The Tanzanian field

So since last posting we have been busy in the field, and I've had a really interesting few days, and met some truly amazing people.

On Monday, we spent the majority of the morning in the Vetaid office, sorting out various logistical issues, but in the afternoon had scheduled to go and meet some people in a village just outside of Arusha, where the community is suffering from an extremely high rate of HIV. Vetaid, along with two other local partners is involved in a project called the HIV impact mitigation programme, which helps sufferers and communities to deal with all aspects of HIV and AIDS. There are so many different elements of the programme, but in a nutshell, it provides sufferers with antiretroviral drugs, education and emotional support, legal defense of their rights; donations of chickens and goats , and a project called the Village Community Bank - VICOBA - both of which help sufferers to set up businesses, and prove themselves to still be an asset to the community after being diagnosed with HIV. We picked up Liimo, a local aid worker on the way to the village and I had a chat with him about the work he has been doing. He has personally benefitted from the scheme, and it was terrible to hear him talk about family members he has lost, and the children that have been orphaned in his family. Though the attitudes are changing, mainly as a result of the aid effort, there is still a huge stigma attached to HIV, and communities will try and chase HIV widows and children out of town of the man of the house dies.

Next I was introduced to Lucia - Maaya, a really lovely woman who has been living with HIV for the last five years. She told me her story; telling me how she was devastated by HIV; she wouldn't get up or dressed in the morning, and was just waiting to die before Vetaid helped her. She got very emotional when she was telling me how the programme had completely turned her life around; she was just so grateful that people care enough to help. It was a very moving interview, and really put my limited journalistic skills to the test. I found it really difficult to focus on my questions as she was so emotional, and her responses affected me so much. She proudly showed me her first goat, and the twin kids that it had produced, and invited me into her house to see the chickens that she keeps. She is now a respected member of the community, and has gone some way to dispelling the stigma and prejudice towards HIV sufferers in her village. Her greatest hope for the future of the community, is that other sufferers, who are hiding their HIV status, will be inspired by her, to be open about their disease, and allow people to help them move on with their lives.

After saying goodbye to Lucia, we went to meet Grace, a woman who is now training the VICOBA workers. She had lots to tell me about so many people who have benefitted from the project - it's such a small amount of money, relative to other aid projects, and it is just amazing the number of people whose lives it has saved within this village alone. The far reaching consequences of HIV in a farming community are astonishing. Traditional farming practices have been passed down from generation to generation, resulting in centuries worth of knowledge and experience forming the foundations of the community. However, with so many people now dying early, children are not able to learn from their parents, and the livestock keeping skills are being lost, threatening to devastate this community. There are so so many orphans who have lost both their parents to AIDS, and Grace is responsible for a local orphanage which is educating and caring for the children. We then went to meet a few more of the women in the village, and in one house I was surprised to find about ten guinea pigs squealing and running around. Of course this is just diversification...they provide a nice quick evening meal!

Everyone that I spoke to was so open, and happy to talk to me, despite the sensitive topic, and I was touched by the level of gratitude that they showed me, just for caring to ask about their lives.

Liimo then took us to his house, and showed us his kitchen garden- another part of the programme, which teaches people to grow their own vegetables, in order to maintain a healthy diet - and also introduced us to his children. After many photos, and sweets all round, we headed back towards Moshi. There was a football match being played, which it seems most of the village had turned out to watch, however, as we drove past, even the players stopped to turn and stare at me. Even after 4 weeks, I'm still not quite used to being such a centre of attention everywhere - though no doubt when I get home I'll wonder why no one's waving, shouting and staring at me!

The next day, after another weird hotel breakfast of banana sandwiches and an unidentifiable red juice (upon asking what it was, I was helpfully informed that it was 'plant juice'!) we headed towards Mt. Kilimanjaro for our day of chicken vaccinations. The first stop was a smallholding with about 20 free range chickens. We were vaccinating against Newcastle Disease - a virus that causes severe problems here; wiping out entire flocks within a week. The vaccine is an eye drop, which is a lot easier in a chicken than it may sound - the hard part is trying to catch 20 suspicious free range chickens! There were lots of children running around, attempting to help us, but the chaos that ensued was mainly as a result of them charging around grabbing at any part of the birds! The chicken handling here is somewhat different to anything I've seen before - they catch them and carry them either by a leg or a wing, and the result is a lot of flapping, and some very angry, very noisy chickens! Nevertheless, we managed to get all 20 birds done in less than ten minutes, and then spent another ten minutes or so entertaining the children with photos and videos of them before heading to the next farm. The next stop was in Kilimanjaro, on the slopes of the mountain. The area is absolutely beautiful - green forests and plantations cover the slopes, with the snow capped peak of Kilimanjaro towering above it all. We weaved through the forests on foot, going from house to house, vaccinating chickens along the way. There were only about 20 chickens at each stop, so although it was quick work, the distance between houses made it a much longer job. We passed their small patches of mixed crops - yams, bananas, avocados, tree tomatoes, maize and coffee were all grown together, and the chickens and goats just wandering amongst them. At one farm, we were greeted very animatedly by an elderly woman with a large knife, who was extremely excited that a mzungu had been brought to visit her! Just as we were about to leave, she pulled out a stool, and motioned for me to sit down. I was a little confused as we were quite clearly leaving, but apparently they believe that if you sit down, you bless them. I felt a little awkward, just sitting there - 'blessing' the farm, but it made her happy!

After we had completed our morning of vaccinations, we drove even further up the winding road, to the entrance to Kilmanjaro National Park. We were at 2,000 metres above sea level, and it was cold! I felt quite nervous being there, watching all the people setting out on the big climb. We had a nice leisurely stroll around the park, and then Paul took us to his favourite place to get 'field food'. The menu was fairly simple...pork, pork or pork. I chose pork, and to my surprise, it was absolutely delicious. I had an avocado with it, that I'd bought on Kilimanjaro, from a woman sitting under the avocado tree; she must be making some pretty good profit margins!

We had the rest of the afternoon 'off' but I welcomed the chance to upload all of the pictures, videos and audio from the morning, and to take a bit of time to plan the remaining interviews. Hamidu, the driver, was tired, and complaining about how hard we were working (!), so we let him rest and went to the Indian and Italian restaurant over the road from our hotel. We had a delicious Italian meal, and were joined by a Swedish girl who has been working in a Tanzanian orphanage for 2 months. She told us about how the funds are raised by a church in Sweden, but the Tanzanian pastor keeps the majority of it for himself - it's just shocking what people can get away with!

Yesterday, we had a very hectic schedule, with plans to head to Simanjero and meet some of Vetaid's Community Animal Health Workers (CAHWS - pronounced COWS - which has led to some interesting misunderstandings!) As we approached the Maasai areas, I was struck by a number of differences to the Kenyan Maasai. They had a friendlier attitude to me, waving, and actually wanting their photos to be taken. All of the children we drove pasted shouted and shouted until I waved, and I noticed a lot of Maasai men riding around on bikes, something that I didn't see much of in Kenya. My first meeting was with Maryo, who has been a CAHW for 3 years. I asked him lots of questions about his role in the community, treatments he gives, his opinions on 'quacks' - (which he interestingly denied the existence of) and his approach to disease outbreaks. It was very interesting to ask these sorts of questions to a non veterinary trained practitioner, and I have to admit, that on the whole, I was surprised by his understanding of the issues involved and his willingness to accept the limitations of his training.

He then introduced us to Simbokule, another CAHW. I asked him some similar questions, but got some quite different answers, including the revelation that since they don't have the correct equipment, they are sometimes forced to improvise, an example of which is castrating cattle by hitting their spermatic cord with a club...??? I obviously have fairly strong feelings on such matters, but had to try very hard to be objective; of course I understand that it is just a matter of education and resources, but I still struggled not to let my opinions show in my voice! I interviewed Simbokule in his boma, or homestead, and afterwards was kindly invited into one of the manyattas. These are the traditional Maasai dung huts that make up the villages. Inside, it was surprisingly cool despite the heat outside, and there were some chickens scratching around next to a smoldering fire and a large metal bed.

After we left this boma, I discovered that the Mama Maasai groups were meeting just in the next village. This is a fair trade business that has been set up by groups of Maasai women to sell their bead and leather crafts to tourists. I thought this would be a good opportunity to find out about women's roles in the Maasai community, and decided to go and meet them. Lesson of the day...never follow a Maasai man to 'the next village'. An hour and a half later, we arrived at said village, and found about 20 brightly and ornately dressed Maasai women sitting under a tree, with Freda, their group coordinator, and Dr. Roggers from Vetaid - as the venture is being supported by VICOBA. When we showed up, they all jumped up immediately and in a frenzy of outstretched hands, babies and jangling jewellery we greeted each one in turn. I felt quite guilty for so dramatically interrupting their meeting, but once the greetings were out of the way, and introductions had been made, they carried on in earnest. They proudly showed me some of their work - that particular group make beaded jewellery and accessories, and it is all so carefully made. After their meeting, I had a chat with Freda, and with Leah and Rosa, two members of the group, about their community, gender roles and the work of Mama Masai. The village is on the shores of a huge manmade lake, and as a result of the drought, they have been forced to diversify their farming, and are now relying heavily on fishing as a source of food and income, which is unusual for a Maasai community.

One member of the group is an amazing woman called Gloria. In addition to being an instrumental member of Mama Masai, she is also a CAHW, a mother, a wife, a livestock keeper and on top of all this runs the local drug store. It was truly inspiring to hear about her life, and the challenges that she faces; I don't think I could even manage one of these many roles, let alone balance them all, and still keep smiling!

By this time, the sun was starting to set, and we were all tired and hungry, so set off back across the savannah to Arusha.

Today, we have a crazily busy day planned, trying to fit in everything that we have not managed to do so far! I was up at 5 am transcribing all of the interviews that Paul translated from Swahili for me, as the audio on the flip cameras is so bad that we can't use most of them. We've had a lot of fun this morning rerecording the audio - with the time pressure and some of the strange things that Paul had to translate providing much hilarity!

I am off on safari tomorrow for the weekend - I am joining a Danish couple and a Dutch guy, and we are going on a four day camping safari to the Serengeti, Ngorongoro crater and Lake Manyara. I can't wait - and hopefully will have lots to update you on in my next blog!