Our training group, September 2004.
My homestay house in Bigwa near Morogoro. I lived here for 2 months, September to December 2004.
Another shot of my homestay house - the outdoor kitchen, outdoor bathrooms, and sheds for cows/chickens/goats.
At the home-stay house, I easily climbed this coconut tree in the yard. Climbing up, as I said, was easy. Getting down? Much much harder.
My home-stay brother John was one crazy dude.
My home-stay brothers Godi and John.
My little home-stay brother Japhet. Little kids are cute, and very helpful when you're learning a new language.
My community-based training group - Me, Josh, Dianna, Megan. October 2004
The same group, now in summer of 2006. For having lived in Tanzania for 2 years at this point, I think we are pretty darn attractive.
My friend Josh wearing a "man-skirt" [kikoi] to liven up a training session.
Our training group swearing in, December 2004.
I went to visit my host parents in December of 2006 before I left. They were very happy to see me, as I was to see them. They are still very short.
Someone who IS getting taller is my little homestay brother Japhet, who has grown much bigger over 2 years [not to mention less shy]. Ironically, he's wearing the same shirt as in the first photo, only much more worn.
Uluguru mountains, view from my home-stay neighborhood.
Beautiful Uluguru mountains - source of wonderful drinking water!
Before leaving, I hiked one last time up into the beautiful mountains near Morogoro with my host brother Herman.
Waterfalls in the Uluguru mountains.
Meena and I at her site for Christmas 2004. Beautiful Lake Victoria in the background [her backyard!]
Meena in the 'kitchen'. Kerosene stinks indoors yo.
Me chopping the head off of a fish. This was at the beginning. After 2 years eating at my neighbors house all the time, I would just leave the head on.
Frying fish and bean burgers. Peace Corps volunteers love our food!
Peace Corps rules - gotta wear a helmet when riding a bike.
Me and some fellow PCVs in Mwanza.
As a PCV in the Lake Region, I rarely got a chance to hang out with other volunteers. Transportation was difficult and we were isolated. Here I happened to be in Dar es Salaam near the 4th of July 2006, and got to participate in a choir that sang the US and TZ national anthems for the ambassador's party!
An early picture of my house, fall of 2004. Construction is not yet completed, and this resulted in a 3-month delay to move in. I ended up moving in around April of 2005.
My house post completion. I literally waited 3 months for a brick fence [that was so short even my 5 year old neighbor could jump it] and a rusty gate.
PICTURES OF MY HOUSE, in Misungwi town: My hallway - check out the blackboard for ongoing language study. I'm a nerd.
The entrance to my living room, and the mat on the floor where I spent a lot of my time hanging out [not enough room on my tiny couches to really sprawl].
My living room.
My bedroom
My bedroom - mosquito net to prevent malaria.
My kitchen table - no stove, just a hotplate [which is partially hidden by an enormous papaya].
My other kitchen table - full of oil, spices, and a few dishes. You can see two small hot pots sitting on the table - my housegirl came 3 times a week and cooked for me, leaving me a nice little ready-to-heat meal when I got home. Of course 'ready to heat' means on the stove again, no microwave....
My bathroom. Squat toilet. Actually much nicer than a western-flush toilet, since it's easier to conserve water.
ENORMOUS bug in my house.
Beautiful decorations - not in MY house, but many Tanzanian homes are decorated like this.
My garden - papayas, bananas, potatoes, spinach... [take a look at my 'under construction' house picture a few back to understand how much work was needed to landscape this place!]
Another picture of my garden - you can see the passion fruit vines on the right.
My big cement rain-catching pot [about 300 liters, or 80 gallons-ish]
At my friend Abdallah's house - when it rains, you gotta do what you can to collect that precious, delicious water!
Rain storm! Water flooding at the door to my house.
My guard, Mzee Juma, who lived in that small hut next to my house. He was ornery and sometimes lazy, but he served me well, helped me with water when drought was severe, and gardened for me.
My housegirl Sato and her baby. How nice was it to have someone do all my chores for me for 2 years!
Banana tree in my yard
Passion fruit on the vine in my yard
The one bunch of bananas that I got to eat, harvested from a tree that I planted! They aren't normal bananas like we have here, they are small and SUPER sweet....
... once they're ripe. yum! One bunch yielded about 100 of the small bananas.
I'm cooking pasta in the kitchen.
A typical morning tea break- tea, boiled egg, a few pastries.
Fried termites at the neighbor's house. After a big rain, a few times a year, the little kids go nuts running door to door [often seeking out the outdoor security lights] to collect termites and bring them home so mom can fry them. Taste like peanuts, lots of salt.
A popular Tanzanian dish, makande - beans and corn.
What goes perfect with a beer? Chipsi mayai! French fries fried in egg. Delicious.
A Tanzanian classic - Safari lager.
My favorite snack - a fried tilapia! Just re-heat and start munching...
Big mangoes and hot peppers
This is an enormous papaya I picked from a tree that I planted! Less than 1 year from seed to ripe fruit! And it was delicious - red and sweet on the inside.
My cat caught a lizard! Typically, she eats half and leaves the other as a trophy...
What can I say, my cat was a creature of the night. Sometimes that meant catching the pinkhead-bluebutt lizards and eating them, others times [2 other times! in only 6 months!] it meant litters of kittens...
Selling my furniture, this is how things are transported here.
Check out my enormous bookshelf on the back of the bike heading away - the guy who bought it lives 5 miles away from me! A day's adventure...
My friend Dominic, also my counterpart, and I. We were in Moshi for a training on HIV/AIDS. Check out Mt. Kilimanjaro in the background! [Not to mention a sweet YMCA pool]
My best friend Dominic, his brother Deus, and I hanging out.
Dominic and Deus at their parents' house. Here is the tobacco shed. We were trying to figure out why there is a padlock on the door to a shed that is made of straw!
Dominic and I, his mother is sitting in between us. She has given birth to 12 children, 11 of whom are still alive, and is still hard at work taking care of her house and the children still at home!
The Zacharia homestead [Dominic's parents]
Dominic and his son Dennis [he had a child while still in high school, whoops].
Dominic, me, Sato, and Godi goofing around.
Mama Leo and Yustina cooking ugali and mchicha. I started eating at their house because my friend Dominic is Mama Leo's younger brother, but when I moved and became their neighbor, I ate there almost every day [up till the end of my stay].
Mama Leo and her sister-in-law, a student at the Secondary School, Adelaide.
Adelaide prepares milk at the dinner table.
The neighbor's dinner table, where I ate many a meal. Seated are Mama Leo, Masunga [Baba Leo's younger brother], and others.
Leo chowing down on rice and beans
The neighbor kids - Godi, Sato, and Leo [children of Dominic's sister, whom I simply call Mama Leo since Leo was the first born]
Leo, Sato, and Godi.
Leo and Godi are crazy dancers. Here they do the 'mapanga' style from 'TMK Wanaume'.
Kabula, one of the young girls who lives at Mama Leos [my neighbor/place-of-dinner]. Here she carries a bucket of water on her head - she can do it no- hands as well. There are a total of between 10-20 people living next door, lots of extended family - nieces sisters nephews brothers...
This is Leo's great-grandmother and some of her other great-grandchildren. Very wise woman, I spoke with her occasionally, her Kiswahili wasn't the best but it was always fun listening to her stories of how things have changed in Tanzania over her lifetime...
Dominic, Deus, and I. Saying goodbye in December of 2006.
My other neighbors' house.
Ndebile, a neighbor kid and one of my best students at the high school, demonstrates his homemade workout equipment [paint cans and cement].
One of the neighbor girls grinds cassava the old-school way.
MISUNGWI FRIENDS: Here is an old Arab woman whose house I visited and ate at frequently - a very nice lady, welcomed me as family. And serves some very tasty food! Pictured with her cute grandson Hamisi
Hamisi and his mother. Both were born in Tanzania, but of Arab descent. There are relatively large populations of Arabs and Indians in the country, some more integrated than others. This family in Misungwi is viewed as African, not at all foreign.
Hamisi and his uncle, my friend, Ali.
Me and my friend Abdallah, who is a primary school teacher in a nearby town and runs a community group fighting HIV/AIDs. He was a great coworker of mine on many projects we ran together, and a good friend as well.
Abdallah in front of the office of the youth group he coordinates
A picture of Abdallah's wedding, one of the 3 weddings I went to in TZ. Long, very rigidly structured, often late, but quite a bit of extravagant fun!
One of the first friends I made in town is with a man who owns a hardware shop and a bar. I frequently sat with him and talked about life in the town at his shop, and one evening I went to eat at his bar and found out he is a multi-faceted businessman, despite not having gone to high school. Here we are with his wife, younger brother, and his children.
My friend Anton, the hardware store and bar owner, at his shop.
My friend Anton behind the counter at his bar.
Anton's wife at the hardware store.
Anton and his construction crew - he's building a NEW guesthouse. Quite an entrepreneur.
My friend and neighbor David [we call him Ras, short for Rasta, because of his hair].
A theatre group that Ras is a part of, and with which I worked developing HIV/AIDS skits and messages to perform in public.
My friend Vicky, daughter of a coworker of mine and a smart cookie [recent graduate of high school].
Vicky and I at her father's house.
I met and spent a lot of time with my friend Sam at his stand in the market - but he is also a traditional healer, and opened a shop selling medicines. Here we are in his shop - he was great fun to talk to and joke with, and I love that he also sells condoms in his traditional medicine store!!! [see blue box on the left]
Sam with his traditional medicine shop.
The traditional medicine shop - mostly ground up leaves and roots, but also some weird 'witchcraft' stuff.
Another of my great friends is a carpenter named Selestini. He is my next door neighbor [I know all my neighbors, and I have lots of them]. He made me my fantastic living room furniture as well as bedroom dresser. He is a pleasure to talk to, always interested in discussing global issues and development in Tanzania. And he is a hard worker and an upstanding family man.
Selestini and his carpenters must sand by hand.
Hanging out with my carpenter friends [Selestini].
Selestine and his apprentices put the finished goods out for sale.
Waitress at my favorite restaurant in Misungwi.
The menu at the AMEX 'hoteli' [restaurant] in Misungwi.
Rena, who is a student and also works at the AMEX hotel, with his sister Roy [That's right - the boy's name is Rena short for Renatus, the girl is Roy].
Rena with Debbie and Fre [two Belgian students who lived in Misungwi for a few months to do research] at AMEX.
My friend Eliza and I. She helped me a lot with language at the beginning.
My close friend Babuu at his photo studio. He is quite a character, not the best 'behaved' but open to discussion and advice, and very much a joker/prankster. Always good for a laugh.
Me and my friends, Babuu and Ray, doing what we do best - hanging around, telling jokes, and doing nothing.
Babuu and I in a nearby village posing by some big rocks.
Village rocks - these indentations were made by decades/centuries of women coming to grind oats [millet, sorghum] into a flour for cooking.
My friend Ray and I. Ray is a Misungwi town youth leader, and worked with Babuu at his photo shop.
Ray, his brother Justin, and I pose on some rocks in the village where they live. Posing like this is very popular.
Another pose, even more serious. Which is hard to do when you're about to fall over backwards down that stupid rock.
Jonathan, a young man I met in Mwanza town. He has a long and troubled history, orphaned by his parents and living on the streets. After training from a local NGO, he now draws and sells cards to make a living [though still barely - his apartment is a complete slum]
Jonathan and I at his apartment - he looks young, but is several years older than me.
One of Jonathan's cards.
Jonathan locking the door to his 'apartment'.
My friend Abdallah and I. He is a daladala conductor, which is one reason I frequently saw him. But also he lived in Oman for 5 years, and thus was one of the VERY few people in Misungwi with international experience, who in many ways understood the difficulties I was having living abroad, and also the unique experiences I had with cultural exchange. Smart guy, fun to talk to.
Me, 'Mzee' [another relative of my neighbor Baba Leo and a daladala conductor], and our friend Jumanne, who wears the manskirt all the time.
My friend George, a welder [do you like how all my friends are welders, carpenters, electricians, etc?]
At one of the many local pharmacies, I became good friends with Joseph and Christopher, both of whom left Misungwi for advanced college/university studies.
Maasai men in Misungwi. When I first arrived, I spent several months at a rest house waiting for my house to be completed [it was still under construction]. These Maasai, from the Arusha area, worked there as guards. I became good friends with the one on the right, Willy, who spoke decent Kiswahili.
Willy and others on a motorcycle.
Showing some of the Maasai the pictures I took of them, I wanted to capture the sense of how funny it must look for us all to be crowded around the camera. This picture of our feet I think captures that scene.
Nasoro, unfortunately a very mentally disturbed man, frequently an enormous nuisance who begged me for money, but sometimes very funny and one of the few people who consistently addressed me in English.
Nasoro and his cool glasses.
These brothers, Alex and Godi, were some of my best friends. They are both electricians working in Misungwi, supporting their younger siblings after being orphaned.
Godi reminds me of some of my crazy high school buddies, always dressing up in eccentric clothes and saying goofy stuff.
Alex and Godi at the door to their small house.
Alex and Godi's house. Alex bought those rocks as an 'investment' for potential construction. Actually not a bad purchase.
Alex with his friend Ras and family
Me and Godi at their dry goods shop with a few friends.
My friend Hamisi and I. He provided incredible insight for me on the realities of Misungwi, not afraid to tell things like they are [many in Tanzania tiptoe around sensitive issues]. He was also a coworker of mine on many projects, and the secretary of the local PLWHA group. He is one of the very few people I met in Tanzania who are very open about having HIV - there is no one in Misungwi who DOESN'T know!
My friend Lena from Misasi and I - the youth leader from that town.
Peter is the son of a powerful mama in my town with whom I worked. He goes to school at University of Dar, and is an amazingly smart and dedicated young man. Always fun to talk politics with him over a few beers - the afternoon flies by!
Misungwi Secondary School campus
Teachers lounge at secondary school
Smart area!! [think that means clothing/appearance, but not sure]
Misungwi Secondary school flag and bulletin board. The other side of the board is used as a 'health board', for essays, announcements, cartoons, etc that educate about HIV.
New chemistry laboratory at the Misungwi Secondary School.
My friend Dominic, who is also a chemistry/biology teacher at Misungwi Secondary School, leading a chem lab on a Saturday for extra-eager students looking to get some practical experience.
Dominic and his students pose for a picture with their experiments.
Mixing and observing.
High school seniors' first attempt at chemistry.
Some graduating students of mine at Misungwi Secondary School.
Misungwi Secondary school students at home - most live in 'ghettos', slum-like rental houses often occupied entirely by students. Since they come from villages, many must rent in Misungwi town. This can be conducive to group studying [although they frequently lack electricity], but also facilitates risky sexual behaviors.
A few senior students who came by with some biology questions.
Secondary school students reading a 'FEMINA' magazine, about reproductive health issues for youth.
Secondary school students in the classroom.
Graduation ceremony in 2006 at Misungwi Secondary.
Students waiting to meet with one of the teachers.
Some students in the classroom.
Students in the classroom without a teacher - chaos about to erupt in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1....
NOW. They can't help themselves when they see a camera.
Students also have to farm the school field [often a form of punishment, since 'detention' would be too severe seeing as many students don't eat anything all day until after coming home from school].
Dominic and I after a Lifeskills seminar that we facilitated in June 2006. It went fantastically well, and I hope the impact is still visible today.
Group of teachers, 3 from each secondary school in my district, who attended the HIV/AIDS and Lifeskills seminar in Misungwi.
Dominic facilitating a lesson during the seminar.
Paying attention during the seminar.
Teachers at a HIV/AIDS and Lifeskills seminar I ran with Dominic for 4 days in June of 2006. Group discussion = good lesson in the importance of participatory methodology, plus a chance for me to take a break!
Some of the seminar participants pose for a picture.
Teachers watched a video on STDs during the seminar.
Mwalimu [teacher] Chaula and his wife and son. He is a great biology teacher and coworker of mine, and his son is the smartest boy I met in tanzania!
Katisa - cute and intelligent. I think it's because he hangs around students and teachers all day.
MISUNGWI TOWN - my home from December 2004-December 2006. Here is a sign at the road into my town, about 1 hour south of Mwanza off the paved road, in the Lake Victoria area.
Deep reflection in front of a cell phone antenna that serves Misungwi town.
Godzilla!
View of Misungwi town from the cellphone tower hill.
Me, Misungwi in the background.
A short video of me riding a bicycle-taxi home from the office to my house, along the main paved road. A glimpse of the Misungwi environment.
Misungwi town cemetery
The road passing by Misungwi town [notice guy pushing a trolley full of containers, that is how many in town buy their water].
People riding on bicycle taxis on the main dirt road into Misungwi.
Bicycle taxi drivers - my good friends! [I'm lazy]
Daladala [in the cities it means small minivan buses, but in the village it denotes bike taxis]. This is a young guy who, in the very beginning, couldn't get me to Bomani [my office, up a steep hill]. I gave him extra and told him to eat more, and he grew up! On the next to last day, he took me back to my office - and made it up the hill this time. I gave him a bonus again, this time in celebration. Good kid.
This mama, who sells goods at the 'Mango Tree' which is at the intersection of the big highway and the small dirt road into Misungwi, can carry a pail of milk on her head while riding a bike!
The Mango Tree along the road, where the big buses stop.
A woman selling cassava near Mango Tree.
People wait at this 'mango tree' stop for big buses coming from Mwanza going to Dar or elsewhere south. They often take water, potatoes, peanuts, or fried fish and sell them to people on the bus who are starting their long journeys. So Misungwi town is kind of like a pit-stop town.
A bus stops in Misungwi, and is bombarded by people selling food.
Another bus stops along the way, passing Misungwi but stopping to pick up snacks.
The main road into Misungwi, on a very rainy day.
My friend Babuu's photo studio at the stand area of Misungwi.
A local daladala going by [service from Misungwi to Mwanza], at the Stand part of Misungwi town.
Chickens for sale at the Misungwi stand market.
Great! A huge giant coke bottle [with soda for sale inside] at the Misungwi stand.
One of dozens of women who sell food products on the street in Misungwi town. Here we have roasted maize...
One of the daladalas that go from Misungwi to Mwanza. Hustle never sleeps, yo!
A 'konda' is the guy who rides the daladala, collects money from people, and tells the driver when to stop and go. This guy is my favorite - likes to talk, joke around, and gives me discounts because I'm such a loyal customer [I choose his car over the others whenever I can].
Some daladala drivers and kondas.
My neighbor, Baba Leo, owns 2 of the Misungwi daladalas [if you were wondering how he supports a house that at times supports 20+ individuals!]. Here is his younger brother, a driver, with one of the cars.
The daladala stand in Misungwi.
A tire/car repair place outside the Misungwi bus stand.
My favorite office ladies, located near the stand. They did all my photocopying for me, and we joked around a lot.
Typically Tanzanian store - colorful, and stuff piled up all over the place!
Stores in Misungwi - look at the crates of soda!
Stores of Misungwi- notice the architectural contrast, more modern buildings next to the older square ones built by original Indian/Arab businesspeople, who were the first inhabitants of the larger 'towns' [Africans were almost all in the villages].
'Machinga' are guys who walk around with baskets full of random stuff for sale - handkerchiefs, jewelry, etc. Lots of crap typically. Hard work.
Downtown Misungwi - dusty day.
Trash is everywhere in Tanzania - no garbage collectors. Though in Mwanza city recently they started paying people to clean up the city. Still no trash collection in either place though!
A well to fetch fresh water. Hand pump, often have to stand in line to use. Hard water, so salty to taste and not very good for cleaning, but what can you do if there's no alternative?
MISUNGWI MNADA - the main weekly market [every Friday]. People from ALL the nearby villages come into Misungwi town to buy all kinds of needs - from produce to soap to furniture to animals. Here we are outside the market area, with goats and cows for sale. [Props to Fre and Debbie for many of the Mnada and Mwanza pictures]
Misungwi mnada inside - clothes for sale, rows and rows of clothes.
At the Misungwi weekly market - look at all the colors!
People ride their bikes into town to come to the weekly market. Very loud, people excited to see each other, make their purchases, and stare at me if I'm around. Who's the white guy?
Busy day at the weekly market.
Buying grains at the weekly market.
Shirts at the weekly market [probably 2-5 dollars a piece].
Sorting used clothing at the weekly market.
Tea houses at the market [enter one of the run-down looking huts for tea, lunch]
Villagers arrive at the weekly market.
Weekly market from afar - always a bustling place.
Misungwi townsmen hanging out, playing cards, 'bao' [like mankala].
My friend the shoe salesman.
I worked extensively with guesthouses [hotels] in Misungwi to promote condom sales and use. Here is the inside of one guesthouse lobby, with condom advertisements on the bars at the counter!
The Misungwi town newspaper stand.
Some local Misungwi youth play pool outside.
Unused tractor sitting outside some stores in Misungwi.
My neighbor, Mama Leo, runs this shop of dry goods/everyday stuff.
The main strip of stores in downtown Misungwi.
This wonderful woman, Mama Pendo, worked with me to sell condoms wholesale out of her shop to other shops, bars, hotels, etc.
Another wholesale vendor in Misungwi town.
A tailor works on a pair of mens pants - there are dozens of tailors all over town. A nice pair of pants costs around 7 dollars, for the fabric and to be hand sewn.
Lots of fabric stores, as the nicer clothing is hand-made. Look at the colorful selection!
I wrote about this guy on my blog - he takes old run-down car tires and makes sandals out of them. Not super comfortable, but not awful.
A shoe/bag repairman.
I tried to help out some of the many bicycle repair guys in town. Biking is by FAR the main means of transportation - often the ONLY way to get to the villages in the bush, and the cheapest way for those with time to get even into Mwanza [25 miles away - many make this trip by bike daily].
Bags and bags of flour outside a shop in Misungwi.
A couple of barbershop shacks.
One of the 20 or so small barbershops in Misungwi town. Haircut [simple men's shave] is 20 cents.
Beauty salon in Misungwi - all the women like to have their hair weaved or straightened, and these places smell NASTY even if you walk by them. Chemical-y, gross.
Laying bricks during construction of a store in Misungwi.
Another mama who sells food on the street, this in the late evening. Since dinner is served late and many men don't want to go home until it's ready, they have uji (porridge) to hold them over. This was my favorite uji stand, she made it out of rice and milk with cardamom flavoring. Yum! A big glass [like the one she's pouring] costs 8 cents.
Another mama, this one is making 'vitumbua' or rice pastries. Also done on the street outside, these go well with uji or tea.
The NEW Misungwi main market, still not opened however.
Back entrance to the Misungwi main market.
Butcher shop - hacking some meat.
The nice butcher shop of Misungwi. Great meat, about 1 dollar for a pound. Cheaper for the stomach, more for the tongue/head. Love seeing the skins sittin on the floor....
Many people walk around selling things - for example, bananas.
The back of the Misungwi main market is the fish area. Here is a giant lungfish - enormous! And can 'live' out of water for up to a day. And will bite your fingers off.
Lots of tilapia at the Misungwi fish market.
Here I am helping a mama deep fry lots of small fish. She will then go to the main road and sell them to people going to the interior of the country, who have no access to fresh fish.
Mmmmm, frying fish.
Here are some mamas who sell the fried fish on the street in Misungwi, to people who live here. With fish going bad quickly in the hot environment, it's easier to fry them all and then reconstitute them at home, fewer go to waste.
A mama at the market selling small fish, 'dagaa'. Mmmm......
A typical stand in the Misungwi main market. Onions, potatoes, rice, spices....
Stands at the Misungwi market.
This mama at the market is the mother of one of my best students. She always gave me deals on tomatoes and papayas. Everything is bargaining in Tanzania, so if they won't drop the price [maybe 10 cents instead of 15 for a bunch of 5 tomatoes] then you can certainly ask for them to add a 'bonus' tomato to keep you coming back.
My favorite market buddies - we played a lot of cards and just hung out during my first few months in Misungwi.
Domi, another smart kid but quite a rascal. The only child in Misungwi who came right up to me the first time he saw me, and wasn't afraid at all. He's a 'market kid', meaning his mother works there and he runs around all over the place playing with all the other children.
My 'rice mamas', these ladies sold me all my rice.
Selling spinach/leaves at the main market in Misungwi.
Baskets upon baskets of tomatoes! They use them to make a sauce to cook everything - beans, meat, chicken, fish,....
Mangoes! Season is December-January, and then a few again in March. YUM.
My parents with a lady at the market. Check out how well the beans, grains, and tomatoes are displayed!
The internet 'cafe', a few booths with 1 working computer only, where I did most of my blogging.
I worked with AMREF on a project called MEMA kwa Vijana. I helped facilitate many seminars, and to plan them as well. Here I am at our office, located at the Misungwi district headquarters.
Some of the nurses and medical staff I worked with from the Misungwi district hospital. These ladies facilitated seminars for health workers from other clinics on providing reproductive health and youth friendly services, and I assisted. They loved me and my frankness on many sensitive health issues, and I often helped them teach about condoms. I learned a lot from them, they were fantastic teachers.
The Voluntary Counseling and Testing center for HIV in Misungwi town.
My boss, coworker, colleague, and friend Tina.
Some of my coworkers at the Misungwi District government. I worked very closely with all of them, some on HIV/AIDs projects and the others on seminars for primary school teachers on how to teach reproductive health issues in schools.
District school inspectors whom I helped facilitate the AMREF seminars called MEMA kwa Vijana.
I helped to train District Education employees with the AMREF program.
My AMREF coworkers threw me a party the night before I left Mwanza for good. Great coworkers, and I learned an incredible amount from them.
Me and some of the teacher trainees I worked with at Butimba TTC in Mwanza [the day of their graduation, thus the certificates].
Me and the club president of the Butimba Teachers College Lifeskills group.
The Butimba TTC teacher trainees who were a part of my Lifeskills club - our last meeting. These teachers-to-be were consistently smart, interested, enthusiastic, and committed to the work we were doing. I was proud to work with them, and to have them look up to me. A very rewarding experience!
We finished our last TTC meeting by doing a self-esteem building exercise in complimenting each other!
Snacks at our last TTC meeting - sodas and bread.
Some of my Butimba TTC guys and myself.
Common brands of Condoms in Tanzania - I taught about them whenever I could, to teachers, students, health workers, daladala drivers, bus drivers, guesthouse workers, bar workers, etc.
The guesthouse workers that I helped train on condom usage and promotion.
A group of bicycle taxi drivers that I helped to train on HIV. Great guys, very hard workers, and a few helped me out on long trips to villages later in the year.
My friend Abdallah [remember him from the wedding?] organized a 2-day youth camp for young people from nearby villages to learn about HIV/AIDS among other things. I helped facilitate Here are the youth camp members.
An icebreaker exercise I led at a Youth Camp, run by my friend Abdallah [see previous picture]
A Lifeskills lesson in creativity, problem-solving, and team work - making the longest line using only our bodies!
One of the youth camp members had heard of me from Abdallah and liked my name - so she named her son Brian too!
A picture of me with some of the youth camp members.
BATEZ youth camp members participate in a lesson, identifying what activities could pose a risk for HIV infection.
I lead a fun game in class to symbolize how HIV attacks the immune system.
Here I'm teaching a lesson to the youth camp members.
Teaching about condoms to members of the 2-day youth camp [i'm even wearing my condom shirt!]
I conducted many seminars for People Living with HIV/AIDS groups on nutrition and balanced meals. They were a big success and very rewarding. In addition to classroom instruction on food groups etc, we had to have a practical example! Behold our fantastic lunch options
PLWHA nutrition seminars - meat, beans, spinach, potatoes, greens, tomatoes, fruit, rice, fish - it was all there!
The PLWHA groups of Usagara town, after the nutrition seminar.
The Misungwi PLWHA group members who participated in my nutrition seminar - some were so excited by the food they wanted to pose with it in the picture!
Misungwi PLWHA nutrition seminar food.
Hamisi, the leader of the PLWHA group, and an avid photographer.
Saying goodbye to the Misungwi PLWHA group before I left.
A seminar I did for a group of PLWHA [delegates from each group in 8 villages of Misungwi district]. Celebrating life!
Boys at a nearby orphanage playing with a soccer ball my parents brought them. There are 22 children in all at this orphanage, and I assisted them to develop a menu that would meet the nutritional needs of the children for less money than what they were spending [we also planted fruit trees, pumpkings, etc].
The boys still playing with their soccer ball, chasing it around.
The girls at the orphanage, unlike the boys, played with THEIR ball in a nice and orderly fashion.
Staff members at the orphanage and myself.
The kids at the orphanage I worked with.
My parents got to pose with all the kids from the orphanage - what a fun day for them [the kids. well, and my parents too!]
I worked with a local NGO and wrote a grant to build a shed facilitating brick-burning using open-kiln, environmentally friendly technology. Here is the end result!
The brick shed was built in Kiseke, outside of Mwanza - here are some of the ready-to-burn bricks being protected from rain under the shed.
One of the fantastic looking government houses they build with the bricks produced at Kiseke.
MWANZA - on the shores of Lake Victoria. This is the famous Bismark Rock of Mwanza.
Entrance to the main bus stand in Mwanza city.
Crazy bus vendors in the Mwanza bus stand.
Inside the main bus stand of Mwanza [sorry it's fuzzy, I took it while driving by - I was afraid my camera would get stolen if I took it on the street!]
Some of the houses of Mwanza, scattered in the rocky hills of the city.
A street in downtown Mwanza.
Public housing in Mwanza city.
The fish packing plant in Mwanza.
Mwanza from the hills/slums above.
A view of Mwanza from the Butimba teachers college.
The rocky hills of Mwanza, and Lake Victoria.
One of many people, this one a young boy, who walk around selling things in Mwanza town [this boy is selling roasted peanuts]
Sukuma museum. The main tribe in Misungwi and Mwanza are the Sukuma people. Outside of Mwanza there is a museum celebrating their history. Here our guide shows us a map of all the old kingdoms in the Sukumaland.
Traditional Sukuma drumming at the museum.
Sukuma traditional dance - crazy guys!
Here is an in-the-air shot of a traditional dance we saw at the Sukuma museum.
The Sukuma are famous for having dancing competitions, several of which I attended in Misungwi town. Two troupes compete, with medicine-men brewing up 'potions' to help them lure spectators. The bigger crowd gives one troupe the win. Very entertaining, especially when some of the troupes use SNAKES!! Enormous pythons. I even saw this once in Misungwi town [here is at the Sukuma museum]
Sukuma museum drum exhibit.
Sukuma museum- mom ponders over a 'bao' board game, which sukuma kings used to use to gamble over land!!
Sukuma musuem - traditional homestead tools, bowls, containers, etc
Sukuma museum - a traditional homestead
And from a village near Misungwi - an actual traditional Sukuma homestead.
Life in the village is interesting, getting there from the town can be even more so. Here is a VIDEO of me taking a daladala ride [it was a one hour ride!] to a village outside of Misungwi in order to teach at the secondary school. It looks bumpy, but the ride wasn't actually that bad!
I went with my friend Babuu to a small village outside of Misungwi, on the shores of Lake Victoria. Here I am in a 'mtungi', a small boat used to ferry people from one small village to another.
Helping to row the small ferry.
Loading up the ferry - at least 10 bicycles, crates of soda, a goat, and tons of people all on this small boat!!! I was scared and amazed.
Here they are setting off in the ferry. It looks like it's going to capsize, but never quite rolls that much. However, needless to say, there are many ferry accidents, and drownings are frequent.
Babuu and I saw a project near the lake village we visited, trying to control the invasive water hyacinth. These tubs hold the weed, and attempts are made to breed insects that will destroy it - once they are present, it is dumped in the lake so the bugs can go to work and unclog many passageways and shorelines of the nasty weed.
A giant mango tree.
Visit to another village near Mwanza - a little kid, a lot of sugar cane, and a HUGE knife!
Another village, more kids with knives - this time peeling cassava.
This woman is a local elected official in Misasi, a town near me. She is also a member of the PLWHA group, and the owner of a big goat stand at their large weekly market [the main weekly market in the area, bigger even than Misungwi despite the town itself being smaller]. Here she is with a big table full of goat meat.
More goat meat at the Misasi market.
Goats strung up at the Misasi market.
Yummmm! Goat bbq, goat soup, it's all good at the Misasi market.
My friend Sam and I [the traditional healer] went to the market and bought a goat ourselves. Not for killing, at least not yet. He named the goat 'Brian.'
After a year of drought, the rains in November/December of 2006 came on strong. Here is a scene of flooding outside of Misungwi on the main road.
More flooding, fall of 2006.
Wonder welders - a group of people disabled by polio generating income through production of art in Dar.
Wonder welders - disabled men work on sculptures.
Wonder welders workshop in Dar es Salaam.
This is NOT photoshopped. I saw President Clinton when I went to visit a friend in Nairobi, and Clinton spoke at the embassy.
Beautiful blue waters of the Indian Ocean - taken when I was in Zanzibar for New Years in 2006, while everyone else was freezing back home!
The Forodhani fish market of Zanzibar - plates of fresh seafood for under 10 dollars! [photo credit to another PCV friend of mine]
spice farms in Zanzibar - cloves, coconuts, cinnamon...
Dad, Mom and I went on a 'spice tour' to see how things are grown. We were too polite to turn down these lovely local accessories made of coconut tree leaves.
A painter in Stonetown, Zanzibar. Working on traditional 'tingatinga' paintings.
Local bus stand in Kampala, Uganda. Crazy, huh?!?! I went to Uganda and Rwanda in July 2006 with some friends.
My friend Megan and I enjoy ice cream in Kampala. Much more developed as a capital city than Dar es Salaam in Tanzania.
Jinja, Uganda, on Lake Victoria, is at the source of the Nile river!! What better way to celebrate this than with a little rafting?!
Our one-day adventure rafting group.
Celebrating after we survived our first rapids.
Preparing for rapids number 2 - can you see me in the front?
Into the rapids we go! Rafting on the Nile.
SPLASH - the rapids we faced were between class 2 and 5, pretty exciting. But a lot of the river was calm, so we had plenty of opportunities to swim. And the water is wonderful, not freezing cold like the Colorado!
Lunch on the river.
Just cruising down the Nile.
YIKES! Heading into the final enormous rapids.
We capsized! Scariest moment of my life. Thought I would lose my breath before I popped up for a second to get some air, then got sucked back down again. But we were all ok.
Rescue time.
Done for the day - exhausted, but we had a blast.
The capital city of Rwanda, Kigali. Beautiful hills, disturbing history.
Jessamy, Megan, and I in Kigali. [Props to Jessamy for many of the Rwanda pictures]
A nice billboard in Kigali for a local bank - want to open up a savings account? You might win a....
COW!!! Billboard closeup.
Lakes and hills of Rwanda
Church in Nyamata, Rwanda, one of the sites of the genocide of 1994. 5,000+ people were herded into this church as a 'safe-haven', then slaughtered using rocks, sticks, and machetes. It has been preserved as a memorial to the genocide, in which nearly 1 million people died in the span of just a few months.
The same church memorial.
Mass graves at the Genocide Memorial in Kigali town. Beautifully done museum, see my blog brianintanzania.blogspot.com for more info and the link to the memorial website.
Megan, Jessamy and I met some guys on the bus ride down to the church in Nyamata. They very graciously helped us find our way and translated for us [most people only speak French or Kinyarwanda, they knew some Swahili]. Both lost family in the genocide. One of them had a Hutu father and a Tutsi mother, the mother was killed for being Tutsi, the father killed for not killing his wife himself. 3 of his brothers and sisters were also killed.
Megan and I at the Hotel des Milles Collines [spelling?]. This is 'Hotel Rwanda.' We wanted to enjoy the beautiful view and nice evening, but we were physically and emotionally exhausted!
Megan and I on the rooftop of the hotel.
Sunset in the Serengeti National Park. I went on safari with my parents in June of 2006 - it was amazing!
Our safari driving King. Great guy, funny, and loved talking to me in Kiswahili.
View from our hotel room in the Serengeti - that is a monkey tail.
Elephants in the Serengeti.
Big elephant.
Our first morning in the Serengeti, we saw a pride of maybe 15 lions. Our driver said that they looked 'full.'
Hippo pool - disgusting.
Giraffe, 'twiga' in Kiswahili.
Giraffe
Between the Serengeti and the Ngorongoro crater, we stopped by a 'traditional' Maasai village to see a bit of their culture. It was pretty touristy, but interesting none-the-less. Here the village greeted our arrival.
Maasai men chanting a celebration song.
They tried to get us to jump with them to celebrate. Dad did ok.
I did better - unfortunately, Dad's camera skills couldn't keep up.
Ngorongoro crater in the morning - one of the natural wonders of the world.
Cheetahs in the Ngorongoro crater.
BAJILLIONS of cars, watching the cheetahs, in the crater.
This is me at the bottom of the crater after a wonderful day of animal-viewing. Also feeling happy since it is FREEZING cold at night and early morning!! But here the sun is out and I'm starting to thaw...
My parents and I at Ngorongoro crater.
Lions after the kill [a wildebeest] - it was pretty disgusting.
Speaks for itself - breathtaking.
