October 5- 7th

Day 3 in Namanga We're so much closer to the border than I'd really thought-its literally right across the road from our hoteli. I joked that I should photograph myself sticking my hand through the gate to say I'd visited Kenya! We're working in the subvillages of Namanga, specifically a little place called Eurondeke, a little more urbane than last week's stint in Kimokouwa. Namanga is really a strange place, it's gotta be the weirdest squatter town I'd ever heard of. The customs gate is heralded by dozens of 18 wheeler trucks just waiting for clearance coming in and out of Tanzania, and even more sketchy truck drivers and all sorts of creepiness they bring. There's a lot of petty business going on, men and women pushing shoes, shirts belts, wallets even children's toys throughout the streets and hustling passersby. There's a huge market all around similar to the one we'd seen in Moshi selling everything from fresh vegetables to bootleg videos from China and even housewares. Nonetheless, it's not much me as an mzungu would fancy, so I'd better stay in the guest house.
There really is so much going on here, but we were warned its actually more dangerous for us Americans or basically non-Africans. Customs agents target us, and since I left my passport in my homestay, they might ask me for my visa. If I dont have it, there's a chance (depending on what kinds of jerks they are) that I could be detained or pay a hefty fine. Again, I'd rather stay inside anyway. Our hoteli is an outdoor garden with about 20 rooms on the perimeter, each person has their own space. It's bright yellow and blue and I remember joking that it's 'like prison but more colorful!!' The toilet is not only a squatter (which I have somehow conditioned myself to expect) but its just about the grossest squatter in East Africa. It has no flush and it's swarming with flies and cockroaches. There's also a lovely outdoor urinal which some of the unashamed have taken privy to. Creature comforts, how I miss thee.

Monday afternoon when we arrived we were slated to begin an intro to our training group, about 40something Maasai women were waiting for us since 8 a.m. Ya know, minor misunderstandings in language mix with some misunderstanding about Swahili time (what trouble that brings in this country to us wageni!) and we ended up apologizing profusely about our tardiness. We promised the lesson would begin the next morning at 9 a.m. (12 hour time) sharp.

Tuesday morning we started to vaccinate chickens, and visited one sole boma so far in the middle of nowhere near the border there wasn't even any signage. We got 5 chickens and took so long to come back to civilization that it was time for breakfast. That afternoon we retreated to the office to a little less than the number of women we'd had yesterday. As we were teaching about the elements of bio-intensive agriculture, its benefits and some steps on how to compost, we handed out the literature, I was a little disappointed this week's group looked a little disinterested. One woman even fell asleep! Our translator had to call to her to wake her up. I was confused, why come to this if you seem to have no interest in agriculture? I got my answer at the end of the lesson, when one of the mamas approached our HIV AIDS prevention program coordinators and commented how GSC comes into communities and teaches mamas about agriculture and HIV AIDS related information, while not compensating monetarily--as some NGO's do. I have heard that one of the biggest challenges Global Service Corps has in many communities is that some people expect compensation for being educated on these topics. And while GSC plays fair, there are several crooked NGOs that pay large amounts of money to families just for sitting in a classroom for a few hours. Of course, we give them chai and mondazi (doughnuts made with spice) while they break but these lessons are far better than any information an NGO can come and give them in a pamphlet. I was so discouraged from working with this group, as I could already see their true intentions for having us in their community. I still believe in what BIA can do for food security and healthy families, but its more reassuring when they themselves want to change.
I felt a little better that afternoon when we visited the last training groups' gardens. It was clear these people really did understand the information we'd given them, however decided not to plant any crops until the rain season, which should start next month. One man had even begun planting some seedlings in his beds (he build a really solid hafir which still had rainwater from the last rainseason) however, the wild antelope ate his carrots!! Hopefully, they act on this and begin working on planting and building hafirs.

Wednesday morning chicken vaccinations set a world record!! We got 238 chickens from about 11 households! And some were kept in pretty ok conditions.One of the things GSC is hoping to implement in the BIA program is building on chicken bandas, to prevent disease from chickens. That afternoon we lectured on double dug beds, and afterword held a practicum on composting. Less than half of the women who'd attended Tuesday came back after that spectacle about compensation. At the lesson, only a few women were willing to help out with the pile, with one women who'd previously attended the last session a few months back and had a hell of a garden was showing the others in Maasai how to build the pile.

Today we were up again as usual with the chickens, this time about 60something. We are training new community vaccinators all week so we aren't doing much of the chicken wrangling and teaching that to the new guys. While waiting for the new vaccinator to try his hand at the eye drops, we noticed one man had about 10 camels in his shamba!! Camels! I photographed a few and the interns asked him what he does with the camels, since no one really needs a camel to get around. He said he uses them for milk and sometimes for meat. Weirdo. It was pretty cool to see how they court each other. They taste each other's urine to see if it's potent enough for mating! Gross!! At about 10 am I was working out on a hafir here in Eurondeke, hacking away at the hard, red clay soil with a machete while the mama who's property this was on happened to disappear and not want to work at all. To her credit, she dug most of the hafir and we were widening and making it deeper. But her absence got under my skin, and the culture of having NGO's come to these villages and give handouts.

On the bright side, one of the women who's gardens we visited yesterday, Nema was working on making a community garden at the Eurondeke Catholic Church and Seminary and she asked me what religion I was. When I said 'Mimi ni Mkatoliki' she hugged me so tight and promised me she'd make me a rosary. I kind of forgot about that, but today I saw her and she put the rosary over my head. It's got to be one of the nicest things anyone's ever given me. I told her I'd pray for her with it, and I left feeling so relieved. She was thanking all of us for teaching her about agriculture and she was so thankful for the work GSC does. It was finally the feeling of relief that I'd been longing as a volunteer.

Tomorrow we leave Namanga, after one quick lesson tomorrow morning. I'm so excited to get back to Arusha, I miss my homestay's nice porcelain, non smelly squatter and my own big room with no weird, pee with the door open truckers!