Hash House Harriers and a Tanzanian Wedding

As was noted in the previous blog, so much is happening every day that it is a difficult task to recall what happened only two days ago. So, I'll try and work backwards and see how much I can remember, starting this morning.....

Heather and I drove Ester (one of the house mamas for the childre's village) to the AICC Hospital to get a decent doctor to look at the nasty infection in one of her breasts. Previous doctors had prescribed all sorts of ridiculous treatments when she explained that she could not afford the antibitotics they recommended. As with all our employees we offer to loan them money for medical expenses which is then repaid in small amounts by making deductions from their wages - and they always accept and repay the money. I'm suprised it took development experts so long to formulate a plan like the Millenium Development Goals that focus on health as the key to development. The huge cost in fees and lost time at work is catastrophic for almost all families. Investment in health education and prevention strategies would save both the government and families money. There are of course other structural issues with the economy and corruption (not that I've seen any yet) - but to live a decent life all people need is their health.

Yesterday:

At midday we meandered up to the Catholic church at the top of the nearby hill and attended the four hour wedding ceremony of Doctor Simon and Elizabeth. Doctor Simon is the son of Gregory, who is the young father (uncle) of Nolasco - the local Chaga (entrepreneurial tribe) businessman who's wife teaches us Swahili. After the arrival of a brass band playing the back of a ute, the ceremony had an african gospel choir which sounded amazing in the small concrete church overlooking the Arusha region. After hearing the 14 days of Jesus (or something like that) in Swahili we jumped into a minivan for the wedding procession to a well flowered roundabout in town where the photos were taken for about 10 minutes, the procession then returned to the Edmund Rice hall where 500 Africans and four Mzungu (us) waved hankerchiefs, cheered, shook hands and at one point - after being introduced as Doctor Simon's friends who have travelled from Australia for the wedding - danced down the centre of the hall waving our presents in the air for the bride and groom while loud African pop music deafened us all.

The day before yesterday (Friday):

Drove into town with a few guys in the back of the ute to collect some timber for the building. Did some banking and food shopping along the way. Heather and others went to St Jude's school for orphans to see how they run the place. Came home and wandered down the road to Gregory's place to watch the wedding cow get slaughtered. The slaughtering was postponed until the following morning so we stayed for a beer (Eagle - normal beer) and another beer (banana - smoky horrible stuff) from the beer brewing cauldron in his lounge. Then walked the 1.5km to the dala dala (minivan) stop. Rode the dala dala into town hanging out of the door holding onto the roof. Crammed inside for a second as we passed the traffic police. Then switched dala dalas to head across town to Stiggy's - a mzungu hang out where the Hash runners meet every Friday afternoon. Ran the Hash, too many 'checkpoints' where we had to wait for others to catch up, and felt like a shocking mzungu running through village's without stopping and greeting people properly. Saw some stunning views from the hill we ran up and down. Got back to Stiggy's for a dinner that took 3 hours to arrive due to a jazz night attracting a big crowd of people. Met a 12 year old American girl with Downs Syndrome, her father was playing the piano and her brother waiting to get on and play the guitar, her mum was at home so she was left to fend for herself amongst the people jostling for table space. We were fortunate enough to pull up a chair next to her and I was besotted from her first smile. She was the sweetest little girl and it almost brought a tear to my eye every time I made her laugh.

The day before that (Thursday):

I spent the morning drawing life size internal organs and tacking them to a human body I drew from stuck together paper. These were for Heather's health education classes that run from 2-5pm Monday-Thursday. The first day these classes were run (about a week ago) it was a very emotional experience for everyone as we saw the excitement of the Mamas to learn and the feeling that something was being imparted that would make a real difference - and that the wheels of change were in motion. The energy back at our volunteer accomodation was incredible. The way that Heather interacted with the women, teaching them with respect, compassion and understanding was something that everyone was in awe of. I don't like to gush stuff on a blog, but she really did something that I don't think she even knew she had in her and made me feel so proud for her and of her. I also fitted in the end of month accounts wrap-up, uploaded some photos of the first afternoon of teaching the women (and the game playing and education with their children).

I've lost track now. Still looking for a gym. Found an egg source down the road. Loving the diet of beans and lentils and rice and occasional meat.