An unsettling reality

The idea to create a ‘girl’s group’ came to us during the first month of living in the village. In addition to the regular health classes to be taught at the primary school, we felt that the older girls needed to be taught separately, on topics pertaining to women’s health. After many conversations with the head nurse and pastor’s wife about the current ‘situation’ in Usolonga, it became clear that we should focus the class on HIV/AIDS prevention and self-awareness. The ‘situation’ is both sad and unsettling. Here are just a few of the unpleasant realities girls are faced with each day.

One of the most distressing things we learned while preparing for this girl’s class was when we were discussing the age range we should target. Given that there are only two of us, with our limited Swahili, we felt that a class of 25-30 girls from standard six and seven would be manageable (the idea was to target those who were ‘mature’ i.e. child bearing age). We thought that the 12-15 age range was appropriate; we’d hopefully ‘catch’ them before they became sexually active. You can imagine the shock we had when, upon sharing this with the nurse, we were informed that if we wished to reach them before they became sexually active, we’d have to start in standard 3 and 4! A high percentage of girls start (not always by choice) to be sexually active at the age of 10! These are small children! It’s not as though ten-year olds are ‘overly mature’ in the village –rather it’s quite the opposite! The average ten-year old here wouldn’t pass for being any older than seven in a developed country. Of course we had to ask: why?

Another harsh reality; this is what happens. When a girl reaches a certain age and is deemed ‘old enough’ (by her mother) to provide for herself (basic necessities like soap, oil, shoes, clothes, etc) she is financially ‘cut off’ from her family to buy such things, (even though she still lives and eats at home!) Some mother’s think that at the age of ten, they are old enough. Apparently this also happens to the boys, although, in a culture where men are treated like kings and are in charge of all the money, they usually have the means to buy these things for themselves. As a result, if a girl sleeps with a boy, he will usually give her a bit of money so that she can take care of herself! Of course we asked “why can’t the girls work and get money”? We were told that it was ‘complicated’. No doubt it is. The men control everything. It is not unusual for the mother to be left at home, alone to take care of the children, while the husband is out either a)working in the shamba b)drinking with his friends c)visiting his other wife and children or sadly, d) sleeping around. On one of her recent home visits, Jen asked the mother how things were with her husband (i.e. was he providing for his family). The response was a shrug of the shoulders; things weren’t great, but what else did she expect. She hadn’t seen her husband in two weeks; he was supposed to have brought her some money so she could buy cooking oil and a few vegetables. All they had to eat in the house was half a sack of ugali flour. She has tried to grow a small garden beside her house, but nothing is able to grow due to the near drought weather we’ve been having. The issue is large and complex, I’m not even going to pretend that I understand the half of it!

The village’s overall attitude towards this promiscuous behavior does not help the situation. Although if asked, some would say that it is wrong, most would just say that it’s the way things have always been. There’s no ‘taboo’ (as found in other villages) against pre-/inter- marital sex. Men can essentially have sex with whoever they want; women aren’t necessarily given a choice (the majority of them do not even realize that they should be). This has been one of the hardest realities to swallow. This past Sunday, a little girl (who had just turned ten, but I thought was seven) was brought to the clinic to be checked out. She had been rapped the previous day by two teenagers while her mother was out working in the shamba. Her father died last year, so at the age of ten she is left alone with her four year old sister while her mother is forced to work in the fields. Her screams were heard by a neighbor, who thankfully reacted right away and ran to the scene (we were told that this no doubt happens all the time, only no one pays any attention…) The little girl, named Ana, later told the nurse that this was the second time that it’s happened. The most frustrating thing is that they know who these boys are! NOTHING is being done!! The boys just offered to pay for any of the medical costs! (I have to admit that my first thought was to visit these boys and beat them up! I’m told that one of them is still in primary school –most likely one of my students…I didn’t ask his name, for fear that I actually might do it!) This is only a small example of the deep rooted, complex issue, and I realize that a few black eyes are not the best way to go about solving the problem (although there needs to be some sort of disciplinary action from the villagers!)

Needless to say, there are many issues that we’ve become aware of and are trying to address as we start this girl’s club. We realize that the task is huge, much bigger than we can tackle. However, having become aware, we can not just ignore the issue and stand on the side lines doing nothing. We’ve held four classes so far, and have had very positive feedback from the girls. A few details are different then what we had “planned for”, for example, there are currently 90 girls enrolled in the class (slightly more than the 25-30 we were expecting) and although we are doing HIV/AIDS prevention as well as covering other health topics, we have based the course loosely on the “why wait” curriculum that has been developed and is used in other African countries. The Biblically based curriculum deals with the root issues (i.e. promiscuous life style, low self worth, cultural norms, etc.) Despite the large group, we are trying our best to learn everyone’s name (name tags have come in handy!) and are getting to know a lot of them as they come by our house often to visit! Class normally begins with a twenty minute lesson, followed by a short English lesson (everyone wants to learn so that they can go to Secondary school; which is only taught in English!) Then we either sing (we’ve been teaching them some English songs and they’ve been teaching us some in Swahili) or go outside and play a wide game.

We are currently in the process of recruiting some local women (ones who would be good role models –we’re told that there are a few!) to come on board and help out. This way the class can keep going between the time gap from when we leave and the new interns arrive. The goal is to eventually have something that is locally run…but we are just in the beginning stages! Although it’s been an uphill battle, the effort is well worth it.

A long overdue update

Many exciting things have happened over the past two months, it’s crazy to think about how fast they went by! In my last entry I mentioned that the rainy had finally started in Usolonga. False alarm. It did look promising at the beginning of January, however after a few big rainfalls, it stopped. It’s rained a few times since, but nothing like what they’re used to getting. Thankfully it has been raining in surrounding areas, so the river is full enough to supply water to their shambas.

My parents were able to come out and visit at the end of January for two weeks. I had a great time showing them around different parts of Tanzania, it was an amazing opportunity; an experience they’ll never forget! We visited Ruaha National Park with Jen and her parents, who were also visiting, from China. I’ll sum up the trip quickly; we saw a total of nine male lions; four of them were hunting a baby giraffe! It was an awesome trip. We spent a few days exploring Iringa then headed out to the village for two nights. Thank you to everyone who donated much needed supplies. The dispensary staff was overwhelmed by the amount of medical supplies they received from the Temiskaming Hospital, and the amount of clothing sewn by students at T.D.S.S and by other community members was incredible (we are still deciding how best to distribute them!) The primary and secondary school were very happy to receive soccer balls! Thank you aunt Eleanor and uncle Jerry! I know that there were many others who contributed –thank you so much for your generosity! It was like Christmas; only much more exciting! My parents got to go to church in the village, an unforgettable experience! The Anglican church in Usolonga is very active in the community and has a fairly large congregation (although you wouldn’t know it during shamba season!) They meet in a long mud hut, and sit on little mud benches. They are used to Jen and I attending weekly, so no fuss is made when we show up. They are not, however, used to other ‘wazungu’ (foreigners) so it’s always a big commotion when someone else visits -which may only happen a few times a year! When we first arrived we were invited to sit in the row that had two “back rests” (i.e. supporting branches that served as a back rest) however, we were soon booted out of those seats -as they belonged to the choir- and were made to sit right in the front, on the only chairs available. When I say, ‘sit in the front’, I don’t just mean ‘front row’, I mean, right at the front, facing the congregation sideways! At least this way, when people stared at them the whole time, they were facing the front, instead of looking back through the entire service! Even though they didn’t understand a word that was said, it was no doubt an unforgettable service! Mom had some baking lessons from two friends in the village –Mama Flora taught her how to make ‘mandazi’ (a Tanzanian doughnut) and Dianice taught her the art of chapatti making! I think dad would have loved to stay a bit longer, but we had already booked our bus tickets to Dar, so we had to head back after two nights. Our next adventure was Zanzibar. Actually getting to and from Zanzibar was more of an adventure. In short, I forgot my passport (which for some strange reason is needed to get into Zanzibar…even though it’s part of Tanzania! Very dumb on my part -seeing how I knew this, as I was just there over Christmas!) so we were a bit delayed in leaving Dar (thankfully friends were coming the next day and were able to bring it for me). It took four hours to try and get traveler’s cheques cashed (note: do NOT bring traveler’s cheques to Tanzania!). We didn’t succeed. The ferry to get across broke down (thankfully we weren’t on it!) so we ended up flying at the last minute. Zanzibar was amazing. Getting back was not. They sold too many ferry tickets; the boat was so crowed that the back end started sinking because there were too many people on the back deck! They had to send half of them to the front deck with the luggage! Mom and dad flew out later that night, and I took the bus back to Iringa the following day.

I’ve essentially been back in the village ever since they left! The work pace has practically doubled since before Christmas; we are now in the full swing of things! Jen and I both teach four different classes, twice a week. Home visits have started, Jen’s been visiting families who have malnourished children and I’ll be visiting family’s who have repeated cases of malaria and/or diarrhea. Our girls class is up and running, (more about that in a separate blog entry!) we’ve started teaching the mothers on clinic days, and are in the process of organizing HIV/AIDS seminars –after repeated requests from the local women themselves to learn about AIDS! Life in Tanzania is good, but as I mentioned earlier, is going by way to quickly!