On Monday, we had our weekly meeting with the mamas at 4 PM, so we went to the kitchen in the late morning. On our way, we found buns and once we got to the kitchen we ate some left over chapati that the mamas had made. Too much deep-fried food available in Mwanza! (The concept of gaining weight in Africa...) At the meeting, we discussed the packaging from BestPack Ltd. After reviewing the samples and the prices, we decided that it was too expensive and would force the mamas to increase the price of the yoghurt by at least 25%. The meeting ran late, so we didn’t have time to make it to Yoga, but we bought some mangoes and bananas and walked home instead. Hassain came over for his nightly routine of exchanging English lessons for Swahili lessons.
On Tuesday, we made an effort to rise early so we could catch the mamas making chapattis and mandazi (buns) at the kitchen at Mtoni Secondary School. The kids all swarmed us when we got near the kitchen with our cameras and everyone kept reaching for my camera and asking me to take pictures of them with me. When we had finally woven through the masses and got inside the kitchen, kids would curiously peek through the windows at us. Steph and I noted there were two different uniform colour schemes (burgundy and beige, and turquoise and white), and as it turns out Mabatini Primary School is directly beside Mtoni Secondary School and they share the grounds for sports etc. We had our first Swahili language lessons with Gaudence at 1 til 3 PM. Gaudence is a professor from the International School, helping us learn Swahili (we’re going to be having lessons about two or three times a week from here on out). It’s helpful because although we’re learning a lot from Esther and other people who speak English, Gaudence is good at explaining the grammar and sentence structure and answering our questions of “BUT WHY?” (because Swahili is entirely different from English in every way possible, unlike say French or Spanish). He's really experienced and has done a lot of translating for missionary groups and priests.
On Wednesday, we went to NIMR (National Institute of Medical Research) with Esther and Mama Joyce. Mama Joyce was collecting the probiotic culture, which she does weekly. The probiotics are cultured at NIMR and mixed into milk and transported back to the kitchen to be mixed into a greater quantity of milk (Some incubation time Et Voila, Yoghurt!). We met with some of the lab staff, but unfortunately the director, Dr. Changalucha, has been out of the office sick for a while. So, we’re still looking into contacting him to secure a lab space for our research.
On Thursday, we visited the site at Nyamhongolo, where the mamas are keeping their cows! There was a large, fenced-in plot of land, with some rice growing in one corner, the shed for storing cows in the other (four cows and two calves). The man in charge of feeding the cows has a tiny living quarters at the site, as well. We found out that the mamas used to have 5 cows, but one sadly was put down last month (however they did get to sell the meat for 200, 000 Tsh, which is beneficial). The two calves were so cute and tiny and we got close enough to pet them! We rode the dala-dala (a van converted into a bus) there and back, and we were crammed into it, not even sitting in seats, but either sitting on the floor or standing up. We found out that Joke got the last signature she needed to receive official ethics approval for her clinical trial (Congratulations to Joke, as she’s been waiting patiently a long time for this!) She came by the apartment to discuss the details of the lab work, and then we drove to Tunza for Yoga. We were the only three people there, and it was so peaceful and relaxing to unwind some of the week’s stresses. We got some amazing views of the sun setting over the lake, and saw some kids bathing and swimming, and it was so tempting to go in for a swim (but it’s polluted with raw sewage…and apparently you can get worms infections if you go in...)!
On Friday, we visited Mtoni Secondary School to meet with the teachers and students. We had arranged a meeting with Albert, the assistant head master (the head master is presently busy invigilating exams). He informed us that there are only 20 teachers for about 900 to 1000 students. Often up to 300 students are absent on any given day, as attendance is not regulated as it is in Canada (it's hard when kids are out sick more, and girls often have to stay home when on their periods etc.). Mtoni was set up as a governmental school in 2007, so it is still a very new community school. We presented Mtoni with the funds raised by Clarke Road Secondary School in London, Ontario (sister schools, with students writing emails/letters as pen pals throughout the year) and we are waiting to hear back about what the money will be spent on (hopefully something to benefit the entire school community). Albert told us that there are eight periods in a day, 45 minutes each, and there are sports teams for football (soccer) and netball. He was very interested in comparisons we were making between Canadian schools and what we had seen at Mtoni. The school was definitely lacking in space for expansion, books and stationary supplies, and teaching staff. We were introduced to all the students, and we spoke about where were coming from and what we were doing during our time in Mwanza. It was nice to be introduced to everyone, and we felt really honored to be able to make a speech. We also got the chance to meet with the staff and personally introduce ourselves. After this, we were shown around the grounds. That afternoon, we went to meet with Maimuna at Kivulini Women’s Rights Organization. We got to travel on pike-pikes (motorcycles)! This ended up being super fun, but I was nervous because it’s extremely dangerous on the roads and drivers are not exactly cautious here. Also we had no helmets! (the driver took off his helmid midway there…maybe it was too hot…). Kivulini is just into Isamilo, so it wasn’t a long ride, and once there we spoke to Maimuna about having the mamas train other women’s groups in the area. She informed us of four that she knows of in the rural areas surrounding Mwanza.
On Saturday, we had planned a Valentine’s Day Party and invited lots of the friends we had made since our arrival in Mwanza. We went to the market early in the morning to pick up all the food for the mamas to cook dinner with. After that, we went to town to pick up the heart-shaped cake we’d been eyeing for the past week, and to buy some wine and sodas. We spent the whole day preparing, cleaning, and decorating. We also had a home-made chocolate cake! Our house was full of people helping out with the cooking, and everyone seemed to really appreciate the food. It turned out really well, despite a little power-outage that we solved by lighting candles stuck in empty wine bottles (TIA).
On Sunday, we were woken up at 8 am by Salome who had come to take us to her church service! We walked for about an hour in the beating hot morning sun, and arrived on time for the 9 am service. The church didn’t exactly look like a church as you might imagine it, from the outside nor the inside. When we walked in, there was a woman singing into a microphone, beside large loud speakers at the front. We filed through the rows of chairs set up, and sat down the front row. Yes, front and centre, not drawing any attention to ourselves…Steph and I each got our own translators to sit beside us and they would whisper in our ear after every sentence spoken in the sermon. It was a little hard to hear because of the booming loud speakers, but the woman was very good at speaking English and I was appreciative that she was there. There was a lot of soulful gospel music being sung, and plenty of dancing too! Near the end of the service, the pastor called us up to be greeted and to introduce ourselves to the people in attendance. After the service, Salome kindly invited us to her home for lunch. Salome exclaimed "they all loved you!" haha. It was a far trek up the rocky hill that she lives upon, and when we finally got to her house I was shocked to see how tiny it was. It literally consisted for three rooms: a bedroom with a mattress on the floor and piles of papers, pictures, and some clothing in the corner, a kitchen area with a coal burner for cooking and some dishes and piles of food like veggies and eggs, and a living room with two wooden couch frames, with no cushions! She cooked us some ugali (common, staple food here made from maize, not very flavorful, an alternative to rice), which we then balled up in our hands and dipped into a tomato sauce with vegetables. When we finally walked home, I was feeling a little sick, and I started getting paranoid that my flu-like symptoms might mean I had malaria (But, luckily a couple days later I feel back to normal, so I think I was just a little run-down). We went to Talapia later that night to do some work, but we were dragged to the casino at New Mwanza Hotel (probably the smallest casino ever haha).and we were convinced to play some Roulette…”Come on, it’s Valentine’s day, you don’t need to sleep!” haha. I think we won twice, thankfully it’s just a game of chance, not strategy because we honestly had no idea how to play!
That next Monday we rose early to arrive at the kitchen at Mtoni secondary school by 8 am. We basically helped with kneading dough, rolling chapatti and then frying them. We went back home for our Swahili lesson, and then to Jiko la Jamie yoghurt kitchen for our weekly Monday meeting. However, we were informed that the mamas were attending a funeral that afternoon, so the meeting was postponed. We ended up sticking around the kitchen and playing with the local schoolchildren and street-kids (probably my favorite part of my days).
On Tuesday we went to the kitchen and found packages that had been sent from the project in Oyugis, Kenya. The mamas have packaging AND the sealing machine to go along with it. So, we tested a few packs, and as it turns out, 250 ml fits perfectly into the bag, with enough space left to seal it closed. We started designing a label on the computer, with the FITI brand, and a design of a cow, as well as the nutritional information. We found a few sheets of large sticker-style labels in the filing cabinet at home, and worked with the information from these. Now we just have to look into the pricing of getting the labels printed, to make sure the plastic bag packaging is still cost-effective once the labels com e into the equation. We also researched into other packagers in the area, in Arusha, Mwanza and Nairobi.
On Wednesday evening we were doing some work at Talapia on the internet, and decided to take some time off later in the night and ate at the Japanese Restaurant with Tim (British mate). We also met some other Mwanza folk, including some women employed as teachers here, not teaching English as we originally assumed, but teaching math and sciences. It was really cool with the grill right in front of us and lots of fresh seafood. On Thursday evening we were invited to go on Joke and Major’s boat on a ride from Talapia to Tunza (there was a bonfire beach party planned for Tunza). We got to watch the most amazing sun-set over the calm, calm waters of Lake Victoria. The views were amazing!
On Friday, we went to Mwanza City Council to speak with the representative for TASAF (Tanzanian Social Action Fund) and also the representative for HIV/AIDS counseling on council. We are inquiring about funding needed for the project to continue to support the 125 PLWAs (People living with HIV/AIDS) with yoghurt daily. The funding has ended as of January of this year. The visit to TASAF was promising and he gave us a very encouraging response. However, when meeting with the HIV/AIDS coordinator, I was a little discouraged because he seemed a little critical of our packaging advancements, by saying that the bags we were looking into may not be good enough quality to receive health safety standards approval (ie. He wondered about contamination during the packaging process, which we hadn’t really thought much about).
On Saturday, we attended the wedding service of Mama Joyce’s daughter. Unfortunately it was a rainy day, but Joke, Esther, Stephanie, and I were invited into their home in Mabatini. We were offered some amazing food, rice, potatoes, beans, a mix of cassava leaves and ground peanuts, and soup that the mamas had cooked up! Mama Joyce introduced us to some of her other children and relatives and we had some fun fooling around with the camera for a while. Her daughter was marrying a Muslim man, and although she is Christian, she is now officially Muslim by law. Apparently her friends and family had deterred her from this, but she persisted. The bride looked very beautiful in her dress and had henna painted all down her arms and hands. After seeing the couple off in a car, we watched a group of “street-kids” breaking it down on the “dancefloor” surrounding the dj’s blaring sound-system. Saturday night was our last night with some friends we had made from Zurich (they were now finished their volunteering and were heading on a Safari and then to Zanzibar for a week)! It was sad to see them go, but we had a great last night at Tunza, with a little trip out on Joke and Major's boat again. It was so cool to be on the pitch-black water with nothing but the tiny lights from the fishing boats to light up the skies.
On Sunday, we had been invited to our friend Lillian’s house for lunch. Lillian works at the Kivulini dress and souvenir shop below our apartment. She’s twenty-one years old, is well educated and works as a seamstress. She has a two-year-old son. Lillian is so sweet and always has a smile on her face. She came by dala-dala to pick us up, then showed us how the dala-dala system worked, and brought us home! She made an amazing meal and was so welcoming. Her home was drastically different from Salome’s home last Sunday, as she had lots of furniture, a fan, a television etc. Her house was also in a nice area, in the country-side, a nice contrast from the loud, dirty city. It was so peaceful there, with a beautiful, lush landscape. She was very generous and gave us some eggs, fresh from the chickens in her yard, and also some of the large, green bananas that are used in savory dishes here! The TV programming that was on while we ate was a hilariously cheesy Asian soap opera.
Just some general points that don’t really fit anywhere particular:
-So, it’s come to my attention that I failed to note that our bathroom consists of a “squat” toilet and requires a bucket of water to be flushed and the shower is presently cold water. That’s pretty much the extent of “roughin’ it” in our apartment. (Our water heater broke and we are far too lazy and broke to go out and get a new one.)
-On one of our trips to Tunza, we saw a funeral party marching across the street as we were stuck in a traffic jam. Apparently it’s Muslim tradition to be buried immediately, the same day of death, and it’s mandatory that the whole village must attend the burial. Well, all men that is, but women are not permitted at the service.
-Many men from the Masaai tribe run Tunza and Steph is always scared when we walk by them because they look so intimidating haha
-I’m not sure which visit to Mtoni this occurred at, but we witnessed a teacher “punishing” a group of boys by making them do planks and then he started whipping them with a wooden stick. A little ruthless to be “spanked”. I mean I’m sure it happens in some people’s households in Canada, but it’s looked down upon, whereas here it happens in public.
-We’ve been trying to wake up earlier to go to Mtoni to help the mamas with making chapattis and buns in the mornings. They are there every day (shifts here and at the yoghurt kitchen) from about 8 am until 12 pm and it’s tiring work!
-There are basically no garbage cans…there’s garbage “piles” on sidewalks and street-sides, but most people will litter the streets with trash. Also, I was wondering where all the excess produce from the markets goes, when we walked by a huge mount of rotting bananas (fermenting bananas don’t smell so sweet…). And that leads me to recycling- well the glass bottles from sodas are all recycled and reused. Big trucks collect crates of empty bottles from the shops, so when you’re done drinking a soda, you have to return it, or else they’ll keep pestering you about when you’re bringing it back.
-The majority of local shops around our house are either convenience/general stores, or shoe stores. Oddly enough, there are tones and tones of used shoes piled up in little “hole in the wall” shops along our street. Bags of used shoes arrive from Europe and Canada and the US and come here to be “revamped” (a little washing, super-gluing beat-up soles, and shining leather goes a long way) and then resold. What I’m wondering is if these are shoes that people are sending for “charity” to help children in Africa with no shoes? The reason I ask is because in some used clothing stores here, I’ve noticed some ValuVillage tags, which struck me as odd.
-We saw an albino man at the dala-dala station. At first I thought he was a white man, but I later realized he had a pigment disorder, and his hair was very white and his eyes very light blue. It's strange because earlier in the trip, a child ran from us screaming that we were albino, and another child told him no, no just Mzungus, so I think people are really terrified of albinos here.
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
PROGRESS REPORT (Jan-Feb)
Moringa project
• Visited Adilisha (company that grows and produces moringa products outside Mwanza)
• Purchased moringa powder and seeds
• Obtained suggested dosage information and health claims from the company; currently seeking
literature and other nutrient information from the company
• Researched nutrient content of Moringa oleifera
• Found fresh moringa grown in Mabatini, harvested some, dried it and ground it
• Combined different amounts of our homemade moringa powder with Fiti yoghurt
• Planning with the Mamas to plant moringa at the Nyamhongolo site
• Completing ethics approval form to send to UWO to cover the whole project
• Arranged a meeting with Dr. Changalucha (NIMR) for this Friday to discuss lab space for testing
viability of GR-1/quality control, etc
• Next steps: mix fresh moringa with the yoghurt, test viability of the GR-1 strain in the fortified
yoghurt with different amounts of moringa added, perform sensory evaluations
Porridge project
• Goal: develop a porridge by fermenting millet, cassava flour, maize
• Located and purchased maize/corn flour, millet, sorghum, and cassava
• Discussed with various locals their methods of making porridge and ugali using different grains
• Next steps: try different fermenting methods, try drying methods for cassava
Joke’s clinical trial
• Having regular meetings with Joke to discuss logistics
• Reviewed task list and roles with Joke
• Olivia’s role: quality control of the supplemented and non- supplemented yoghurt three times per
week throughout the trial
• Steph’s role: assisting with distribution of the yoghurt, follow-up if patients do not show up for
yoghurt intake, checking that all patients receive yoghurt collecting samples and supplies if
needed
• Beginning recruitment on Feb. 23rd (ie flyers and posters around Mabatini and Mlango Moja areas,
etc)
Sensory testing of yoghurt with thickening agents
• purchased gelatin, tapioca flour, potato flour, white rice flour, soy flour, and potato starch in
Canada, and Sensory Testing Methods by Edgar et al
• working on producing homemade sweet potato flour/obtaining information from Roy
• discussed with Ellena her plans for testing with sweet potato flour- she has not begun and may not
be able to
• reviewed Ashley Motrans documents from the sensory testing done with gelatin and MSNF in summer
2009
Tukwamuane Women's Group
• Meetings every Monday with interns, Mamas and Esther
• New leadership positions were filled by election at the first meeting. Mama Joyce is the new
Chairperson, etc. The position of Discipline Chairperson has been introduced
• Visited the Nyamhongolo site, discussed expansion plans, etc
• Noted a need for quality control of the yoghurt. It is consistently lumpy. Community members have
vocalized that they prefer it this way, and we have even heard people ask specifically for lumpy
yoghurt. We think a sensory evaluation could be useful to test the acceptability and preferences
of different consistencies
• Developed tracking sheets for Mamas salaries and hired help salaries, milk collection, sales, etc
as well as a task completion list for each week for the Mamas
• Looked into purchasing an umbrella, table and chairs for yoghurt sales outside the kitchen like
other vendors in town. Received a reduced price offer of 24, 000 Tsh for an umbrella and 9, 000
Tsh per chair. Mamas like this idea.
• Need to hire 3 more Mamas
Yoghurt Packaging
• Investigated Best Pack Ltd thoroughly. They seemed to be an excellent option as the transportation
of the packaging to the kitchen from Arusha would be very inexpensive. The Mamas have decided
however that the packages are too expensive.
• Currently investigating Tetra Pak (Nairobi), Bright Oyat Manufacturer (Mwanza), Dennis Shio
Packaging (Arusha), and Event Solutions (Nairobi)
• Spoke with Roy about the bags and straws used in Oyugis. He is looking into transport options to
Mwanza from Nairobi (where they are manufactured)
• Discovered a huge box of the Oyugis bags at the yoghurt kitchen, as well as a sealer. This was a
shock; no one seemed to know about this
• The sealer works, and the bags hold exactly 250 ml of liquid with enough room to seal properly
• We hope to use this as a temporary option for selling yoghurt in the market until we can either
find a different option or begin ordering more bags from Kenya.
Yoghurt Selling ideas
• Discussed with the Mamas the idea of “junior mamas” and allowing students, volunteers and/or
children of the Mamas to take yoghurt to sell in the market
• Working to develop more ideas to increase sales. There is already a long list of possibilities,
for example the manager at Tunza is interested in having it on their menu. These will all be more
feasible once packaging is established.
Funding $
• Working on the SCF grant that will be submitted ASAP. A budget and expansion plan needs to be
completed
• Mwanza City Council- planning a meeting with Mukama
NIMR (National Institute of Medical Research)
• Spoke with lab staff to arrange lab space to do quality control of yoghurt
• Waiting to meet with Dr. Changalucha to run this by him
SAUT (St. Augustine University) meeting with Mary Mushi
• Discussed integrating health benefits into course credit for a science or social science course.
Mary agreed to contact the Vice Chancellor to see if there has been any progress with this
• Vice Chancellor needs to be contacted for main campus (social science)- he is out of office
presently. Professor Mongolie is our contact for Bugando campus (medical sciences).
• Discussed interns from SAUT to be matched up with us
• This will have to wait until after exams
• Discussed the WHE account. Account is dormant, accountant is on study leave. A new account may
need to be opened for Esther, pending confirmation
• Discussed having SAUT students help to teach English and Computer skills at Buswelu primary and
Mtoni high school.
Mtoni Secondary School
• Discussed options for the funds from Clark Road, waiting for a decision from the faculty.
• Met with the assistant headmaster, toured the school, compared Mtoni education systems to systems
used in Canada (ie truancy, student government, etc) greeted the student body, discussed making
videos to bring back to Clark Road, etc
Other women’s groups to produce yoghurt
• Discussed possibilities with Maimuna. She mentioned 4 groups that she knows of in rural areas.
• A women’s group called Shedefa is interested in being trained by the TWG Mamas. They are all HIV
positive, they have their own cows and milk supply, a house and resources for cooling, etc.
• Providing assistance to TWG to prepare a budget and/or list of items that Shedefa will need for
production
• Two TWG Mamas will train Shedefa
Awareness/Education
• Shot a video of Mama Paskwalina discussing the benefits of the project in the community, with
Esther translating.
• Star TV looked for the clips from the November steering committee meeting but didn’t find them.
• Identified a need for awareness within the Mwanza community about the benefits of
probiotics/spread of HIV/use of the yoghurt for the general population/importance of ARVs despite
benefits of probiotics, etc
Miscellaneous
• Looked into internet options for the intern apartment
• Tilapia is far and costs 2, 000 Tsh per hour plus transport there (usually 2, 000 Tsh)
• Internet café near apartment closes sporadically for days at a time, and otherwise closes at 7 PM
(end of our work day)
• We are taking Kiswahili lessons from Gaudance for an hour three times per week
• Visited Adilisha (company that grows and produces moringa products outside Mwanza)
• Purchased moringa powder and seeds
• Obtained suggested dosage information and health claims from the company; currently seeking
literature and other nutrient information from the company
• Researched nutrient content of Moringa oleifera
• Found fresh moringa grown in Mabatini, harvested some, dried it and ground it
• Combined different amounts of our homemade moringa powder with Fiti yoghurt
• Planning with the Mamas to plant moringa at the Nyamhongolo site
• Completing ethics approval form to send to UWO to cover the whole project
• Arranged a meeting with Dr. Changalucha (NIMR) for this Friday to discuss lab space for testing
viability of GR-1/quality control, etc
• Next steps: mix fresh moringa with the yoghurt, test viability of the GR-1 strain in the fortified
yoghurt with different amounts of moringa added, perform sensory evaluations
Porridge project
• Goal: develop a porridge by fermenting millet, cassava flour, maize
• Located and purchased maize/corn flour, millet, sorghum, and cassava
• Discussed with various locals their methods of making porridge and ugali using different grains
• Next steps: try different fermenting methods, try drying methods for cassava
Joke’s clinical trial
• Having regular meetings with Joke to discuss logistics
• Reviewed task list and roles with Joke
• Olivia’s role: quality control of the supplemented and non- supplemented yoghurt three times per
week throughout the trial
• Steph’s role: assisting with distribution of the yoghurt, follow-up if patients do not show up for
yoghurt intake, checking that all patients receive yoghurt collecting samples and supplies if
needed
• Beginning recruitment on Feb. 23rd (ie flyers and posters around Mabatini and Mlango Moja areas,
etc)
Sensory testing of yoghurt with thickening agents
• purchased gelatin, tapioca flour, potato flour, white rice flour, soy flour, and potato starch in
Canada, and Sensory Testing Methods by Edgar et al
• working on producing homemade sweet potato flour/obtaining information from Roy
• discussed with Ellena her plans for testing with sweet potato flour- she has not begun and may not
be able to
• reviewed Ashley Motrans documents from the sensory testing done with gelatin and MSNF in summer
2009
Tukwamuane Women's Group
• Meetings every Monday with interns, Mamas and Esther
• New leadership positions were filled by election at the first meeting. Mama Joyce is the new
Chairperson, etc. The position of Discipline Chairperson has been introduced
• Visited the Nyamhongolo site, discussed expansion plans, etc
• Noted a need for quality control of the yoghurt. It is consistently lumpy. Community members have
vocalized that they prefer it this way, and we have even heard people ask specifically for lumpy
yoghurt. We think a sensory evaluation could be useful to test the acceptability and preferences
of different consistencies
• Developed tracking sheets for Mamas salaries and hired help salaries, milk collection, sales, etc
as well as a task completion list for each week for the Mamas
• Looked into purchasing an umbrella, table and chairs for yoghurt sales outside the kitchen like
other vendors in town. Received a reduced price offer of 24, 000 Tsh for an umbrella and 9, 000
Tsh per chair. Mamas like this idea.
• Need to hire 3 more Mamas
Yoghurt Packaging
• Investigated Best Pack Ltd thoroughly. They seemed to be an excellent option as the transportation
of the packaging to the kitchen from Arusha would be very inexpensive. The Mamas have decided
however that the packages are too expensive.
• Currently investigating Tetra Pak (Nairobi), Bright Oyat Manufacturer (Mwanza), Dennis Shio
Packaging (Arusha), and Event Solutions (Nairobi)
• Spoke with Roy about the bags and straws used in Oyugis. He is looking into transport options to
Mwanza from Nairobi (where they are manufactured)
• Discovered a huge box of the Oyugis bags at the yoghurt kitchen, as well as a sealer. This was a
shock; no one seemed to know about this
• The sealer works, and the bags hold exactly 250 ml of liquid with enough room to seal properly
• We hope to use this as a temporary option for selling yoghurt in the market until we can either
find a different option or begin ordering more bags from Kenya.
Yoghurt Selling ideas
• Discussed with the Mamas the idea of “junior mamas” and allowing students, volunteers and/or
children of the Mamas to take yoghurt to sell in the market
• Working to develop more ideas to increase sales. There is already a long list of possibilities,
for example the manager at Tunza is interested in having it on their menu. These will all be more
feasible once packaging is established.
Funding $
• Working on the SCF grant that will be submitted ASAP. A budget and expansion plan needs to be
completed
• Mwanza City Council- planning a meeting with Mukama
NIMR (National Institute of Medical Research)
• Spoke with lab staff to arrange lab space to do quality control of yoghurt
• Waiting to meet with Dr. Changalucha to run this by him
SAUT (St. Augustine University) meeting with Mary Mushi
• Discussed integrating health benefits into course credit for a science or social science course.
Mary agreed to contact the Vice Chancellor to see if there has been any progress with this
• Vice Chancellor needs to be contacted for main campus (social science)- he is out of office
presently. Professor Mongolie is our contact for Bugando campus (medical sciences).
• Discussed interns from SAUT to be matched up with us
• This will have to wait until after exams
• Discussed the WHE account. Account is dormant, accountant is on study leave. A new account may
need to be opened for Esther, pending confirmation
• Discussed having SAUT students help to teach English and Computer skills at Buswelu primary and
Mtoni high school.
Mtoni Secondary School
• Discussed options for the funds from Clark Road, waiting for a decision from the faculty.
• Met with the assistant headmaster, toured the school, compared Mtoni education systems to systems
used in Canada (ie truancy, student government, etc) greeted the student body, discussed making
videos to bring back to Clark Road, etc
Other women’s groups to produce yoghurt
• Discussed possibilities with Maimuna. She mentioned 4 groups that she knows of in rural areas.
• A women’s group called Shedefa is interested in being trained by the TWG Mamas. They are all HIV
positive, they have their own cows and milk supply, a house and resources for cooling, etc.
• Providing assistance to TWG to prepare a budget and/or list of items that Shedefa will need for
production
• Two TWG Mamas will train Shedefa
Awareness/Education
• Shot a video of Mama Paskwalina discussing the benefits of the project in the community, with
Esther translating.
• Star TV looked for the clips from the November steering committee meeting but didn’t find them.
• Identified a need for awareness within the Mwanza community about the benefits of
probiotics/spread of HIV/use of the yoghurt for the general population/importance of ARVs despite
benefits of probiotics, etc
Miscellaneous
• Looked into internet options for the intern apartment
• Tilapia is far and costs 2, 000 Tsh per hour plus transport there (usually 2, 000 Tsh)
• Internet café near apartment closes sporadically for days at a time, and otherwise closes at 7 PM
(end of our work day)
• We are taking Kiswahili lessons from Gaudance for an hour three times per week
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
"It's The African Way" (What more can I say?)
It’s been a little over a week since my last blog post, so I know this is a little overdue (I wrote this on Sunday, but the internet was being wonky). The time has passed me by so quickly; it’s unbelievable that it’s been two weeks already since I began globe-trotting!
Last Sunday (and again today), we experienced the “Sunday Market” scene. It was absolutely packed to the gills with vendors selling fresh produce! The first time we were lucky to have Pendo (our house-keeper) with us to negotiate pricing and show us not to make hasty purchases the first time you see the fruit/veggie you want. There’s multiple multiples of the same stalls all over, but some bear nicer looking products than others, or at cheaper prices that you can bargain down. Everyone wants you to buy their product, and some will go to great lengths to persuade you to buy from them (i.e. chasing us around with cauliflower, which we are not interested in buying, and following and pestering us, peeling away the leaves from the flowerhead, trying to make it look more enticing…). There’s little boys carrying mass collections of plastic bags (so environmentally unfriendly, I know…), and they will follow you around trying to get you to buy one to put your purchases into. An Indian woman happened to wander by when they were harassing Steph and I and warned us to “be careful around those boys” (I guess there’s lots of attempts to snatch your bag or purse, but I don’t think these little boys mean any harm). Luckily, we’ve built up our own little collection of bags and baskets that we continue to reuse. There are also coops of live chickens for sale! Talk about fresh meat…The man took a couple out and was waving them around by their talons for us while we snapped a few pictures. We picked up carrots, peppers, cucumber, tomatoes, potato, bananas, mangos, passionfruit, pineapple, onions, garlic, rice, and beans, all for under 15 bucks… so much cheaper than the grocery stores here!
On Monday, we were scheduled to meet with the Yogurt Mamas! When we walked over to the kitchen in Mabatini, only a few mamas were there and we were informed that the others were at Mtoni Secondary School (just up the road) serving tea, chapati, and buns. On our walk up to the school, all the kids swarmed us and we definitely sparked some curiosity. Next week we’re going to go back and watch the mamas prepare and dole out the chapattis (fried in unreal amounts of oil) with gallons of tea (super sweetened)! We walked back to the kitchen and had our “formal” weekly meeting with the mamas, sitting on the floor in a circle… like I said, formal. Sometimes Esther and the mamas would rattle on in Swahili for what seemingly forever, but Esther was great at translating at several intervals inbetween for Steph and I. Mama Joyce let us know where we could purchase the Moringa (at Adalisha, a medicine packager) for our lab testing, which was great progress on the research front of our project. Later that evening we went to Tunza with Joke and did yoga on the beach-front there. It was the perfect setting, with the sun sinking lower and lower in the sky, the rolling waves, and the soft music in the background. Yoga is every Monday and Thursday, so we’re going to try go out once a week! Later that night, Pendo’s son, Hassan, and Melissa’s friend, Mohammed, both dropped by and we did some Swahili lessons. We’re learning polepole! (slowly!!). We ended up talking out on the porch with Pius and Ben for a while, and by the time my head hit the pillow, I was more than ready to hit the dream highway and get some shut-eye.
On Tuesday morning, I awoke to knocking on our front door. “Mr. Tito” dropped by and displayed his batiks, cards, bookmarks, key-chains, and jewelry all over our living room floor. We chose some souvenirs and gifts to take home (a little soon to be thinking about that, I realize). Later that morning, Mama Joyce arrived with Moringa leaves and we left them to dry on our counter-top; in a few days we can grind them into a powder with our blender. We took a trip to Adalisha with Esther and Mama Joyce to see their pre-packaged Moringa products and also to get the contact information for their packager. We took down the packaging information, so that we can look into using it for the yogurt. If we get a good, cheap, sustainable source of packaging and labeling, the yogurt can be sold to grocery stores (and overcome a big obstacle in the expansion of distribution).
On Wednesday, we took a trip to SAUT (St. Augustine University). Esther pronounces it Sauti, because all nouns in Kiswahili end in vowel sounds haha. The drive there was extended by Pius’ so-called “short cut”, which ended up taking us through seemingly the middle of nowhere, down lots of winding dirt roads. We got some nice views of the country-side though- a nice change from the city scene. At one point, we were stopped at a local “prison” area, while Puice asked for directions. We realized that everyone we had passed by on the way who were working in the fields were prisoners! They seemed to have a lot of freedom, so Steph and I wondered why they didn’t just run away and Esther said they’re watched over by guards as they work. We got to SAUT and the first thing we see: MONKEYS!! There were a bunch lounging on the rocks! We met with Mary Mushi and reiterated some of the things Bob (our project director) and her had discussed during his visit back in November, about matching WHE interns with SAUT students in their relating programs.
On Thursday, we went to the kitchen for a bit to meet with the Mamas. Steph went to the hairdresser near by and got rows of braids put in her hair (only costs a dollar here!). While we were sitting inside, all the kids started flocking over and swarming the door. The lady who owned the shop would try to shoo them away, so I moved outside to play with the gang of almost forty children that had evolved! We made a jump-rope out of string and the kids all seemed pretty impressed with my skipping abilities haha. We all ended up counting in English and Swahili. The kids got really into it and were dancing and shouting out the numbers haha. One game that later got underway seemed similar to “duck, duck, goose”, and we all sat in a circle and held hands, while one person wandered around the outside. Esther told us after that the song they sang while playing it essentially translates to “searching for a wife”, and they try to “find her” by cutting the clasp of two people holding hands. Esther also said some kids were complaining because they always seemed to favor Steph or I haha. After a while, the kids seemed to adopt some sort of “mob mentality”, and they would get angry at one another and start bopping eachother on the heads. Sometimes a woman would come over and break the squabbles up, waving her arms and threatening to slap them with a shoe or sandal she had picked up. We also comforted a girl named Rose who some boys seemed to be teasing. When she was sitting on my lap, Esther explained that Rose has no home and lives on the streets and the boys tease her that her mother is a prostitute. We bought her a couple of buns to eat, but I still felt guilty leaving her alone when we went home, even though I know she is apparently being sponsored.
On Friday, we were invited to Joke’s 27th birthday celebrations in the evening! We met at Joke and Major’s place and were introduced to some folk from Mwanza. We ate home-made chocolate cake and some goodies Joke had brought back from Dar (you would rarely come across cake in Mwanza, so we all gorged ourselves)! Then, in reverse, we ate dinner after dessert, and were stuffed silly with amazing Indian cuisine… grilled Talapia, cinnamon-spiced rice, coleslaw, and brown bread with goat’s cheese.
On Saturday, we were invited to Tunza Lodge for “Ladies Night” that evening. We had met Nadia (social events coordinator at Tunza, originally from Denmark) the night before. Girls got in free, but of course we ended up paying for Puice and Hassain…Anyways, it was a fun night and we recognized a lot of the people there from Friday night and also some friends of past interns. Mwanza is so small that everyone is friends here and basically everyone finds themselves out at the same places…
On Sunday, we had a sunny day, finally, after those couple cooler, rainy, dare I say miserable ones... Steph and I ventured out to the Sunday Market, as we’d been without fruit for a couple days. We restocked on most of the things we had purchased the previous Sunday. Then we spend the rest of the day lounging at Talapia on the internet to catch up on emails. Of course what started out a beautiful sunny day ended in pouring rain and thunder/lightning!
This is Africa (TIA): Just a few random observations to add that I forgot to mention
-On our way to the market, a young guy was calling me and motioning me over to talk, but we were on a mission so I kept walking. Then, he ran over to me and declared, “I miss you, I love you”. Then he proceeded to grab my hand and motioned to his cheek, “Touch me”. I kissed my palm and touched his cheek and he was beaming. A big group of guys near by were cheering him on haha.
-“Exotic fruits” that would be terribly expensive at home are super duper cheap here (like passionfruit and mango and avocado), but things that would be commonplace in grocery stores back home are harder to find here or else much more expensive!
-Bugs keep managing to crawl into our bread, so we’ve been storing it in the fridge. And ants have now invaded our sugar container!!!
-Nouns in Kiswahili always end in vowel sounds, so they add “eee” sound onto the end of names ending in consonants. We've started calling our taxi driver Puiceeeee! haha
-The “rainy season” is upon us now! But that in no way translates into “raining all the time”. Some days we will wake up to pouring rain, and by the afternoon, the sun is out and shining. Other days, it’s just cloudy and cool all day. Other days, it’s hot and sunny. It’s unpredictable, really.
-The market scene carries on late into the night. The vendors don’t just “pack it in” for the night when the sun goes down. Instead, they light oil lamps sell fruits and veggies by candle-light. It’s a little harder that way to tell the condition of the fruit, so Esther uses her cell-phone light to make sure the mangoes aren’t bruised haha
-The chapati and buns are basically deep fried dough (flour, water, sugar) and we've been eating heaps of them because they're the equivalent of 10 cents each. The whole irony of doing nutritional aid for malnourished people, yet we are eating foods that have zero nutrients...
-Printing pages from a computer is a big ordeal, and we have to go to a local print/photocopying shop and pay to get it done.
-There are "soda machines" (fridges full of coca cola products) in literally every store, whether it be clothing, stationary, etc.
-There's huge sea birds (really ugly, scruffy looking things) that swarm fish and piles of rubbish. From far away they look like beautiful great blue herons, but don't be fooled...
Last Sunday (and again today), we experienced the “Sunday Market” scene. It was absolutely packed to the gills with vendors selling fresh produce! The first time we were lucky to have Pendo (our house-keeper) with us to negotiate pricing and show us not to make hasty purchases the first time you see the fruit/veggie you want. There’s multiple multiples of the same stalls all over, but some bear nicer looking products than others, or at cheaper prices that you can bargain down. Everyone wants you to buy their product, and some will go to great lengths to persuade you to buy from them (i.e. chasing us around with cauliflower, which we are not interested in buying, and following and pestering us, peeling away the leaves from the flowerhead, trying to make it look more enticing…). There’s little boys carrying mass collections of plastic bags (so environmentally unfriendly, I know…), and they will follow you around trying to get you to buy one to put your purchases into. An Indian woman happened to wander by when they were harassing Steph and I and warned us to “be careful around those boys” (I guess there’s lots of attempts to snatch your bag or purse, but I don’t think these little boys mean any harm). Luckily, we’ve built up our own little collection of bags and baskets that we continue to reuse. There are also coops of live chickens for sale! Talk about fresh meat…The man took a couple out and was waving them around by their talons for us while we snapped a few pictures. We picked up carrots, peppers, cucumber, tomatoes, potato, bananas, mangos, passionfruit, pineapple, onions, garlic, rice, and beans, all for under 15 bucks… so much cheaper than the grocery stores here!
On Monday, we were scheduled to meet with the Yogurt Mamas! When we walked over to the kitchen in Mabatini, only a few mamas were there and we were informed that the others were at Mtoni Secondary School (just up the road) serving tea, chapati, and buns. On our walk up to the school, all the kids swarmed us and we definitely sparked some curiosity. Next week we’re going to go back and watch the mamas prepare and dole out the chapattis (fried in unreal amounts of oil) with gallons of tea (super sweetened)! We walked back to the kitchen and had our “formal” weekly meeting with the mamas, sitting on the floor in a circle… like I said, formal. Sometimes Esther and the mamas would rattle on in Swahili for what seemingly forever, but Esther was great at translating at several intervals inbetween for Steph and I. Mama Joyce let us know where we could purchase the Moringa (at Adalisha, a medicine packager) for our lab testing, which was great progress on the research front of our project. Later that evening we went to Tunza with Joke and did yoga on the beach-front there. It was the perfect setting, with the sun sinking lower and lower in the sky, the rolling waves, and the soft music in the background. Yoga is every Monday and Thursday, so we’re going to try go out once a week! Later that night, Pendo’s son, Hassan, and Melissa’s friend, Mohammed, both dropped by and we did some Swahili lessons. We’re learning polepole! (slowly!!). We ended up talking out on the porch with Pius and Ben for a while, and by the time my head hit the pillow, I was more than ready to hit the dream highway and get some shut-eye.
On Tuesday morning, I awoke to knocking on our front door. “Mr. Tito” dropped by and displayed his batiks, cards, bookmarks, key-chains, and jewelry all over our living room floor. We chose some souvenirs and gifts to take home (a little soon to be thinking about that, I realize). Later that morning, Mama Joyce arrived with Moringa leaves and we left them to dry on our counter-top; in a few days we can grind them into a powder with our blender. We took a trip to Adalisha with Esther and Mama Joyce to see their pre-packaged Moringa products and also to get the contact information for their packager. We took down the packaging information, so that we can look into using it for the yogurt. If we get a good, cheap, sustainable source of packaging and labeling, the yogurt can be sold to grocery stores (and overcome a big obstacle in the expansion of distribution).
On Wednesday, we took a trip to SAUT (St. Augustine University). Esther pronounces it Sauti, because all nouns in Kiswahili end in vowel sounds haha. The drive there was extended by Pius’ so-called “short cut”, which ended up taking us through seemingly the middle of nowhere, down lots of winding dirt roads. We got some nice views of the country-side though- a nice change from the city scene. At one point, we were stopped at a local “prison” area, while Puice asked for directions. We realized that everyone we had passed by on the way who were working in the fields were prisoners! They seemed to have a lot of freedom, so Steph and I wondered why they didn’t just run away and Esther said they’re watched over by guards as they work. We got to SAUT and the first thing we see: MONKEYS!! There were a bunch lounging on the rocks! We met with Mary Mushi and reiterated some of the things Bob (our project director) and her had discussed during his visit back in November, about matching WHE interns with SAUT students in their relating programs.
On Thursday, we went to the kitchen for a bit to meet with the Mamas. Steph went to the hairdresser near by and got rows of braids put in her hair (only costs a dollar here!). While we were sitting inside, all the kids started flocking over and swarming the door. The lady who owned the shop would try to shoo them away, so I moved outside to play with the gang of almost forty children that had evolved! We made a jump-rope out of string and the kids all seemed pretty impressed with my skipping abilities haha. We all ended up counting in English and Swahili. The kids got really into it and were dancing and shouting out the numbers haha. One game that later got underway seemed similar to “duck, duck, goose”, and we all sat in a circle and held hands, while one person wandered around the outside. Esther told us after that the song they sang while playing it essentially translates to “searching for a wife”, and they try to “find her” by cutting the clasp of two people holding hands. Esther also said some kids were complaining because they always seemed to favor Steph or I haha. After a while, the kids seemed to adopt some sort of “mob mentality”, and they would get angry at one another and start bopping eachother on the heads. Sometimes a woman would come over and break the squabbles up, waving her arms and threatening to slap them with a shoe or sandal she had picked up. We also comforted a girl named Rose who some boys seemed to be teasing. When she was sitting on my lap, Esther explained that Rose has no home and lives on the streets and the boys tease her that her mother is a prostitute. We bought her a couple of buns to eat, but I still felt guilty leaving her alone when we went home, even though I know she is apparently being sponsored.
On Friday, we were invited to Joke’s 27th birthday celebrations in the evening! We met at Joke and Major’s place and were introduced to some folk from Mwanza. We ate home-made chocolate cake and some goodies Joke had brought back from Dar (you would rarely come across cake in Mwanza, so we all gorged ourselves)! Then, in reverse, we ate dinner after dessert, and were stuffed silly with amazing Indian cuisine… grilled Talapia, cinnamon-spiced rice, coleslaw, and brown bread with goat’s cheese.
On Saturday, we were invited to Tunza Lodge for “Ladies Night” that evening. We had met Nadia (social events coordinator at Tunza, originally from Denmark) the night before. Girls got in free, but of course we ended up paying for Puice and Hassain…Anyways, it was a fun night and we recognized a lot of the people there from Friday night and also some friends of past interns. Mwanza is so small that everyone is friends here and basically everyone finds themselves out at the same places…
On Sunday, we had a sunny day, finally, after those couple cooler, rainy, dare I say miserable ones... Steph and I ventured out to the Sunday Market, as we’d been without fruit for a couple days. We restocked on most of the things we had purchased the previous Sunday. Then we spend the rest of the day lounging at Talapia on the internet to catch up on emails. Of course what started out a beautiful sunny day ended in pouring rain and thunder/lightning!
This is Africa (TIA): Just a few random observations to add that I forgot to mention
-On our way to the market, a young guy was calling me and motioning me over to talk, but we were on a mission so I kept walking. Then, he ran over to me and declared, “I miss you, I love you”. Then he proceeded to grab my hand and motioned to his cheek, “Touch me”. I kissed my palm and touched his cheek and he was beaming. A big group of guys near by were cheering him on haha.
-“Exotic fruits” that would be terribly expensive at home are super duper cheap here (like passionfruit and mango and avocado), but things that would be commonplace in grocery stores back home are harder to find here or else much more expensive!
-Bugs keep managing to crawl into our bread, so we’ve been storing it in the fridge. And ants have now invaded our sugar container!!!
-Nouns in Kiswahili always end in vowel sounds, so they add “eee” sound onto the end of names ending in consonants. We've started calling our taxi driver Puiceeeee! haha
-The “rainy season” is upon us now! But that in no way translates into “raining all the time”. Some days we will wake up to pouring rain, and by the afternoon, the sun is out and shining. Other days, it’s just cloudy and cool all day. Other days, it’s hot and sunny. It’s unpredictable, really.
-The market scene carries on late into the night. The vendors don’t just “pack it in” for the night when the sun goes down. Instead, they light oil lamps sell fruits and veggies by candle-light. It’s a little harder that way to tell the condition of the fruit, so Esther uses her cell-phone light to make sure the mangoes aren’t bruised haha
-The chapati and buns are basically deep fried dough (flour, water, sugar) and we've been eating heaps of them because they're the equivalent of 10 cents each. The whole irony of doing nutritional aid for malnourished people, yet we are eating foods that have zero nutrients...
-Printing pages from a computer is a big ordeal, and we have to go to a local print/photocopying shop and pay to get it done.
-There are "soda machines" (fridges full of coca cola products) in literally every store, whether it be clothing, stationary, etc.
-There's huge sea birds (really ugly, scruffy looking things) that swarm fish and piles of rubbish. From far away they look like beautiful great blue herons, but don't be fooled...
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