ngirilover: Week One Moshi--Two fabulous experiences in one week!

I start with the end of the blog. Here is a tribute to my Great Neice Lisa and my step-daughter Julia who "laboured" long and hard to bring beautiful babies into the world within the last 5 months. These posters were at a health dispensary in Machame where we may have Duke students working in the summer. Basically it is asking people to be quite (I suppose so that the mothers can scream or somethig) but giving times when there is likely to be an expectant mom or two inside. So Hongera sana to Julia and Lisa for bringing into the world their beautiful babies. And thanks to their husbands Charles and Matt for being the team players, coaches and hands!

This week started with a "hash". The location was Shimbwe which is at the top of one of the mountains on the side of Kilimanjaro (sort of one of the base camps) Our dear friend Simon Mtuy had selected it because he had brought a group of his "runners around the mountain" who plant trees and meet local people to this site. They thought it was beautiful and we did, too.

This was the 300th hash, and most of the credit has to go to Greg Emmanuel who has nagged and pleaded with people to take their chore of being the hare seriously and sign up! Running on this hash was pretty difficult as it was very much up and down, and the down was narrow and treacherous. Because some children had thoroughly brushed some of the flour away in the beginning of the run, we were stopped from getting very far until we decided just to press ahead. We eventually did pick up the flour and what happened from there was great. Shimbwe is hard to get to by car...4 wheel drive only and even then 4 wheel low! But the vistas are spectacular and there was no exception last Sunday.


Greg Simon Nikoli Marco Joris set the hash and each had a job

About half of the hashers wondering where to go

We now had found the flour and the we were on our way

This way down was treacherous.

As we walked down this pathway, my friend in front of me had his left foot just go through the dirt and he completely started going down. He grabbed a root to hold on while getting his footing and pulling himself back. It would have been a long roll down. And water and rocks at the bottom.

Terrie Elsa and friend are glad to be back

Trish and Kirsten, the wazees plan to be around for the 600th

Greg Fons and John are happy!

Elsa and Nikoli enjoy the food (Nikoli has grown up!)

At the end of the hash, everyone arrived, not hurt, lost or too sore, the beer was cold, the food provided by Simon and his team was delicious and we all had a chance to catch up and renew old friendships, meet new people.

Greg, perhaps well lubricated, gave a 30 minute summation of 600 hundred hashes. As the "videographer" I can tell you that his sheets of paper had scribbles sideways, upside down and all around, some with a box drawn around them, some with stars...but the yarns of our years together were pretty wonderful. We were taken through people who have long gone, some hashes that were thought out well but wound up being much harder because of the rain that comes and washes away everything, including foot holds. So, there were names that some people did not know, but that at least as Greg spoke them, there were a few who cheered. We all were sad that Bob from Machame was not there as he has probably hared more hashes than anyone else. "On On"

The next great experience was going with my friend and colleague Vera to Machame to visit a potential site for our Duke Students to work in the summer. It was utterly magical. We meet our Mama Mwasha, an amazing woman who clearly knows such a wealth of information that I am not sure I could retain half of it. She has every sustainable project that can be thought of and ways to accomplish them. She knows everyone in the community and has helped many of them. And they in return help back. I am so excited about this area and all the things that have been going on there.

Mama M's home

The home is beautiful, and a short walk down the hill leads to many of the sustainable projects.

One of the many trucks taking cow food up the hill.

Water irrigation ditches.

There is plenty of water in Machame and it all comes from springs. (side of Kilimanjaro) But it needs to be harnessed in ditches so that it can sustain the farmers, the cow, goat, chicken and pork farmers and the regular people. It is reasonably clean and not much preparation has to be done to wash with it and cook with it.

The road to the sustainable training area

Mama Mwasha with her water purifier.

Just in back of this picture, you see a giant water cistern that is made with concrete and wire, very tough and can capture all the water a family would need.

VIP pit latrine

This pit latrine has an exhaust concrete pipe that comes out and is covered with netting. The flies go in the bottom of the latrine and come up into the pipe. They then get caught at the top and go down and back up the pipe (because there is light at the top) until they die, so the nickname is the "funeral for flies".

The local healer

This is a picture of a wonderful mama who is also the local healer. She is probably 80. She in money is very poor, but in spirit her wealth surrounds us. She came back from the field with her cow's food, very heavy carrying on her head. She has demonstrated how to save water and how to build a good pit latrine to other villagers who receive the materials for free, and all find ways to get the job done.

taking the beans to smash and mix a potion

I had been very worried about my banana mama and her leg ulcers for some years. I asked this wonderful lady about them and she quickly got different things explained exactly how you make the mixture, how long it needs to stay on, and how you will know when the legs need more or are better. Mama Mwasha's sister translated for us.

Here she is mixing the treatment

I was glad to purchase medicine for one leg, and cannot wait until I see my Banana Mama to explain how it should be applied. I hope it works. This lady was so impressive. She has never worn shoes and can run faster than any of us at her home that day. Has many projects and hires herself out for day labor to purchase the things that she needs. She also put her own two children through school!

butcher selecting best cuts of beef (fresh from the morning) for Vera

We also went to the dairy cooperative for women. This cooperative also has a bank for the women that is like a credit union. They do not have to pay the high fees at other banks for either loans or deposits, and the money stays safe from any problem members of the family who might want to take it for alcohol or drugs. These women were terrific, and all the profits go to support school fees for the poorest members of the cooperative.

I bought one of those rounds, cannot wait to eat it.

Milk cans in the cooler after being boiled

But we were not yet done. We headed off to the Health Center to see what students might do there!
(Don't forget the Labor ward!)

The grounds of the Kisiti Healh Dispensary

The star of the day is Vera on the left

The very nice AMO Dr. Josephina had been working here for the past 4 years even though she comes from far, from the Lake region. Vera greeted her in Kimachame and she answered and they even spoke together a bit. So Vera was very very happy with this doctor. I just want to say that our project could not survive without Vera. She is amazing!

So, sadly we had to leave the mountain and return home. But, I found my wonderful flowers waiting, my plants that have grown like weeds, and the joy that surrounds A-5. My little African grandchild Jonathon is growing, smiling, has two teeth, my African granddaughter Anjela is taller than I, speaks quite good English now, and when I said, "oh please go back to being small" she said, "Oh no, mama Trish, I want to reach for the stars, and I will. And she will!" So I will post my smelly wonderful plant, my strange candelabra tree (that was only about a foot tall when I bought it in 2007) my amazing palm and my sweet amaryllis (sweet adieu).