So, I’m sorry that I’ve been really out of touch.  The internet here is really slow and I can only get to a few different sites - the one I can’t get to that I really wanna get to is Facebook and my yahoo/ucsd emails.  If you need to reach me though, gmail works great and tumblr does so i’ll try and keep you guys in the loop from here.

So I’m nearing my halfway point here in Tanzania and I can safely say that I have had the most amazing experience of my life here.  I have learned so much and I think I’ve already grown volumes as a person.  To continue from before, last week we were able to visit Sister Anna at the Bosi school.  She runs a school for about 20-30 orphans and impoverished kids in her community, and she’s also on the board of trustees of the Arusha Project.  She was kind enough to invite the volunteers there last week for a small but intimate dinner with her and the children.  She works really hard, especially in a place where being HIV positive ostracizes you even more from the community than I could possibly imagine.  Her motto is that when people find out in public that she’s HIV positive, and sometimes even mock her or try and make her feel bad, she tells them back that at least she knows her status.  So many people here don’t understand that getting tested is important, especially in a palce wher 6% of the adult population is HIV positive.

In the end I learned that Bosi is another community NGO that really does a lot of good here in Africa, much more hands-on and keen on what needs to be done to take care of the people here in their own communities.  Its safe to say that the Arusha Project’s endeavors to teach me the right way to help Tanzania has stuck haha.

As for the last few days, the weekend was super chill.  Again the workshop we had on Saturday for the presenation to the board of trustees (I don’t remember if i said this already but I need to present to the board the grant proposal for WAMATA, the group i’m working with for home care and health education in the Chama region of Arusha) was extremely informative and microfinancing is like my FAVORITE thing right now haha.  Then, on Sunday, we were able to go on a waterfall hike which was SUPER awesome.  I took lots of pictures, and we even got to stand underneath/behind it! I was totally in awe at the beauty of Africa.  Cept it kinda looked like california…the trees were like pines.  but not.  U’ll see what I mean when I upload the pictures.

The biggest thing that happened the last few days was yesterday, when we were invited by a Masai tribe to attend a coming of age ceremony.  It was being put on by Aang Serian, if you remember, the group that was trying to fight against HIV/AIDS and Female Genitalia Mutilation.  This was going to be one of their modified rights of passage ceremonies, specifically one without FGM, and we were actually going to be in there.  I was super stoked, and we got lots of awesome pictures.  It was so surreal - walking there in the middle of the savannah, i was wearing a dress shirt and pants, and I got to carry the ceremonial goat.  I just couldn’t believe I was there.  And the ride there was super ridiculous - we were in like an open jeep with about 26 peopple in the back, all of us standing haha. But it was asmazing there. Very inspiring to see that peopple still hold on to their cultural traditions, yet still are open to new ideas.

OK! today was a fun day too cause I was finally able to visit WAMATA for the first time and volunteer! Emmanuel, the guy that was suppsoed to translate for me, wasn’t there but I was still able to get by with my broken swahil.  I loved being able to finally get into the community - we walked about 2 km from the WAMATA office to a small mud hut, and i was able to sit down and talk (sort of) with an HIV positive woman who rarely saw visitors due to the cultural affliction towards AIDS here.  She was taking care of two kids, one her own and one an orphan.  Seeing her strength yet also her plight (she was definitely in need of help financially) was heartbreaking but also inspiring.  She was making do with what she had, and her strength was amazing.  I can’t say enough about the people here in Tanzania and how courageous, friendly, and kind they are.

Thats about it for now, I am running out of time on this stupid computer.  But I hope this gets through! I’ll talk to you guys soon when I learn more.