Snapshots and stories from Jessica Kelly's work and adventures with the Western Heads East Project from May - August 2008 in Mwanza, Tanzania.

Friday, August 8, 2008

Kwaheri Mwanza!

In 48 hours, I will be packing my bags and preparing for my train ride to Dar Es Salaam (and my 20 day trip home to Canada via Zanzibar and the U.K.). The last three months have been rich with new experiences and new friends, and it will be very difficult to say goodbye to my Africa home and my Africa family. That said, I am certainly looking forward to returning to lands of English, warm showers, and driving on the right side of the road!

The past week has been a whirlwind, but here are a few highlights:
Last Saturday we attended the wedding of Joey and Jennie – two friends from frisbee. While waiting outside the church, a car pulled up with a bride (not Jennie) inside. We all starting joking that doing two weddings simultaneously would be the most efficient thing we’d seen in Tanzania, and sure enough, that’s exactly what they did! The ceremony was all in Swahili (especially impressive given that Jennie’s originally from the U.K.), but the choir was great and the traditional Tanzanian wedding customs were fascinating (no smiling?).

Sunday morning we went to church in Mabatini with Mama Paskwalina, the leader of the Yogurt Mamas. The church was absolutely packed (probably about 300 people), yet the priest (an American), still managed to spot us and call us up to the front to introduce ourselves. I threw in a little Swahili for good measure, which made Mama Paskwalina proud. After church, we were mobbed by people who wanted to say hello and shake our hand. It’s a very strange contrast to sometimes to be treated as a celebrity and sometimes to be treated as someone to be taken advantage of – all because of where you are from and how you look. Here is a picture of Sabrina and I with Mama Paskwalina and some of her family.
Osama and I have been working quite extensively to develop a new system for how Western Heads East provides financial support the Yogurt Mamas. This week was spent solely working to test and implement this new system. As always, there were unexpected hiccups and delays – language misunderstanding, power outages, etc. – but hopefully in the next few weeks Osama will be able to tie up all the loose ends in my absence. I definitely owe Osama daily coffees back at Ivey for all the work he’s going to do! With the system ago, the Yogurt Mamas should be freer to be more proactive in their business decision making. They are all very smart and very capable women– I’m sure that will continue to do great things.

Today is a holiday here in Tanzania – “Nane Nane Day”/Farmers Day. This morning we attended the Nane Nane festivities – a sort of hybrid fair/farm show. This is the first summer in about five years that I have not spent significant amounts of time working at farm shows and events, so it was sort of nice to walk through grassy aisles of livestock, irrigation pumps, and fertilizer.
I’ve written a lot about “firsts” experiences over the past few months, but this week there have been a lot of lasts. Thursday was my last time at Tunza Beach for our customary night of sunset, yoga, chicken/pineapple burgers, and crepes suzette. Sabrina was adamant that I would successfully do a headstand since it was my last night of yoga. She had to “spot” my efforts, so there is no photographic evidence, but I swear I did it. Sabrina likes to take pictures of the less flattering yoga poses and, as you can see, I wasn’t very impressed.
Tomorrow will be my last day of frisbee and my last visit to the yogurt kitchen to have chai (tea) with the Yogurt Mamas and to say goodbye. I will certainly miss laughing with them over spilt yogurt and my mispronunciation of Swahili words. They are some of the strongest women I have ever met, and I will think of them often.

There are many more stories to tell, but they will have to wait till I return home on the 31st. My winding path home begins with a train across Tanzania (see photo of “first class” ticket below), so wish me luck!

2 comments:

Dad said...
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Dad said...

An amazing wrap up of you summer activities. Just his morning I ran into Kelly Daynard, one of many folks whom I talk to that has been following along your blog of summer adventures. Your writing and photography has wowed us all. We have been in awe of your safari, impressed by your work with the Yogurt Mama’s and jealous of the opportunity to live in Africa. I am suspicious that there will be several children from the orphanage that will be sad to see you go home to Canada. But I notice one little girl in particular that is in many of your favorite photos, she I know will miss the kind Canadian girl with the nice sun glasses….We will be happy to have you home and are all proud of your accomplishments. Have a safe and enjoyable journey as you meander home, you’re many friends and family will be anxious to welcome you. Dad