The Baby Room

The Tanzanian Presidential elections are drawing near. Flags have been flying from cars, travelling around town takes twice as long due to the frequent political rallies, megaphones are everyone’s new favourite method of communication and over 100 new children with albinism have been dropped off in Buhangija.

An interesting development in the election build up this year has been the passing of new legislation restricting criticism of the current government. A desire not have a run in with the Tanzanian authorities has made us cautious to point out what the perceived link between these elections and the increase in abandoned children in Buhangija might be. International press have not had to be so cautious. The Washington Post wrote this article about the current crisis.

The recent surge in numbers in Buhangija has created quite a few challenges. Children arrived quickly over the space of a few weeks with some days bringing 7 or 8 new faces. Stretched bed supply became even more stretched, thin porridge even thinner and in the middle of this chaos were 25 new children under the age of three toddling around completely bewildered. Too small to fend for themselves they went unwashed and sometimes unfed – missing out on food behind the experienced elbows of more savvy children. Abandoned and ignored in a place for the already vulnerable.

Thanks to donations and generous support, a new room has been renovated to make a safe and happy space for these 25 children during the day. Here they have their own toys to play with. They get morning porridge, a snack and lunch. Hands are washed, medicine given, stories read, the most beautiful scribbles drawn. A huge thank you must be given at this stage to Sarah, a friend of ours who lives in our town who works tirelessly in this room training two of the older girls in Buhangija to care for these small ones. Genni and Anna are understandably reluctant at times to sit on the floor and make endless block towers, but we’re getting there. Every day is a challenge as we try to encourage and equip these (sometimes stroppy!) teenagers to care for the smallest ones in their care. For some more photos, click here.

Swahili word of the day: Mtoto Vizuri (good child)

Happy Anniversary

We’ve been in Tanzania for a year. It’s hard to believe and yet it seems like a very long time since we said goodbye to our families at Dublin airport 12 months ago. While we never can claim being ‘from’ Tanzania, it has certainly begun to feel like home. Complaints and annoyances are frequent, but we’re still loving every minute.

Just like at home, every week has its ups and downs, frustrations and delights. Tanzania is one of the most materially poor countries in the world and we can’t escape that. At the moment, driving from Shinyanga to Mwanza, all of the rivers and most of the roadside dams are dry as we all wait expectantly for the impending rainy season. It’s also a country plagued by corruption at every level. That poses its own problems and has been the source of some of our most aggravating moments but you get used to that too.

The home of Serengeti, Kilimanjaro, Zanzibar and Lake Victoria, Tanzania is one of the most beautiful countries in East Africa. Combine this with Tanzania’s famous hospitality and friendly culture and it’s not hard to love living here. People are always willing to help, the language barrier regularly proving to be no barrier at all. We are fortunate to have met some great people in Shinyanga and it has become our new ‘home town’

Every day brings more lessons and we are constantly learning new things. The importance of boiling eggs on a Friday night to eat during the Saturday ‘black-out’, how to sweet talk a policeman and call their bluff now and again, that you can sweat from places you never thought possible, to make the most out of a beer when it’s cold and that no matter how much you plead Villareal v Viktoria Plzen watched by one old man takes precedence over the rugby world cup.

A lot of the time, life here feels very normal. We have a house, go to work, pay bills, go shopping. Then there are the times when you have to pinch yourself and realise that we’re still far from home!

Swahili word of the day: Mwaka Moja (one year)

Anna's Here!

Last Friday we collected a post-Indonesia, very bronzed, jet lagged but happy Anna from the airport in Mwanza. She is here to experience Africa, help out in Buhangija, do some travelling and judging by this week so far, sit and drink tea with Alice.

As we've said before, we're very lucky to have had so many visitors. Anna will be here for 3 months which is great. We tried to ease her into life here slowly with swimming pools, nice food and a boat trip in Mwanza but since coming to Shinyanga she has visited Buhangija, decided Ugali isn't nice, sat in the dark waiting for electricity to come back and had days with no water!

Despite being on a break from work, we think we've managed to convince her to make use of her OT skills with the kids in the centre. In return we've promised the standard Serengeti trip and maybe a visit to the Gombe chimps - an experience potentially less intense than being jumped on by 50 albino children!

Thrive-ing in Geita

After a busy few weeks full of moving house, visitors and holidays, life is slowly returning to normal for us in Shinyanga. Paul has been busy in work and Alice has been back in Buhangija – and caught a bit of the ‘Buhangija cold’ that strikes when your immune system is hijacked by 400 sick children who want to be as close to you as possible! Alice also managed to fit in a trip to Geita with Whitney, who also happens to be the real reason Ian extended his stay in Tanzania!

Whitney works for Catholic Relief Services (CRS) and is a programme officer based in Mwanza. Part of her work has involved monitoring and evaluating CRS’s ‘Thrive’ – A Positive Parenting Project. Last week Ian, Whitney and Alice set off to a village between Mwanza and Geita (the place we moved to for a week and a half in May!) to visit a community that has been participating in Thrive. The project is centred on teaching parents how to care for their children’s safety, nutrition and developmental needs by CRS trained volunteers.

This particular village has had some struggles mobilising themselves in the past. Lack of community leader support meant they were behind in construction of a centre to meet together. Undeterred, the women in the village met under a tree. Further inspired by the project’s nutritional teaching, they contribute a small amount of food each and cook communally so their children can eat while they gather to learn. Since then, a simple centre has been built for the local community to meet together.

We arrived to help with one of the final aspects of the project – the murals. In a country with low literacy rates, a picture is often the best way to convey a message. So an enjoyable day was spent in the sun promoting healthy childhood development, early stimulation, proper nutrition and health monitoring...pretty heavy topics considering the giant giraffe and caterpillar we ended up with! Click here for more photos.

Swahili word of the Day: Afya ya Mtoto ni Pamojana… (A healthy child needs…)

Let's go 50-50

So another set of visitors have been and gone. We said goodbye to Clare and Stu last Sunday after an action packed two weeks that included a couple of days in Dar es Salaam, a visit to Victoria Falls in Zambia (photos here), a week in Shinyanga and a whistle stop tour of Serengeti. Indian food was eaten, lions spotted, sunsets enjoyed (a first for Stu apparently), matching shirts bought and worn, rafting survived (soundtracked by this) and quite a few ‘Balimi tatu’ ordered.

The realities of having a ‘real job’ kicked in for Paul as he missed most of the daytime activities in Shinyanga which mainly consisted of chips mayai, enjoying / surviving the heat as well as visit to Buhangija and a local secondary school. It was great to be able to show the changes at Buhangija to a few of those involved in the fundraising that allowed it to happen. The fact that Clare thought it was ‘completely different and better’ than at Christmas was a welcome endorsement of the progress that has been achieved there.
 

It’s always amazing to have visitors over. It’s great to have friends and family who have seen where we live and experienced a bit of what our lives are like here. Ian is still knocking around, making the most of his generous army holidays, so we’re down to ‘Balimi mbili’ but Paul's not having to resort to ‘moja’ just yet!

Swahili word of the day: Moja, Mbili, Tatu (one, two three)

Settling In

Our first weeks back in Shinyanga have had their highs and lows. On the up side the weather is great, watermelon season is in full flow and we might have found a place to buy fresh pork but unfortunately the one hotel in town serving Indian food has put up it's prices, it's also papaya season and sometimes it's just too hot.

Paul has now been in his new job for two weeks, the main highlight being the two meals a day provided in the office! So far, it's been busier than expected but a lot of that is trying to set up systems and digitise data to help down the line. There's been a couple of late evenings but hopefully that won't become the norm.

ICS Shinyanga is an office of around 15 people, all of whom are very welcoming and friendly. They've helped us with transport, moving house and even done the dreaded Immigration Office visits on our behalf. ICS are primarily involved in agricultural and child protection projects. The project Paul is involved in is the first major one with water but it's an area they hope to expand - if this goes well!

Being back in Shinyanga has meant that Alice will able to visit and get involved back at Buhangija. We went together for the first time last week and were amazed at the continued general health and cleanliness of the children. We really hoped that things would continue to improve when we were away and it seems that they have. The nurse we helped employ is still there every day and is doing a great job of taking care of the health and hygiene of the kids and their environment.

In other news, we're very excited about Ian, Clare and Stu coming to visit us this weekend. Clare and Stu will be here for two weeks, Ian somehow managed to persuade the army to give him five weeks (Irish taxpayers take note!). It's Clare and Ian's second time here so we really think the Tanzanian tourist board should start paying us. We've planned a trip to Zambia to visit Victoria Falls and will spend a week in Shinyanga to show them what life is really like!

Swahili word of the day: Mhandisi Maji (Water Engineer)

Shinyanga 2: Shinyanga Harder

After three and a half great weeks in Ireland, we are now back in Tanzania. Having had our fill of pork, cheese, fresh milk and being cold we are back in the land of rice, beans and UHT. It was wonderful to see people and we were very glad we decided to come back for an extra week and a half. Thanks again to Swords and Dublin West for asking us to share some of what we’re up to.

This post has the making of a monumental catch up but in short, the couple of weeks before we left for Ireland proved to be complicated in a uniquely Tanzanian way. On our emotional last Sunday in Shinyanga, we piled a Hilux high with our stuff, strapped a mattress to the roof and took off for Geita, our ‘new town’ (see previous blog post). Fifteen minutes into our four hour trip, Paul got an email asking him to attend an interview in Mwanza (two hour car journey plus ferry ride from Geita) the next day for a job based in Shinyanga.

A slight change of plan meant that we dropped our belongings in Geita, and continued on to Mwanza. A further email received that night indicated that the interview had been postponed until Thursday. Continuing to rack up the miles, we travelled back to Geita on Tuesday morning to meet people, find out about their projects and familiarise ourselves with a new place – all the while knowing if the interview went well, this could be our one and only week there. In a major stroke of luck, we met Annette, a lovely German woman, who happened to be going to Mwanza the day before Paul’s interview. So on Wednesday morning, Paul arrived in Mwanza airport and after a very pleasant but challenging interview, Paul was offered the job! In most ways, accepting it was a no brainer – it’s a great project, will be good experience and allows us to return to our Tanzaniain ‘home town’.

All was going well until Paul’s lift back to Geita was delayed by a day due to some car issues. That would have been fine had he not taken both passports with him and immigration had not knocked on Alice’s hotel door in Geita at 10pm. After much negotiation, threats of jail, explanation and a conveniently sent whatsapp picture of Alice’s visa, sleep was had. Until 1am when Alice woke up and vomited til the early morning...the joys of life here...!

In summary, Paul has a new job. It’s with a Dutch NGO called ICS who’s main country office is in Shinyanga, very close to where we used to live. He has been employed to help manage a UK Aid funded pre-paid water project in villages in the Shinyanga region. It will aim to share Shinyanga town’s water supply from Lake Victoria with villages along the route which don’t yet have any mains water. Using existing mobile money technology, users will be able to ‘top-up’ cards for the amount of water they want. It’s a bit like this.

Leaving Tearfund ‘officially’ was a tough decision but a great chat with Shannon in the Tearfund country office freed us of any guilt which were are very thankful for! Returning to Shinyanga also allows Alice to continue working in Buhangija where she will be able to continue helping with the nursery school, working alongside the nurse, monitoring the food and water situation and hopefully starting some new projects. On top of all that, we received an email this week asking Alice to manage a hotel in Shinyanga for a month...Tanzania, how we have missed you!