My plans changed! I just got back from my travels. I decided to stay longer in India because my grandma is sick and I don't know when I will have this much vacation once I obtain a job. I plan on attending the RPCV Conference next week..until then much love! I have truly enjoyed my experiences and would recommend Peace Corps to anyone..if you have any questions please contact me. Kwa heri!

Now to look for jobs! :)

I have been so busy with many interesting things happening! In about two months I will be leaving this place..it's weird to know that this is the same feeling I felt last year at this time. I will be back dating my blog to tell you about my interesting life here on ZBar..I have learned alot and the culture here is different than on the mainland but for now I just want to let y'all know my short term plans.

I leave Tanzania December 8th of this year. I am going to Ethiopia for 2 weeks. My plans are to visit the Simiens (via Gondar), Lailebela, and Addis. After that I am going to India for a month to see my relatives so I will stick mainly in the South and of course Mumbai. :) I am excited as I will be there during Pongal which is a Tamil holiday similar to Thanksgiving in the States where they celebrate the harvest. Apparently buying a ticket on Ethiopian gives me a free stopover in Addis for as long as I wanted so I get to go to Ethiopia (I have always wanted to go) for no additional cost in the flight. :) I will be back in the States on January 22nd for good (at least for now).

Kwa heri..I wish you all love! :)

It's been a month and it has gone by fast! I now live in Zanzibar and I am a 30 minute walk from the beach near Mbweni Ruins. Living in Zanzibar has been an adjustment as I realize how expensive it is here compared to Mbeya! But at the same time it has much better mangos and other fruit. You have to try the mangos and pineapples here if you ever end up coming! The second thing to adjust to is the amount of tourists that come in. It is night and day between where I live and when I go into the Stonetown tourist area- but it's only a 20 min dala ride away. I feel like I escaped into an alternate reality when going into the tourist area sometimes when I go into it with so many people calling out for me to join their tours or to buy souveniers..luckily most of the time I can get away with being a local especially when I put on a salwar kamis. The other things that are different are that I wear my Indian clothes (finally getting a use out of everything that was sitting in my closet back home), I go to work Mon-Fri 8-3:30 pm, I hear the call of prayer instead of songs about Yesu, I eat lunch when I get home at 3:30 instead of during the day, and I live far from work (15 mins by car)- work is in Stonetown close to the Ministry of Health. I am learning alot about development work in the other countries, international relations, and logistics when it comes to drugs.

My first week here I had one day to literally get myself together before starting work the next day- they literally picked me up from the port, introduced me to some people , bought me some food for lunch (which lasted into dinner), drove me to my house, and just left me there. I was a little nervous about my house since I had nothing to cook on, didn’t know how often the water came on, and I had no idea how the electricity payment system worked (it’s a voucher system). To get over my nervousness I visited my neighbors. One neighbor explained to me the electric voucher system and told me water comes on once a day for an hour starting at 7:30 am so it’s good to have buckets to store water in, the other told me which market to go to, and in general I had information on what stove to get. I ended up deciding on a gas stove (which I bought two days later) since power cuts are frequent here and gas is usually cheaper than electricity. I also found out who was living in my building- my building has 3 floors with 2 on a floor. It turned out my next door neighbor was a guy living on his own who was some sort of fundi, the neighbors in the middle was a family with both parents working for the ministry and a TZ guy who was part of the UNDP program, and the neighbors upstairs was a woman who works in animal health and who just had a kid and the other was a VSO volunteer who is a retired educator from Ireland who works with the ministry of Education. Visiting the neighbors was great and it totally calmed me down as I now had info on how my place worked. Luckily I live near the dala stop (not like the 15 min walk of my previous site) so that also made me feel better.

The next day I started work and had an interesting week as a consultant from South Africa came and we toured the warehouse to evaluate the use of the space and I learned a lot about planning for the construction and usability of a warehouse and what to look for. Some things to look for when building a warehouse is accessibility to utilities, backup generators for cold storage, ventilation that doesn’t let rodents in, accessibility to roads and to the people you are servicing (you want to build centrally), the aisle and ceiling height, if the floor plan tapers, and some other things. We also visited the site where they had a plot of land allocated to build the warehouse and looked to see the above mentioned things as well as land specific things such as if it was flat or not flat- if it is a hill you have to think that laying foundation will be expensive because you first need to level the site. Also space of a warehouse also depends on the system of supply chain and how much stock the central warehouse is going to keep. You don’t want to keep too much stock because of expiry dates, budget, and space, but you don’t want to keep too little stock because there might be a stockout of a certain drug at the supplier so you want to still be able to provide for your customer. And Zanzibar used to have a kit system where they asked MSD in Dar would already supply drugs packed into kits. Now Zanzibar is going to pack their own drugs as they plan to change from a vertical push system to an integrated pull one. A vertical system has each type of health program request drugs individually but an integrated system lets all the health programs to request from the same system. This helps with streamlining but in some cases vertical is better and in other integration is better- it depends on the amount of health programs you have and how complex your system. A push system is one in which the higher level gives drugs to the lower level and a pull system is one in which the lower level requests drugs from the higher level. Each system has its own pluses and minuses- for example, if there is not enough drugs available is better or in cases of crisis, a push system is better. For now the ZILS (Zanzibar Integrated Logistics System) is piloting only with essential drugs (WHO has a list of essential medicines like aspirin, ciproflaxin, etc.). During the week I discovered Lukman’s which is a pretty good place to eat for Zanzibarian food (rice and beans are about 2200 TSH in Zanzibar but in Mbeya you can get for 1000 TSH), found out where the other PCV lived, met an awesome co-worker/friend, met the VSO volunteer in my building and found out where the stuff I had place when I came to Zanzibar last time was placed, and found out I can get the Forodhani type food and sugar cane juice near me for cheaper. Another place to eat which is near the port is Passing Show hotel..I have been there before but I think Lukman’s has more variety but Passing Show has excellent vegetable biriyani. I also explored Darajani with the PCV and we found where to buy things; went to the safi dukas with the VSO volunteer (one is a 30 min walk from me); and by myself I went to the market near me (a 15 min walk)- Mwanakwerekwe, which has lettuce, basil, and cilantro among other mzungu veggies!

The second week at site was the start of Sauti za Busara which is a East African music festival which is pretty well known throughout Africa. It was awesome and met lots of other volunteers while enjoying free music (free to residents before 6 PM). I also discovered that the last dala leaves Stonetown at 10 PM- a plus in that I can eat dinner and attend concerts without having to take a taxi in comparison in Mbeya the last dala left at 8 PM or earlier from town so I could never hang out to eat dinner at night. The highlights for me were seeing Bibi Kidude and seeing a Senegalese kora performance by Sousou&Maher Cissoko. The kora is a beautiful string instrument that is a worn around the body. I wanted to go to the Twanga Pepeta (they are TZ more dance hall type music similar to Congolese) concert but it was too late (midnight or even later) so decided not to go. The second week work wise I started to learn a lot about MSupply which is an LMIS (Logistics Management Information System) and enter data into it along with another person who works at the stores. The LMIS helps manage how much stock we have, expiry dates, shelf locations etc.- it is similar to JDE/ERP systems used in manufacturing except drugs have different types of needs (like cold chain) than some electronic parts. There are other simple types of LMIS used in the warehouse as well like bin cards and inventory sheets- so you don’t need a computer database to do everything but a database simplifies things especially if you want to do forecasting for procurement! I found a lot of people at work wanted to learn computers so it has inspired me to start a class in Excel as they use it for doing various calculations and of course MSupply as they will use it as a LMIS in the future. I also finally bought an internet modem, I settled on Zantel because it is the fastest here because I wanted to be able to Gchat (free to call phones in the States) with my family and friends. They used to have a highlife program that was real cheap but they recently changed it so it is not that good a deal anymore. But you can call the States and India for 3 TSH a second on it. The Zantel network uses CDMA as opposed to GSM for it’s internet modem so you can’t unlock the modem and use it on other networks. Plus the coverage within TZ isn’t the best except in bigger cities but it has a max speed of 3.1 Mbps. On the weekend I explored Mbweni Café with some of the VSO volunteers where we had pretty good pizza for 7000 TSH. The Café is a 30 min walk from me which is pretty close. I also find out the two western Supermarkets by me the Diplomatic and the Supermarket which both sell cheese!

The third week work wise we went around some health facilities and mentor them fill out R&R forms (forms where you request medicine). I got to see Bwejuu, Paje and Makunduchi-that part of Zanzibar- as well as see the different types of health facilities here: PHCU (primary health care unit), PHCU+, and Cottage Hospitals. There is only one hospital on Zanzibar (which is Mnazi Moja in Stonetown), but there are over a million people living on the island. Luckily most of the population is centered around the urban areas and it’s not that far of a drive to anywhere in Zanzibar (about 2 hrs- similar to living in CT) but still some of the people will have to go to town for major emergencies. Luckily at some levels of health facilities (PHCU+ and Cottage Hospitals), there are maternity wards so women don’t have to go far for delivery. At the basic level health facilities they do primary care such as sutures, diagnoses of colds/flus, etc. For each level of facility they are only allowed to request certain types of supplies as some of the items such as scalpels aren’t applicable to lower level facilities as there are no surgery wards. The drugs are all purchased by donor agencies- essential medicines purchased by DANIDA, ARVs by CHAI, and others (malaria and family planning) by USAID. So it’s important to do make sure drugs get to facilities, that the stock levels are adequate, and that they order on time so that we can procure them from donors on time (and request the appropriate funding). The reason for the mentorship is because Zanzibar is trying to change from a push system (one where the higher level gives drugs to the lower level) to a pull system (where the lower level requests drugs from the higher level) through ZILS. So now that the facilities need to request their own medicine they need to be taught how and we, at the central level, need to make sure we properly forecast the medicine so we have enough medicine to supply them with. Right now they are piloting ZILS for 6 months and after that will assess how it performs. There are 3 groups (based on geographic locations in Unguja and Pemba) and each group will order in 6 months quantities for 3 months each cycle- a total of 2 cycles for the pilot in a max quantity ordering scheme (to ensure that budget is adequate). The reason for a 6 month supply is to ensure stockouts don’t happen- a 3 month supply+1 month lead time+ 2 month buffer in case the central facility doesn’t have stock. This requires facilities to give adequate data to the central level to ensure that forecasting to procure drugs happens on time which is why filling of the R&R forms is crucial. Another thing we saw during this trip is the need for a logistic assessment/supervisory visit for facilities in terms of how they are keeping inventory/ordering supplies and to see if our max scheme results in stockouts. On a non-work level, I visited Mbweni Ruins and the nearby hotel- I have an awesome beach that is a 30 minute walk from me! The joys of living on a tropical island. :)

The last week of the month, I went to Dar for a JSI training on Pipeline at the Holiday Inn in Dar. I learned about the homegrown software that helps in creating charts that will help with the quantifying of commodities. They were doing this training because they were going through the process in quantifying drugs in the mainland as well as some medicines on Zanzibar. I got to learn about a new system and learn about drug quantification as well as what JSI’s role in strengthening the health supply chain on Zanzibar. I learned more about ZILS and the monitoring plans/training they did there last year, which has been helpful as I wasn’t sure what role all the donors played. I also met some JSI staff from the States, it was good to hear about what was going on there as I am out of touch with that part of the world. Holiday Inn was a pretty nice venue and it was good to have a salad every day. :) My Swahili has suffered I think as I have been using English at work, but oh well, at least I can still omba maji (request for water- in other words survive).

Training was pretty interesting. It covered inventory management, designing a supply chain system, and other stuff which related to health supply systems. I am excited to start work! Today I leave for Zanzibar. Hope all goes well.

Back to TZed. I am currently in Dar waiting to start training relating to my extension. What I will be doing is alot different than teaching was. I think I will enjoy it though! :) I do miss Mbeya but hope to return soon to say hi to everyone.

It's been great being home but now I am in Australia...my last continent! For more info see my other blog:

http://aramamur.blogspot.com/2010_12_01_archive.html

At home I saw my parents, friends, and even saw pictures from my sister's wedding in India. I hope to attend her wedding in the States in May. I can't believe this trip is almost over but I am ready to get back to TZ..that sounds odd right? :)

Had a great Thanksgiving and then after that some training in Morogoro. But now I am on home leave! This is typically given to extending volunteers for one month. I am in Michigan right now and it is cold but nice to see the snow! I will be going to Australia for a short trip, it will be my last (7th) continent- a treat for my 30th bday! I am happy to be home but can't wait to start my new assignment on Zanzibar.

Next week, I will, hopefully, be moving to Zanzibar to start a one year extension in the health sector! I will be working with the Zanzibar Ministry of Health on Health Logistics. I am excited! Will let you know more later...hope it all works out..

This past week had the new PCTs come visit! We had some delicious food, they saw Mbeya town, observed/taught some classes, and went hiking in the Ngozi Crater Lake..which is beautiful. Seeing them reminded me on how I felt when I first came here in TZ. Time is sure flying by fast..yet it seems like yesterday. One teacher here thought I had been here for 3 years..LOL.

I also met my replacement...can't believe it's already happening! It finally hit me that I am leaving this place. I will miss the view from my balcony, the neighbors especially one family in particular, my host mama in Moro, new friends that I just made, the fresh produce, walking everywhere, etc. It has been a great 2 years plus..I would recommend this experience to anyone. Now back to the real world unless I get what I want. To turning 30!

The past few months have been a whirlwind! In July I was hiking Mt Hanang, attending an Education Project Review, and having bus adventures. In August I went to COS conference and had my friend Katwren visit me. In September I started the extension process and went to a VAC meeting. In October we had the elections but the incumbent one..though everyone around me wanted Chadema to win.

Here is the video of our Single Ladies performance for the Girls Empowerment Talent Show. We basically made the routine up 2 hrs before the show, inspired by Glee. :) If you have Facebook the quality is much better.

Single Ladies Performance

We had the 2nd Annual Girls Empowerment Conference at my site! Here are some pics:

Mbeya Girls Conference 2010

Well it's been a busy month, I was barely at site and when I was at site, I was helping with the Girls Empowerment Conference. For two weeks I went to Dar and Tanga to help with the PC website and with various PSDN (peer support and diversity network) trainings. Tanga looks like a neat town and hopefully I will get the chance to visit it once more later before I leave here. When I got back we got right into the Girls Empowerment Conference..our 2nd one in Mbeya and the last one before I COS (close of service). This year was less stressful due to the fact we had done it before and there were more volunteers to help out. I definitely am glad that we did it again, and sad that this is the last one. More on it later with pictures!! :)

New plans:

Dec 1st- Close of Service- official end date of Peace Corps Tanzania

Dec 2nd-18th- India to see grandma and relatives

Dec 18th-25th-Michigan to see parents

Dec 25th-Jan 18th-Australia: NYE Sydney, Tasmania Overland Track, Cairns Great Barrier Reef.

Jan 18th- back to Michigan

After that...who knows! :)

So I am currently making pear wine..we'll see how that experiment goes. So far when I take the bucket lid off it smells like wine. :) The pears here are more like the Asian pears in the States (crisp and not as fragrant). I mixed the wine with some guava but it just smells like fruit right now and not any distinct flavor. We shall see as weeks pass on. This is my first time making wine at site, no initiative till now.

I will be now leaving TZ Dec 1st..but going to Australia Dec 16th-Jan 18th- my last continent..yippee! :) So my 30th bday will now be spent in TZ and I will have completed my 7 continents plan at the age of 30.

Even in the States we are all about empowering women. I think it is a great idea, yet there are some ways this can be improved upon. In some of the poorer countries there is still a need to empower women, but in the richer countries I think we need to start teaching men that women are empowered. What is the point of women’s empowerment if only women believe in themselves? Yes, a woman can get things done but she needs support of the community- that community includes men. Here in TZ, many volunteers are focusing on boys’ conferences to teach them how to treat a female with respect- this is the next step in women’s empowerment.

Today we had a meeting about how to give an exam. It was hilarious as people came up with every situation and tried to talk about it. This is what happens in a room full of engineers. Nothing ever gets accomplished because every situation is logically thought of and each situation demands an answer. I was thinking about programming and how when we program we need to consider all cases. The only bad part is the meeting then goes on forever like a very complex program.

And this got me thinking about myself-I wish I wasn't so logical sometimes..maybe then I could just live life instead of analyzing everything.

But the best part of this meeting was when in typical style they asked for payment for giving an exam. Here in TZ teachers get payment for extra things liking giving final exams and marking papers..but that is the culture here, though they are trying to get away from it.

Just to be clear, this has nothing to do with Tanzania or Peace Corps; I am very happy here.

I don’t know why things happen the way they do- they just do. But I know somehow, somewhere they play a part in the grand scheme of life. Sometimes events change the course of your life, like the winter wind affecting a snowflake in the sky. Right now, I am that snowflake. The wind has changed what I am going to do with my life; it has made that decision for me-I just have to follow through, whatever that means. At this moment, I am thinking about the Robert Frost poem, “two roads diverged in the woods”, yet of course in this instance I am not taking the path, but instead I am forced to take this path by events that I cannot control. I hope this is all part of some master plan that gets even better as life goes on, because right now I am feeling the opposite of happy. I know I am definitely learning a lesson from this event, maybe I am a stronger person now because of it and it might help me in my quest to do extraordinary things. The path is vaguely clear, however; the event took all stability out of my life and has forced me to take some risks. And hopefully these risks will, as Frost states, make all the difference.

Time has flown by fast with almost 6 months left here for me. Lots of happened. We had some protests at school which everyone was sent home for 3 weeks to come back so that they can take finals. The management was trying to punish students by doing this but I think they have punished us teachers (well the ones that care if the students learn) as well because we don't get to finish the syllabus for the students to actually learn something. And also 40% of their grade comes from homework, etc...I don't think the students did enough assignments to properly assess a 40% grade. No clue why they sent students home just for not showing up to class one day (that was it for the protest, no violence).

Plans for after going home are to travel around South India and finally hit my last continent Austrailia. Hope to hike the Overland Trek while I am there...and maybe enjoy New Years Eve in Sydney..it all depends on when I get there.

So by the end of this month I should be done with my last full semester teaching here. It's kinda scary and sad...I do love this place but it will be nice to go home..

We already picked our dates to leave TZ. I am gone from site Oct 28th. It's going to be sad to leave here...can't believe we are already thinking about that as it seems I just got here. Only 8 months to go...

I went home for Xmas and New Year's. It was great seeing everyone and having tofu. Yup brought back some tofu with me. :) Then went to Dar for Mid Service..can't believe I am more than halfway through my service! And now I am back to Mbeya (have been for a couple of weeks now) starting to teach students Data Structures. Good news is that they have hired a teacher to teach computer programming and I am training another one to teach it when I leave. Things are good so far. :)

This month I spend half of it at home! I can't believe it! Besides that I met the new volunteers, they seem cool and I am sure they will be great teachers. I finally got to climb Mt Rungwe and the view from the top was beautiful..was able to see all the way to Lake Nyasa (aka Lake Malawi). We were lucky to have a clear hiking day in all the rainy days here since currently it is rainy season. It felt good to hike again, haven't been in a long time.

Reading this article in the NY Times I am seeing the similaraties between India and Tanzania. When I first arrived to TZ I thought it was similar..but now I am sure..the culture is the same which is a good thing if I plan on going back...I am already adjusted.

NY Times Article

Today is thanksgiving and there is alot to be thankful for. A great site, being here one year, not getting too sick, not having any major problems, and of course making the move of quitting work to be here in TZed. I think I made the right choice and I am on the correct path in life.

I have been in Mbeya for one year and I remember the first time I came how there was no electricity for weeks. I also remember how it was to meet all the previous volunteers and now these same volunteers have left. I can imagine now how they must have felt a year ago as we welcome new ones to the region. And at the same time I am trying to imagine how sad they must have felt leaving. How would it be to leave my site? I can't even begin to describe the feeling but it is like leaving a home that you may not come back to. It's not like when I left the States knowing that I would see my mom in 2 years to come (or even sooner now that I am visiting home). It's going to be different because I don't have a blood-related family to come back to, but at the same time I have the family that I created in TZ. The neighbors that treat me like their daughter, the kids that treat me like their sister, and the students and fellow teachers that treat me like their friend. I hope to come back to see them after my two years, but I don't know what the future holds for me after this commitment. And that is scary.

But for now living in the present I don't have to think about that thankfully as I have a year left, and for that I am very thankful.

The new US ambassador to TZ came to Mbeya region! :) He had only been here in TZed for 2 weeks and already was traveling outside of Dar to the Mbeya region. He was here to see the Walter Reed foundation which is an excellent organization partnering USA and TZ to fight against HIV/AIDS. The other reason was to visit the Peace Corps volunteers in the region. On Sunday we met him and showed him a presentation of some of our work here in the region. He seems like a nice person and very enthused about helping with non-profit work which is awesome. He came to my site on Tuesday and the people at my institute liked him alot. He saw the department where I worked and met some of the heads of schools. MIST is trying to expand so they were honored that their institute was one of the few visited in the ambassador's time here.

So for my bday my department got me a kitenge. I was laughing the whole time they sang me happy bday..it is funny to see men singing happy bday in English..they even added in the how old are you part..I think that is part of the song here. Then at night celebrated with my favorite TZ family so far..the mama carried me in her arms like I was nothing..it was a sight to see.

So us volunteers down south have spotted the president of TZed as he makes his grand tour. Some got to meet him, me not so lucky..but I did get to attend a "beer" fest..that is some South Africans have opened a beer factory near me. Funny 'cause I don't like the stuff..but great for friends that visit! :) Maybe some day I will get a tour of the place. :) Anyways, I got to see the president speak but it was mostly about how this modern technology has come to TZed (there aren't really any manafacturing plants or industry here in TZ). Having industry like this is good for TZ because it imports most of it's processed food from Kenya, and it makes mechanical and electrical engineering students obtain jobs more easily. Here in TZed people with an undergraduate engineering degree don't make much money, those who do studied arts or business. I think it is the opposite of America. But without engineers there is no innovation in technology, so this could be a great stepping stone for Tanzania in the global market place.

Also, had some interesting forward thinking conversations with some fellow co-workers about how to budget money, which is a strange concept here as most people spend their money on day-to-day stuff without saving. I think the modern educated Tanzanians are forward thinking and that this country will prosper in the years to come.

Recently I attended a send-off party in Tanzania. This happens before the wedding and after the engagement/kitchen party. It is equivalent to the time before a wedding in an Indian wedding. They had dancing (mostly to religious songs), presents, food, speeches/introductions of the families, they also had something where the bride searches for the groom, etc. The wedding traditions here seem to emulate that of Indian weddings more than American weddings. Of course with western culture coming into Africa there is a combining of the two. In wedding celebrations there is a engagement party, a kitchen party (similar to a bachelorette/wedding shower), send-off party, and the actual wedding. A kitchen party is where women get together to advise the bride of martial responsibilities and give gifts of that nature.

So now we have increased to 3 times a week so about every other day I have no power from 9 AM till 11 PM. It doesn't hinder me too much as I try to get everything I need power for accomplished on the days I have power and before 9 AM on the days I don't have power. But besides that it forces me to read books instead of being on the computer all day. Of course as usual I visit my neighbors. Some books that I have read: Three Cups of Tea, Into Thin Air, Zahir, and various others. I am trying to look for more upbeat "junk" books but right now all I have is the well-written, somewhat philosophical variety which is nice to expand the mind but tends to leave me a bit sad.

Everyone is so loving and supportive of me during this time of stolen stuff and police investigations. I definitely feel the love of my neighbors, fellow co-workers, and students. And despite everything happening I am still optimistic and love working here..so I need to constantly tell them not to worry..that I am not going home. :) The first few days were a shock but I am getting back into the swing of things again, hopefully gaining momentum..you never know what life throws at you but you got to deal with it and keep on moving because it gets better. And everything falls into the past. I think that is why I am all about memories and not about material possessions. I would rather have experiences than physical objects-because of this value system it helps me recover in times like these when physical property and money are stolen. 'Cause when I look back in life I want to feel as though I have fulfilled what I wanted to accomplish. But for this to happen, of course, everyone must have their basic needs met and I feel as at least my basic needs are met.

There is a wedding at the institute so I helped in cooking food yesterday. It was awesome to feel the energy as we used wood and big pots to cook food instead of electric stoves that most people have here. I think it was due to the fact yesterday was a non-umeme day. But at that moment I felt how it probably feels to live in a village..I can say I totally like the community feeling. I visit my neighbors alot when I am at site and actually like doing that but I have always been like that even back home in the States..it's my personality. And I enjoy cooking with everyone..cooking should be a social event. :)

So for two days a week I have no power from 9 AM to 11 PM due to shortage of electricity here in TZed. It is the end of the dry season and until the rains start we probably won't have constant electricity (we use hydro-electric power here). It's nice because I get to make consistent use of my kerosene stove finally...

But on a better note the institute is planning to install water tanks so that we can get constant water instead of water just 3 times a day. I don't mind getting water only 3 times a day but when I have guests it tends to be a problem.

It's a combination of alot of things but I feel like I am in a mystery novel. Maybe it's the old James Bond movies I recently watched or the dealing with the stolen laptop. It's horrible to be suspicious of everyone that you love with your heart. I realize in going through this experience it is not getting the stuff back that is most important but for me it is the questions that I have... What is the motive? How did they get it done? That is what is fascinating me right now as I try to comptemplate many scenarios. And I recently discussed with my friend to be a good theif you must be a good planner, and planning is something that I like to do so how the criminal mind works interests me. Of course it would be nice to get the stuff back...

Teaching computers to bachelor level and ordinary level students, getting the ICT conference off the ground, dealing with stolen laptop/money, getting rid of rats in my home, preparing to run the Moshi Kili Marathon in Feb 2010, and preparing to take the GMATs sometime next year. Also hanging out with neighbors & attending various student events like New Student Day, Graduation, and various sports competition.

I visited Arusha before my climb and I stayed at Ujamaa Hostel near Fire Road. I totally recommend staying there, it is very homey and the people are awesome. In Arusha a good pizza place is Albero's- they had a wood fired oven. And Meat King has cheese and also sells Pesto. There was also some good veggie samosas at a Raha's veggie snacks place in Arusha. I took the Hood bus from Mbeya to Arusha to arrive at 2 AM in A-Town...it was a long journey so on the way back I stopped over in Iringa. I stayed at VETA in Iringa which has nice rooms for cheap and then went over to Neema Crafts for good food- veggie lasagna and passion fruit ice cream and some stuff to bring back home in Dec. Also got some quilted kitenge bags aka Iringa bags for 5000 TSH each. :) Iringa and Arusha has some good dairy yogurt products.

So I made it to the top of Kilimanjaro though it wasn't without some struggles. Here is the following info about the trip and tips too. I hiked the 8 day Lemosho route with Duma Explorer.

I took with me hiking poles (recommended), 3 fleece shirts- Old Navy, 3 pairs of Patagonia capillene long underwear (top/bottom)-midweight, 2 fleece pants- Old Navy, 1 set of wind/raingear (top/bottom)- REI, 2 short sleeve running t-shirts, 1 pair of quick dry hiking pants- Patagonia, fleect hat- Old Navy, fleece scarf- Old Navy, fleece neck gaiter- Old Navy, 3 fleece gloves- Old Navy, 1 waterproof mittens- Old Navy, 5 pairs of wool socks- Smartwool, 1 pair of backpacking Gortex boots- EMS Summit GTX Women's, 1 pair trail runners- Gortex Salome, Petzl Tikka headlamp, extra batteries, digital camera, GU Energy Gel (for summit night), Diamox, daily contact lenses, and other stuff. I used all the clothes I brought during the 8 day hike. I used the trail runners the first 4 days of the hike and on the last day. I used the backpacking boots all other days including the summit attempt.

I took Diamox 125 mg twice a day starting the day before the trip. Took it for first 4 days and then started taking 250 mg twice a day and took the last dose the night of the summit attempt. Took it during breakfast and dinner- experienced nausea, dizziness and slight tingling of fingers during the days I took Diamox. Summit attempt got a bad headache but once I started drinking more water it went away. Tried to drink at least 3 liters of water a day- normally I never drink water. Took lots of Chocolate flavored caffeine enhanced GU every 1-2 hours during the summit attempt till the sun came out and then I had energy again.

The hike overall is not too bad in terms of technical difficulty. There are some parts like Barranco Wall with scrambling and some parts where short people really need trekking poles to go up and down. The major difficulty is altitude and you really need to force yourself to go slowly to acclimatize. On summit night the major difficulty is exhaustation (not enough sleep during the day) and altitude. The going is steep but you are going slow so you don't feel your muscles hurting as much.

Preparation wise I ran 3 times a week about 5 miles each time in hilly terrain and I live at 1700 meters. The 2 months before I did not do any physical activity but living in Tanzania you are forced to walk everywhere so I think this helped. Also the fact that I had good physical fitness previously (I am able to run 13 miles without stopping and ran a marathon the previous year) helped even though I didn't run as much. Also I didn't get to do any day hikes on the weekends.

What really helps if you want to reach the top is doing a longer climb to acclimatize, and having good guides who set a good slow pace and give you help if needed during the climb. Diamox helped as well at least for me and drinking lots of water. Having some basic level of fitness is also important.

So this is it..next week I am put to the test. I have to admit I didn't study hard for this test. Hopefully I'll pass and make it to the top with no problems. I will let you know the results in 2 weeks. Wish me luck!

yes it has...alot has happened..but just want to let you know that I am still alive and having fun. :) In a few short weeks I am climbing Kili the Lemosho route..wish me luck. And in December I will be back in the States for 2 weeks. I can't believe it has been a year! It sure has gone by fast since I first came to TZ...

Went to see Victoria Falls this week 8/3-8/7. Took bus from Mbeya to Tunduma/Nakonde border. Took a Juldan Motors bus from Nakonde to Lusaka and then boarded a Muzhandu Family Bus from Lusaka to Livingstone. Stayed at Jolly Boys Hostel. And had good Italian food at Olga's Kitchen (an Italian NGO teaching local boys Fundi type skills)- totally recommend the restaurant.

Victoria Falls was an awesome site to see. Also went on a Sunset Cruise which was alot of fun and very pretty along the river. We saw some giraffees and hippos. Zambia is more developed than TZ but I think that is because it is a part of Southern Africa and the places we went were more touristy. Though I will have to say the buses are definitely nicer in Zambia.

I haven't posted much about our girls empowerment conference which happened at my institute from June 14th-20th. It went well with 63 girls coming from over 7 schools. We taught them about HIV/AIDS, computers, income generation, goal setting, confidence building, etc. Nothing went horribly wrong though there were some major challenges along the way. And some of the volunteers made the national news (TV and newspaper). All in all it was a success! :)

In July I travelled around TZed because I had to attend some meetings for Peace Corps, so I got to see my host mama in Morogoro again and that was great. Also spent a few days in Dar- still don't know it well but had some amazing experiences along Kisutu St (Hindu Temple Street).

Just went to a funeral this past week for a worker from the institute. He was one of those who always teased me in a joking way about the way I pronounce certain words in Kis. So it was sad that as I pass the halls I will no longer hear his voice. Apparently he died of heart failure but there is rumors that he was also HIV positive. Funerals in Tanzania are attended by all, man and woman are seperate for the procession and before the procession. Before the procession women gather in a room crying and singing and men gather seperately doing what I don't know as I am not a man. Men wear normal clothes but women cover their lower body by wrapping around a kanga or kitenge(a piece of cloth) over their clothes (whether they are wearing pants or skirts underneath). Wrapping it like a sarong of sorts. And some also cover their heads. There is no wearing of black clothing- that is a Western tradition. On another note HIV positive men in TZ tend to be (but not always) those with money as they can afford to obtain certain things certain ways- which saddens me as some of these wealthy men prey on innocent girls who can't afford school fees (these men are known as Fataki). It is the opposite of the US- those with education and power here tend to get the disease. Which strengthens my stance on the girls conference coming up in a few weeks.

Spring is a time for love and same with summer..but alas it is not spring nor summer here but almost winter. How I forget that! It is funny when talking with Tanzanians I reference June, July and August as summer and they look at me strange, then I realize my mistake..ha ha. :) It is winter here! It is getting cold!! And coming home to the States in December I will be missing a part of summer here and heading to winter again. :(

On a brighter note...the girls conference planning is going well..we just got our conference uniforms..periwinkle blue! :)

I just started teaching a short course to fellow teachers about basic applications hoping to get them to start grading their final grades using an Excel spreadsheet. And of course creating webpages, creating lectures using PowerPoint, learning Matlab, and typing faster. :)

And I realize how much the sound of our voice is due to the language we speak..the tone the inflection..I try to sound Tanzanian..but I still sound American. :)

Last weekend I participated in a Curriculum Review at the institute..it is interesting to see where the institute is trying to reach in order to be competitive in the global world. I had to present current curriculum changes to the group and then a bunch of us got together to talk about a new curriculum for ICT. It is also great to see that teachers here are into research..one of them is interested in tele-medicine. And great to network with different groups around Mbeya. Doing this sort of networking opened up our eyes and we plan on hosting a BarCamp Mbeya August 22nd at the Mbeya Institute of Science and Technology. Karibu MIST!

Labour Day was fun! It was great to be part of a celebration and interesting to exchange the fact that in America Labor Day is celebrated in September. They were surprised that not everyone celebrates Labour Day on May 1st. I saw my first fire truck demo and first fire truck for that matter that day. It was from China which prompted me to ask about an emergency 911 type system..they apparently have it but no one knows the number. And that day I was Tanzanian. And even now more and more of my community accepts me as one of theirs. It is funny once a stranger called me mzungu (foreigner) and a fellow TZ said she's not a mzungu she is my friend, or some will say daughter. Nice huh?

Right now we are marking exams, which I tend to get done faster but I think it is because English is my first language so I can read the student's exams quicker and thus mark quicker. And I have started to offer short courses to teach fellow teachers such skills as PowerPoint, Excel and even creating Websites so they can use these tools in their jobs. Some know it already but not well so they are open to the fact to learn these tools and it is the best time for such training as the only students left are bachelor's students and they are very few. Also I invited some students to my house for pizza, most Tanzanians don't like cheese so I put very little on their side of the pizza but that is ok because I like it alot. :) And the nice thing is my previous students that are going for summer internships have been dropping by my home or even texting me to say goodbye..makes me feel loved..as a teacher of course. :) And no I am not an easy teacher..I prefer to be tough..but I think I do put alot of effort into learning and I think the students like that. I hope to see some of them in the States one they..I hope they can get there..it would be awesome!

Currently I am busy planning the Girls conference..a month left to go! Hope it goes well..many women in my community are interested in helping out..hopefully they mean it.

It feels good to be teaching bachelor degree students. They are definitely more motivated and interested in the topic and I like it alot! I am teaching them C programming right now, and will be teaching them C++ or Java in September. Other than that, this week consisted of trying to get the Windows NT Server to act as a router and then also helping out with some JavaScript menus on the institute's website (it is definitely going to be a change compared to the old one).

Next week is May Moisi festival (TZ's Labour Day on May 1st)and will be celebrated at a local stadium in Mbeya mjini (town/city), so we are busy at the institute preparing for that. And we are going to plan more on the girl's conference this coming weekend. I plan to climb Kilimanjaro the end of September and beginning of October using the Lemosho route using Duma Explorer as the tourguide (reaching the summit during a full moon). Hope to make it to the top..we'll see. And I have formally submitted my vacation for Zambia so I am definitely going in the beginning of August.

I am currently looking at my future after I get back..some possible choices: becoming a teacher (getting a teaching certificate), getting a PhD in Engineering and Public Policy, or getting an MBA. I want to focus on international development in regards to education or engineering. Or using engineering to help educate..something along those lines..of course doing this by using computers. I realize that I like the academic environment because I have always loved learning something new, when I am in this type of environment I feel excited. Anyways..that is just what is in my head for now. I don't think it will change too much.

Happy Easter to those who celebrate it. This past week was spent marking exams and also deciding on whether or not I am teaching bachelor degree classes. Also this coming week is the last week of lecture and next week finals! Though I am teaching bachelor degree classes starting next week, which means no real big break this year except for a week in August (where I plan on going to Victoria Falls in Zambia but have not finalized that yet) and a few weeks in December (where I may climb Kilimanjaro). The Saturday before Easter I visited Matema Beach for the day. The water was warm, but unfortunately not clear enough for snorkelling though they say January/February timeframe has clear water and warm weather. If you ever do stay in Matema I recommend you stay at the Luthern Beach Center (it seemed cheap though cold showers I am told). To go to Matema take a dala from Mbeya to Kyela and if you arrive before noon you can take a bus from Kyela straight to Matema about 7500 TZ shillings at most one way. The nice thing is that it is possible for me to head to the beach and back in a day or weekend! :)

This past month I was realizing that it has been 6 months and soon before I know it will be next December! I can't imagine going home, to me right now I feel like I am home. I was trying today to think how it would be to be in the States..how would I remember Tanzania? Would the memory fade eventually? Will I have changed my perspective on life in the States? Would I wander the world for the rest of my life? These questions are unanswered, but at least you know what is on my mind and maybe you can provide some insight.

I came back to school on Saturday and was thrown into a whirlwind of activity. The day I came back there was a student government ceremony for the newly elected government. My favorite student won the position of vice president! So as soon as I put my stuff in my room, I went to the ceremony. It was all in Swahili so I did not understand most of it, but I am getting better at picking out words and ones I don't know. The good thing about attending such events in Swahili is that it has the potential for me to learn new vocabulary and getting better at listening to the spoken word. Afterwards there was dancing. When I came to use the internet it seemed the school switched to wireless, yet the way they did it was inefficient they should have bought routers instead they bought access points. So now there are only 30 or so IP addresses for everyone!

On Thursday, the Japanese volunteer and I celebrated his 38th bday. We made pizza and had some Konyagi (which is the local gin/vodka made from papaya). And we made passion fruit bread! It is good stuff and while I am in Tanzania I am trying to make things that I normally can't get for cheap in the States (like passion fruit, mangos, pineapples). Though right now it is pear season (they taste crispy like Asian pears found in the States) which means pie time! Also, I went with a Tanzanian girl who works at my school to a local tailor whom she trusts, hopefully the dresses turn out good and I have found a good tailor in my neck of the woods! I know a good one in Morogoro, just not here as this is the first time I am visiting one in Mbeya to make dresses. The few days before that we had to prepare stuff for the party for the opening of the new bachelor programs at our institute

The opening was yesterday (Friday), and it was a big deal and probably felt like a weekend day (and it was the most fun I have had here in terms of at work). The day started early and we prepared exhibitions for our diffferent depts to show to the guest of honor- the Minister of Science and Technology of Tanzania! So I prepared stuff on the webpage design club that we have made for students and others in my dept prepared stuff related to what they were working on. Then we had a ceremony which had a dance troupe that did Cirque de Soleil type acts and did some traditional mcheza ngoma (drumming and dancing). Lastly we had good food and they had my favorite peas and coconut milk with a spaghetti flavored with pilau spices. It is funny how everyone knows I am vegetarian by now. :) After that I became team manager for the employee soccer team at school (which mostly consisted of being the doctor, and spraying people with heat spray). So I sat down to watch the soccer tournament of employees vs bachelor/advanced diploma students. I had fun cheering them on, but it was a close game and my team lost. :( The Japanese volunteer played for the employee soccer team and he even scored a goal! Afterwards the Japanese volunteer and I followed some students to the social club at the institute and played table tennis. We also talked to another worker about climbing Mbeya Peak sometime.

Unlike most volunteers I don't get the week of Easter as vacation as school ends the week of April 15th! Originally I was planning on attending a Boy's Conference down in the Ruvuma region but it looks like I won't be able to attend it next weekend. Time is sure flying by fast..it's already almost April!

March pics are up:Pics

We had in-service training at Njombe. This was my first time to that area and I will say it is beautiful. If you are ever in Njombe get the Provolone Cheese at the Duka la Maziwa- pretty good for Tanzanian made cheese. Doesn't exactly taste like Provolene but is better than their other cheeses and is good on pizza (better than the Njombe Mozzerella)! Stock up if you have a freezer, if you don't I think if you are in a cold enough climate it should keep. The Duka la Maziwa is a project between the Njombe district and some Italian NGOs. So if you ever visit that region and you are white, you will be greeted with a chorus of 'Ciao'. A good place to eat pizza that was close by to the Nazareth Youth Center was the A.R.M. Hotel. The Youth Center (where we stayed) was beautiful and nice hot water showers with good pressure..better than mine. They also had rosemary growing!

Besides that training was tiring and long but it was good to see people and to have information on Girls Empowerment, Gardening, and HIV/AIDS. The highlights of training for me were Girls Empowerment, teaching about HIV at a local elementary school, and learning about Permaculture. But the best part of course was seeing everyone from training! For fun we had a Murder Mystery dinner, picnic at a waterfall nearby, PCV brewed wine, and nightly game/movie nights (using the projector or cramming in someone's room).

We did an exercise about HIV/AIDS and it is interesting to see how religious Tanzanians are compared to Americans. They are certainly more religious and don't believe in condoms but they believe in abstinence or being faithful..though in reality most do not practice that in Tanzania..at least from what I have seen. I don't know if the belief in not using condoms stemmed from the fact that the Pope visited and declared condoms ineffective or because they actually believed that. And they also believed that HIV was created in a lab in America. But some of the more biologically educated Tanzanians did not believe such things, but the rest of the educated ones did. Certainly our viewpoints did not agree, I accept that they have different beliefs but that does not mean I agree with them. The funny thing is that they learn about HIV and prevention (birth control) in their equivalent of high school but they don't believe in it; though I guess it is like learning evolutionary theory in biology in the States and some religions in America not believing in that either. Now let us talk about the Pope and his decree that condoms are ineffective. Though I see his point in that abstinence and being faithful are the keys to prevention and not condoms, that is not the reality in Tanzania at least. In Tanzania you see poor girls you can't pay for school fees preyed on by older man who can give them money, you sometimes even see martial affairs being acceptable. So before the Pope makes such a decree I advise him to first see the state of affairs in a country, you can't change culture but you can prevent disease.