we eat somthing different everyday if we want but here it is the same thing just rotated everyday. I have also realized that there is no decision making skills here in the fact that you can not give someone choices. If my mom asks what I want for dinner with my chipsi I say eggs or veggies which leads her to believe I want both because in life they are never really given choices, it is always pretty black and white. Another example is trying to show the kids how to play with playdoh, the kids cant conceptualize really the possibility that you can make something out of it to them it is just something that looks like ugali.... sorry this blog is all over the place but I am just throwing out everything I am thinking about right now..... I am uploading pictures from the party we just had for our CBT (class)...
More randomness:
things I wish I would have packed: (ed volunteers coming in sep keep this in mind)
• sweat pants and a sweat shirt (how did I not bring any!!!)
• clothes that I like to wear in the states .... I have gotten clothes made here but sometimes you just want to feel good and me wearing my lame sunday school outfits does not do the job
• an extra ipod or mp3 .... of course mine died along with my sanity
• pictures of simple american things like our supermarkets and a washing machine and a shower and a toilet lol.... I looked through a 1985ish sears catalog with the kids the other day and it was soooo awesome to show them machines that do work ie washer and dryer and of course a dishwasher
• ipod speakers
• cheese mixes that you can mix with noodles to make mac n cheese and of course any mixes that makes life easier when it comes to cooking
• Really anything that you think will make life easier, if you love flavored coffee bring it bc you cant find it here, if you love candy bring loads of it bc its not the same, if you love to read bring your fav books (books are easy to find but not always the ones you are looking for)....
• I am in a really cold area so a solar shower has been a God-send
• A knife is essential
• Office supplies ie highlighters markers stapler
• Ziplock baggies

Yes I can carry water on my head!

Yes I can carry water on my head!
So lately it has been super crazy with training and I havent had time to get to the computer station at all so here.
is some catching up! I am now in the home stretch of training (2wks left) and I can communicate with my family on a
level where they atleast have a picture of what I want and I understand them to the point to where I can figure it out.
It is really scary to think that I will be out on my own so soon! Right now I am doing shadowing where I am at a PCV
(peace corps volunteer) house and we are seeing what she is up to and all that jazz. We took the bus early saturday so
we had to leave our houses at 3:15am! We met the bus about 2 hours outside of Dar and then sat on that thing FOREVER!
It took about 9 or 10 hours but it was super cool to travel without peace corps holding our hands... Also, we drove
through a game park and I saw elephants for the first time in the wild! We also saw a lot of deer-looking things and
zebras and of course a lot of giraffes!.... When we got to Njombe we stayed the night with a lot of other PCVs as they
were on their way to COS (close of service) we were able to just chill and eat good food and have a few beers at a great
hotel that all PCVs use and there is a book and movie collection, also we get a discount!!... I am sooooo excited because
friday we got our site announcements and I am going to Milo which is in Ludewa, I am the only health volunteer there but
there are 3 education volunteers there and of course I got to meet them at the hotel! They seem super cool and Andy promised
me lasagna my first night at site! The ed volunteers are all COSing in December and 2 of the 3 are being replaced so I
will for sure have people atleast close to me which is a great worry adverted..... Here are the facts that I know about
my site, I live in Milo where there is a hospital 1k away a primary school 0.25k away and a high school 4k away, Andy works
at the secondary school and says its not a bad walk away... Also there is an orphanage (I may have a baby soon) and I
forgot to mention it is FREEZING!! yes I did not pack the right clothes lol who brings winter clothes to Africa?... I am
curently sitting in pants and a jacket trying to keep warm!... I am smack dab in the Livingstone mountains (rough road!!)
by lake nyasa which is a simple hike away which means my tent is going to get some great use our of it. My sitemates said
that it is cold pretty much all of the time because it is drafty! It is weird because in the US when it is cold you just go
inside but here your house is the same temp and so I need a jacket!.........Some vil news, my sister is healthy SHOUT OUT
to the Nagorski family for the packages Thank you soooooo much it was awesome to get some American goodies! .. My favorite
little boy was eating something weird the other day and I asked him what it was and he said “head” and I thought that I
didnt translate it right so I asked him again and he said “chicken head” Yep he had a skull in his hand and he was eating
the brain!!! NASTY buuuut apparently it is a treat to the kids ew....I helped my mama go get water all this week and yea
it is super hard, I only carried a small bucket on my head and she had a huge one and another in her hand these women are
soooo strong!! The villagers love to see me carrying water so I am the show when I do it! It is HARD and I plan on paying
kids stickers to do it :) ….CRISIS MY IPOD WONT WORK, no seriously crisis! After a day of kiswahili I need music and as
of now it is a black screen, I am working on it and there are some cool tech ppl that I have faith in!!!! here is a pic
of the view from the terrace of the PCVs house, it is pretty much what it will look like HOPEFULLY at my site! Love getting
mail so keep it coming! I am going to be getting a new PO Box number in about a month so I will keep you posted with that!
LOVE AND MISS EVERYONE!!