While a "long time, no see" may be in order, I believe I ran into a significant portion of this blog's audience on my trip back to America over the last month. Nonetheless, a lot of you asked me about what I've been up to since my last update and, while I might have touched on a bit of it, I'm sure I couldn't cover everything in the span of a conversation. So, here's a post to (generally) fill you in.
Why am I still here?
The big news at the moment is that I've completed my initial two-year commitment with Peace Corps, and am now beginning a year-long extension with Johns Hopkins University (JHU). Specifically, I've been asked to work with the Tanzania Communication and Development Center (TCDC), a relatively new project of JHU's Bloomberg School of Public Health's Center for Communication Programs (CCP). (That's JHUCCP-TCDC, for those keeping track of acronyms.)
I'm still a volunteer with Peace Corps, but I'll be working almost exclusively with TCDC on behavior change projects relating to malaria, HIV/AIDS and family planning. I will be based in Dar (the New York City of Tanzania, you may recall), and will be doing quite a bit of field work in at least six regions (Geita, Kagera, Kigoma, Ruvuma, Lindi and my home region of Mtwara). Up to five additional regions could be added soon, but that's not certain at this point.
I officially begin work with TCDC next week, and will be working on settling my housing situation in the meantime. I will be living with a couple other Peace Corps extendees in a furnished apartment in Dar with electricity and running water (neither of which do I have any clue what to do with anymore). It's a jump from the bush to the big (BIG!) city. With the new conveniences countered by the new challenges of working in a demanding professional environment, the next year will be completely different than the previous two, and should give me a good idea if this type of work is something I'd like to make a career of.
But enough about the unknown; let's get on to the last nine months of my regular service...
Now, where was I...
I left off in late March, having just received grant money for our market and pit latrine construction project. At the time of my post, my village leadership and I had gone to town to collect the first batch of cement and rebar for the base of the market structure, and the community was collecting sand as part of its contribution. Because the market project became my biggest headache during my regular service, I'll leave that bit for the (non-chronological) end of this post.
Although I didn't mention it in my previous post, we were also raising funds back home in March to bring laboratory equipment to my secondary school. My secondary school had no functioning laboratory for science education, despite science making up a significant portion of the secondary curriculum and national exams. To that point, I hadn't been able to be as involved at the secondary school as I'd hoped, so I decided this would be an effective area to make a contribution.
In early April, we held our World Malaria Day event. Incidentally, it was during our World Malaria Day activities that I was informed that my counterpart, Mr. Kabugo, and I had won Peace Corps' Malaria Heroes competition (also taking place during my last post; I guess I forgot to mention quite a bit). This was an Africa-wide competition of volunteers who put together malaria outreach projects. Each country put forward one project, finalists were chosen by popular vote in a public Facebook competition and then a panel of experts from various organizations selected the winner and runners-up. Long story short, it was surreal and a tremendous honor that we were selected.
For our Malaria Day activities, we held two movie nights in two villages (three in three villages were planned, but the roads were too dangerous and we had to scrap one night) to teach about malaria prevention and to promote an HIV-testing event to be held that weekend. We were only able to test 200 people due to a shortage of tests (and the doctors arriving four hours late due to road conditions), but we were able to put together two soccer games (including a women's match) and distribute thousands of informational fliers to raise awareness about prevention and proper treatment for malaria, as well as the heightened risk of malaria for pregnant women and young children.
Meet the parents...
Right after World Malaria Day, I headed up to Moshi on the north end of the country to meet with my parents and sister. To that point, it'd been nearly nineteen months since I'd seen them, so it was nice to spend time together and show them around the country. We started at the north end of Tanzania to do the typical touristy stuff (safaris at Lake Manyara, the Serengeti and Ngorongoro Crater; what I call "not real" Africa). Following that, we flew to Dar to attend the 2014 Health and Environment class swearing-in ceremony at the U.S. Embassy. My counterpart and I were also recognized for winning the Malaria Heroes competition, giving my parents the unique opportunity to attend the swearing-in and visit the office. We finished the trip by heading south to my village and Mtwara town, during which (and much to my glee) we endured breakdowns of every type imaginable (that's "real" Africa).
Once my parents left, I went back down to the village. This was the point where I began working with the school on transferring the lab equipment, which had been brought over by my parents. We worked on ideas for creating a secure space to maintain the equipment, and we eventually decided that we would use the equipment to appeal to the district for financial support to create a lab room. We were initially only asking for around $2500 to do some renovations, but thanks to a mandate from the president, the district insisted on building a full lab valued at $22000. No complaints here!
We also worked on the formation of a student-led sports club at the school right around this time. The club leadership consists of the boys and girls sports teachers and a student from each of the four forms. I challenged the leadership to raise 50000 shillings (about $32) from the community and promised that, if they were successful, I would help them raise money to secure sports equipment for competitive teams. (More on that later.)
Much of the above took place in May and June. As well in June, the other volunteers in my region and I held a week-long youth empowerment conference in Mtwara town. We worked with students from volunteer schools as well as from a program called "Jiamini", which was founded by a returned Peace Corps volunteer (RPCV) and provides scholarships for at-risk youth. All in all, the conference was a success, with over 120 students attending to learn about leadership, decision-making, HIV/AIDS and hands-on science.
I spent much of July rewriting the technical manual for the health sector. The old manual was a 140 page compilation of material put together by volunteers and staff a few years prior, and I was asked to look at it to see if there was anything that could be added or revised. Naturally, I almost completely rewrote it, as the old manual was substantial but lacking for cohesion. I'd like to do some further revision, but for now, I believe it's a solid improvement.
Towards the end of July, I worked with my clinical officer and community change agent (CCA) to integrate the community health committees (the ones we trained in November 2013) into dispensary-supported community health workers. We also trained them on general health issues, including family planning and diarrheal disease. This effectively took them off my hands (a good thing) and ensured the project was community-supported and sustainable.
August was busy but relatively simple. I visited my homestay family in Kilulu (from PST; see October-December 2012) for the first time in over a year with a couple other Kililu volunteers. I then spent an additional few days in Dar finishing up the technical manual. (It was during this period that JHU asked me to work with them on their new program.) I then went back to site and spent a few weeks implementing a series on HIV/AIDS prevention for Standards 4-7 at the five primary schools in my ward.
COS conference...
Early September included my class's Close of Service (COS) conference. Peace Corps put us up at a fancy resort for a few days and stuffed us full of food the likes of which we hadn't seen in two years. In return, we sat through a number of sessions to help us reflect on our accomplishments over the last two years, readjusting to life in the U.S., being competitive in the job market and finalizing our extensions (for those of us who are extending, which is a considerable number).
It was also a good time to catch up with and, in some cases, say goodbye (just for now, I hope) to some of the best people I have ever had the privilege of knowing. The last couple years have taught me that the people in your life are what make it most worth living, and Peace Corps volunteers are a special breed. COS conference represented the beginning of the end of a journey I got to share with a tremendous group of people. Only a relative few in the world can relate to the joys and struggles of Peace Corps service. In that, we share a unique bond, and recognizing that the journey was over was predictably bittersweet.
Blah, blah, blah. Mushy, I know, but true nonetheless. Moving on.
After COS conference, I attended community theater training with my counterpart before returning back to site. I also got approval to start construction on a water catchment tank (nearing completion now) at the secondary school that we have been planning for a couple months. Except for a brief trip to Dar in late October to present for Project Advisory Committee, I spent the remainder of my regular service in Mtwara.
With the clock winding down on my time in Mkululu, I started working on a list of projects that the community wanted and that I'd wanted to work on but hadn't had the time. This resulted in another fundraiser, for which we were able to fund a number of projects (described below).
In the months following community theater training, we started a community theater group with sixteen students from the secondary school. Working with my CCA and counterpart, this group would later perform during our World AIDS Day festivities (below) to educate community members about the importance of HIV testing. This group will also be the primary means for my CCA and counterpart to continue health education in the community now that I have left the village.
We were also able to fulfill my promise to students at the secondary school to start a school sports club. We were able to purchase two soccer balls, a netball, jerseys for both boys' and girls' teams, whistles, stopwatches, an air pump and a storage chest. These were presented to the school and ward officials in the week before I left the village.
Over a couple weeks in late November, we also held hand-washing lessons for every Standard 2-6 student in the ward. As well, thanks to donor funding, every student in attendance (over 1000 total) received a bar of soap and an informational flier to take back to their parents.
For World AIDS Day, we tested over multiple days to reach every village in the ward. Over three days, we tested 704 villagers - many for the first time - in eleven villages, and distributed over 2000 informational handouts.
The last project I implemented in my village was a two-day conference at the secondary school that brought 22 secondary and primary school teachers, as well as three ward education officers, together from twelve different schools and four different wards, to learn about hands-on learning techniques (through Peace Corps' 'Shika kwa Mikono' initiative) and creating a positive learning environment for students (through Peace Corps' 'Safe Schools' initiative). Two volunteers (Nick and Cait) came to my site to facilitate the conference, which was well-received by the attendees and which I hope will serve as a template for similar conferences around the country.
After the conference, I had two days to pack up my stuff and get the heck out. I learned that I am horrible at packing my life away, but (thanks to Nick, who stuck around) I managed to finish up in time and was in Masasi with time to spare.
After saying goodbye to Mkululu and Masasi, I went up to Dar to pack stuff up for my trip to America, where I would have the unrivaled pleasure of watching THE Ohio State Buckeyes win the National Championship after (literally) running through Alabama and Oregon. GO BUCKS!!
America was great; I spent most of my time hanging out with family and friends, eating unhealthy food and drinking better beer than you'll find on this end of the planet, trying not to worry too much about work and- wait! I forgot something...
Oh yeah, the market project...
As I mentioned above, the market construction project became the biggest headache of my service. While all of the above was happening, the market project was lingering in the back, taking it's good ol' time developing far slower than our original schedule called for.
After receiving funding for the project, my village executive officer (VEO), the most powerful person in the village (and the person who convinced me to do the project), got sick and had to relocate to an area near his home village. In his stead, a temporary VEO was assigned by the district. The kicker: the district does not pay temporary VEOs (i.e., they are unwilling volunteers), so the district had little motive to replace him with someone they would have to pay and the temporary VEO had little incentive to work. So...
Our market project continued at a snail's pace, because it is almost impossible to get any sort of movement without approval from the VEO (who, in my case, does nothing). Finally, with all of the leveraging, promising, lecturing, brainstorming, threatening, negotiating, renegotiating and angry staring I and our more active community members could muster, the market project is nearing completion. Over the course of the next few months, I will make periodic trips when my schedule allows to follow its progress from a distance; it's truly in the village's hands now, and that should be quite the learning experience for them.
Once this project is finally completed, I believe I will be able to use its struggles and successes to create a more effective template for market construction projects (although a smaller structure would be necessary). Oftentimes, volunteers are left feeling as though we've spent most of our time reinventing the wheel. My hope is that won't be the case the next time a volunteer's village approaches them about building a market.
Back to the future...
Well, there you have it. I'm tired of talking about myself, so back to my hole for now. But I hope that gives you a sense of where I'm at.
My time as a volunteer in Mkululu is, for all intents and purposes, over. Looking back, we were able to accomplish some incredible things, and I hope I have laid a solid groundwork for the volunteer that will take over the reigns in Mkululu when the new class swears in this April.
In any case, I am proud of the work we did; I was able to bring something to the people of Mkululu and they gave me so much more in return. I spent every bit of energy I could for them, challenging myself and learning more than can be described in a blog post in the process, and for that I can rest easy without regret.
Now, on to the next challenge!
