Dodoma

Hi everyone, I hope you are all doing well. FIRST and most important, I was able to find an internet cafe with an amazing connection and post about 9 pictures in the two previous posts. Please take a look!
It's been about five days since my last post and things have been very good. I am now in Dodoma. I left off on Sunday night in Dar es Salaam. On Monday morning Loyce left me to do some of her work and I was sitting at home with Edina. Edina kind of motioned she was leaving to go to the market to get poultry, so I asked to go with her. We met a friend of hers and took a dala-dala to this open air market. We went right into the heart of the market and there were hundreds of chickens in cages. Edina hemmed and hawwed with the seller and took a coulple of chickens and bounced them up and down while holding them by their wings. Once she found a few that had a weight she thought was acceptable, she handed them to the seller and he ran in the back to slaughter, pluck, and cut up the meat. 15 minutes later he handed her a little plastic bag of chicken! While we waited I slowly walked around and looked at all the food. I bought some fried cassava root with salt and all of us girls shared it. It was delicious, very similar to a potato. We took a dala dala back home and then Edina made me some wonderfully fresh chicken for lunch! When Loyce came home in the evening I convinced her to go on a walk with me. She wasnt my ideal workout partner, but I am trying to be conscious of getting outside each day and walking as much as possible. Tanzanians who have cars LOVE to use them, even if the distance is only a few blocks. I don't know if they do it for safety, because of the heat, or what, but it drives me crazy. On the other hand, they love their women to be bigger and have meat on their bones, so I guess they aren't really interested in watching their weight. Anyway, Loyce agreed and we went for a wonderful hour+ walk to Coco Beach and beyond. On the way back we stopped and had some mishikaki for dinner, which I have totally fallen in love with. If the place is good and the meat is good, it is so delious, but I have had a few times where the meat is sooo bad that I am chocking to swallow it down. . . On Tuesday morning Loyce took me to run some errands with her, which just means sitting in the car and sweating like hell while I wonder why the heck I agreed to go with her. Eventually she dropped me at home and took some money from me to buy me a bus ticket for Dodoma the next morning. I was feeling very antsy and a little caged in so I walked to the gym and worked about. It had been nice to enjoy some of hte comforts of the west, like a gym. I was there for about an hour and a half and then I walked back home. I showered and relaxed on my bed in my khanga, hoping not to start sweating again. Since this was my last night in Dar es Salaam, I had asked Loyce if I could take her, Edina, and Zawadi out for dinner. We went to my favorite mishikaki place and it was nice because Loyce had set up some kind of 'formal' dinner ahead of time where we got soup, main meals, and drinks. I am telling you, I ate everything on my plate. This included fresh mushroom soup (a surprise for me!), chips, salad, chili sauce, mishikaki and cabbage. I ate with my hands and just relished the entire thing. I washed it down with my own 200ml bottle of Konyagi, a Tanzanian gin. Its dangerious and deceiving because it is so smooth and before I knew it, it wsa all gone! I had a wonderful time and I think Loyce and the girls did too, despite the fact that the four of us were unable to carry on one whole conversation.
On Wednesday morning I got up early and tried to pack, but having so many new khangas was really making my bag full. Loyce and I agreed that I would leave all purchases and khangas at her house and I could get them when I returned. All the girls hugged me goodbye and Loyce took me to the bus station.
So leaving Loyce and the girls was hard. I kind of toggled inbetween wanting to leave and dreading to leave. Loyce and I definitely had our differences, but its difficult to get that close to someone and then just have to leave. These people have been so gracious to welcome me into their lives, introduce me as their daughters and sisters, and they have done so much in terms of taking care of me. The transition to a new place is always so hard.
The bus ride to Dodoma was pretty easy. It took about 7 hours and the bus was dubbed 'luxury' but I really wasnt feeling any of that. The thing I really liked about this bus line, though, is that it has its own terminal that is not open to the public. So it departs and arrives in a semi private place where taxi drivers and thugs are not hanging out. It makes getting off and on the bus so much easier and safer. They mark your bags depending on your seat, and each stop is at their own private offices that have bathrooms (i.e. hole in the floor). I sat next to a nice man who works for the Netherlands Embassy and does something with Parliament in Dodoma. Grace and Atu, my dodoma hosts, were waiting for me at the train station. AND THEY BROUGHT A PHOTOGRAPHER. No lie, this man was taking my picture as I got off the bus. I was trying so hard not to laugh and to take it seriously. He wanted some shots with me and Grace and Atu and then some action shots of my with my luggage . . . so funny. Atu took me to her house and it was definitely an adjustment for me. Loyce completely spoiled me. She is a very wealthy upper-middle class Tanzanian (but remember upper middle class Africa is not upper middle class America). She didn't have anyone living with her, no elderly parents to care for. She had Edina and Zawadi who worked around the house and otherwise did whatever she wanted. So Atu, on the other hand, is divorced or separated. She lives in a house wiht a few house girls, her younger sister, and Youni, the orphaned son of her brother. Youni is HIV+ and has been since birth. More on this later. Her home is very nice, but kind of dark and cool and small. It's located outside of the city center in a more village setting. So all of this, again, has been an adjustment from Loyce, but probably more of the experience I should b e having. So it took me some time to get used to Youni. He is a small boy, very thin and slight. He is 14 but looks 10 or so. He has these huge growths around his jawline, right by his ears. I'm not sure if its calcium or if its just swelling, but Atu said its a side effect of HIV+ and the medicine he takes. He is a very sweet boy and obviously the prince of the house, but very quiet, doesnt smile much. He doesnt go to school often because he might get sick or tired. He gets treatment for HIV for free from government clinics, but only takes medicine when his white blood count is very low. It was very hard for me at first to be around him. I was just so affected by this little boy who was so unlucky that his parents gave him HIV+. I mean people can live for a very long time now with HIV+, but it just kills me that hhis body has to fight for his life every single day. Being an African child is hard enough, b ut on top of that he is very limited in his activities and what he can do. I've tried my best to get over my feelings and I try to spend some time with him each day. I showed him and one of the girls how to shuffle cards, you know, when the deck makes that kind of brilllllll noise? Well they love it and we will spend 20-30 minutes each time just sitting on the floor as I try to teach them how to shuffle cards. They also LOVE when I take pictures and then show them. I wonder if that is hard for Youni, if he gets to see his face in the mirror often. If it does bother him, he doesn't say. So Wednesday night Atu invited me into the kitchen and showed me how they cook. We had one pot on the floor over charcoals cooking rice, one pan with chicken and tomatos, and another with greens and coconut milk. It was delicious food and she has said that she will try to get me to eat as much africa food as possible! On Thursday morning I met with all the local TAWE members. It was kind of awkward and quiet and I couldnt get a very good read on everyone. Each person introduced themself I talked about what I was doing, etc. They had this whole agenda for me, starting from my arrival to departure. The timetable is of course already slipping,but their interest touched me. All of us had lunch together and just chatted for awhile outside. In the afternoon I went home with the chairwoman, Sarah, and had a fantastic visit with her. One of the things that I am supposed to do here is visit the Ihumwa tribe of women who make their own pottery. The Dodoma chapter wants to work with these women and help get them a grant. This perspective is so different from the Dar chapter, where the women just wanted to get money for themselves and didnt care about sisterhood or empowerment. But, as Sarah explained to me, the women of TAWE in Dodoma have what they need to survive. They might not have the most successful businesses or the best houses or cars,but they can flick a switch for electricity whenever they want, they can eat full meals each day, and they can clothe themselves and feed their families. But women like the Ihumwa women, who have no running water and must walk for hours to get it, no electicity, and cannot even afford clothes, are the ones who relaly need help. It was so inspiring and touching to hear that TAWE really just wants to help these women. It also made me feel a lot of pressure to get something done or at least do something right. We also talked for awhile about Sarah's business and the gender culture in Tanzania, especially how women reallu suffer. It is getting better, but women really have no say here. Men don't usually allow them to have their own businesses and in many cases, even if women earn money for something, the money gets paid to the husband. Women are responsible for making babies, and if couples cant conceive right away, the women is usually discarded. There is no understanding that men might be impotent. And, though this is a deep generaliztion, men are very physically rough here and beat their wives. More on that. And in terms of HIV, many people in the villages surrounding Dodoma still believe that HIV and AIDS are the result of witchcraft and even sometimes white people medicine. They share and reuse condoms if they use them at all. Sometimes they use plastic bags as condoms. I mean I read about this stuff and feel like I can grasp it, but I guess I really can't. I really appreciated the time Sarah took with me and I learned about. I didnt get this kind of information or attention in Dar and it really makes a differece in helping me understand my surroundings and their daily life. Afterwards Sarah and I walked back into town where I met Grace, Atu, and Loyce. Long story short, Loyce was there for business and was just hanging out. I was happy to see her and all of us went out for a drink and then dinner. Dodoma is known for its chicken, meaning they eat a shitload of it. The four of us went out to this open air restaurant where they cook whole chickens on spits and then fry potatos in open vats of oil. Once the chicken is done they just chop it up, bone and all, and serve it. I was so hungry and ate ALL of it. I am getting pretty good at eating chicken bones clean and my pile of bones is almost as bare as theirs. I guess I have some pride on that!
Afterwards I went home and took a bath (bucket bath) and climbed into my bed under my net. The weather is much cooler here and it is so easy to sleep at night now, no more sweating, though I still wake often as I am adjusting to the new noises. We were supposed to visit the Ihumwa women this morning, but heavy rains last night caused it to be cancelled as most roads are not paved and travel can be very difficult. Hopefully we can reschedule for Tuesday!
SO I've missed a lot I know but this is the best I can do for now. I'll be in Dodoma until the 14th and then will travel to Morogoro for the same kind of thing. I hope everyone is doing well at home. I definitely miss being up to date on my current events. Its funny becuase sometimes English headlines will flash on the bottom of the TV screen and they will be so vague, like 'Obama admits he made a mistake.' And of course Im like - waitwhatmistakewhatsgoingoninamericailoveobamawhatdidimiss. And no one can tell me so usually I forget it.
CASEY maybe you can start sending me some celebrity gossip updates? I would completely love that.
TIM also please bring a suduko book off my bookshelf when you come. Im starting to go a little mad having so much free time in my head.
I hope everyone is well. Shout out to Navy ERP and especially Mary, Frankie, Cindy and Jennifer.
Love,
Ann