listen to:

"young pilgrims"

and

"sleeping lessons"

both by the shins. so good.

Ah yes. 'tis the season. Christmas is on its way and that means...i'm HOMEWARD BOUND!!

In just about two weeks, I'll be embarking on another 20+hour journey back to the states for my annual check in (aka: gracing you all with my presence).

I'd be lying if i said I wasn't RIDICULOUSLY EXCITED.

For those of you who seem to think my life as so exciting because i live somewhere different, you may wonder what about home am i looking forward to and possibly even what about Tanzania am i looking forward to escaping for the next month and a half.

there are a few things.

FIRST: what am i looking forward to? (this is sort of in the spirit of turkey day - what am I thankful for)

1. my family (duh!)

2. friends

3. snow

4. home run inn pizza / portillo's hot dogs

5. anonymity

6. starbucks chai / dunkin dounuts iced carmel coffee

7. christmas decorations!!

8. wandering around barnes and noble for hours with relaxing music being piped through the speakers

9. forcing my mom to go to yoga class with me

10. my cloud of a bed - comfy pillows

11. wearing winter clothes

12. customer service / wait staff at restaurants

13. easy access to anything and everything

Second: what am i looking forward to leaving in TZ?

1. heat/humidity

2. getting stared at / called out to / touched / and harrassed in general

3. dirty dirty dirty

4. ants

5. having cars drive behind me honking at me to get out of their way when i'm walking down the sidewalk

6. rolling up my pant legs to pee in public bathrooms

7. finding bugs or other objects in my food / beverages

8. Tanzanian men

9. nightly soccer extravaganza outside my front door

10. being white

As much as I can love Tanzania, I can also need a break. the differences between village living and city living are enormous. there's a difference between leaving my house in the village to walk to the market and greeting every single person i pass because its polite and expected - as opposed to leaving my house here in Dar to walk to work and having someone shout "MZUNGU!!!! JAMBO!!!!" in my face just because i'm white and he wants to make sure i've noticed him or the young man who goes out of his way to walk into me on the street just to show his friend how cool he is. aaaaah yes.... it will be paradise to walk down the street and have nobody pay the least bit of attention to me. just the chance to breathe a little.

i just want to put a big happy face here

...and i can't see how much has changed.even today one of my friends in upper management is at an all day meeting at one of the fancier hotelsto discuss orphans. The Development Set

Exuse me, friends, I must catch my jet

I'm off to join the Development Set

My bags are packed, and I've had all my shots

I have travellers cheques and pills for the trots

The Development set is bright and noble

Our thoughts are deep and our visions global

Although we move with better classes

Our thoughts are always with the masses

In Sheraton Hotels in scattered nations

We damn multinational corporations

Injustice seems easty to protest

In such seething hotbeds of social rest

We discuss malnutrition over steaks

And plan hunger talks during coffee breaks

Whether Asian flood or African drought

We face each issue with an open mouth

We bring in consultants whose circumlocution

Raises difficulties for every solution

Thus guaranteeing continued good eating

By showing the need for another meeting

The language of the Development set

Stretches the English alphabet

We use words like 'epigenetic'

'micro', 'macro', and 'logarithmetic'

Development Set homes are extremely chic

Full carvings, curios, and draped with batik

Eye-level photographs subtly assure

That your host is at home with the rich and the poor

Enough of these verses - on with the mission!

Our task is as broad as the human condition!

Just pray to God the biblical promise is true

The poor ye shal always have with you

- Ross Coggins

http://www.factcheck.org/askfactcheck/did_obama_write_that_he_would_stand.html

I feel like probably a lot of us have been receiving and sending waaaaaaay to many forwards lately. Barack bashing, McCain bashing....

there's a pretty famous one going around now which uses quotes from Obama's two books - using his own words - to put him in a negative lite. many of us don't have the time to go back and read these books cover to cover to see for ourselves, and a lot of times people take what they see in these emails as fact.

Luckily not everyone does. Check out this link - where they actually do go through his books with fine tooth comb and discover that either quotes have been manipulated or taken completely out of context.

and, if you go to their homepage you can even ask them to check up on some things for you.

http://www.factcheck.org/ PS. it's not just Obama friendly... they check out BOTH sides

check out the blog for those of my lady (and men) friends who are interested....

and thank you to all the fine women who contributed their opinions to the blog! Nice work ladies and don't mind me stealing some of your quotes.

http://womenagainstsarahpalin.blogspot.com/

"If this doesn't resonate with every woman in America, I'll eat my hat."

—Alaska delegate Bill Noll on Sarah Palin "The assumption that, as a woman, Sarah Palin was a substitute for Hilary Clinton supporters is monstrously insulting. I am incredulous at the ludicrousness of this choice, given Palin's lack of experience, political record, and blithe ignorance of global realities. The more we learn, the more we cringe. Her nomination shames us." "Sarah Plain represents the opposite of change. She represents the male establishment fronting her as a smokescreen to try to win over women's votes. This is purely for political gain and ambition on her part. There is very little respect for the hard-fought battles and sacrifices of the women of our country. I deeply resent her claim that she is a representative for women's rights." "Pat Buchanan defended Sarah Palin's nomination by saying she is a beauty queen for God's sake." "I absolutely believe that it is possible to have a family and a successful career, and encourage everyone to follow those two paths should they feel so inclined. However, I feel that Ms Palin is a caricature of everything I stand for. Her beliefs on the environment, foreign policy and sex education are not those of someone with a worldview, but rather of someone with a closed mind. That is the world of the 1950’s, not the world of today."

Read it: http://www.newsweek.com/id/160080/ Can anyone disagree with the following quote??? "And just imagine if, instead of the Palins, the Obama family had a pregnant, underage daughter on display at their convention, flanked by her black boyfriend who "intends" to marry her. Who among conservatives would have resisted the temptation to speak of "the dysfunction in the black community?" The author couldn't be more right. If Barack Obama's young daughter was pregnant, he'd have no chance and his whole family unit would be looked down upon as just another example of how the black community just can't seem to get it right. followed by "is this really the kind of man we want in office?" YES!! HE IS!! "I believe that with the nomination of Sarah Palin for the vice presidency, the silliness of our politics has finally put our nation at risk. The world is growing more complex—and dangerous—with each passing hour, and our position within it growing more precarious. Should she become president, Palin seems capable of enacting policies so detached from the common interests of humanity, and from empirical reality, as to unite the entire world against us. When asked why she is qualified to shoulder more responsibility than any person has held in human history, Palin cites her refusal to hesitate. "You can't blink," she told Gibson repeatedly, as though this were a primordial truth of wise governance. Let us hope that a President Palin would blink, again and again, while more thoughtful people decide the fate of civilization." Not blinking does not make someone fit to be in the position of making high stakes decisions. taking time and reflection before embarking on a major decision shows careful consideration, and even wisdom.

check out the trailer for a film a former Peace Corps Tanzania volunteer is involved with

http://wazifilm.com/

sasa inabidi niandika kwa kiswahili. nimeangalia nyuma kidogo... kwa kusoma entry ya zamani, ilipokuwa nijifunza kiswahili kabla ya kuondoka kwa tanzania. nimeanzia na blogu huu kwa sababu mwalimu wangu akatuambia kufanya blogu kwa ajili ya mazoezi ya kiswahili. sasa napoangalia mawazo yangu ya zamani kwa kiswahili nacheka sana. naona makosa mengi halfu siwezi hata kuelewa nilitaka kusema nini. pole sana dada. bahati nzuri baada ya miaka michache naweza kidogo zaidi. lakini bado....

Living abroad has made me sympathetic to celebrities. i know that they realize going into their profession that they're going to be followed and noticed and harrassed. that sucks for them. the thing i don't understand are those who really want to be famous just so they can get that attention. no wonder ms. spears had a breakdown. i'm having one of my own.... thank god i'm not being followed around by a herd of people with cameras. John Mayer recently made a plea to regulate the papparazzi in california. what a great idea! i wish i could regulate the men in this country. this life has given me a snippet of an idea of what it's like to be a celebrity with so much attention. luckily i don't have have cameras following me, and even more lucky is that i can go home to escape the attention.

Last night my roommate was late coming home from work. I'm lucky enough that I'm able to walk to and from work while she has to take a dala from our neighborhood to town. then she has to get into a boxing match to get off the dala when it arrives in town and everyone is pushing and shoving to get on and off at the same time. then she has to walk 20 minutes from the stop to her office. reverse and repeat to get home. yesterday she was given a laptop to use for work. that would be good news if it wasn't so big that she had to lug it around in a suitcase.. through pothole infested dirt roads, and then to try and get it on a crowded dala for the trip home. she was a broken women when she got home last night, simultaneously laughing and crying as she told the story of how she finally got off the dala and started walking down the sidewalk, dragging the suitcase behind her at night... hungry, tired, dirty, and with blisters all over her feet from trekking to and from work. while walking down sidewalk some man decides he wants to drive his SUV down the sidewalk and she's in his way - so he lays on the horn to get her to move over. a bit disgusted at this point my friend turned around and threw her arms up as if to say "where the fuck do you want me to go????" Afterall, she was on the sideWALK. the whole purpose of a sidewalk is to be able to walk on it without worrying about getting hit by a car. so she threw her arms up. The large Arab man in the car then started to verbally assult my friend, asking her "what are you going to do about it??!" - as if this little girl in a dress is going to get into a fist fight with him or something. "this is africa, get used to it!" - this was what he said to her.

this is my same friend that when we were walking around town on a friday afternoon she had a man hissing in her face and clapping to get her attention. not just one time, but for the duration of our approach, as we passed him, and while we were walking away. just clapping and hissing ... "pppssssssssssssst. psssssssssssst. hello! hello! pssssssssssssst" clap clap clap clap clap "psssssst.." like she's a dog. what do you do in that situation? do you stop... "yes sir, can i help you? i noticed you wanted to speak with me. what would you like to say?" no. you want to say "fuck you asshole! leave me alone! i'm walking, i'm not a god damn dog!!" and this happened just minutes after we passed a group of men where one of them decided to take a rolled up magazine and hit me on the back with it ... and then act completely shocked when i backhanded him across the chest. "woah! woah!" ... woah woah what? how do you think it's ok to hit a complete stranger walking down the street? how is that OK?

last night we went for a walk to the store and in 2 minutes we had a car full of people drive by and scream in our faces ... and a fire cracker get thrown in front of us.

i hate to be rude to tanzanians. they are kind enough to host me in their country. but when i can't walk down the street without feeling like a piece of meat.. when i approach a group of men and can feel their conversation stop and their heads turn to watch me walk by, to constantly have to ignore the hissing and the calls, to have some fucking jerk call me his girlfriend as i walk by or tell me he loves me, or invite me to his home..... or if i decide not to answer have them talk about how i don't know swahili. right. because the only reason i'm not answering you is because i don't know swahili. it couldn't possibly be because I DON'T WANT TO TALK TO YOU!!!! of course that thought would never enter into his mind. obviously if i could speak swahili i'd stop right there just to talk to him. what would our conversation be like??? "i love you. come to my house."

like the guy who works at the barber down from our house. if i pass with my husband the guy doesn't say a word. and he knows that filippo is my husband. if i pass by myself the guy won't shut up. "hello. hello. hello. hello. welcome... welcome welcome.." what do you think? that i need a haircut at 7:30 a.m.? do you think that i'm going to leave my husband for you? really?

my friend and i talked about making cards to hand out to people.. it could say something like, "do you have a sister? if your sister was walking by herself at night would you want a strange man to speak to her and would you want her to reply to him? i am someone's sister, i am someone's wife, and i am walking unaccompanied.. DON'T TALK TO ME!!"

i'm just a little bit tired these days.

i am officially the blacksheep of this circus. it's hard to know what stance to take when you have no idea what the problem is or when it began. i've moved into neutral mode. indifferent. waiting ...... not to be invited, because that doesn't happen.. waiting to be done with this bullshit

I ventured out last night to meet a friend in town. I was waiting for the dala at a stand near a really busy intersection by my house. It was around 8:00, so it was dark and there was still so much traffic that there was a traffic cop in the middle of the intersection. Since after about 7:00 the dalas start to become fewer and fewer a small crowd of us ended up waiting for about 20 minutes for the bus to come from Mwenge to go to Posta. At one point a woman came running up, almost ran straight into traffic and then took off running down the sidewalk before three people came to retrieve her. she was somewhat hysterical and i couldn't understand what was going on. either she was crazy or legitimately upset about something and didn't want to go with those people. it was an interesting few moments that broke up the boredom of staring at on-coming headlights, wondering when the dala would show up.

a few minutes later a man quietly approached the grassy area behind the sidewalk where we were standing. Without saying a word he lit a large fire and walked away.. A police man walked by and did nothing. so we stood, waiting for our dala with the fire raging behind us, nobody thinking anything of it - including me until I took the situation out of context and started to laugh a little.. and even made me realize that the things in this country that used to make me stop and notice the differences, are normal to me. ... oh, nevermind that guy burning the ground behinds us. take no notice of the man on the bus with a machette. yes, they just put a live goat in the storage compartment under the bus.....

by the way ... he was working for the "sanitation" department of the city, burning the garbage in one of the few public garbage cans of the city.

Today it became clear to me just how different i am than those i work with. i've known for months that we're different, and that we're not operating on the same wave page - but today i understood that not only are we on different pages, but in different books altogether ... different genres completely.

driving in the car with two co-workers, heading to a meeting the conversation was all about budgets and spreadsheets, and planning the implementation of the execution of the something or other for the whatchamacallit... i sat silently listening to acronyms and admin-speak when i saw a figure in the road ahead of us. a man talking on his cell phone in the middle of the street and we were driving right at him. there's no way the other two didn't see him. closer still, i was a little confused... "what is he wearing?" i thought to myself. "....is he dressed like a clown?" Closer still and it was clear.. "there's a man in the middle of the road, dressed in a silk clown outfit, face painted white .... talking on his cell phone..." I laughed out loud and said, "is that a clown???" .....

their conversation pressed on .... spread sheets, pipelines, hand over notes ...

and i just stared at the driver more shocked at her inability to acknowledge the clown than the clown itself.

acknowledge the clown people!!

When my group was COS'ing from Peace Corps we spent a few days up in Mt. Meru for our conference where we had to go over all things medical and administrative to prepare ourselves for life after PC. Our COS time was a strange time for us and for PC Tanzania as this particular post was undergoing some serious staffing changes. One of those changes was the hiring of a new Administrative Officer. One of this poor guy's first assignments was to attend our COS conference and get bombarded with logistical questions that he couldn't possibly have the answer to since he had only been on the job a number of weeks. I remember not envying him for the task and also thinking that he was handling the situation very well. I thought he was a quirky guy and really likeable.

From that time I only interacted with Bob a handful of times but, anyone who knows him won't be surprised to know that he left quite an impression.

To the outside observer some might say that Bob is your average Joe, but to those of use who knew him even for the shortest time know that there was so much to him. His humor, his candor, his bluntness... his hilarious intollerance for 'stupidity'. Such a refreshing personality.

Bob has become a hero at PC Tanzania for reasons that many people are aware of. He spearheaded a mission to restore honor and integrity to the mission of Peace Corps Tanzania. When I learned that Bob was behind this charge I was simultaneously surprised, and not. All of us in the PC Tanzania family are thrilled to see that his efforts and conviction were not in vain and that those who were left behind went forward to see through the undertaking that they started together. Out of respect for his memory, out of respect for his belief in spite of the potential consequences to many individuals involved. and in the end, Bob was honored... and Peace Corps, Tanzania was honored. Thank you Bob. Thank you everyone!

Though I didn't know him well, I can't even help myself from smiling and even laughing a bit when I remember him. Though I don't know his family, I am brought to tears when I think of such a wonderful father being taken away from three beautiful children and I can only pray for his wife to find the strength to make sense of it for herself and their babies.

Tuwe na imani... kila kitu ni kwa ajili yake, mungu.

Bob Tipton 1969 - 2008

This is a yeti

This is a YurtThey're different...

If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes i'd never believe it!!

And here it is ladies and gentlemen........ The Ikongosi Village Health Clinic!!

drum roll please...

Look at the beautiful paint job! also notice the CAR outside. car = patients

Inside... real live patients waiting for the doctor. there's a doctor!!!! ...and furniture

They even got themselves a water pump

And last, but not least ... the doctor's house (I had nothing to do with this house, it was funded by the Tanzanian Social Action Fund aka: TASAF) words can not explain how happy this makes me

now i can't just write all that nonsense about people getting off their duff to do something without showing an example of someone who is doing something. and who better to showcase than my own superstar husband, Filippo Frazzetta....

Filippo won an award for international volunteer of the year in December 2006 while he was serving as the Tanzanian Country Coordinator for a small Sicilian (NOT italian!) NGO called Cooperazione Paesi Emergenti (CO.P.E.). As country coordinator / architect extrordinare, Filippo designed for Nyololo village a "kituo cha afya" (hospital) and a "kituo cha watoto" (orphanage).

This picture shows the OPD (outpatient department) of the hospital. The idea here is that, as this is the most populated building on the grounds where the majority of patients will pass - it should be like two long, outstretched arms welcoming the people into it's warm embrace.

(by the way, Fili was able to return to Nyololo recently where he discovered quite a few new born babies who are named Filippo =)

And here we have the kituo cha watoto. The name of the orphanage is "sisi ni kesho" or, "we are the future" (meaning the children are the future). The original design for this building was more of a "?" - in the end it became a partial heart also set in a way that welcomes the children into it's embrace. Not to mention the beautiful colors and drawings all over.

In addition Filippo and his team conceived a large farm complete with vegetable gardens, pigs, cows, chickens, donkeys, etc. All of the outputs (milk, eggs, corn, veggies, etc.) go straight to the orphanage.Before designing his projects, Filippo decided it best to speak with the experts about what to build. And by experts, i mean the residents of Nyololo and the surrounding area. How could he build something that would fit nicely into the village? - not some horrible eyesore to be built as a testament to his architectural ego... but something made from local materials, by local people, in a manner as consistent as possible with traditional building techniques. This is Fili's passion. Architecture, yes ... but done so in a respectful and informed manner.

Only recently, thanks to our stint in egypt, did we discover someone he considers quite an inspiration; Mr. Hassan Fathy. Probably one of the most well known egyptian architects. Fathy is well known for using his knowledge of rural egyptian economic situations combined with ancient design techniques. He encouraged and trained local residents to make their own building materials - cutting down on outside reliance and giving a sense of power and ownership over projects. In his book "Architecture for the Poor," Fathy describes his plan for building the village of New Gourna, near Luxor; using locally made materials.

Hassan Fathy

1900 - 1989

what's the point of a forward? a lot of times i don't hear from my friends and family for weeks, even months on end. and then one day i'll get an email from them; and it's a forward. 99 times out of a hundred i don't even read them. but i got one last week that i read and was moved to reply. that's the point isn't it? send it to as many people as you can. bring awareness of whatever your cause of the day is or whatever the little joke is.

i'm attaching the picture that was sent to me, along with the text that came with it; followed by MY reply to that person who generated the forward; and finally the responses I got. (obviously i'm not including any names with this). of course most of the responses were not happy ones, but i wasn't expecting they would be. but i welcome them all the same. if anyone else out there has something they'd like to add - please be free

"This photo is very sad and it disturbed me a great deal. I really debated the idea of forwarding it, but it provoked such emotion in me that I was moved to give much more and not to waste. I cried when I looked at it. I’m only forwarding it to my Christian friends because I’m hoping that after you look at this photo you will pray that God will protect babies all over the world like this one!"º º º º º º º º º my response º º º º º º º º ºyou're right, what a powerful photo. my question is... why didn't the photographer carry the child to the food bank? or is it one of those "nature" photos where the photographer doesn't interfere with survival of the fittest? though taking dramatic pictures to depict suffering are useful in bringing global awareness to many of the world's problems, pictures alone can't solve the problems themselves.. only individuals with enough interest to make a difference. being moved by a picture like this is wonderful... but 10 minutes after you close your web browser and finish praying for that child... how many of us will still be thinking about him? and how many of us will have moved on to wondering what to make for dinner tonight? you were shocked and saddened by this picture, you cried because of this picture... but what can you do besides pray for that little one who is probably already gone? what can you do to make a difference? do you know what the situation in the Sudan is today? are there more just like him who are still suffering? look into it. what can you do?

"you can rationalize inaction by deciding that one voice or one vote doesn't matter... or you can make the choice that inaction is unacceptable"--christopher reeve(I mean no offense to anyone. these thoughts are only my own personal reaction to the picture) º º º º º º A number of Replies º º º º º º # 1 "My friend forwarded your response today to the e mail picture of the child with the vulture behind him/her........I can't tell you how you have spoken my mind so eloquently............

I was completely destroyed this week over trying to wrangle some action.......EVEN prayer.....to hundreds......it has fallen on deaf ears......and children are continuing to die.......I am dealing with several different countries......and one is worse than the other...

Bless your heart and your ability to communicate the truth.

I mainly deal with HIV related issues......but it is all the same and the lack of response other than a "So sad......" is discouraging.......I am not sure what you are doing or where you are, but I wanted to address you and encourage you today......it takes ONE and your message was LOUD and CLEAR! Awesome!!"#2Funny Jenny how you assume that I am not doing anything. Do you even know me or anything about me? I understand that because of what you do, you feel like you are in a position to accuse me (and the few select friends of MINE I chose to send this to) of selfishly just thinking about what’s for dinner. Maybe before getting on your platform and accusing people you don’t even know of doing nothing but thinking of themselves, you should think a little harder. Maybe we ARE doing something. The truth is that you don’t know do you?

You say I mean no offense to anyone, but I was offended. Very offended. Mostly because I thought very hard and chose to forward this photo to very close family members and friends of MINE (ones you don’t even know because it was forwarded to you by a friend of a friend). Unfortunate, you took it upon yourself to lecture MY friends on their selfishness. You were out of line sending your opinions to MY distribution list. I always teach my kids Jenny, that if you have to preface or qualify a statement with “no offense” than you shouldn’t say it.

I don’t know you and maybe you really don’t mean to offend people, but please think a little harder next time you lecture people on selfishness. Please do not email me back. #3Please do not send me email...I do not know you!#4Jenny,

Just to answer your questions as to what will a prayer do or will I think more about this afterwards. I believe in the power of prayer and it can do miracles.Prayer has brought many blessings into the lives of many people I know. Yes, I've thought about this afterwards, and yes, more should and could be done, but don't underestimate the power of prayer.

Thank you for your feedback.

Anyone planning a trip to Zanzibar? if so, you should absolutely stay in Jambiani. Where is Jambiani? look at the map! In the SouthEast of Z-bar; about 2 hours from Stone Town.

Where you should NOT stay however, is in the Kikadini, Bahati, and Maroc Villas in Jambiani. Wow. Jambiani is a pretty large village just south of Paje. It's really a beautiful place to visit if you want to have a bit of a village experience on your vacation. We've spent a bit of time in Jambiani and have spoken with quite a few residents. Here is what I have learned. The owner of this hotel was initially welcomed into the village. She bought some land, and there was no problem. Later she decided she wanted to expand her hotel. Unfortunately she is strategically placed right next to the village primary school. What would you do? Apparently what she did was offer to buy the land on which the primary school sits. Don't get me wrong, she's not a monster! she did offer to build them a new school - away from her hotel. you know how noisy those damn kids can be. Luckily the village refused, afterall ... it is their neighborhood, their school. So, she did the only logical thing she could think of. She built a gigantic cement monster of a wall to block the noisy kids from her guests. How's that for culturally stimulating?! In building this wall, she has subsequently blocked the sea breeze that used to flow through the classrooms of the school and now the students are forced to sit in little ovens to try and maintain their concentration while the guests next door are free from bother. I'd heard about it before I saw it, but i still wasn't prepared for what I saw when I finally passed. I was totally offended, and if I was offended - i can't even imagine how offended the residents of Jambiani feel! I've spoken to a few residents and have yet to find someone with kind words about her. Let this be an example of what not to do....

... and this is the jambiani i know and love. This is a bit further south down the kijiji (village). Not many tourists come to these parts so usually when i go, it's just me and a few others. So relaxed, and the sea is incredible. next door to this place is the home of a local family that some of our friends are staying with. They rent a room in the house to contribute to the family income. and hopefully in the not to distant future, two doors down from this will be our future bungalow.karibuni wote

... as the saying goes, don't put all your eggs in one basket. but what about chickens? is it ok to put all your chickens in one basket? i guess it depends on how you're transporting them. but i say yes. even if the basket falls, the chickens can live on to see another day even if it's their last before being served up with some chips. and in a best case scenario ... they can hang out long enough to give us some eggs.

finally the confusions of my professional life and my personal life have met, and somehow the earth continues to spin on its axis.

we love our acronyms here at the USG. and today i wrote a comment on a document; "is duplication an issue in BS?" Well is it?

if we keep repeating the same old bull shit over and over, then there is an issue isn't there?

but WHY is duplication an issue? laziness? it's easier to keep doing the same old thing instead of going through the trouble to change.

you know what they say? history repeats itself.

The village drunkard

a bit more respectable / sober i pretty much decided this morning what i already knew. and that is, my favorite people in tanzania are the wazee. for those of you who don't know swahili, you should learn it (www.kamusiproject.org) anyway, wazee = elder folks and they are so wonderful. there are a handful of regular wazee that i see on my walk to and from work everyday. everyday we exchange our greetings and really, their smiles light up my morning. my two new favorite characters are the wazee who sit outside of the house across from mine pretty much all the time. i don't really understand what they're doing there. i realize one is a guard, the uniform is a dead giveaway. but the other one.. i don't know. maybe just someone to sit and watch people walk by with. they're about 2 houses down and across the way so they see me coming and they just wait.... this morning they pointed out that i walk to work. a bit shocked that i don't have a car, they came to the conclusion that i do it for exercise. so the one, without the uniform, told me that one day we will both get "track suits" and we will run together. sure we will. that gave me a good laugh. and then there's the mzee (mzee = 1, wazee= more than 1) who sweeps the dirt in front of some random house off the main road. every morning through his catarac clouded eyes sees me coming, stops his sweeping and waits for me with a big smile on his face just to say good morning. and then there are the vijana. i know, vijana.. sounds like.... gross! anyway, kijana = youth; vijana = many youth. so, the vijana. god. yesterday i went on a mission. a mission to get laundry soap. luckily in this neighborhood i live in now i am a hop skip and a jump from just about anything i can want. so i navigated the muddy obstacle course of ponds that make up the street on which i live to get to the main road, to walk past the dala stand, past the taxi stand, to the road of many little shops, bars, kiosks... what i should've done was count how many vijana had something to say to me in my 3 minute walk. where sista? weh! mambo dada. hello. psssst. what's up man? hey baby! - that last one. hey baby? seriously? i gave that one a scathing look and told him DON'T call me baby! it wouldn't be tales from my street without a tale from my street. like i said, it's basically just a muddy mess of dirty rain water filled potholes. in an attempt to fill one of the gigantic holes that takes up most of the path, some genious decided it would be a good idea just to throw a bunch of grass, tree branches, and other brush in there. so now instead of just being a big pond, it is a pond filled with rotting foliage which in addition to the larger mess it has created also reeks like rancid compost. but it makes me laugh

Ikongosi Village (the view from the primary school)

On the way home to Ikongosi A couple of pictures of the old village. i haven't called anyone from ikongosi to tell them i'm back in TZ. i just want to go there and freak them out. Especially Ruben! weirdly the other day i was getting a ride in one of the embassy - mobiles and in talking to the driver i found out he was born in Ikongosi. small world. he claims he saw me there one day talking to a bunch of secondary students. hhmm... sounds suspicious. I'm a little nervous to go back there. i got word that the clinic is open, however until i see it with my own eyes i believe nothing. i'm not so far removed from my experience there to suspect that "open" can also mean that all the doors and windows have be stolen. i really don't want to go back to find they aren't utilizing it. and i don't want to tell them i'm coming because i don't want them in a mad dash to make it look as though it's being used or has been finished. so, shock and awe. either way, i want to see ruben. "Weh mbuzi!!"in other news. now that it's officially been over 3 months since i've seen my husband it seems that the end is near. and by end, i mean he's actually coming. maybe. much like ikongosi, i won't believe it until it happens. turns out they're waiting for an anti-mafia certificate of all things. crazy sicilians. and as of yesterday there was still no news as to when this piece of paper might find it's way into the right hands - so fili told them, ok.. thank you very much, i'll see you all in Tanzania whenever you can make it over. wait there or wait here?? hhmm... easy choice. In theory he could actually arrive as early as friday, the day after tomorrow. but, i can't let it sink in until everything is secure. i've gotten to used to the waiting game.

... but i am a human being."

sweet sweet words. this was said to me by a guy the other day - a white guy - in dar, as i was walking from some random workshop to try and find a taxi in the rain. shock of all shocks when i flagged down what i thought was a taxi and turned out to be an mzungu... told him sorry, i thought he was a taxi. and that was his reply. very refreshing. unfortunately, he was going somewhere else and i continued my trek in the rain.

over the weekend i went to my new favorite place in Dar, it's called Wonder Welders. even the name is awesome! anyway, this is a workshop / shop shop not very far from where i live. As the story goes, someone actually took notice one day of the astounding number of polio victims and other disabled people scattered all over dar, reduced to begging for money by the side of the road. This young man not only took notice, but did something about it and started up Wonder Welders. At this workshop they are killing 2 (or more) birds with one stone. At this place they bring in old scrap metal which the, now skillfully trained employees, weld into scrap metal art (i just got myself a Wonder Welders Warthog) - and they've expanded to crushing down glass into beads that they make into jewelry and they also have started to make their own handmade paper/greeting cards/journals/photo albums. and i must say, it's all really great stuff.

so please.... check out their website to get more info: www.wonderwelders.org

it's a fine example of empowerment and initiative.