Kirk’s work assignment and more

Greetings to all from hot and dusty Moshi. (We understand that our weather is in sharp contrast to what most of you are experiencing in late January and early February). I find myself looking forward most eagerly to my daily shower at 5:00 every afternoon. I don’t even mind that the water is slightly cold. We haven’t had much or reliable electricity during the past two days, so whatever hot water we enjoy is due to the storage tank being on the building’s roof. Be that as it may, as I write at 7:30 pm (Moshi is 8 hours ahead of Eastern Time), a very pleasant breeze is flowing through the open air pavilion where I’m seated. For the evening meal today, we enjoyed fish tenders, potatoes, tomatoes and cucumbers, and a fabulous banana pudding. We’re eating well, with small servings of meat once a day, lots of wonderful vegetables, and an endless parade of pineapples, watermelon, papayas, mangos, avocados, and bananas.

Last night all 30 or so volunteers were taken
by Cross Cultural Solutions to a nearby restaurant named Africa Adventure where we enjoyed an impressive buffet, Tanzanian dances and music, and a troupe of acrobats
whose performance was quite amazing. Being tired of water and tea, Jean and I ordered our first alcoholic beverages since arriving. We bought a small bottle of a strange vodka which Jean added to a bottle of passion fruit juice and a 500 ml bottle of Kilimanjaro Beer. It was a huge and very refreshing brew, and cost $1.30. Anyway, it was a fun evening.

My work assignment is very interesting. TunaHAKI is a small orphanage that focuses on training children to be acrobats and gymnasts in hopes that they will be able to hire themselves out to make a living when they age out of the orphanage.
Twenty or so of the children I see every day live at the orphanage, and another 20 or so are community kids from very, very poor families who only come to TunaHAKI for a few hours in the morning. Some of the kids who live at the orphanage have been abandoned by parents who gave up and placed the kids on the streets to make their way. The ones from the community are given a breakfast bowl of corn and hot nutritious porridge which for some may be the only food they receive all day. The orphanage is in a desperately poor neighborhood. The rides to and from work every day take me through sights and conditions of life that I never thought I’d see again in my life. The poorest of families with no obvious source of income continue to add children.
When I asked why this is I was told that child bearing is the only purposeful activity that many very poor women experience and that men do their thing and run away to the next female without assuming any responsibility. Be that as it may, some of these 5, 6 and 7 year olds make their way to TunaHAKI. I was told today that next week I will be part of the TunaHAKI team that will visit some of these homes [As I write, the electricity has gone off again so rather than using the laptop’s limited battery, I will suspend writing until we have power again. I will have more to say about where the children come from after that.]

The house's generator was started, so the electricity is back on so I’ll write fast before it goes off again. The morning at TunaHAKI is divided into three segments. From 8:30 to 10:30 I help the Teacher teach the children very basic arithmetic and a few English words. They are well behaved, attentive and responsive. From 10:30 to 11:00, Babu Kirk plays with the children.
We put puzzles together, sing active songs, and then the highlight of the day… I horse around and rough house with the kids. Tickle stomachs, trap with my legs, etc. Then Babu goes to sleep and all 20 pile on. When Babu wakes up he growls like a lion and scares the daylights out of the kids. They run away, Babu goes to sleep again, the kids stream back and pile on again, and the cycle repeats. The director of the orphanage says that this is the only time of day that many of the kids will laugh and be excited/animated, have fun, and are happy. It’s quite a sight. This is why I wait to shower until the afternoon!

At 11:00 the community kids go home (families are too poor to send them to school) and the orphanage children put on their uniforms and go to school. For the next hour I sit with the Director and the Teacher and we visit about everything from religion to Obama to birth control to economic development to love and marriage in Tanzania. These hour chats are so informative and enriching. We are developing neat relationships. The Director has 19 siblings and the Teacher has 11. Each is the sole source of support for their extended families. We talk about that a lot too. Tomorrow at 11:00 the Teacher has invited me to go to his home. That should be interesting. I went to the grocery this afternoon and purchased two kilograms of sugar as my gift for his hospitality. I was advised to take sugar, cooking oil, or soap. I decided on sugar. You’ll be hearing more during the days ahead about my work at TunaHAKI.

This afternoon all volunteers attended a lecture about HIV/AIDS. It has seriously diminished Tanzania’s economy, professional ranks, and local/national quality of life. We were told that 98% of HIV/AIDS in Tanzania is caused by heterosexual activity. Very little is homosexual in origin. The many orphanages in Moshi and other places have sprung up during the past 20 years (TunaHAKI was founded in 1998) and are almost the exclusive creation of the AIDS epidemic. There were three cases of AIDS in Tanzania in 1983; now there are millions. Two-thirds of the world’s AIDS is found in Sub-Sahara Africa. The enormous social and economic devastation AIDS has caused here and in eastern Africa cannot be exaggerated. I am glad to report that the percentage of Tanzania’s population of 36 million who suffer from AIDS has begun to decline. The adverse social and economic impact, however, will be a reality for decades to come. That’s probably enough about a very disheartening and complex phenomenon.

Following lunch this noon, Jean and I went to the outdoor water spicket, filled a bucket with water and a little detergent, and proceeded to wash our clothes and hang them up on a nearby line. It’s quite amazing to see how quickly our clothes become soiled with dust and other street dirt.

On Friday morning we leave for three days in Zanzibar off Tanzania’s east coast. We return to Moshi on Sunday evening and go back to work on Monday morning.

Thanks for reading our blogs, and for sharing your comments. It’s always good to hear from you. But now it’s time for my nightly ration of M&Ms and then to bed. Jean and I hardly know what’s going on in the rest of the world. We heard that the Midwest is experiencing another huge winter storm and that riots continue in Egypt and elsewhere. For people who enjoy reading newspapers and keeping up with international developments, it feels very strange to know so little. We both are reading a lot. Tonight I will finish Stacy Schiff’s biography of Cleopatra, and begin Hillary Mantel’s book about life in England in the 1520s under Henry VIII. Jean loves her kindle and is now reading Sweetness in the Belly, which is set in Ethiopia. For now, however, that’s it. We hope to go to an Internet Café tomorrow and post this on the blog.

Love you very much…
Babu and Mama Jean