Friday, November 28, 2014

Mahali Pazuri: All the Beautiful Places


Tanzania, Tanzania, Nakupenda kwa moyo wote...-Tanzanian National Anthem
Arusha, TZ

Moshi, TZ

Karatu, TZ

Ngorongoro Crater

Ngorongoro Crater

Mlima Meru

Stone Town, Zanzibar

Stone Town, Zanzibar

Stone Town, Zanzibar

Stone Town, Zanzibar

Indian Ocean, Zanzibar Coast

Indian Ocean

Jambiani, Zanzibar


Animals of Tanzania (Wanyama wa Tanzania)

My program has included three safaris to Ngorongoro Crater, Lake Manyara and Arusha National Park. This is my African animal photo shoot, featuring just a few of God’s incredible creations in East Africa. 

Pundamilia


Nguriwe




Tembo

Twiga




Kiboko
We also had the chance to see lions (simba), rhinos (kifaru), and some incredible birds. But yes, everything is much more beautiful when it's not behind bars. 

Good News, Bad News

Good news:

I went to Zanzibar and it was indeed as beautiful as you’d expect.

Bad news:

I returned home with bed bugs.

Good news:

Bed bugs are treatable.

Bad news:

…with a trustee American dryer.

Good news:

My family is so understanding in trying to help me eradicate the bed bugs.

Bad news:


Due to language barriers, everyone thinks I have fleas. 

Soko Kuu (Head Market)


My little sister asked me what the markets are like so…this one’s for you Noelle.

You can usually hear the market from a mile away. It’s not that Arusha has ever been quiet enough for noise to carry, but rather these prime markets draw so much attention it’s impossible to ignore. The main one I’ve found myself at is Soko Kuu (The Head Market). This markets hosts everything from fresh produce to dagaa (small fish) to clothes to cooking ware. Just outside the main market place are smaller carts filled with phone vouchers, head bands, and pictures of Obama. Tanzanians have four foreigners they truly love: Bob Marley, The Pope, Chris Brown, and Obama – in no particular order.

Spattered among the carts are men on motorcycles (piki pikis) offering their taxi services and heckling women. Aside from a few private drivers and public buses (dala dalas), most people have come to the market on feet. They carry with them a few plastic bags or kangas to hold the items.
As I pass into the main market, I see piles upon piles of fresh fruit…mango, pineapple, coconuts, passion fruit, guava, papaya – essentially an endless supply of not so exotic fruit for incredibly cheap prices. Some vendors offer sugar cane or freshly prepared spices. Fresh milk and eggs have been brought down from the mountain tribes. Old women stand proudly by their stalls filled with brightly colored textiles for dresses, curtains, blankets and kangas. Aside from this, you can find knockoff sunglasses, stolen iPhones, cooking ware, and makeup. Hairdressers, dressmakers and tour guides wander through the crowds offering their services.

Nothing has a price tag on it, but rather the tumult is filled with bartering as the seller and buyer try to assess their opponent and receive the best deals. You can hear a variety of animals caught in the crowded market. This is also the best place to buy fresh meat and even live animals as Soko Kuu is the central market to bring sheep, goats, cows, donkeys and chickens.

It’s nearly impossible to navigate through the crowd. Some stalls have walls and others are nearly a few buckets filled with items. Each seller calls out their items and encourages you to come appreciate their items. The heat and dust mix with the smell of goats and sweat, choking you and inspiring a purchase of fresh bananas.

Once purchases have been finalized, you can walk away with large baskets of fruit for only a few thousand shillings (not even five dollars). Most women leave the market with a baby in a kanga on their back and a basket of fruit on their head. 








Friday, November 14, 2014

150 Cows

Good news, I got like my 20th marriage proposal. However, this one may forever take the cake. My dowry is 150 cows.

So in a village in Karatu I found myself only speaking Swahili and surprisingly faring pretty well. In case you’re wondering, there’s nothing as charming to a Maasai man as a conservatively dressed white girl attempting to converse in Swahili.

He told me if I married him, the dowry would be 150 cows. Fifty cows for my long hair. Forty cows for a neck like a giraffe. Another twenty cows for my voice.

1.     These are some quality compliments.

2.     I should probably explain that cows are currency in Maasai villages. I should also say that 150 cows is like….a lot of cows.
3.     Dowries aren’t exactly what you would think.

Of course, in the most articulate way, I tried to explain that I wasn’t for sale. He nodded knowingly and proceeded to explain that I wasn’t for sale, but I was worth more than just a man who said he wanted to marry me. It wasn’t a transaction. He promised to thank my parents.

This was a wonderfully eye-opening perspective of cultural differences in relationships, perceptions on value and attempts at cross-cultural communication. Sorry to let you all down, but at the end of the day I said no.


But I think I've raised my standards.

The Human Rights Discourse and Social Justice

Hey Friends, I’m thinking that you’re thinking that I don’t have real classes. Contrary to popular belief I am oh so busy attempting to expand my global perspective and understand this drastically different society. I’ve been taking classes in Kiswahili, Human Rights, History of Tanzania and Service Learning/NGO Development. Here’s an in-class response I wrote – hopefully it gives you a little insight into our academic discourse.

To what extent is the human rights discourse helpful in promoting social justice in Tanzania? Please explore this question, drawing on your reading, class discussions and your own experience.

    We've explored in our conversations how the introduction of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) is not as black and white as initially assumed. To a “young, intellectually - driven woman” with an educational background and Western perspective, it is easy to believe that all humans possess inalienable rights, that all humans deserve the same kind of treatment. However, a new introduction to human rights dialogue has inspired me to reevaluate this inherent truth. In this rediscovery of truth, I have come to understand the complicated struggle faced in achieving social justice in Tanzania. However, I believe that the human rights discourse serves to ease this struggle in the promotion of social justice in Tanzania. 


    Before delving into this question, I find it important to introduce the impact of universalism and culturalism in this dialogue. As the name suggests, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights insinuated that the success of social development was encapsulated in a standard success of all people having the same needs. However, this fails to recognize the unique struggles of a community and even the differentiated understandings of what the fulfillment of these rights includes. For example, my Western mind causes me to believe that all humans deserve opportunity for an education that develops their language and comprehension skills, enables complex thought and ability to understand math and science, a relevant understanding of their community and history, and an assignment of skills necessary for creative thinking, problem solving and learning. However, in a rural village in Southern Tanzania, this education may seem irrelevant and inapplicable to the members of its community. Rather, this community would be dependent upon an education that develops agriculture, teaches basic living skills, and perhaps promotes understanding of medicine and health. Neither form of education is "more right", because neither the needs of my American life nor the needs of another's Tanzanian life are "more right". We are simply living our truth. 
    
    And to live your truth in a culture that contradicts your own demands a human rights discourse. My initial introduction of Tanzania came with a conflict of "this is wrong" and "I am wrong to say this is wrong". In our Human Rights class, I've slowly begun to realize that there are times to respect a culture and times to set cultural relativism aside for the sake of responsibility to yourself and your truth. Furthermore, there are times when truth can align with empirical data, confirming that some behavior is more representative of the human experience. Though there is not always a right answer to how children are disciplined, the medical and physical results of child abuse are proven in empirical terms, distinct from personal opinion. Of course, empirical data does not always provide grounds for action or "answering the call". At times, there is no answer. However, the human rights discourse is essential to attaining social justice in Tanzania as it helps to understand your own identity, organize thoughts, seek out and recognize human connection, and ultimately use collaboration to capitalize on your strengths and the strengths of the community as a whole (Mcalpine, 2014; Habedank, 2012). 

     We began our Human Rights class by sharing stories. We delved deep into our minds and experiences, deep into the moments that served as moral dilemmas and moments of inner conflict. The recognition of these stories helped to organize our thoughts and understandings of human rights. We pored over these stories, coding, exploring and evaluating them, looking for connection and meaning. This process of organization often left us exhausted, but implored us to seek out a depth that included our histories and ideas but transcended in a more complicated, extensive hierarchy. Ultimately, discourse helps to organize thoughts. By recognizing your self in the scheme of greater, you subsequently recognize your tool belt and your capacity for action and responsibility. 

     Additionally, the human rights discourse creates an opportunity for human connection. It is through the sharing of stories that humans are reminded of their shared humanity. These opportunities to connect and engage in empathy are a channel for solidarity. At times, these shared stories hurt to hear, and evoke our own set of emotion, emotion that strengthens the reality of the story and its impact on our truth. It's the details that stick out and help us to grasp the understanding of a setting and its relevance to the situation; these details develop our understanding of the intricate human life. In a single minute, a shared story can remove itself from a cultural context and expand towards a universal experience of humanity. Because, though we may all experience lives unique to our own culturally relative experience, there are some moments that make us all feel the same. 

    But our stories don't stop there. They give us inspiration and grounds to collaborate and explore together. Once we've organized our own thoughts, we've said "I see me". When we've heard the stories of others and reached across our worlds for human connection and empathy, we've said "I see you." Finally, when we've opened our space for collaboration, we say "I see us". We've developed a uniting front, one that helps us to recognize the context specific needs of a community and recognize the universal humanity in a present situation. This human rights discourse is not only a necessary foundation for social justice action in Tanzania, but also a necessary dialogue to maintain in the progression of social justice action and activism. 


    In my perspective, I believe that social justice is the action piece of human rights. Social justice is the "answering the call", a call best answered after engagement in human rights discourse. It is a response to the knowledge you've acquired about human rights and a response to your understanding of self within the dialogue. As much as it is an individual experience, it is dependent upon social capital and community for sustainability. The discourse enables you to recognize social justice as yourself, others, and your collaborative relationship towards representing humanity and living a truth representative of yourself and others.  I believe the above process is necessary in human rights and seeking social justice because one cannot separate their self from either the discourse or the actions taken in social justice. Social justice is not cold and inhuman. It is neither calculated nor empirical. It is context-specific and is animated by its human proponents. The human rights discourse is an attempt to make meaning of our shared humanity and social justice is a desire to act on this humanity, a story relevant to both a Tanzanian and universal perspective. 


Habedank , M. ( 2012 ) How Chronic Stress from Childhood Maltreatment Affects Brain Development, Emotional Regulation and Cognitive Functioning , Arusha : Caucus for Children’s Rights .


McAlpine, K (2014) Doing the right thing to protect children. PhD Dissertation: Fielding Graduate University.

Tuesday, October 28, 2014

Today I'm Sick with Mafua

Dear Mom,

Don't be alarmed. It's not malaria. And it's not ebola. It's mafua. I think it might be like a cold or a flu but let's be real, this stuff doesn't translate particularly well. During the day I'm high as a kite on DayQuil provided from the kind American students. But at night, I've subjected myself to traditional medicines of the Chagga tribe (my Mama's good ideas).

So that means I'm eating spoonfuls of garlic, honey and ginger.

And I'm only aloud to eat lukewarm fruit.

And when I talk the kids can't stop laughing at my funny voice.

Everyone says you're most homesick when you're sick. Don't worry I'm trucking along just fine. But never in my life have I wanted Ramen as much as I do right now.