Mama Liz's Journal


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07.13.05
Date: Wed, 13 Jul 2005 04:06:10 -0700 (PST)
Subject: Nothing in particular
To: Everyone

Aloha and Jambo. Just had lunch at the Landmark Hotel, so obviously I'm not in Idweli where there is a noticeable lack of hotels. The manager spent twenty minutes trying to tell me that I need a man, namely him. But he was also honest enough to admit that he only wanted me for sex, money and a ticket out of here.

After I assured him he'd get none of those from me, he assured me I was making the biggest mistake of my life and that was that. I doubt that I'll spend much time kicking myself in the butt over this. Besides the eggs were undercooked and now I'll probably get salmonella. And he didn't even comp my lunch.

All is fine here. Janet, I'm using honey for wound care almost exclusively now. You should see how well it works. It's dirty here, and so we've got infections all the time. I'm trying to educate the staff about how not to spread infection from one kid to another, but it's not easy.

Had an outbreak of staph aureus on the kids' heads. I traced it I think to the mzee using one comb for all the little kids. They all have combs but they just line the kids up and comb away.

Also asking them to use a separate brush for cleaning the toilets (they use the same broom for the very dirty toilet floor as the shower.). They look at me like I'm nuts, but these are the guys who told me that eating potatoes for dinner causes bedwetting and that the sores on the kids heads are from an allergy to pork. Help me.

Our water tank collapsed, reinforcing my belief that local labor can be just short of dangerous. Fortunately it happened at night, so no kids were there. Asante Mungu. Most of our local chairs have fallen apart, and all the faucets leak.

But the good news is I've made a friend of the man who runs the government vocational school and he'll help me fix things at a reduced rate. His students need projects and they'll be supervised by accredited teachers. SO THERE. And even better, they'll take potatoes, maize and beans in exchange for tuition. So some of our kids can go to vocational school after primary school.

This is life changing stuff for our kids, and I'm too excited. The tuition is small, only about 200 USD for a year, room and board included. It's government subsidized. So I've promised the kids if they want to go, I can pay for it. Maybe some of you folks would like to help. Without some training these kids have few options. Remember, it's tax deductible.

He's coming to give a talk in August and hopefully interest some of the village parents as well to send kids. There's little money here but everyone has a shamba, so we've got loads of beans and maize.

There's something alive in my attic. And it's nocturnal, I can tell because right about the time I go to bed it starts scurrying around up there. Can't figure out what it is, but it sounds like a cross between a huge lizard and a rat. It breathes heavily, but I think it's alone up there.

Elia says he's got one too. Maybe they'll meet and go live above his bed. I doubt that it's dangerous, but it keeps peeing so now I've got stains on my ceiling, which is actually ok, because for a while, I thought the roof leaked.

The other day I went to Mbeya and asked Damas the manager if he needed anything and he said to get a tin of dagaa. The dreaded dagaa. Furaha takes me to the inside of the inside (not a typo) of the market where stuff is real cheap. We walk down alleys about 3-feet wide and soon I can smell the dagaa, plus all the other dried fish available in this area. We buy this huge bag of mummified fish with eyes, and cruise around for a while looking for papayas.

It was right out of a National Geographic. Small, dirty alleys with small, dirty shops. Future chicken dinners in wire cages, looking sad, or nervous. It's difficult to tell with chickens. Fish with flies just waiting around to be sold, but not to me.

On the way out, Furaha tells me not to come here alone because I don't know enough Swahili to bargain with the thieves. He can tell them he's only got small money and offer them 1000 tsh (about 1 buck) Me, I have to give them everything.

Then he puts me on the daladala and I sit there for an hour with 10 lbs of dried fish in a bag on my lap. I would have felt bad about the smell, but I've told you enough about the daladala for you to realize my fish weren't the worst smelling things on the bus.
The dreaded dagaa.


Dagaa. Very small fish sometimes put in large jars at the African county fair. Guess how many and win even more dagaa.

When I got home I saw all the kids had knitted hats, courtesy of the managers wife who has a knitting machine. How nice, except they're all the same color. The kids will wear each others' hats, so I'm expecting a new outbreak of Staph aureus sometime next week. Help me.

Damas took two kids with him to Mbeya for a weekend with his wife and kids, as they told him they'd never been out of Idweli. They had a great time despite the fact that Lucy vomitted every time she had to get on the daladala. She wouldn't be the first. It was her first time on a bus and the kid is 13 years old.

We asked the kids one night where they would go if they could go anywhere. The said Mbeya, Uyole and Morogoro, all within an hour or four. So we said, if you could go ANYWHERE in the world, where would you go and they said Arusha. That's 12 hours away.

What I'm (I hope) so cleverly leading up to is, please cut out pictures of places and things, use your imagination, and send them to me via regular mail. The kids would love it and it'd be good for them to see the world is bigger than Idweli.

Sharon Wiley and Marilyn, I took some supplies to Igogwe Hospital and they were too thrilled with everything and respectfully ask for more. Thanks so much.

I need to go home now. It's been a long day and we have lessons tonight. We speak only English in my clinic so at night when the kids come in to play pickup sticks and Old Maid, they also get lessons. It's working well, and they're learning fast. They're also making some hilarious mistakes. But I guess you have to be there.

To my kids, I love you and write to me. To everyone else, have fun, take care.
Love. Mama Liz

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08.13.05
Date: Sat, 13 Aug 2005 05:33:32 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: Preschool
To: Everyone

Jambo. First, did anyone get my email about the dogs with vd and my meeting with the real chief? Tell me and I'll resend it, if I know how.

I've been very busy. We had some volunteers from Europe and America. They came with ideas and energy and money and talent so we have revamped the preschool. And believe me, school is cool. It began with two ladies from Europe, mother and daughter. They got us some books, copied some alphabet stuff and much more. Then Ashlee and Carlee came and did art on the wall of my clinic. Then Ashlee left. So sad, but she left me her arctic sleeping bag which has made life WORTH LIVIVG.

Carlee is still here and she and I (mostly she) did some amazing kiddie art on the clinic walls. Then we cut the legs off two of our tables and got small chairs so now my clinic is a preschool room. Just as well, nobody's really sick here anymore. We've been collecting and making flashcards and other preschool things.

We've gone from one aging teacher with a blackboard and a few pieces of chalk to five teachers and supplies. We also divided the class into four groups of 13 kids, according to skill level (or lack of skill judging by the center kids).
The advanced group with teachers.


The three more advanced groups with the teachers. It's hard to get a candid shot. Everyone wants to mug for the camera It's too wonderful.

It's all getting organized and the kids are learning everything so fast. That keeps my mind off what's happening in the primary school. Yes, I still want the school for all the kids, but we're starting with the kiddies because they're here and we've got good preschool teachers.

Now we need a volunteer house. I've got a man here who will draw up the plans, hopefully next week but remember how time is here. I'll put it on the internet and we can collect lots of money. Then we'll have a place for all the people who will come here to help us. I'm very optimistic about all this.

The kids are fine. Everyone is coloring, reading and playing cards in my clinic/preschool all day long. Kids come from the village for extra classes at night.
Obadiah studying.


Obadiah, one of the Standard Six kids I taught at the primary school, comes almost nightly to use the lamp and do homework. He's a smart kid.

We'll need to put him through secondary school. We teach math and English three nights a week and it's going great.

Have a group of ladies from the village who have started coming here for classes in breast self exam, nutrition and other things they want to know. It's very good. We also have two new kids. Very cute and happy to be with us.

Actually, one adopted us. Her name is Shakila and she lives down the road. She's a preschooler who told us the other day that she would tell her bibi that she's going to stay with us. So here she is, but she was here all the time anyway.

The other one is Luciana, another preschooler who was underfed, and in poor shape. No chupi, no sweater, sick. They're good, don't eat much and are used to sleeping on the floor so they're more than happy to share a bed with another kid.(Probably not in your plans, Barry. We'll talk soon. You'll like the kids.)

Lots and lots of activity, all good. I'm just letting everything evolve by itself and we'll see what happens. Carlee, Elia and I teach the remedial kids. Mostly that's center kids. It's amazing how these kids can know so little, but then there's not much here in the way of stimulus. The three other teachers have the three other groups of kids who actually know a thing or two.

Elia teaches with me because he speaks Kiswahili. Carlee will be here for another two weeks. We're getting our routine down, and the kids are very spongelike. It helps that every correct answer gets a kid a peanut, two for a really good answer. I'm not above bribing a kid. I have loads of pictures I'll send with Carlee when she leaves (sniff, sniff). And she'll get them to you all.

Max, please call Georgeann again, I know this is a pain. But ask her to GO to the electric company herself and clear it up. I cannot do it from here. Hope they don't turn the electric off. Oh well, I'm doing fine here without it. But then I have nothing to plug in.

Carlee cut my hair last week, but I don't have a mirror so don't know how it looks. She says it's fine and I choose to believe her. I wish I could answer all your emails personally but the network here is too cruel and I'm just happy to get anything, took me an hour the last time to retrieve 12 emails. My jaw starts to clench about halfway through and it's hot right now too. I guess the computers here don't need air conditioning.

It's been hot and dusty here these last few weeks. You'd be amazed how much dust the kids can bring in on their clothes, hair, skin...We've been disinfecting the preschool kids every Friday and there's lots less sores on their little heads, although possibly the dust is disguising any abcesses. I need to eat. We're going to Babu Kubwas where I can eat and not get diarrhea. In Tanzania, this qualifies as 5 star cuisine. Gotta go.
Nakupenda. Mama Liz

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08.23.05
Date: Tue, 23 Aug 2005 06:42:25 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: All dogs have gonorrhea
To: Everone

At least they do in Idweli. This fascinating factoid was given to me by a very cute vet who was up to his armpit in Sally (a less than contented cow). Apparently, the dogs in my village are unpenned and overly friendly, so now we have a dog idemic. But nobody really cares.

As well we have a human epidemic. Our humans being also unpenned and equally friendly. AND FURTHERMORE, it has been known to be transferred from canine to human here in our small corner of Africa, according to the very cute vet. On to something less infectious.

I met the chief. Not the little guy in the village who pretends to be chief (hereafter referred to as the faux chief) but the actual chief. Turns out he's the older brother of one of the mzee who work at the center. We invited him to visit. He and his assistant arrived for tea, which I served and that's about my limit for sucking up. My friend took a picture though, so my brown nosing is now immortalized and public record.

He's a cute little old guy, very friendly, and not at all upset that he wasn't invited to the official opening. The faux chief must have forgotten, or something like that. Maybe, Or not.

I must tell you that the chief, although of normal stature and manner, is distinguished from us unwashed masses (three days is my limit) by two things. First he uses a cane. His is multicolored stripes. This, combined with the hat of his choice, makes him stand out as our leader. Our chief, our symbol of ultimate power, one might even say our Pope, has chosen a Santa hat. Yep, it's red and comes complete with the white pompom. Anyway it's too cute.

((tservingsanta. Elia and I endeavoring to worm our way into the good graces of the chief/santa))

He came to see me the next day and said his eyes were tired and he couldn't read anymore. I fitted him with some K Mart magnifiers. He smiled a big one and went away happy. This is good for me because someday I'm going to ask him for a lot of land.

I've changed my email account. Yahoo is bad, bad, bad here. Please everyone, write a quick hi to me at hiloliz@gmail.com. I've heard its better, and I'll be able to reach you guys before you actually start thinking I'm dead.

We've just about finished the preschool renovation, and it's fabulous. The kids love it. I love it. The staff loves it. Although most of the locals are kind of wondering why we even bother to decorate for a bunch of kids. Schools here are very plain inside, actually bare. At the Godfrey Children's Center preschool, there's ABCs and pictures and numbers and loads of stuff. It's amazing. Art by Carlee, easy stuff by Mama Liz.


Art by Carlee, easy stuff by MamaLiz.
My wonderful friend Carlee exercising complete artistic control. I can do fill-ins but that's about it.

The fundi came today to make the plans for the volunteer house. Also he will build cupboards for the preschool. I've got a ton of very welcome supplies collected from the volunteers taking up most of the room in my room. He asked when I needed it done I said jana (yesterday). Just so you know, that joke doesn't get any laughs here. He says by the end of the week. Then I can organize. I love to organize.

I have a small back porch that I rarely use that I might turn into a storeroom. What can I say, Barry? I'm not happy unless I'm remodeling. Two minutes left. This is the only working internet in town so lines are long.
I love you all. Mama

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