Last two days at KASI training camp! August 2, 2007

(this post is for July 26th and 27th)

Tish is here this time!!! I love it when Tish visits. We met in Moshi town, and headed over to YWCA for some breakfast. We talked to the waiter in Swahili and he was very excited to see us there. I ordered tea with milk, and for some reason he gave me just hot milk. Samson came in to let us know that Abdullah is here. I wasn’t going to drink the milk, so I gave it to Samson.

We headed to CCBRT for another day at the training camp, and we started with more tea. Then we went to the first session today, where the guest of honor was a professor at the business school in Moshi. His name was “Innocent”, don’t ask me why people have interesting names like that in Tanzania. I once met some guy named “So Please”… Well jokes aside, he came to talk to the camp about “income”! That was really neat, except Tish and I didn’t understand most of it. We could understand some of it as Zac explained some of the concepts to us in English!

Tish showed us pictures of a new project she started! Dr. Nyumbi had the idea that these wheelchairs can be retrofitted to sell Vodacom recharge scratch cards! So Tish worked on a prototype at MobilityCare and showed all of us pictures. It really made everyone very excited about it. I hope that this project can take off, and Vodacom can sponsor more users to have wheelchairs!

We spent the afternoon at the camp, getting to know the participants better. Tish had a great time and, like me, was very impressed with what the camp is doing for the community. Tish went to KCMC to say good bye and give out gifts to everyone, and I headed back to town to go out shopping with my host sister.

Shopping was fun, and we went to Payal’s (Sarah’s buddy) store, and bought two shawls! Tish joined me in town later with Albert and Samson, and we did even more shopping! I can’t believe this trip is coming to an end…

We sent Tish home, and I returned to the house and called it a night.

————–

Ahhhh Friday is the last day for work. I went to KCMC to say good byes to the staff, and gave them a gift for being so awesome! I got them a radio that had a rechargeable battery. I know they love music, and I thought it would be a great gift for them! They loved it and it was sad for me to leave. I want to tell them when I would go back, but honestly I don’t know when I’ll have the money to return. But I know that when I do go back, they would always welcome me.

Everyone is so welcoming and hospitable, it’s something that I don’t find so much here in America. I’ll miss this the most.

We went to CCBRT for closing ceremonies and to give out my evaluation. I didn’t think of bringing something to give away for those that fill out the evaluation, but I managed to find 15 pens in my pen bag to give away! I don’t know why I have so many pens… But they were happy to have the pens and filled out the survey. I would be working with Zac to get those surveys translated and to make a formal report for KASI and for the WDDC class.

We ended the day and we headed back to town. Abdullah and Fatuma wanted me and Tish to have a traditional Tanzanian dress so they took me for measurements! I picked out cloth that was greenish and bluish! I know Tish’s favorite color is orange, so I chose an orange fabric for her. Ahh I am so excited!

I met up with my host sister at the bike shop and we walked around town for fun! We went home and packed for our Arusha trip!

Second day at the peer group training camp! July 25, 2007

Tish was supposed to come today, but she couldn’t make it! But she’ll come tomorrow.

I met with Abdullah this morning to work on some product photos, and we left for CCBRT to do some wheelchair work! A wheelchair needed fixing, and a few new KASI members needed to get measured for their new wheelchairs! I got a chance to talk with the KASI officers, and was just so impressed by the success of this organization!

I also got a chance to interview some KASI members as well, and they all gave glowing reviews of the KCMC wheelchairs. Some of the attendees getting new wheelchairs currently have been using old wheelchairs you see at hospitals. Those chairs often limit the users to indoor use, and consequently, these wheelchair users do not travel outside of their home.

It’s really depressing because we often take for granted that we can go outside of our house whenever I want. While there are those here who can’t afford to get a nice wheelchair from KCMC, would have to suffer and be stuck at home all the time because the wheels doesn’t allow them to go around the roads of East Africa.

I had a really good lunch at CCBRT, and I will miss Tanzanian food so much! Abdullah and Fatuma (I think that’s how you spell her name) had to make a trip to town to buy some stuff for camp (medicine, some electronics, and some other stuffs). I went with them to figure out where the local pharmacy was. We had to buy some cipro for a participant at camp, and 10 cipro pills were 1000 Tsh, and no prescription was needed either. There were a ton of other kinds of medicine there too. If cipro was so cheap here, why is medicine so expensive in America?

Tonight Sarah and I are going to get more casava and have dinner at her aunts! I should get ready to go. She just got back from the mosque!

A day at the KASI peer group training camp!

(this post is for July 24th, 2007)

Another early day, and I am ready for another day ahead of me! I wasn’t really so sure what to expect from the KASI training camp, so I was a bit anxious about today.

I met up with Abdullah at KCMC, and we headed to the Kilimanjaro rehabilitation centre, Comprehensive Community Based Rehabilitation in Tanzania (CCBRT), a few km just outside of town centre.

When we arrived, they had already started their first group meeting, and Abdullah and I introduced ourselves to the participants. I gave a brief intro about what I was doing, but I wasn’t so sure if any of them understood me. It was another moment where I really wished I knew more swahili.

We left the group area for tea time, and I had a brief meeting with Joyce Mayalla, who is the director of this branch of CCBRT in Moshi. I found out a lot more about the current outreach efforts, and I am very impressed by the programs that are running here in the status quo. She was a wonderful lady, and I would like to work with her sometime in the future.

I sat through the grand opening of the camp, and it was interesting! I took a ton of pictures for them. A government official visited as well, and I hope that something good would come out of this at the government level. I hope that KASI will get the funding to run this again next year.

After that, we had lunch at the canteen on the campus of CCBRT. It was so yummy! I met Suki, who is a young lady from Mwenza. I adore her! I exchanged emails with her, and definitely hope to keep in touch with her. She is such a a smart, independent young woman, and certainly someome for younger girls to look up to. She has so much courage in her eyes.

Abdullah gave me a ride to the bike shop that my host family runs! Sarah and I stayed at the shop and closed it down around 4:00pm. We drank a pepsi and ate peanuts! Wehn we were there, we were hassled by con artists asking for donations, and some drunk guy who demanded money. Sarah and I were a little freaked out.

Sarah and I didn’t have our keys, and host mommy was at the mosque! So we wandered around town for a while. We really had to pee, so we stopped by Sarah’s aunt’s house to use the restroom, and talked for a little bit. Sarah’s aunt has a parrot! It’s gray with a red tail. But when I was there, it really didn’t want to talk to me, so it was pretty quiet.

We then walked around a little bit more and met with Sarah’s Friend, Hussein, who works next door at Parkview Inn. He called Sarah’s mom, and his mom to figure out if they were at the mosque still. We sat around for a little bit, and decided that we shouldn’t bother Hussein at work anymore. So we left to go back to town, and met Sarah’s best friend!

We went to eat casava! Oh my god it was so good! It’s a local specialty, and I can’t believe I just got a chance to try it now. Casava is this root that’s is like a potato. I think I have had it in my Terra chips. It was served cooked with some spices and salad on top. Oh man it was delicious! I will have to go again before I leave.

When we were heading back home, Hussein saw us and gave us a ride back to home. I bought more sugarcane! I swear I’d have diabetes if I lived here…

I will miss this place when I leave…

Learning to cook local tanzanian food! July 24, 2007

(updated this post on the 24th… but this post is actually about the 19th…) 

The internet has been flaking out so much, so sorry for not being as quick about blogging as I used to be… But I am catching up for it now.

The day in Arusha and being locked out was very tiring. Even though I was really tired, I haven’t been able to sleep very well. For the past week, I have been waking up at 4am or 5am and I am not sure why. I can usually fall back asleep, but I really don’t know what’s waking me up. Perhaps it’s the roosters. I finally folled out of bed around 7am to get back to work on the KCMC stuff.

Today we are returning to Moshi Village! Tish and Christina would be coming from Arusha, and we would be heading to KCMC on the daladal together from Moshi town. It usually takes about an hour and a half to get here from Arusha, so when they left around 8am, they arrived around 9:30. Christina is officially moving to Moshi to stay with me at the host family’s house, so we went to drop off her luggage, and we went back to the bus terminal to go to KCMC.

After another cramped daladala ride later, we arrived at KCMC! Christina was intrigued about Moshi, but honestly the town is quite boring, and the scenery is certainly not as good as Arusha. We stopped by the KCMC store to get some drinks, and I got this really cute can of soda called Rubicon! It was a sparkling mango flavored soda. The name Rubicon totally reminded me of my little sister, and I wish she was here! The soda is really good too! I think my little sister would’ve liked it. It also came in guava, I should try that as well. Christina bought some popcorn, but she didn’t like it very much.

We got to the workshop, and Abdullah was at TATCOT, so we waited for little bit for Abdullah to get back, and introduced Christina to the staff at KCMC Wheelchair Workshop. Abdullah finally arrived, and we took off in his car to head to the village to visit Peter again! Abdullah likes his bass really loud in the car, and its really hard for us to hear the music in the back seat. But we talked about music and 10kms later, we arrived at Peter’s house.

Peter was so happy to see us! We did another interview, and we were also joined by kids from the school right by Peter’s house. Christina gave them popcorn, and they all kindly shared with each other.

We had an interview with Peter, and he gave us wonderful feedback on the mechanisms of the new design that Tish and Wenxian had worked on. He said that there were a few stability issues, and would like for the parts to be manufactured better for safety. But overall, he was very happy with the design, and would like to have it on his chair! He said that this chair would make it easier for him to get on the daladala, and was very simple to use. He tells us that he needed no help to fold the 3rd wheel on his chair.

Peter also gave us feedback on the KCMC wheelchair design, and said that the arm rests were a bit too high, and makes it hard for someone to bend over on the sides.

Christina was interested to know what kind of things Peter does for a living. He tells us that he repairs kitchenware, umbrellas, and radios! Christina also asked what Peter would like to change about Tanzania. Peter answered and said that he would like Tanzania to have a better economy. He explained that it is hard to give his ideas in society, because the opportunities aren’t given to him, especially when he is disabled (not sure if I am making any sense here trying to explain this…). So he was very happy that we had come to him for input on this wheelchair, and to be able to contribute! He would like to see more job opportunities created for the disabled.

Abdullah added that the group job training KASI once did wasn’t too successful, but he believes that individual job training would be nice if they can have a small business at their home, such as repairing electronics and radios. That really interested me because I would love to come bakc and give Peter a set of tools so that he can ake a living from his own home. When we went to Peter’s hosue down the small road, he showed us this metal stick that he uses to fix radio. It’s just a metal stick with a somewhat shape end. I am really not so sure how he uses it to fix anything. I wish I had my pliers with me so that I could give it to him!

I would really like to come back some time and think of ways to help these individuals with vocational training and materials to help them run a small business at home. Actually, sometimes people don’t need vocational training, because they are often self taught! But it would be nice oif I could help them set up a small shop and work area in their home, a work table and a set of tools for example, would make a huge difference in their lives.

Our visit with Peter was over, and it was very sad to say goodbye. He was such a cool guy, and he is definitely on the top of the list of peopel to talk to for feedback the next time our class visits Tanzania!

And it was time to visit Abdullah’s house! Abdullah had invited us to his house to learn how to cook Tanzanian food. This was very important because Tish is now dating an Tanzanian, and she doesn’t know how to cook! After a short drive from KCMC, we arrived at Abdullah’s house! Oh it was such a beautiful house, and of course, we were greeted by the oh-so-wonderful Fatima, Abdullah’s wife! She gae us a changa (a traditional Tanzanian wrap around the waist for women) to wear so that we would be just like Tanzanian women!

Abdullah’s house has a beautiful lot! He has a ton of chickens and chicks! I couldnt’ resist but to take a picture of the chickens. I told him that I used to have two chickens in Seattle, and they were all in shock! The chicks really reminded me of my chickens. Abdullah’s lot also grew bananas and corn! It’s kind of like my yard at home, except my father  grows fruit trees and onions and potatoes! Abdullah tells us that he can see Mt. Kilimanjaro from his house, but the clouds are covering it again.

We were invited to some mango + passion fruit juice (oh it was so yummy!), and we started to prepare the raw ingredients for the food! Abdullah joked around and said that we were his four wives (Fatima, Tish, Christina, and me). Tish prepared tomato sauce. Christina prepared carrots. I prepared chopped cabbage. Tish also learned how to prepare coconut milk! We used shredded coconuts, and she had to squeeze out the milk!

Fatima was a wonderful cooking teacher, and taught all of us how to make the food. We had this dish with meat and collards, and another dish with cabbage, carrots and meat. We also made ugali (maize flour dough like mass).

After the food was done, we were invited to go into Abdullah’s house (we were cooking outside of the house on coal stoves). His house is a very cute place. I would definitely live in a house like Abdullah’s. Abdullah taught us how to eat it like Tanzanians — with bare hands!

(Host mother needs to use the computer… to be continued, as I need to type this up from my laptop to this computer… so glad to be finally catching up on blogging!)

—— Finishing up this post ——-

So to eat the food, you are supposed to take the ugali and make it into a ball, and use it to scoop up some of the other food on the plat. we were offered so much food!!! All of us stuffed ourselves with this food, and I wanted to play around with my food to make it more fun to eat. Makeing the little balls of ugali really reminded me of sushi and I made a bunch of little balls, and put the veggies on top. They actually looked very cute! Christina took a picture of my Tanzanian sushi! Tish saw them and couldn’t stop laughing. I think tha the food must’ve drugged her, she couldn’t stop laughing at my Asian fusion ugali!

We were so full, and stayed at Abdullah’s hosue for a little to let the food digest. I almost wanted to throw up since I ate so much, and the ugali was certainly expanding in my stomach. So I walked around the house for a little, and definitely felt much better. Fatima insisted that Tish should have a small rest on the guest bed since we were so full! I dont’ know how Abdullah and Samson does it, their ugali was like 3 times larger than ours! We sat around for a little bit and watched EATV (which is like MTV for East Africa). A ton of American Hip Hop music videos came on, and also there were music videos of East African music (like bongo flavor and stuff). There was also this TV program on that channel where people post their interests and their personal profile on TV. It was sort of weird…

Oh, and Tish asked for wedding pictures of Abdullah and Fatima! Fatima found the pictures and we all checked out pictures of them when they were younger! Tish and I both agreed that he kind of looked like Taye Diggs (when Abdullah was younger and much skinnier). Now I think Fatima has spoiled him with too much of her wonderful cooking!

Time was 4:30pm, and it was time to leave Abdullah’s house so that we can get Tish back to Arusha by nightfall. I am going to miss Fatima, she is so sweet. Abdullah dropped us back off in town, and we returned home. I did even more work when I got home, since we don’t have a car to go out at night. We were so full from the food we didn’t even eat dinner. Christina and I discovered that we have very similar eating habits! We are both the type that love to eat when we are bored, even when we aren’t hungry! So we snacked on some oranges and they were really yummy!

We were exhausted, and called it a night around midnight.

Nichukulie mimi kama nilivyo July 17, 2007

I learned a really neat phrase today! So it deserved to be the title of today’s post! So here is the story behind the phrase.

Today at the workshop, we played Abdullah’s Hip Hop / R&B collection on his laptop. Mary J. Blige’s song, “Take me as I am” came on, and the translation of that phrase to Swahili is today’s blog post title!

I asked around what people like among the American artists, and they listed: Ja Rule, “Snoopy” (hehe, I am pretty sure he meant Snoop Dog), Eminem, Dr. Dre, Chamillionnaire…

On the note about American stuff, people here seem to love pretzels (the dry sticks with salt), so if you ever travel to Tanzania, and want to bring them some american food, bring a big bag of pretzels! It seems to match their palette for food.

—-

It was back to work time at KCMC, because there is still a ton of work to be done. This morning, I finally put together a draft for a presentation for Abdullah. It’s got a really neat template too I hope it would impress some people when he shows it to people. We got some great photographs as well! I am glad how this presentation looks. I think that I should post the presentation here so that the rest of the world can know more about why KCMC wheelchair workshop was established, and what great work it does for the community.

Agnes, from Mobility Care, came to visit because she is in town for some family matters. Ah! She is so sweet! She tells me that she hears of me from Tish, but has never met me until today! She has even seen pictures of me from Zanzibar on Tish’s computer! Wenxian Hong, another student who did a fellowship at Mobility Care, tells me great things about her cooking. I can’t wait to try it tomorrow! Tomorrow’s trip to Arusha will be a ton of fun! I have never been to Arusha… So it should be very interesting People here tells me that it’s like a small city there!

If you haven’t noticed already, Moshi is a very small town, and there isn’t much to do here…

I almost forgot to mention, Abdullah bought a newspaper thing yesterday on the way to town, and I asked him what’s going on in the world, he chuckled, “ha! I don’t know how to call this newspaper in English, but it’s about stars and stuff, it doesn’t talk about politics!” I let him know that it’s called “tabloids” — so I guess Tanzanians love to read tabloids too.

Abdullah decided to cut the day short, so we returned to town around 1pm. I was always interested in what people like to do on their free time, and Abdallah (Abdullah’s staff member), said that he likes to watch Nigerian movies. So I asked if Abdullah likes to watch Nigerian movies as well. Abdullah said, “no! Nigerian movies are always talking about Jesus, and being reborn and stuff, I have been born once, I don’t need to reborn!” He finds it so funny to make fun of religions.

Abdullah (he is muslim), then started talking about his religious views. He explained that he believes in God, but he thinks it’s crazy how some people takes things literally and believe blindly in any religion. He says he even challenges his own religion’s teachings. He mentioned that it’s crazy how there is Jihad among the muslim faith, and it’s crazy how anyone would think that killing other people would earn their way to heaven. He recommended two books for me to read, I think it’s “God’s Words” and “The Afghan”. I wish I had more time to read.

We got back to town, and Abdallah came to town with us because he had to go pay for the water bill. He showed me the bill, and it was around 9,000 Tshillings. He said that the house has 5 families living in it, and that’s how much they pay a month for water. He said it’s very expensive!

When I got home, Anna was cleaning the kitchen and cooking food with coal It’s so interesting that everyone her cooks with coal! I think cooking with coal makes food tastes better. Not sure why

I was using my phrase book, and had a conversation with her in Swahili. She was very patient with me, and I learned more about her and her family. She is a widow with 3 kids! They are all teenagers. I wonder how much my host family pays her to be the maid. She is such a sweet lady, and so caring and always watching out for me! I hope she enjoyed the conversation with me in Swahili as much as I did!

Next time when I see her, I’ll have to show her pictures of my family. I just asked my little sister to send me some recent pictures, I will have them soon.

It’s time to go back to work More stuff to do on the computer!

Working my butt off! July 16, 2007

I only have two more weeks here in Moshi… it’s crunch time! I am trying to get as much done as possible, and these two weeks will be really busy!

This morning on my way to the KCMC Wheelchair Workshop, I met Mahoo, who works at the KCM College. He tells me that he has a computer science background, and was interested in what I was doing at KCMC. I told him my educational background, and we exchanged emails. I hope that he would be able to volunteer his time to help the KCMC Wheelchair Workshop in the future. He sent me his CV, and it turns out he has a systems adminstrator background! I am not really so sure if the project would need any of that kind of work. But I would be happy to have him meet Abdullah, so that if Abdullah has any computer issues, Mahoo can help him out.

I brought my mp3 player today (my lovely present from Andrew a couple years back) so that I can let the KCMC staff know what kind of music I listen to. I wish I had a pair of speakers with me. They really liked the electronic music! They were all amused that I had a portable music player, and asked how much it costs to have one. I told them that a decent one would cost around $130-150 dollars. To us, that’s a pretty reasonable price, but to them, this is luxury!

Samson really liked the mp3 player, and was flipping through songs. He stopped on “Girlfriend” by Avril Lavigne (my lil sister sent that song to me), and said, “I know this song!” He started dancing and was trying to sing along I have to admit, I really like to the song too

Abdullah and I spent all day working on the Marketing Analysis portion of the business plan. Competition is getting tough for these wheelchair workshops in East Africa, and KCMC Wheelchair workshop is in need of new facilities and more staff to produce more wheelchairs. But I think that one of the most important issues with these wheelchairs is the cost. No one here in East Africa can afford them. If most people here earn under a dollar per day, it is hard for ANYONE to be able to afford mobility aids. And if they are disabled, it’s even harder for them to get any income. I really need to figure out a good way for people to get these wheelchairs. I should look into an online donation system when I get back to Boston.

After a few hours of typing away at the laptop, I am 90% done with my marketing guide for wheelchair workshops! I should be able to finish that tonight, and hopefully it would help other workshops make their marketing decisions.

Before we knew it, it was 3pm, and Abdullah and I headed back to Moshi town. On the way back, we’d always pass by these huge beautiful houses with guarded gates. I asked Abdullah how much that house would cost, and he said “a lot, about $150 to $200 million Tshillings.” He added, “it’s cheaper to build your own house though.” Good to know, but I highly doubt that I would actually live in Tanzania in the future. Don’t get me wrong, I love it here, it’s just not a place for me to live in for long periods of time.

We got back to town, and I went to go to this store called the “Radio Specialists” to buy some Energizer batteries so that I can take some beautiful photographs this weekend on the Safari trip. I think I would need to buy some more in case I run out of batteries on my camera while I am on the trip. It was kind of expensive though, 8000 TShillings for 6 batteries, and they were the “buy 4 get 2 free” packs, and they were just selling them as normal 6 packs… it’s such a rip off. I also finally ran out of T shillings, and had to exchange more money. Today the rate was $1->1240Tsh. I spent most of my T shillings in Zanzibar, and also buying a sh*t load of souvenirs last week!

I bought my small bag of sugarcane and went home. Anna greeted me and made me a huuuuuuge lunch again! I really like the ugali and the way she makes the cabbage. The cooked cabbage is cooked with a lil oil and curry powder I think. It’s really yummy. She cut up some avocados for me too. I am getting so fat!

—-

Earlier this weekend, I decided to spam everyone I know to let them know of my blog, and Prof. Hal Abelson was one of the people I emailed He tells me he is in Seattle now, ahh! I miss Seattle! I can’t wait to go back! He also tells me that he told Prof Eric Grimson (he is the head of the EECS dept at MIT), about my blog to let him know what great things course 6 students are doing!!! I am quite flattered. I have asked Sally why there aren’t that many course 6ers doing international development work. It would be so cool if we can take all this cool technology to the developed world.

I wonder if it has to do with the fact that course 6ers are afraid that they would die without internet and computers? Lucky me, my host family has dialup internet at home (not everyone in town actually has it either, my host brother told, Hussein, me that this house was one of the first few houses to have internet)….

I am so full still.. and it’s been 3 hours since I ate my lunch. It’s time to get back to work!

Avocados in lieu of margarine or cream cheese

…makes one kick ass sandwich

That’s what I am having for breakfast! I didn’t sleep too well last night, kept on waking up for some reason.

I am going to miss the avocado tree at the house….

—-

The  ice cream bar was really good! Oh! And Tutti Fruity just means fake fruit flavouring

How sweet :) July 15, 2007

The upstairs neighbor just gave me an ice cream bar She came to check to make sure I am okay, and that I am not bored

Mmm this ice cream bar is called “Cool Bar 50-50 Vanilla and Tuttifruity”. What the heck is Tuttifruity?

At the Primary School for Deaf Children Today

Mmm the avocados here are so good. I just got home from volunteering today. Anna made me yet another wonderful (and huge) lunch. The menu included:

• tea
• juice
• avocados
• ginger bread cutlets
• bread
• yellow rice with spices
• tomato/onions/cucumber salad

I am so full. More than 1/2 the food is still uneaten… I wish I could eat it all!!

I woke up early this morning to get some work done, and I was picked up at 9:30 to go to JC Electronics in Moshi town to meet with others. The president of the Leos club (the youth club of Lion’s Int’l) picked me up in this huge van, and we stopped at an apartment by JC Electronics. We waited around for a while for club members to show up. I introduced myself to others in the youth club (other people were mostly 15-19 years old, I feel so old…), they were very friendly. I wish I speak Swahili though, that way I could actually talk with them more. Some of the kids here have the ipod nanos, and phones that play music, that’s all they were doing.. hovering over each other and listening to songs together. It’s crazy how music is such a universal language. If I see these people again, I should bring my mp3 player so that they can hear what music I like to listen to.

The building that I waited at has a kitty, it was very cute. I miss my cats! Cats here are so small though, my cats are soooooo big…

Around 10am, we left to get breakfast. I finally got to try chipsi mayai! So, chipsi mayai is this pancake that is made out of fries and eggs. It was a interesting combo, and very delicious with ketchup! I swear this place is going to get me so fat with all this food!

Over breakfast, I was interested in knowing what kids my age like to do, and they mostly said that there isn’t much that goes on in Moshi, but there is a bit of partying going on in Arusha (Arusha-Moshi is about an hour apart). One guy was wondering if I like tequila, and he tells me that he loves lining up a series of shots and do them with lime and salt! I guess partying with tequila is also universal!
My friends and I have been wondering what Konyagi is, but they said they have no idea, and perhaps a friend of theirs might know. I’ll have to figure it out before I leave town.

After breakfast, all of us (about 15 people) left town. We had to get off so that the guy can switch to some other car (from a van to a car they use for safaris) We got back on the car, and took a road to head to the primary school for deaf children. The road was pretty bad, and taking a seat in the back row wasn’t the best idea. When the guy drove through huge bumps in the road quickly, the 4 of us in the back were completely thrown out of the seat! It was an interesting ride… One guy couldn’t fit in either cars, and had to sit in the back of the pick up truck.. poor guy, he must’ve been eating so much dust!

A short, bumpy ride later, we arrived at the school. The school was away from town. I have heard that people here generally try to avoid people with disabilities because they believe that they had been cursed. I was glad to know there is a sanctuary for these kids to receive an education. The school had a court yard, a kitchen, a building for the computer lab, a couple dormitories, and a few classrooms. The computer lab had about 15 computers, and we started swapping them out with new computers that the Lion’s Club have brought to the school.

The “new” computers were old Dell GX110′s, and a bunch of 17″ inch CRT monitors. The computer lab also received new mice and keyboards. The computers were running Windows 2000 NT Professional I noticed that the old computers had “KLM” on it, perhaps the old ones were from the airline.
While one of the guys installed some new software, all the others went outside to wait. We saw the group of students waiting in front of the dormitories and were so excited to have new computers! Two other girls and I went to talk with the teacher at the school, so that we can find out more about what goes on here at the school.

The teacher tells us that primary school takes about 10 years for students here to finish, whereas normally, students would finish primary school in 6-7 years. Subjects taught was history, civics, geography, etc. There were a total of 2 teachers. The age of students at the school ranged from 7 to 21 years old, and there are currently 66 students.

I asked what they would usually do on the computer. Since they don’t have internet connection, what they usually did was to use MSPaint to draw pictures and make sentences in a text editor. I wish that I had some games to install for these kids to play with!

Seeing the smiles on these children’s faces was really touching. I hope the $100 laptop really takes off so that children around the world can have the joys of a computer! I have really taken technology as granted, and I wish I could take this technology to more people.

I was wondering how I can communicate with these children, and the teach said that there is no formal teaching on the sign language, and it’s really just a language of their own, and she was only certified only to know how to deal with children with hearing disabilities. All the visitors who come to visit receive a unique gesture as their name, and I got the name of gesturing for the glasses I wear!

The children were so adorable. The computers were all set, and we left to head back to town.

Hummm back to work on KCMC stuff

Lazy Saturday July 14, 2007

Well today isn’t so lazy, but being in Africa makes me feel really lazy since not much happens here. Life is much slower and simple.

I woke up this morning at 7am to say bye to my host family as they leave for Dar es Salaam for a few days. The maid, Anna, is here to keep me company. She is the sweetest lady When I am done with this trip, I am going to be giving her my cellphone so that she can have one. My host sister told me that she had bought a cheap phone, only to find out that it didn’t work.

Anyhow, I just wanted to blog a little about my short Saturday. This morning I got to talk to Andrew and my family I was very happy, and that made my day! I was glad to know Andrew is doing well, and was happy to be sharing my experience with my little sister, Ruby. I hope to take them to Tanzania, to let them see what Tanzania is like. I think my parents have a mis conception of what Africa is like though, and my mom doesn’t really want to go.

Today was the day where I teach a few people on how to make a website! We had our meeting today at the KASI office at the YWCA. Mr. Aidan Shayo is an accountant for (Kilimanjaro Association for Spinal-cord Injuries) KASI, and talked with me about the current financial situation for KASI.

One thing I have to mention is how much sugar Tanzanians like to put in their tea and coffee. We aren’t talking about a few teaspoons, they put heaps of TABLESPOONS of sugar in a small cup of coffee and tea!!!

Anyways, about the financial situation for KASI, Mr. Aidan Shayo tells me that MOTIVATION UK had initially found a sponsor to get the organization started and running for 3 years. This is now the 4th year, and they are in need of another donor to keep KASI running. In case anyone is interested, for each month, it costs:

$100 for rent at the YWCA office
$40 for electricity
$30 for water
$85 for internet
And this doesn’t even include the wage for those who work at KASI…

Right now, KASI is starting to run out of money to keep the business running, and they hope to find another donor who may be interested in helping them. I will be out volunteering with a Lion’s Club youth community service group tomorrow, perhaps I can connect them with KASI, so that perhaps they can start a project with them.

A note about KASI–the organization actually organizes a financing community to help the disabled to get a wheelchair by covering the cost. Mr. Shayo says it’s often easier to find someone to donate for the cost of the wheelchair, but not often would they find someone to help with the administrative costs of running the organization.

After the chat at the YWCA canteen, we proceeded to the KASI office to start our tutorial on how to make a Website.

Abdullah says he would like to make a personal website, so that he can learn how to make a website, and then he can go to his boss to work on a KCMC Wheelchair Workshop website. In a matter of 30-45 minutes, Abdullah made his first website!

Abdullah’s Website http://abdullahonwheels.googlepages.com (check it out to see what great things he has done for the disabled in Africa)

After a couple more hours, Abdullah finished the web site, and he was so amazed how easy it was to make a web site (we used googlepages) We did run into a few bugs on googlepages , but overall, the tutorial went smoothly. Abdullah said “I am on air! Ha! I have a web site!” Mr. Shayo had the great idea of having Abdullah put the URL on his car, so that people can see it when he drives around!

During the tutorial, we were joined by Dr. Henry Nyamubi–the director of KASI. He is a very sweet guy, and I remember Tish mentioned him once. We were hoping to see him on Thursday, but he was actually out sick with malaria.

I agreed with Mr. Shayo that I’ll teach him how to make a web site for KASI at the peer group training camp that starts on the 23rd of July. I hope that KASI will have a web site soon.

In any case, I was glad today was a success, and I must do more work on the business plan and presentation for KCMC today and tomorrow.

I came home from the YWCA, and Anna, the maid, made me ugali and this spicy cabbage dish! It was so delicious! Ugali is a stable food in East Africa. It is like mashed potatoes, but imagine a starchy rice consistency instead! The cabbage was so good too! I need to learn how to make ugali and kabachi. She has prepared food for dinner as well, and let me know where she had put it aside for me. She is so awesome. I used the Swahili phrase book to let her know how good it tasted and how much I enjoy local cuisine!

Time to take a 20 min nap, and it’s time to get back to work!

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Almost forgot to say, I saw Mt. Kilimanjaro today!!!! Today was finally not too cloudy. I can’t wait to go climb Mt. Kilimanjaro! The mountain is so beautiful!