final donation: 2010

thank you again to all of those who supported, donated and helped in some way to raise money and awareness for my trip and the children i taught in tanzania.

after much deliberation on what and how to best spend the donated funds... a decision has been made. below is a list of the allocation for 2010's donation. some of the raised money will be saved until next year, as 2011 will bring along a new academic year and new challenges.

• porridge for both the C3 and C4 schools for 3 months (this will most likely be one of the only meals these hundred or so children will recieve every school day... your basic mixture of flour and sugar)
• roofing materials to finalize one of the C3 classrooms (as they quickly approach rainy season, this will allow them to still continue with teaching)
• extra stationary/school books for 5 students (many students cannot afford to purchase their school books... in which they then sit in class and watch everyone else in the class writing)
• swahili reading books for the C1 primary class (right now, english reading books have been donated, but they still need to perfect their native language as well)
• additional pencils, erasers, chalk, etc for all classes (it's painful to watch students fight over the last pencil or "rubber"... there should always be a surplus)
• helped Zuma purchase his 4th piece of land which will quickly (by next January) become the home of Standard 2 primary class (2nd grade) and eventually... his secondary school
• Nursery tuition for Maspala Juma
  

i've posted pictures with this that correspond to the various items we're donating.

together, my friends and my family have helped push Cheti School forward. you may feel like i didn't or you couldn't ever "save the world".

but together... we have fed children who don't always eat,

allowed a 5 year old to attend school, when it's his only hope of survival
and helped push the education of hundreds of 4-7 year olds who at the end of the day, smile the most when they are at Cheti.

we certainly can't do it all, especially by ourselves... so thank you all from the bottom of my heart.

the people/culture...

being a white person, i most likely have a completely different perspective on the people and culture in general. obviously - this is true of any outsider, but here's my two cents...

you cannot walk down the street without being harrassed by every local. by harrassed, i mean that in the most sincere, inquisitive way. they want to say hi, ask you how you are, touch you, direct you, call you rafiki (friend), mama (mom) or sister.

the firends that i've met are honest, good people who appreciate what you are able to give and don't expect anythign further. they love to hug you and give to you wahtever they are able to give... food, drinks, fabric, etc.

when tanzanian's interact - you can never really tell if they're arguing or joking. men who are friends, hold hands. women and men show no affection in public. if you're dating - you must always have a third party there to "watch over you". the muslims, christians, masai, and all various local tribes coexist peacefully. there appears to be an underlying respect for eachother and regardless of where we are... whoever we are with runs into someone else they know.

the masai in general are a hard culture to grasp. they still practice female circumsition, they are polygomists, and have a hard time caring about their children. the men live only with the women who provide the most food. men have "age mates" - or men who were born around the same time, they do everything together. become warriors, become respected elders, chase their first cattle together and are allowed to sleep with eachothers wives.

women are divorced for every imaginable and un-imaginable reason. i've heard of everything... because she has diabetes, gave birth to a mildly challenged child, has HIV, can't give birth, the list continues...

the men are all relatively slim and women are almost all obese. getting your hair done is a requirement regularly or, you wear fabric around your head.

they all love music (american hip/hop, r&b) and their own - bongo flava. the dalla dallas have all sorts of hip hop stars blasted all over, with lines such as "GET RICH OR DIE TRYING" on the back... oh the irony.

they all use pay-as you go phones, so there's no voicemail. there is no perception of time or personal space. swahili clock starts at sunrise, so technically 6 hours behind what it should be. if it's actually noon, in swhahili time - it's 6am. annoying.

the most difficult aspect to understand is the overall lack of trust. between eachother their government, etc. which makes our trust with them almost impossible. they steal from volunteers, and will give you mwzungu prices to get more money from you. this is lack of trust is part of the overall unhappiness that i only actually grasped after being there for a few weeks...

overall - the good people i met, are amazing. no one is out to harm you... they are all just trying to get by.

quote from geography of bliss...

"...but the point is not necessarily that we move to these places, but rather that we allow these places to move us. I believe, now more than ever, in the transformative promise of geography. Change your location and you may just change yourself. It's not that distant lands contain some special "energy" or that their inhabitants possess secret knowledge (though they may) but rather something more fundamental: by relocating ourselves, we shake loose the shackles of expectation. Adrift in a different place we give ourselves permission to be different people."

on the bus to dar..

i realize i haven't written in a while, with so many thoughts sometimes it's hard to organize it all coherently. plus - started reading a good book called the geography of bliss. excellent read about where you can find hapiness (word to the wise - it's in zanzibar :) ).

this week i've been thinking a lot about chances and education.
i thought before i got here that in this country (tanzania) educatino opened doors. that dreams can be discovered and goals can be accomplished through education. while this thought is partially true - i realized it opens 1 door. there is really only 1 option - which is 1 step above where they currently are.

the classes are prevelant in arusha. while thee is extreme poverty- there is also the upper class. they wear business-like suits, live in houses with more than one room and walk around the city with a sense of ownershi.
i suppose the class system is relatively the same everwhere in that regard.

the issues i'm learning about are the numberof barriers that exist as stopping blocks for the majority o f these children.
education is not 1 way out of their extreme poverty stricken life - it is the only way out.

they can't accidentally strike it big and win the lotto - as i haven't even seen that option.
they can't become mega-rap stars overnight or play for the knicks and solve all their family's problems.
while i'm sure there are examples of this that i'm unaware of - chances are too slim to chance.

with that in mind - i find it hard not to be tough with these bordlines malnuritoushed chidlren. what do they know? they better stop playing around and eating erasers and focus in class or else thier opportunity will fade in front of them.
it's frusterating to see students do poorly in school as it's not like bratty teen in the states who will still manage to get into ivy league beacuse of daddy's money. these kids are excited to come to school, they are *thank god* taught to appreciate education and no s ome level, understand the value.

i met a boy the other day walking along the orad - forgot the name - but our conversation made an impression on me. it was the same day Zuma mentioned how he never went to college. he reazlies the value and regrets missing this chance but this is why he started cheti school. he works for god, he says. what is education if not for teaching others and improving all our lives? i was thinking of zuma when talking tot his boy.
i asked him if wants to go to college and said he should try to go in the states. he said yes, this was one of his dreams. he was almost done with seconary dschool and was just scared and unsure of how to afford the visa and make something liekt hat possible.
i told him there are ways to make it work. he should then come back and help others in his own country. he nodded "... that is one of my other goals. to do good for others".

i gave him my email and told him we'd help him find a way.
for education without purpose is useless, even this boy understands that. here in tanzania, education is just 1 door. if only we can figure out how to help open more...