Week 8

Saturday 4^th June

This blog post has yet again come a bit late but I’ll try and catch up with everything that’s happened since the last update. Its crazy how its been 8 weeks since I left the UK, it just doesn’t feel like its been that length of time at all. I’ve found it funny/strange how I haven’t really missed that much from normal life back in the UK like wifi and social media, TV etc not even pasties, which I have to say I probably got too used to eating after about 7 months working in a bakery! Life is definitely a lot more simple out here and there isn’t the constant culture of time pressure that seems to pervade all aspects of life back in UK. This is so refreshing although sometimes African time can get a little frustrating especially when locals say they’ll meet you at 9am and then don’t get there until 4 hours later, that’s not a joke by the way!

Last Thursday was yet again more block laying but now we’re getting pretty good at it and the walls are well on their way to being finished now after several weeks and multiple bags of cement mix. It’s very satisfying being able to see exactly where your effort goes after a days work and knowing that the project is genuinely going to help Mikirira school and the whole community as it’s so important to stop the spread of disease. In the afternoon we went to the Lepers community in Bweri (the name of the area in which we live) where we met the community that Go MAD has worked closely with for several years now and a lot of them actually no longer have the disease but are living with the after effects with is often missing hands or feet and incredibly raw patches of skin that can extend down entire limbs. Despite this though they are such an inspiring community and are always welcoming and friendly, while we were there we also played some frisbee and football with the children who live in the community. The football was good fun but it tends to be anything goes when it come to rules and it was funny how all the kids were calling each other the names of famous footballers, Juma, who had renamed himself Messi was particularly good!

On Friday we went to the blind and albino school in Musoma where they have 40 blind students and 64 albino students who all board there. When we got there we met Susan who is the headteacher there who showed us how they teach the children and account for their disabilities but the school is government funded and often doesn’t receive the funding it needs which means that it is really under-resourced which is sad considering the great work that the school is doing. The incidence of being Albino is much higher in Tanzania than a lot of other African countries and they are often rejected by their families as there is a real social stigma surrounding them and so the school is the only way offering them any chance at an education.

Last Saturday was brilliant with it being Rob’s birthday we had a mocked up fry up in the morning and then a Go MAD sports day in the afternoon which had classics like the egg and spoon race, sack race and relay as well as slightly more unconvential assault courses and five a side football and frisbee. It was crazy but very entertaining with competitions over which team had the best team chant, which my team, The Block Slayers, won.

Sunday was Andrew preaching at Mikiringo Church after it was announced during the last weeks service that someone from Go MAD would do the sermon this week, without first telling anyone before it was announced. The end of services is so different to that in the UK as often there is an auction where some of the locals sell things like passion fruit or soap etc but we always go out and shake everyone’s hand who went to the service.

This last week started with going to the blind and albino school where this time we taught them parachute games and songs, including the now famous malaria song and the Hokey Cokey which the kids really enjoyed and hopefully also got a bit of education on how to prevent malaria. The afternoon was our trip to the Lepers where we took medical supplies this time to dress some of the open wounds that many in that community have. They were so grateful for us for doing this for them as they are a group of people often forgotten by the rest of their society and just someone turning up to help them means they feel like they haven’t been abandoned.  It was Joseph’s last night on Monday which was sad but he had finished his water tank and he was such a great addition to the community in the house and he said that he felt like he fitted in so easily and felt like he had a second home now in Tanzania.

Tuesday was making trusses for our pit latrine, which will support the roof whilst trying to stop the dogs (Haggis and Pudding) from getting on the work bench, which is definitely easier said than done. The afternoon was even block laying which we’re now in the final stages of, Bwana Safiwe (Praise the Lord)! It has to be said that block laying can get a bit tedious and mildly frustrating especially when you have to use blocks that are not consistent even in the loosest sense of the term.

Wednesday was one of Hezbon’s community health days in which the malaria song was done again and there was some real quality teaching by the nurse who works at Kamajoje health centre that Go MAD built, particularly on Malaria. Hezbon had organised mosquito nets to be given away and there was also entertainment in between the health talks which took the form of traditional dancers and us Go MADers doing loads of different games for the kids. I was on Tug of War which was pretty chaotic to put it mildly with 70 kids all grabbing a 20 metre rope and limited Swahili made for a cazy afternoon! It was also Freddie’s birthday, which aren’t really celebrated out here but we made him a surprise cake anyway and sang him happy birthday which he very much appreciated.

The last couple of days have had some structured reflective time on the last 8 weeks worth of project work and what we want to do with our next 4 weeks. We also had time to talk about what it looks like with the reverse culture shock of going home and what has challenged us over the last 8 weeks and what we would have changed as well as our highlights. Hopefully this will help us to be even more focused and productive for the next 4 weeks.