Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Playing catch-up (The past three weeks have flown by)

Summary of the past few weeks/happenings in Mwanza up to and including March 21st...:
-Joke’s trial is up and running, with all 153 patients!
-We've been responsible to deliver the yoghurt to the hospital and making sure the Mamas know how much of the probiotic and non-probiotic yoghurt they are to be making!
-Steph has sometimes been at Sekou-Toure Hospital helping with the yogurt packaging and distributing it to the women.
-I have been doing quality control at NIMR. There have been multiple frustrating days, where things just don’t go my way: the fusidic acid plates not working, unexpected contamination like yeast and potentially E. coli. Lots of waiting around. These are precarious times, when we don’t know if the yoghurt quality is up to snuff for the trial (ie. meeting the standards we have set in order to yield adequate differentiation in the results).
- We are still trying to organize the finalization of packaging/labeling for the yoghurt for the Mamas. We will be traveling to Nairobi, Kenya next week to pick up the packaging ("juice-box" or "milk-carton" style), and then we can start mass-distribution of the yogurt to local restaurants, markets, shops, orphanages etc.
-TWG received their grant from this years’ Mwanza Charity Ball 2009!! Yay. There are many good ways for money they received to be spent! We have 1, 987, 450 Tsh (almost 2, 000 dollars!). This money can be used to support the 125 people living with HIV/AIDS in the community who were being subsidized for their yoghurt. Many have not been receiving it for over a month now because there was no funding to support them!!!!
-We’re in the process of applying to the SCF grant (for small and medium enterprises within Tanzania’s food industry) and the Global Fund for Women (American organization that supports projects run by women internationally).


Recap of my birthday week :)!
On Monday, Steph was feeling ill and stayed in all day. I did a much-needed grocery shopping trip to Lavena supermarket and somehow ended up spending about 60 dollars on groceries (all imported foods are super expensive here, in contrast to the market where fruits and veggies are a steal).

On Tuesday, we worked at the apartment with Esther, on editing documents and proposals for grants. I did some reading (I’ve been reading a lot for pleasure here, and it feels so good to have the freedom to). Later in the evening, we were invited to Joke’s place for home-made pizza! Really yummy, one with pineapple pieces and another with grilled eggplant! Then, we stayed late to watch a movie. Joke and Major had a few travel guides on Tanzania and Zanzibar, so I was eagerly digging into them, looking into a Safari at Serengeti National Park and a trip to Stone Town in Zanzibar.

On Wednesday, I went into NIMR and check on some plates. It wasn’t a very eventful day. I can sum it up with some gram-stain tests and microscope work, really.

On Thursday, Steph, Esther, and I took a taxi to St. Augustine’s University. We met with the Vice Chancellor (who had been out of office). We reiterated our ideas for student interns from Canada to be “matched” with students from equivalent programs at SAUT (social sciences, business) or Bugando (health sciences).

On Friday, Steph and I baked a chocolate cake for my birthday! We even made chocolate icing (lots of Blue Bandi margarine…) and even found rose-shaped decorations at Lavena market! Later that night, we went to Villa Park for early birthday celebrations!

On Saturday (finally my birthday!), we went to the local market in the morning to purchase the food to cook our big, buffet-style dinner. We had the mamas’ help with making rice, pasta, deep-fried potato and green bananas, chapatti, green beans, and cabbage with carrots and peppers. We cooked literally ALL day long. We had our home-made cake and fruit kabobs with pineapple and grapes for dessert. After some champagne toasts, and speech from Esther, Joke drove us to Tunza for the beach party they were hosting, complete with a DJ right on the beach. We ended up having a late night at Villa Park, which was rockin’ til’ the sun came up. Africans sure can shake it. Even the young girls were far better dancers than us white girls will ever be haha.

On Sunday, I did some reading and finished up one of the books I was working on reading, called Zanzibar :). It’s great to have the rooftop of our apartment building to have some privacy away from onlookers from the street. There’s also a great view of sunrises and sunsets from the roof. I always find myself feeling guilty when I look around and see the mud huts and tin-roofed buildings all crammed together in the hills. Thinking of where people so near-by don’t have access to electricity and clean water like we do, I feel guilty living in this paradox. They don’t have a stove; they use charcoal burners and brass pots. They don’t have beds or couches with cushions to sleep on; they sleep on straw mats on the hard ground.

On Monday, Esther dropped by the apartment and we were informed that Hassan’s baby nephew had passed away that morning!!!! Puice stopped by the apartment after the funeral. Steph and I were asking how the baby died (he was less than two years old), but noone could give us a definite answer. Esther said it might have been malaria “or something”, as if the whole ordeal was quite common and nothing out of the ordinary. I was shocked and wanted to know exactly what had happened and why his condition could not be cured. This little baby had been running around our house the previous week and smiling, playing, and eating with us. We were told he was in Sekou-Toure Hospital and then Bugando Hospital. The family is Muslim, so the boy was buried the same day, but Esther says that the mortuary at Bugando is always overflowing with bodies that there's no room in the "fridge" for them. I said I wanted to visit and she said "yes, it's possible, but you might get nightmares"...We carried on business as per usual on Monday, but I was feeling a little stirred up by the whole ordeal. I went to NIMR and Sekou-Toure to help out Joke, while Esther and Steph went with Esther to the packaging company. Joke and I went for lunch at Kulianas. Later, we skipped out on yoga at Tunza and decided to bake! We had some rotting bananas that Esther was convincing us to throw away, but we decided to use them up by baking banana muffins!

On Tuesday, we visited Hassan’s house (also Pendo and Margaret) and were introduced to the rest of his family. We gave our sincerest apologies (Pole sana sana!!!) and we were offered to sit down (Karibu kiti!!) and stay a while. We were given kitanges to cover ourselves with (tradition for mourning). We stayed and chatted, took some photos, and ate some fresh pineapple! We walked from there directly to NIMR for quality control and found some unexpected contaminants, such as yeast and potentially E. coli, which was a little scary. Joke is worried about using the contaminated yoghurt, (even though the lab tech was not 100% sure it was E. coli) so she told the nurses that they may have to throw it out. The nurses said that if they throw it out, “God will punish them” and that they should distribute it throughout the hospital to people who have shown interest in it, but could not be included in the study. I think she kind of missed the point that the yogurt could make people sick!!!

On Wednesday, we went back to NIMR to check on the quality control. On my walk home, I purchased another Kanga and some henna dye. We went to the packaging/labeling company again to inquire about maybe traveling to Nairobi, Kenya. Because it was St. Patrick’s Day, we went to the Yacht Club (near Talapia) which is operated by an Irish man. We ate dinner and a couple drinks to celebrate, but nothing too crazy. Not many people celebrate the holiday here, but there were two birthdays that evening too, so lots of food and cake to go around!

On Thursday, we had Mama Joyce and Esther prepare a speech and we filmed a video for the upcoming event in Canada called “In the Market for Western Heads East”. We're in the process of uploading it to youtube now. I finished editing the SCF grant for Esther and we added the budget proposed for the packaging/labeling from Nairobi.

On Friday, Steph was already up when I woke up and she explained that she had been sick all night and wasn’t sure if it was from something she ate, or malaria again. She couldn’t eat or drink anything without throwing up, so it was obvious she needed to spend the day in bed. We cancelled our plans of going to Nyomongholo to check up on the cows (heard they are not being fed and watered enough) and Mtoni Secondary School. I collected yogurt from the kitchen and went to Sekou-Toure to meet Joke. We went to NIMR and we plated three different types of MARA milk to see if an E. coli contaminant was coming from one pack or if a whole batch may have been contaminated. We won’t be able to check the results until Monday, so it’s a bit of a precarious situation. We went for lunch at Kuiliana’s for pizza. The place was chock-full of other mzungus who I hadn’t seen before. After going back home to check on Steph, we decided to take her to the hospital for a blood test. The results indicated that she did indeed have malaria- this time three ring. Very sick! So, we went home to spend the night in. We received an email from Canada stating that we have to get the quality control of the yoghurt up to required standards, or they will not be paying for the yoghurt and the trial will have to end. Seriously, despite consequences to the mamas, the women enrolled in the study, the students involved etc. the trial could just end!!! We’re carrying on and working harder than ever to keep this study going!!!

On Saturday, Steph was feeling a lot better. Also, the sun has been shining all week. AMAZING, amidst the supposed rainy season!! Steph’s relaxing inside today because she’s feeling dizzy and weak still, so I’m going to work on some proposal editing, write some emails, get some fruit at the market, and do some photo-blogging :) Some days you just gotta take ‘er easy, or you’ll get worn-out and drained during the week. Hassan and I went to the big market and it was really bustling. On the way we saw goats running around the streets blocking cars from passing haha. There were some surprising sights at the market, like rows of suitcases on the ground, knives lying on tarps for sale (just out there in the open were anyone could grab them!!).

On Sunday, we were trying to go to Forever Angel’s Orphanage, but the contact number for Amy (owner/founder from the UK), and until we got in touch with the organization, we decided to postpone our visit to Tuesday. I can’t wait to see the kids! Amy and Ben have a really amazing organization set up where they take in orphaned and abandoned children, or children whose families are unable to support them. Many of the children have been dropped off at the gates of the orphanage and left there! Some children come in really bad shape, malnourished and diseased, literally on the verge of death. The orphanage accepts lots of volunteers and hires employees experienced in education, child development etc. They operate programs for feeding, schooling, arts/crafts etc. for all the children and I’m hoping to get the chance to help out for the next few months! Mama Asha’s daughter and son ended up coming by our apartment and we found some treasures in the dresser drawer labeled “stuff for children” haha (skipping-rope, coloring books, stickers, noise makers, and a puzzle etc.). Later, Salome also popped in for a bit. Then, Aisak, Mohammed, their friend who didn’t speak any English, and Puice came and we had some fun with silly photo-taking, dancing and music, fashion shows with our kangas, and eye-brow plucking because the boys were curious as to what tweezers were (we may have also done some makeovers with mascara and lip gloss…hahah). We have a busy week coming up so Kwa Heri!!! Usiku Mwema!!

Miscellaneous
-I started running in town this week every morning, trying to establish some routine. I find myself dodging people, bikes, cars, dala-dalas, and pike-pikes!!! It’s also difficult with my ipod in because I know lots of people are probably saying Mambo! When I run by, but I can’t hear them, so I hope they don’t think I’m being rude!! It’s also extremely hot here, even early in the morning.
-“Street children” are always coming up to our car when we are in the city center. They congregate where tourists come, near hotels and markets. It’s a major issue in most African capitals, towns, and urban centers. I’ve had several encounters while stopped at traffic lights or in a traffic jam where they try to wash the windshield of our car with a dirty rag and swarm the windows. They hold their hand to their mouths and moan how hungry they are. It’s sad to see them in their dusty, ragged clothing, sucking on little plastic bags full of ice water. I know they’re hungry-evidently suffering from malnutrition and ill-health. One of the boys even had a huge, jagged scar on his forehead, shoddily stitched together; Joke says he was hit by a car while trying to beg for money :S
-We’ve been warned about the dangerous, precarious nature of pike-pikes (motor-bikes) and dala-dalas (van buses), but we’ve bee taking our chances and using them because they’re so much cheaper than taxis.
-Mama Joyce called me “Mama Giraffe” this week hahah…She says it’s because I’m so much taller than her daughter who is about18 years old too. Stunted growth is really common here because malnourishment is wide-spread. Our friend Hassan is also19 (a few months older than me), and I was so skeptical that he was lying at first, to the point where he brought his birth certificate to prove that he was born in 1990 haha.
-Joke informed us that a thief who tried stealing from the local shop near her house was caught and burned to death!!! Just burned, right there, in the open, in front of a mass crowd of people. I’m not sure what he stole, wether it was as little as a piece of food or as much as thousands of Tsh. Either way, public forms of punishment here shock me to no end.
-They BURN garbage here. And they also burn bags and bags full of leaves and grass to make lumps of coal for fuel.
-When driving home from SAUT, Esther pointed out the place where dead bodies are burned into ashes. She asked us whether our families at home buried the dead or burnt them.
-I can’t stop thinking about Hassan’s little baby nephew who passed away this week. It just makes me feel ill. I get this pit in my stomach, this empty feeling in my chest. I wonder how many poor children die due to poor medical systems in the developing world. I wonder how many people suffer just so we in our rich countries can live the lifestyle we so wish.
-Seeing children taking care of children (seven year olds carrying one year olds) is another mind-boggling thing to me. Children here are going to school, cooking, cleaning, AND taking care of their younger siblings!! It’s as though they have the same responsibilities as “adults” at home do. It’s inspiring that they can do all these chores, yet still be cheerful, playful children!
-Sometimes I get the feeling that I’m intruding on other peoples’ lives here. I want to take as many photos as possible of all the sites here in Mwanza because they are so foreign to me. But then I think, this is just every-day life for these people. I don’t think I’d want pictures taken of me either. A couple people have taken pictures of me with their cell-phones, so at least you take a few, you give some back??

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