Planting Seeds of Empowerment

Wednesday, October 3, 2012

Sanjoy and Oyaya work with Paulina
to update the KWGP database.

"I wish every woman could be in the KWGP [Kimokouwa Women's Goat Project] and be able to experience the sweetness of having your own money," says Penina, one of the original members. We are gathered in the Women's Banda in Kimokouwa with the women in the program, and many who are waiting to join. The program, only beginning its third year, is already making a big difference in the lives of its members.

I promised an update and can give you some details today. The program began in October 2010 with 15 women each receivng 2 female goats. These are the statistics to date: the women are caring for a total of 59 goats; 11 males have been sold during the past year, 10 females have been given away, 17 females are pregnant, and 12 goats have died (2 eaten by a cheetah). Four women have paid for memberships and are awaiting goats, as well as a number of interested women who have not yet paid. 

Grandmothers have milk
for the young children in their care.

TEMBO staff believe that close monitoring of this project by Oyaya and Sanjoy contributes to the success this KWGP is enjoying, including weekly visits, phone calls, and veterinary care. The husbands are not interfering and staff feel this is because TEMBO included them in the program right from the beginning. The men see these goats as “the women’s goats.” 

At a general meeting, a number of the women shared how they are using the money from the sale of goats. Uniforms have been bought for school, iron sheets have been added to houses, and food has been purchased for the family. Two women talked excitedly about soon finishing the payment of their ‘debt’ – giving away 2 first born females to a new woman in the program. 

The founding KWGP group members.

 For most - or maybe all - of the women it's the first time they have ever had money of their own to spend. Sixty thousand shillings, or about $45.00, may not seem like a lot but it is a huge amount for a woman in rural Tanzania. With luck, the women might end up with 2 or 3 females delivering one or two goats a year. In between there is milk for the family. Oyaya and Sanjoy say the women are having no problems selling their goats. Most of the time they don't even make it to market before they are spoken for.

Self esteem is a very tangible by-product for the KWGP women. You can see it in their eyes and hear it in their voices. This is empowerment on a very small scale that has the potential to spill over into other areas of the women's lives. We hope it is just the beginning of great things to come.

Acknowledging Courageous Girls

14 year old, Malala of Pakistan is a courageous young girl.

It's astounding, really, that just as the UN declares October 11 as the first ever Day of the Girl Child, a 14 year old girl in Pakistan is singled out by the Taliban on a school bus and shot in the face. Her name is Malala Yousafzai and her crime was wanting to go to school so she could realize her dream of becoming a doctor.

From the brave diary of a seventh grade school girl in Pakistan my thoughts turn to so many young girls I know in northern Tanzania who are choosing education to change their lives. Who knew going to school could be so life threatening? Malala, our thoughts are with you.

Secondary School Girls in Tanzania.

T is one of the girls living in Longido who also values education. She came to the TEMBO Guesthouse to see me last week, telling me she has been working so hard to prepare for an interview that would determine whether or not she would get a second chance at secondary school education. Why should T get a second chance, you might wonder. What did she do with her first chance?

It's not what T did; it's what was done to her but a man of an unknown age. T, who is still a child barely the same age as Malala, was forced to have sex and, as a result,  became pregnant. In the public school system in Tanzania this is not just a game changer. It's a game ender. Pregnant girls, or girls who have had a baby, are not permitted back into the government school system. Ever. There is only one very expensive option that very few girls like T will ever be able to access: private school. Fortunately, T was sponsored at a government school by TEMBO first time around and she will be the second time around, too, at a private school that understands only too well the situation she is in.

Young girls see a very different world for themselves,
one where girls have a voice and can make choices.

"I have been working so hard," T tells me with a wide smile and big bright eyes. Her English is unusually good for a girl her age. She listens carefully and actually understands the meaning beyond the words. That's why T is a good bet for future success. We're sitting with two young women from The Netherlands having a cold drink as the sun is setting. The young women have been in Longido for 3 months working with young child mothers like T.

The challenge girls face in Africa and the East is daunting. It is going to take people all over the world working together to make progress in reversing this horrible situation that robs girls of their right to be children and forces them to be child mothers. That is exactly where T was headed. And like Malala, T only wants to go to school.

Maasai leaders in Longido are taking a huge step outside of their cultural traditions in allowing their daughters and granddaughters to go to school. I urge them to take another giant step outside of their cultural norms - one that will no longer condone the actions of men wanting to engage in sexual activity with young girls like T.

Thanks to the UN for drawing our attention to the plight of millions of young girls. And thanks to courageous girls like Malala and T for risking so much to show many others the way.

An Elder, Guardian, and Protector

Treats for the children are part of every visit.

October 3, 2012. Today I met an old friend and I was aware we would not have many more meetings. Paulo is a Maasai elder in his upper 80’s living in Kimokouwa. His health is failing. I have known him for more than 14 years. He is the first person I met in 1998 when I visited his boma It's one of the villages area where TEMBO Trust now works.

As I rode out on the back of Lesaloi’s motorbike I was imagining the meeting. I could picture the tree outside Paulo’s boma that I sat under 14 years ago this past July. That day was my introduction to the world of the Maasai. It was startling and it was exciting. TEMBO co-founder, Marian, and I watched Paulo’s sons in the distance come closer and closer, carrying a goat that had been slaughtered and slow roasted all day to celebrate our arrival. We were coming to meet Paulo’s daughter, Kokoyai, a 10 year old girl we were sponsoring. I can see it today as though it was yesterday.

Discovering the mirror on Lesaloi's motor bile.

Time has past. Kokoyai did not continue beyond Standard 7, the final year of Primary School. She is a young woman living a traditional Maasai life, now the mother of three young children. Kokoyai seems happy with her choices. Paulo has since become an advocate, working with TEMBO to promote education as something of great value worth pursuing. He says education is the gift he can give to the girls in his family. He is so right.

With Paulo, his third wife, Kokoyai's mother,
and Kokoyai and her third child.

Kokoyai was there today, too. So was her mother, one of Paulo’s 4 wives. Mama Kokoyai is aging, too. I guess we all are. I am deeply grateful these rich relationships have endured over the years. We are from very different worlds and yet there seem to be no barriers between us. I respect Paulo living a simple endangered lifestyle in rural northern Tanzania. He respects me coming from a world so very different than his own. I am not at all like the women in Paulo’s boma – my customs, my traditions, my lifestyle, and my choices must been confounding sometimes. Yet there he was waiting for me under that tree today, sitting on a blue plastic chair. It’s easier for him to get into and out of now, since traditional Maasai stools are built low to the ground. Paulo and I embraced and shook hands and spoke to each other through Lesaloi, my translator, sharing the news from each of our worlds. A lot has happened in the year since I last saw him. Yet nothing in our past is forgotten. He still has the old photographs of previous meetings and he still asks about certain people Marian and I have spoken of to him.

Paulo's feet: Well travelled feet with so many stories to tell.

And that was it – a 45 minute meeting, a cup of hot sweet chai, then I was on my way. Blessed by Paulo and richer for having connected with him again. Paulo is such a giant in my world: wise, playful, open to change, a true leader, and a guardian to all in his boma.

The Sacred in the Natural World

Some Sunday morning visitors at the TEMBO Guesthouse.

While there are other guesthouses opening up in Longido now that the District Government is located here and the road between Nairobi and Arusha is completed, none compares with the TEMBO Guesthouse. Not by a long shot.

All the others are located on the highway, so welcome to noise and busyness. The TGH sits at the foot of Mt Longido, surrounded by lots of open space, trees, and so many different kinds of colourful birds that you quickly lose count. Welcome to tranquillity.

I sat outside early this morning with my press pot of hot strong Tanzania coffee, partially facing the mountain where the mist was still rising to reveal more and more of the mountain top; and partially facing the land on the other side of the dry river bed, where Maasai cattle were slowing making their way to the water trough for a morning drink.

So many sounds filled the air: roosters announcing that the morning had arrived; the rattle of cow bells in the distance; donkeys making their donkey sound; and the distant songs of the Sunday morning choir coming from the Lutheran Chruch. But it was the near songs of more than a dozen different birds in the trees surrounding me that provided the constant backdrop to every other sound.

A lot of these beauties are
frequent visitors to TEMBO.

I did not have my camera with me, or a bird book, and this was good. I could focus on what I saw and take it all in without being distracted by composing a picture or applying a name. Bursts of colour shot up everywhere then disappeared: teal blue, fluorescent blue, French’s Mustard yellow, oranges, muted reds, rich blacks and dusty blacks, and soft browns streaked with white.

I watched a weaver bird make numerous trips to the TGH garden to pick up one piece of straw at a time and take it to the nest.

In another spot the birds made their way over to the dripping tap coming from the large underground water tank that supplies mountain water to the TGH. A metal tray catches the drops so precious water is not lost.

The TGH is situated off the road
and is surrounded by the natural world.

Inside the guesthouse Carolyne is preparing soft chapattis for the guests and Ashura is passing a wet mop over the floors she has just swept. Oyaya has just come on duty as the daytime watchman replacing Sanjoy who was the night watchman. Here the staff are like family to each other and those who stay here are invited into that warm comfortable circle.

There are so many places in the world to experience the sacred this morning. I am glad I am experiencing it in Longido at the TEMBO Guesthouse. What a gift it is to be here. 

Good-bye to an Old Friend in Arusha

The Everest Chinese Restaurant and Inn has been my home in Arusha for the past number of years. And not just my home, but others, too. Canadian Directors, sometimes TEMBO staff from Longido, even some visitors with Travelling with TEMBO have stayed here.

Nicely set back from the street behind a wall.

The Everest Chinese will be closing this weekend after nearly 15 years in operation. What a loss for me - I know everyone might not share this sentiment - the accommodation is very basic and no where near 5 Star. Okay, it's closer to 2 Star. Still it's clean, central, safe, has internet access, electricity, running water, and it's quiet. Good Chinese Food, too.

Most of my visits have been spent in Room 1, located at the far end of the strip of 6 rooms, away from the activity. I've written a lot of reports and blog posts in that room. I have seldom turned on the TV.

Met a lot of interesting travellers here.

Mr. Liu Songfu is the Chinese-Canadian owner from Toronto. He and his family have taken turns managing the Everest over the years, including his mother, now in her 80's, in China. Liu says Arusha is changing and the world economy is playing a bit part. The economic crisis in Europe is causing people to cut back on travel or spend less when they do. The Arusha War Crimes Tribunal, once a large employer of many people from around the world, now has only a skeletal staff. The Arusha-Nairobi Road is now complete after being under construction for - what? - 6 years. A lot of Chinese and their families were here for that big road project, too. Now only a handful remain to take care of road problems that might occur over the next 3 years.

Luckily, Liu says he has managed to secure jobs in other hotels and restaurants for his current staff. If Liu is right about the Arusha economy going into a period of decline, there will be many Tanzanians negatively impacted for the next few years. Liu sees the signs and is choosing to leave before the situation worsens. Given the luxury hotel boom around Arusha, it seems not everyone sees the situation the same way. Time will tell. It always does.

Many dinner guests served  at welcoming tables over the years.

Thanks to Liu and his family, and all the staff at the Everest Chinese, for their warm hospitality...and for giving me a space where, from time to time, I could not only shower off the Longido dust, but also feed my soul.