I would have been a terrible pioneer...

We've had a very busy week in Mwanza since my last entry! Last Sunday evening we went to the home of Pendo, our housekeeper, to have dinner with her family. Her home consists of two detached rooms -- she sleeps with her three daughters in the room where we ate dinner and her five sons sleep in the other room. Her husband has three wives, so he is seldom around. I asked Pendo how many children she had at my age -- 4!!! Like our visit with Mama Asha, my camera was a big hit, so we took lots of pictures!

[With Ruben, Pendo, some of Pendo's children, & some neighbour children]

[Pendo's three daughters]

[Pendo's neighbours standing in the doorway]

The other highlight of my week was travelling with the Yogurt Mamas to their new land plot outside of Mwanza city. They have received funding from the Tanzanian Social Action Fund (TASAF) to purchase eight cows and build housing for them. A mainstay of TASAF's philosophy is that they want the local groups that they fund to feel a real sense of ownership of the project. For this reason the Mamas are required to make a contribution, equivalent to 5% of TASAF's, mostly in-kind through their labour. They land was previously used as rice paddies, so dirt mounds divide the land into small rectangles. On Monday, I went with the Mamas to work dismantling these boundaries. To call these women tough would be a huge understatement -- they worked all day in the sun, and all they ate was boiled sweet potatoes and tea! They kept telling me to go sit in the shade and were perpetually (in a very motherly way) checking my hands for blisters. Needless to say, my contribution to the digging was neglible, but it was some great bonding time with the Yogurt Mamas.

[My very sad attempt at digging]

[Trekking back to the road after a long day's work]