http://globalservicecorpsblog.wordpress.com/category/tanzania/

The best thing was being able to camp in rural areas, especially Lashiane, because we were able to have first-hand experience with Maasai culture, which not many people have had. I was most immersed during my 3^rd week of camping, when I was the only SA volunteer left in the country so I camped with only Tanzanians.  This and my homestay provided me with the most insight into Tanzanian culture.

-from Karen G., GSC Volunteer Tanzania, Sustainable Agriculture Program

Further information about Sustainable Agriculture Program  can be found at http://www.globalservicecorps.org/site/tanzania-agriculture-and-food/

I think the work we were doing was very important and I could see the effects it was taking as we revisited certain areas and saw progress that had been made, so in that sense it was very rewarding and I felt like I was doing something.

My time with my homestay family was amazing, they treated me as a daughter and I felt completely at home with them. I had many talks with them about the difference between American and Tanzanian culture, which provided me with an insight I would never have otherwise been able to gain. I learned so much from them, and they completely transformed my experience. I also thoroughly enjoyed camping, because it was a great way to establish camaraderie with my fellow volunteers that may not have formed otherwise. To put it simply, my favorite parts were homestay, chicken vaccinations, camping, and the relationships I developed, both with people in Tanzania as well as with other volunteers.

-Selena E., GSC Volunteer Tanzania, Sustainable Agriculture Program

To learn more about how you can participate on this and other sustainable agriculture and food security projects, go to http://www.globalservicecorps.org/site/tanzania-agriculture-and-food/

This program uses proven methods to empower rural producer groups by increasing the use of sustainable agriculture and kitchen gardens. In select communities this will also involve organizing village-level collection/buying/ selling points, ensuring quality produce through a participatory guarantee system of certification, encouraging rural poultry markets, conducting practical research and sharing knowledge on food preservation and appropriate irrigation skills with participant farm families. The program also will target families caring for Persons Living with HIV/AIDS.

Market linkages ensure that profitable and equitable relationships will benefit rural producers, small and medium entrepreneurs and others along the value-added chain.

Visit our website at http://www.globalservicecorps.org to find out more information about our programs in Tanzania!

The Kitomaris have six children, which they will struggle to put through school. In recent years the imperative of intensification has increased as farm sizes have become smaller through passing parcels to children. Few families live in traditional houses, and family sizes are getting smaller. This imperative has caused the Kitomaris to become fully converted to bio-intensive agriculture. Behind the Kitomari farmstead is a garden with eight large compost piles 2×1 meters square. Here, the Kitomaris share the secret of their success, and the reason they get so many visitors. In 2002, with the help of Global Service Corps volunteers, they learned to make compost and how to utilize it in ‘deep dug beds.

“We were so amazed to see what a difference the compost and deep-dug vegetable beds made in our farm. We stopped using chemicals. We soon had too many vegetables and our neighbors began to come to buy from us in the dry season when they had no gardens. This was the start of a small revolution on our farm.”

Soon their farm had drawn the interest of visitors from Heifer International, and the Kitomaris became farmer motivators in fish and goats. The latter helped them to increase their compost-making to much more than they needed on their small farm, so they began to sell it!  How strange that anyone would make a business of selling compost, but at Tsh 20,000 per pile it has proven to be a good income generator.

The Nambala neighborhood now knows that they can get advice if they want to dig their own deep-dug vegetable beds. While at first, it seems like a lot of hard work Mr. Kitomari says, “once the beds are established, they last for three years without re-plowing, and they don’t stop producing. We follow one crop with another and they use so little water compared to our old system.”

Using the techniques taught by Global Service Corps, the Kitomaris have seven beds which produce abundant green vegetables for their meals, and they sell green, organic vegetables to their neighbors all through the year!

 Photo: Mr. Kitomari on his families farm

Editors note: Lauren participated in Global Service Corps sustainable agriculture program in the summer of 2008. Thanks for the post Laura!           

Two months ago, I was sitting on a huge airplane with my eyes closed and feet anxiously tapping the floor below me. As we roared down the runway, I tried to remain calm but instead I was second guessing my desire to travel to Tanzania and volunteer with Global Service Corps (GSC), a nonprofit organization that emphasizes international health, HIV/AIDS education and sustainable agricultural techniques. I barely knew how to say hello in Swahili, had never traveled alone, and was always a little nervous to fly, especially when it came to take off. In fact, I was so nervous to fly that I repeated the word “safe” over and over in my head as the flight attendants passed through the cabin prior to departure, assuring the pilot that all passengers had their seatbelts safely fastened. I was jealous of their relaxed attitudes and wished I could just fall asleep like the snoring woman next to me who did not wake until our aircraft landed in another continent. When I was brave enough to look out the window, the airplane was already encircled by clouds and I could not believe that we had left the ground…it felt as though we were still on the runway! From that point on, my breathing eased, I stopped repeating the word safe, and was finally able to sit back, relax and enjoy the twenty hour flight to Tanzania.

            Upon arriving in Tanzania, I was greeted by a GSC representative who drove me to the hostel I would be staying at during my initial training. These first few days were exciting and informative. I was taught primarily about sustainable agricultural methods but also learned about the growing problem of HIV/AIDS throughout Tanzania. As a volunteer, I would be spreading my knowledge concerning agriculture and nutrition to various community members, but it was essential to receive training myself before helping others. I worked alongside a Tanzanian counterpart named Javasson for a week and my training occurred both in the classroom and outside in the demonstration farming plot. This method of learning was beneficial because I first learned about the theory behind particular practices and then ventured outside to put the practices in action. With some help, I made a standard sized compost pile, dug a double-dig garden bed, built a sack garden, and made a natural pesticide spray from papayas. During these activities, Javasson explained that proper farming techniques not only improve overall crop yield and increase plant health, but also indirectly benefit human health as well. Organic vegetables and fruits grown without the addition of chemical pesticides are better for the environment and for our own bodies.

            In addition to learning sustainable agriculture techniques, Mama Betty, a lady with HIV/AIDS came to talk to the volunteers about the importance of nutrition and its role in preventing further symptoms of the disease. She explained that those suffering from HIV/AIDS often feel weak and helpless. Although she felt this way when originally diagnosed with the disease, she claimed that proper nutrition such as a diet rich in vegetables, has allowed her to regain the strength necessary to continue with her daily routine. Mama Betty advocated the addition of sack gardens to homes for HIV+ people. Sack gardens are low maintenance and various types off immune-boosting produce can be grown and incorporated into meals and/or tea to allow for better nutrition. Mama Betty was extremely open and I appreciate her willingness to share her story.  

            The majority of Tanzanians are farmers. However, the majority also waste money and time using chemical pesticides. Furthermore, they do not maximize the limited space of their gardens and do not engage in companion planting. Thus when a particular insect invades their cucumber bed for example, and no other vegetables are being grown in the same bed, farmers are denied access to vegetables and more than likely, will not make any income for that particular growing season. In addition to not making any money on market days, famers will have less food to feed their own family. For a couple weeks, I conducted several ‘follow-ups’ with other volunteers and a Tanzanian counterpart who acted as a translator. Follow ups served several purposes. They allowed volunteers to help Tanzanians improve their current gardens by giving advice concerning plant spacing, crop rotation, compost pile building, etc. Even though many of the farms we visited had an existing garden, we also initiated the digging of double dig beds in other locations. Several of the farmers we met were HIV+. In addition to providing information about the disease, we taught the farmers about the nutritional value of the vegetables/fruits they were currently growing, and pushed for the implementation of sac gardens, often using Mama Betty’s story as a great reference tool.    

            Follow-ups accounted for a small amount of the work I did throughout my volunteer position. The bulk of my work occurred at a primary school with children ranging from ages four to twelve. For a week, three volunteers and I once again taught about sustainable agricultural techniques and the significance of food security issues throughout Tanzania. After listening to us speak, the students, teachers and volunteers all went outside and began to build compost piles, double dig beds and sack gardens. Initially, I thought this would be a huge project because I figured the volunteers would be doing most of the work…and believe me, it is hard physical work! However, I was proven wrong because the school children and teachers were so excited to start their garden that we had to find more shovels, rakes and other gardening materials to go around. This project took a good two weeks and the amount of work accomplished in that short amount of time was outstanding. I am eager to hear an update from the students and anticipate that the addition of organic produce will provide great health improvements for the entire school.

            My area of concentration in human biology is Health Promotion and Nutrition. My position in Tanzania allowed me to address and help solve food-related situations by working with local communities and teaching people the importance of proper organic farming methods. Although the content of the information being shared was always the same, the way in which it was presented differed depending on the group of people we were aiming to help, whether it was HIV/AIDS patients, students, or the general farming community. Regardless of who was being taught however, the volunteers were fully welcomed and many students and community members told us that our help was much appreciated.

            Based on my anxiety prior to leaving the United States, it may seem ironic that I chose to travel so far away from home to work with an organization that I simply stumbled upon on the internet. However, I could not be more pleased with the entire experience. Before boarding the plane last July, I knew that I wanted to travel internationally and help in the general areas of health, food, and sustainability. I also knew that I wanted to be outside, interacting with people and not inside, sitting behind a computer screen. Finally, I wanted to be immersed in a culture different than my own. Having accomplished all these criteria, I feel that my time was well spent and that the information I shared with various farming communities and schoolchildren positively influenced their health and overall lives. A few of the GSC directors warned the volunteers about having too high of expectations with regards to changing the world. This advice is extremely wise. I was only in Tanzania for five weeks and at times I became frustrated with the poor health habits, malnutrition and poverty that I was exposed to. Looking back on my experience, I think that I helped make a small impact on current food security issues in a small region of Tanzania, something I am very proud to have been a part of.

            It is true that I learned so much concerning agricultural methods and nutritional information specific to the Tanzanian people. More importantly however, I learned about humanity and culture through my everyday interactions with the locals and the volunteers. I learned that we can communicate with each other for hours, despite language barriers. I learned that we should always stop and ask someone how his/her day is going instead of rushing to our next destination (also known as ‘Tanzanian time’). I learned that relationships with people should dictate or lives, and not overscheduled agendas. I learned that everybody can always teach you something about yourself, regardless of his/her age. I learned that no matter how complicated life gets, laughter is essential to human growth….all of these concepts were not learned from a book or in a classroom. Rather they were experienced and taught to me by the people of Tanzania.

Editors note: Jennifer R. is a current participant in the HIV/AIDS Education and Prevention Program in Tanzania. She will be working with us for the next six months. We look forward to receiving more posts from her throughout her time in Tanziania! Thanks for the post Jennifer!

This past weekend, I had the pleasure of traveling to a place that was utterly other-worldly. It was like I walked onto the Discovery Channel or into a National Geographic special. I am going to use this word a lot in this entry, but I am in utter awe of all that I witnessed, just utter awe. There are few times in life when you experience true awe, I spent an entire two days like that. It was magical, mysterious, mystifying, miraculous, shocking in a fabulous way, or in a Sidipi (said see-dee-PEE) way, which is the Maasai word for fabulous. My descriptions here will never do it justice. I just cannot describe the stirring in my heart that happened while we were out in uncharted territory. It was as if I was standing in the spot where the birth of the human species took place, watching it as it would have taken place at that moment in history. It was truly an experience of a lifetime.

A group of seven from GSC were invited to be guests of Isaya and his Maasai family at his tribal home, a Boma (family village) deep in the heart of the Maasai Tribal lands about an two hours outside of the Arusha city limits. I have written about Isaya before, he was a translator at my school during the weeks of HIV/AIDS Day Camp. He is a warrior and a tribe chief for the Maasai Tribe of Tanzania. He is also one of five Maasai warriors that ran the London Marathon last year to raise money and awareness for their clean water project. You can find more information at www.massaimarathon.org

Here is some general information on the Maasai. They have been living this tribal lifestyle on these lands of Tanzania and Kenya for hundreds and hundreds of years and have actively discouraged modernizing or changing their nomadic way of life. It was like I stepped back in time to watch people live before the dawn of modern civilization. The traditional Massai Lifestyle centers around their cattle which constitutes their primary source of food, but they do also grow maize quite a bit now. The measure of a A Maasai myth relates that God gave them all the cattle on earth, to be put into their keeping. They are a large but very close community that works together to raise the cattle and the children and cultivate the lands that they live on. The society is patriarchal and polygamist, the family we stayed with had 1 baba (dad), 2 mamas/wives, 20 watoto (children), 10 from each wife. They all live together on the compound of land called a Boma, along with all of the cows and goats. Maasai men’s wealth is in terms of his cattle and children. A herd of 50 cattle is respectable and the more children the better.  A man who has plenty of one but not the other is still considered poor by Maasai standards. 

The patriarch of the Boma is Isaya’s father. He has his own hut and each wife has her own hut.  The culture dictates that after a woman has given birth to more than 5 children, she gets to have her own hut to live in with the children.  They build each hut in 3 days.  The hut framework is formed of timber poles fixed directly into the ground and interwoven with a web of smaller branches, which is then plastered with a mix of mud, sticks, grass, cow dung and urine, and ash. Within this space the family cooks, eats, sleeps, socializes and stores food, fuel and other household possessions.  Each hut also has a place for baby goats and baby cows to sleep so they are safe during the night. Isaya explained that the hut lasts about 10 years and then they start over and build a new one. This is where I slept, 4 of us in a bed made for 1 ½ to 2 people, with a 1 day old baby goat crying under us all night. I slept in my clothes and shoes, we did not shower for 2 days while tracking through the cow dung and goat dung and whatever else is out there. The flies are unbelievable, there is no way to describe how many flies are all around you.

In the morning, we are each made a bracelet and ring from the goat hide. It is not treated, they just chop a piece off the hide with a knife and fashion it right on to your hand (see picture).  At first it is still wet and sticky, considering it is the outside fur and inside skin of an animal we ate the night before, maybe 8 or 10 hours before. We are informed you are supposed to wear the bracelets for life as a sign of respect to the goat.

Editors note: Jennifer R. is a current participant in the HIV/AIDS Education and Prevention Program in Tanzania. She will be working with us for the next six months. We look forward to receiving more posts from her throughout her time in Tanziania! Thanks for the post Jennifer!

On Saturday, I was honored to attend the graduation ceremony for an HIV/AIDS training performed for a group called Whisperers in the Jungle. This is a extraordinary organization that helps support street kids here in Arusha. It was created to give kids without homes a place to call home. These children have been chased away from their childhood homes for a variety of reasons, such as an abusive parent, alcoholism, or flat-out starvation. Whisperers in the Jungle provide a safe place for them to form a new family with people of similar circumstances. It gives them a home to go to, sponsors them to receive an education when possible, English lessons, business training and money management skills, and now HIV/AIDS training. It is run by an amazing man named Cifa Chalo, who started the organization and manages it. He spoke to the kids and to us on Saturday, and I found it so moving, I wanted to share it with you.

He explained that the Jungle can be a metaphor for life. If you yell in the Jungle, it produces an echo and you can be heard. But if you whisper in the Jungle, everything must be quiet for you to be heard and it is harder to hear any one person alone. Whisperers’ kids had only learned to whisper in the jungle of their lives, so we must help, by stopping to hear them. The Jungle has many dangerous animals prowling through it, as does life. The dangerous animal that the Whisperer kids learned to conquer this week was HIV/AIDS. He went on to expand his metaphor by explaining that the Jungle can also be cities with large populations, such as Arusha. If the kids, or any one person, whispers or even shouts, they cannot be heard. So Whisperers in the Jungle helps them, gives them a voice to be heard and introduces them to each other so they can form a group and become a family, and GSC helped give them a voice to prevent themselves from contracting HIV/AIDS.

The kids then performed a drama about tough times on the streets and how HIV/AIDS affects their lives. I have heard and read the stories before, about young girls falling into prostitution or having to find an older man as a sugar-daddy to survive, about falling into IV drugs to forget the pain heaped on you by your biological family. You can hear it all, we have a wealth of information about other people’s lives at our disposal. But watching them perform skits about the actual life decisions just struck me so hard that day, I was incredibly moved watching them act out their lives for us. I am not sure I can conceptualize it for anyone, possibly not even for myself. These kids really do live in an existence where they must choose between surviving right now, today, or worrying about the unknown of life later, that may or may not happen. How do you make that decision, or do you even allow yourself to contemplate it? They have to decide…I can sleep with this man now and have enough money to buy food, or worry about HIV/AIDS that could kill me in one year or five years or who knows how long in the future. How do you worry about the dangerous animal called HIV/AIDS when starvation is knocking on your door? Some of the girls brought their small children, whom there are solely supporting. Watching a 20 year old girl with a 3rd grade education carrying around this gorgeous child who is living on the streets, it breaks my heart and gives me hope all at the same time.

Think about it, let it marinate for a while and let me know what you think.

Editors Note: M. DeAgostino visited Tanzania from May 29 to August 1, 2008. This is a piece she wrote about the time she spent volunteering with

This summer I traveled to Arusha, Tanzania, to intern with an international NGO, Global Service Corps (the internship was sponsored by the Kellogg Institute at the University of Notre Dame). I spent weekdays teaching secondary school students and community groups about HIV/AIDS and life-skills and conducting research in medical anthropology for my senior thesis, which I will complete this academic year.

I was placed in a homestay with a local Tanzanian family, so I had the opportunity to eat traditional cuisine, improve my Kiswahili, and ride dala dalas, the public transportation, every day. The dala dalas are crazy vans created to hold 15 people typically crammed with 25 or more.

On weekends, I was able to make small trips outside of Arusha. I went on safari to some of Tanzania’s beautiful national parks, including Lake Manyara, Ngorongoro Crater, and the Serengeti. The parks were breathtaking, both for their landscapes and the incredible wildlife.

Not only are the varied species amazing, but the density of animals is astounding!

I also had the privilege of visiting a Maasai village outside of Arusha. A Maasai warrior who works for Global Service Corps invited some volunteers to spend a weekend in his traditional village, where we witnessed and attempted to participate in (at their insistence) spectacular jumping dances; in the morning, they slaughtered a goat for breakfast, and they shared its blood with us!

My time in Tanzania was amazing, and I definitely plan to go back ideally as a physician after medical school.

Editor’s note: This picture was taken by Jennifer R. who is currently an intern in Global Service Corps HIV/AIDS education and prevention program. Thanks for the photo Jennifer.

Everyone seems to be involved in American politics during this election year. Even in Arusha, Tanzania the local Daladala (mini bus taxi) drivers are getting their opinions heard. Daladala’s are usually decorated in some form by their drivers, but this may be the first time a US presidential candidate has been featured on one’s rear window!