Shall we elect to go?

Wifey and I want to do a trip somewhere in August. Both of us are interested in seeing Rwanda, because of its recent history, beautiful geography and (I've heard) welcoming people. Plus I want a gorilla skin rug. However, there is an election in Rwanda on August 9th. Elections in Africa can sometimes turn out to be a bit more...spirited than those in New Zealand. Thus far (as reported in another blog entry) there have been at least 2 random grenade attacks in Kigali, possibly linked to the upcoming election. According to the press, in advance of the election the Rwandan government is cracking down on freedom of the press, opposition parties (with arrests and possibly one beating) and the atmosphere seems a bit tense.

The converse is the average tourist may not interact with any of that stuff, especially if they are off in National Parks or whatever. Do you let isolated incidents keep you at home or not? Wifey and I have been having a lot of discussions.

NB-No parents need to panickedly respond in email to this entry. Wife and I are trained professionals, we'll make a considered call. That GS rug will really tie the room together.

Not the most uplifting blog entry...

Friday, two staff and I headed out to the Keni ward (near the border with Kenya) to check up on a 12/13 year old girl with HIV/AIDS that was apparently in a bad way.

We had no driver for a four wheel drive available so we chanced it in a sedan, while fearfully keeping an eye on the dark clouds ahead. The roads out there are bad and being trapped in a rained out road would not be the coolest way to spend a weekend. We met the girl and her grandparents and listened to their story. The grandparents have lost almost all their children to HIV/AIDS...graves are within view of the shack they live in.



Two elderly people having to care for a grandaughter with HIV/AIDS as well as try to subsist in a very poor area. They are doing their best in the circumstances and seemed to want the best for their grand daughter. Our organisation has given the family some livestock and is committed to keeping in regular touch. We passed them some supplies and had a village leader met up with us that day too and he is going to try to get the girl back into the local school. So a start.



I felt a bit guilty as we drove off, taking me back to the relative comfort of the office. When people say 'You don't know how lucky you are'...well I think I have a better idea now.

Scaling back

I've just learnt that the budget to the NZ African volunteer programs is being reduced, in order to increase focus on Asia/Pacific development. While people already in the field are not affected, at least 5 people due to go to Tanzania and South Africa have had to be told they have been deselected due to budgetary reasons. Imagine getting that phone call.

I can totally rationalise a decision to focus NZ aid money on its immediate neighbourhood/trading partners. Why spend taxpayer money sending people to the other end of the world when it could be more cost effective to spend that money on NZ issues or in regions closer to home. I get it. I'm pretty apreciative of this opportunity I have.

I do have a nagging concern though...leaving aside the unique experience you can bring back from Africa to NZ, if development at its core is about alleviating need, where is the greatest need on this Earth? I have a non-evidence based gut feeling that more so than the Pacific it is Africa that faces the greater totality of human cost from poverty, disease, climate change, globalisation and other structural concerns. But I might be wrong.

I'm just thankful wifey and I came when we did. Something about hot irons and striking them. Life, like getting a perfect score in Singstar is all about timing.

The war on AIDS does not go well

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/10/world/africa/10aids.html?pagewanted=1

Now with extra helping of Manfred's two cents!
HIV/AIDS is an expensive illness to treat.

All I can say from my perspective is that prevention/treatment of HIV/AIDS must have regard to the ecological factors that influence positively or negatively the quality of life of any person affected by HIV/AIDS. These factors include gender (In sub-Saharan Africa, 57 percent of infected adults are women), the level of stigma a person faces in their community or not, legal protections, a person's economic independence etc. Even something nebulous like a person's self esteem is an important factor as to how they will respond to treatment.

So yes, not cheap to deal with all those related matters.

Due to all the agravating factors, HIV/AIDS demands a comprehensive response. A significant challenge to countries that may be impoverished (with a temptation to passively rely on donor funding), lacking in education and even not overly democratic in a real sense. I hope donors continue to support measures that treat HIV/AIDS in a transparent, holistic, sustainable way.

But as said, Im not expert.

When Love and Hate Collide

Had the first really unpleasant encounter with a street seller (which up to now have just been only annoying). I had been in Arusha Saturday meeting the other volunteers, as well as getting a package from my sister, so Sunday was having some quality hang time with Franatee. Had a nice lunch and then decided to go grocery shopping. As we came out of the store ladden with supplies, this little weedy guy with cloudy eyes stumbled up to me and started trying to sell me 'paintings' (they looked like colour printed scans. I kept politely refusing to buy until he decided to go for the big guns. He started telling me I was selfish, that I eat my wife's food (how did he know??), just a rich selfish greedy guy. I was like 'Excuse me??' and he kept ranting on how selfish I was. I told him in Swahili he was being unfair and that I lived in Moshi ie not a tourist but he didn't care. I told him I was volunteering but again he wasn't really interested...I think he was on something. Francoise and I by this stage were both in a 3 way yelling match about how mybaya sana 'very bad' each person was. We then made an exit in a taxi. Francoise told me her and a doctor friend had run into that guy before and he had tried the same routine. Calling a ex-pat doctor who saves malnourished infants lives daily 'selfish' is pretty...brave.

I was pretty angry. I could have taken the guy easily, he was a weedy little drugged out man, haven't been that angry for a while. But you know, the issue of what 'choices' the comparitively wealthy non-Tanzanians make in their stays here is a sensitive one.

The fact is comparatively I am filthy rich compared to 90% of the people I interact with here...but Im also trying to be a local (ie not a bank). Some visitors here hand huge sums of money to people on streets, waiters etc and from what I've heard it creates more trouble than good eg dependency, resentments in communities, expectations that all visitors to Tanzania should give giant sums of cash etc etc

I try to make choices that balance my priorities with sustainable altruism. I brooded that night on the people you can help here, those you want to help and those you make a concious choice to ignore.

Now off to eat some more of Francoise' chow.

Dar Es Salaam

(my confused look shows I have forgotten what a beach looks like)

Being the only one at work remotely working on rights/gender issues, I was asked to go to a 3 day conference in Dar Es Salaam on Gender issues in HIV/AIDS planning. Dar is one of the most populous (if not the most) cities in Tanzania. It sits on the southeast coast, and as well as being a commerical and political centre it is a stop through for tourists on their way to Zanzibar. It is congested,unsafe, smoggy and extremely humid. A functional city, as someone described it to me. It was however nice to see the ocean, coconut palms and get a more coastal vibe after being inland for a while. It was nice to see a couple of dhows (the East African sail boats) in the harbour as I went for a dusk waterfront jog/shamble. My immediate surroundings reminded me a lot of Tel Aviv ie a middle eastern type coastal metropolis.

The conference itself was useful, met a lot of interesting people, both locals and the odd refugee from Belfast of all places. Great to have a local lawyer lay out the whole local legal system for me. Needless to say some things that should be illegal are not here...

Lots of experience about the development industry to absorb. And it is an industry...great variation in the approaches to development in this country by different donors/ NGOS, but perhaps that is a subject for another time. Treated myself after the conference to an expensive, dangerous taxi ride (the driving is suicidal here...the Michael Bolton soundtrack in the taxi didn't help either) through down town Dar to the home of 'the biggest screen in East Africa' to see Iron Man 2. I saw Iron Man 1 in Cape Town in '08, now I see the Sequel in Dar '10. I wonder where in Africa I will watch Iron Man 3...

Movie was not as thrilling as seeing my taxi driver waiting for me in the dark carpark to take me back to the hotel. The poor guy waited 2 hours for me...guess it was a slow day, but Im glad he did, I didn't feel super safe loitering down town.

A nice dawn flight back to work and I'm back hanging with mke (wife). Currently house/dog sitting for some mates. Nice to have a dog again. And cable tv..

Boomtown

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/17/world/africa/17kigali.html

The third grenade attack in Rwanda since Feb? Kweli? (Truely?)

Hmm, I was hoping to do a tour in Rwanda August-ish. The same time as their presidential election...well, just have to hope the locals get all the grenade-ing out of their system before I turn up. Whenever that is. If ever.

The Turtle Hunter Diaries

Sunday, Franatee and I hooked up with a gaggle of ex-pats and their 4WDs to drive 40 minutes out of Moshi into the wild for some adventures. We looked like a UN aid convoy in our train of big white vehicles; certainly people in villages we passed seemed to love the novelty. After many stream crossings, one spin out (that us the passengers were remarkably calm during) and a long ways into the middle of nowhere, we came to a place the ex-pats call ‘meiji moto’ ie hot water. It was a hot spring of crystal clear water, teeming with fish and wonderful to swim in. Apart from the of monkeys in the trees surrounding the water hooting and throwing fruit (and other things)down at you. It was pretty relaxing. We had a dip then went for a long circuit walk/jog by river banks (saw none of the crocodiles that are rumoured to frequent them) and through villages. The kids were so friendly. The big eagle circling slowly over the chickens while the villagers shouted and waved their hands at it in anger, not so friendly.

After the exercise, it was back to the hot spring for beers and swimming (a good mix). We were told the 'rumoured crocodiles' became active after 430pm and to be careful in the water.

Then one of us gave a shout: no, not a croc, rather a couple of big grey turtles swimming under the water. You could see them pretty clearly with googles. They were pretty aggressive. They bit an American girl’s foot before I felt one take a chomp at a toe. Crikey, they bite hard. To get some payback I dove under the water and managed (while keeping my fingers) to gently grab a smaller turtle skulking by the bottom and lift him up for show. It was a great Crocodile Hunter moment complete with a cheesy faux Aussie accent. I then let the terrified little tyke back in the water.


Drove back under a nice sunset over the rural area. No complaints about that. But my toe still hurts.

Work is picking up a pace for Franatee and I. There is a lot to do in terms of policies, systems, training bla bla. She is off on village visits this week while Im
flying to Dar Es Salaam tonight for a 3 day conference on gender. I hope to see my first glimpse of the sea there in some time.

Fishing for compliments

The Mildmay Office has a demonstration fishpond out the back (to show people living with HIV/AIDS an example of an income generating activity.) We had some fun Friday afternoon at the office dragging a net through to see what was in there after 6 months. Got some medium sized fish for 'samaki na chipsi' (fish and chips.)

Froggy went a courtin'

3 days without the internet makes the internet addicted tremble. There are big net supplier problems here apparently. I needed a break from writing project plans and 'Children Protection Policies' so took a day off to head to Arusha to catch some of the UN International Criminal Court...and possibly a movie too! So left the house at 530am and jumped on a crowded bus to Arusha. It was an ok enough ride (even with the Mariah Carey music), you start to become desensitized to jostling, people crammed together like sardines and screaming arguments in Swahili. Once in Arusha grabbed a taxi to the ICC. The Court which is prosecuting the perpetrators of the '94Rwandan genocide is pretty flash (to use a kiwi-ism). I mananaged to see all of quarter of an hour of it through glass and my translating headset before it went into closed session because of protected witnesses. I'd like to pop in there again some time. Where else but the UN do I get to ride and chat in a lift with a guard with a loaded AK-47 (I so wanted to ask to hold it)

I then endured obligatory draining hassling by hawkers of junk (you always get in Arusha around the clock tower) in order to try and find a Harry Potter book as an aid for a friend's English Language class.

I then taxied out to the Cinema...to find 'The Princess and the Frog' was the only movie playing. Well...as it started at 2pm and I didnt want to leave it too late to leave Arusha and...lets be honest I didnt want to tell my new ex-pat friends what I went and saw that day, I left the theatre and bused back to Moshi.
Long day.But I bought Oreos in Arusha. That made it worth it.

Exercise, Exorcise and Prison Breaks

Francoise and I went for a jog after work which had all the features of a run in Africa:
-gasping for air
-sweating buckets
-children running alongside
-wolf whistles and cheers from groups of bystanders

I especially liked the part where mke (wife) thought we should help a group push an overloaded cart of lumber up a rise for some additional cardio..it was hard. However, I think the people appreciated the push and my attempts to say I wanted to throw up from the effort in Swahili.

Ominously, someone must have seen us out running because that night there was a furious banging on the gate. A woman (with someone else furtively hiding with her) was asking our boss (who lives in the house adjacent us) to open the gate so she could discuss 'her problems' (I assume financial) with the 'wazungu'. The boss told her to go away. Creepy. Then 5 minutes later we heard shouting and screaming next door so we knocked on the boss' door to find out what was happening. Apparently, it was a religious ceremony/exorcism. I didn't sleep very well last night...

The next day, Friday I wanted a haircut so got a ride from a guy at the office to a hair salon. The barber and I started to have heated exchanges when I asked for 'Number One all over mate'. He looked disgusted, said it would not suit my face 'Mate I been clipping my hair that way for years' I stopped arguing when he started using a straight razor at places you would not want a straight razor to twitch. Actually, my cut was not too bad in the end. The barber was nice even if he kept asking/hinting if I wanted to visit arab countries...

On the drive back to the Office, (past a crowded trial at the local courthouse of some uber violent kenyans who shot up a local bank and killed a guard)the driver said he needed to make a quick detour. He then asked if I got afraid easily. 'Er...no?' I said. Off to prison.

We drove past machine gun toting guards and guard towers into Magereza Maximum Security Prison so the driver could discuss something with the Prison Commander. I came out with him and sat meekly by as guards walked past waving their batons around. The prison has existed since colonial times and is surrounded by German style cottages (now used for the staff). The driver just laughed at me when I asked how long I would last if I started walking in the yard in my work duds and new haircut.

I hope Franatee and my dinner tonight with some friends at an Indian restaurant is less surreal than the last while has been.

And now for a word from Mke (wife)

Yippee!
I've got a big challenge to do at work: deliver 108 pigs (nguruwe), 2849 chickens (kuku) and 119 goats (mbuzi) to PLWHIVA in 26 days. I have to make sure the people receiving the animals have business and livestock training as well as the facilities to look after the animals. It's going to be fun. (I really like the name for goats (mbuzi). I think it matches the cuteness of the goats better than the English word so I'll be using it when I get back to New Zealand.) At the moment I'm frantically doing a work plan as well as trying to impress my workmates with some of the Kiswahili I learnt on my course. I don’t think it's working. I can write some fragmented sentences but am so slow at speaking.

I did get some practice in after work though. A kijana (young man) chatted to me on my walk home (I didn't bike cos it was raining heavily that morning). I managed to say how old I was, what I was doing in Tanzania, how long I was staying and that I was married with two birds. I found out that he likes wazungu (white people) but not Wajerumani (Germans) pole! (sympathy!) And that he had travelled to Zanzibar. He was interested to hear that I had a younger sister but disappointed to hear that she was married. Ha-ha, go Christi - you have a fan on the other side of the world! ;-)

It's hard being back in Moshi after our time at the language school in Arusha. I'm having trouble finding safe places to go running and am concerned that my abs will soon revert back to their keg-like status. I went for a run the other night but people were less friendly than those I'd met in Arusha and seemed to look relieved when I turned around to run home. The other problem with Moshi is that it's still so hot! I might have to get up really early to run before the heat of the day sets in.

Doug and I made friends at language school with a couple from the USA who just happen to live very close to us. They also have a charming dog! Mbwa ni mzuri sana! (The dog is very beautiful!). We're going over to their place tonight to celebrate Cinqo de Mayo. It's a Mexican celebration commemorating victory in a battle against the French. Until now I'd thought it was a shop Elaine visited in a Seinfeld episode but I stand corrected. And it's a good excuse to drink margueritas!

Rombo: First Blood Part 2

First day back at the office from language school and being 'rights guy' I was shadowing a UK consultant who is assessing my NGO's 'rights approach'. My day consisted of consulting various people in various medical settings. Could have done without seeing the guy who looked like he had a gunshot wound to the stomach...following a night of brandy and pool with my new American chum (whom I met at language school and whom lives 2 minutes from my house) I was off into the field with the consultant to talk to the village people (not the band). First stop was a village in the Rombo district near the Kenyan border (I could see into Kenya..). Spent the day consulting with locals about what 'human rights' meant to them. Interesting. After lunch we raced hundreds of kilometres to the village of Same' (I been there before). We stayed the night there, had lots of interesting discussions about snakes regarding the local pythons, other poisonous ones that drop from trees and inject venom directly into your brain etc..had another person look at a photo of the snake that was killed at our house-'very bad, yes poisonous' was his reaction. ulp.

The next day we visited the village of Hedaru just out of Same' for more consulting on 'rights'. People have actually surprised me with how articulate they are about their rights and what they expect. I liked one guy's comment- 'to be valued is my life'


(Kiwi meets Hedaru HIV/AIDS support group)

Back to the office and now I have a lot more information to process. People are screaming for more human rights, property rights training and are clapping me on the back, applauding for me when they find out I am supposed to deliver them something...I'll do my best.


(Sunset at the edge of Same')