Life's a Garden. Double Dig that Shit!

Last week was amazing! So busy and overwhelming, but I loved every moment. It's crazy how many new things I learn every single day here. When I think about a day at home compared to each day here, its remarkable how much I learn every day. we planted our permagarden at the primary school in Kilulu last Tuesday. That was my favorite day. The day before, we had a meeting with the teachers to discuss our approach and how the kids could help. We were a little worried because we were having to come up with a lot of the materials ourselves. So we asked the teachers to relay the message to the kids. We knew we were going to need a lot of water, manure, and some seedlings to transplant. After, we were all feeling a bit stressed, as our language skills are still limiting, but also really excited to teach these kids about sustainable farming.
The next morning we gathered outside the primary school with the teachers. The students all stood in their lines. They all wear white button down shirts and navy shorts for the boys and long skirts for the girls. My fellow trainees and I get a chance to give an energetic "Mambo!" to the kids and introduce ourselves. As we were waiting for all the kids to gather in front of the school, it is unbelievable the amount of materials they have brought with them. Every kid had something in his/her hand. Everyone had either brought a bucket of water, or a baggie of manure to school with them that day. And there were so many transplants, we couldn't even use them all! It was awesome! They were all so excited, and they really came through for the garden. After the students dispersed to their classrooms, we got to explain the concept of the garden to the fifth grade class, who would e primarily helping us. Of course Big Boy was there for a bulk of the translation. We explained why we were here in Tanzania, and why this garden was going to be a sustainable source of food/income/learning experience for all of them. When, Big Boy was finished with the explanation, I was chosen as the representative for our CBT to say a few words directly to the class. I'm not gonna lie...considering I've been here about 5 weeks, my Swahili's pretty good :) So I tell the kids that we are really excited to be workingwith them today and thanked them so much for all of their enthusiasm. But one point I wanted to emphasize to them was that we weren't making this garden for them. We wanted to help them make this garden for themselves. I wanted them to understand this was their garden, they own it, and they can take care of it and benefit from it, so that when we leave, it will continue to grow. They were all very excited and before we headed over to the land, they all stood up and sang a song for us in Swahili. They love to sing here, and a lot of the learning exercises involve songs. I didn't know what the song meant at the time, but later I found out it was actually an AIDS awareness song that they had learned.
So we head to the plot of land we had chosen for the garden. All the kids grab their manure baggies, transplants, and buckets. We put some watoto to work clearing the area of all the weeds. This didn't take long because every kid anted to get their hands on a jembe and get to work. Once the area was clear, we measured where the berms of the garden would be as well as the swale and the beds. We wold be planting in the berms and the beds of the garden. Part of what we learned for permaculture is the technique of "double digging." Double digging involves loosening the top soil of the entire area, and then going back and digging the beds and berms where you will be planting again. While we dig, we mix in manure and pieces of charcoal with the soil. This technique allows for more oxygen and nutrients within the soil, and it allows roots to go deeper within the earth. All of these factors allow for bigger stronger plants which produce more food. Hence, the necessity for the double dig. However, double digging is hard work. Especially when dealing with soil that's as hard as rock. But these kids were born and raised in Kilulu and they don't mess around. A few of the older boys jumped in with their jembes and that garden was double dug in no time flat. Its also worth mentioning that they did all of this digging in their school shoes and uniforms, which I'm sure are some of the nicest clothes they have. I definitely did a lot of digging myself, but it was important for the kids to make this garden themselves and learn these techniques. After we were done with the digging and mixing of the soil, we began to plant. In the beds, we planted corn, beans, cow peas, tomatoes, and mchicha, which is like an African spinach. In the berms, we planted lemongrass, aloe vera, sweet potatoe greens, which are incredibly nutritional, as well as a couple of banana and papaya trees. It was really amazing to see the progress of the garden throughout the day. All of the children from the school would filter back and forth throughout the day, and everyone had their hands in the dirt. It was quite a site to see them all in their white shirts and blue shorts lining the berms on their knees with theirhands in the soil. I think they all had a really good time and they learned a lot. Later, we asked a few of the kids if the volunteers who lived in Kilulu last year were different, and they quickly said yes. We asked "Why?" And they said, "They didn't teach us permagardening." It was a great day, and the kids have since built a fence around the garden all on their own so that the kukus(chickens) don't get in there to eat everything. Things are already sprouting! Can't wait to come back and visit next year and eat some of the food from the garden. That would be so cool.
The next day, we had a training day at MATI with the rest of the trainees. This day was a stressful one for us all because we had our mid-training Kiswahili written tests and oral interviews. Rahema was my interviewer and she was very nice and I really wasn't too stressed out about it, but I guess I don't get easily stressed. The night before the interview, I had my Mama explain to me the steps of cooking chapati. Big Boy told us we should know how to explain at least one recipe in Swahili, and I figured chapati was something I would like to know how to make for my self anyway. No sense in learning how to make ugali. Blegh! So Mama was very patient with me and helped me memorizee the words for the mixing and the rolling, etc. For the interview, I definitely made sure I worked chapati into the conversation and then mentioned "Oh would you like me to tell you how to make chapati? Oh ok." She was quite impressed and responded with a "Safi sana Cameroon." We got our results this week and I was one of six trainees to score an Intermediate High level. Asante sana Mama. She and Baba were ery proud.
After the interview, I had a meeting with Ellegard. Ellegard is the Associate Peace Corps Director for the Environmental sector, and he will basically be my boss once I'm sworn in as a Volunteer. He decides site placement, so had some questions about preferences. I'm so excited to find out where my volunteer site will be for the next two years, but as of right now I have no idea. I told him that I have no agenda. There isn't one project in particular that I'm looking to achieve here in Africa. I want to just go live some where and assess the needs of that village and see how I can help. I'm easy, put me anywhere! I don't know if that's a good or a bad thing, but I guess I'll find out soon enough. He said that I had the right attitude, and that an open mind is a really good thing to have. It's not a good idea to get your heart set on a certain project, and try to force it onto a village that isn't interested. It's important to listen to the villagers to find out what they need. So that made me feel a lot better about my state of mind.
After the long anticipated oral interview, we finally had a vacation weekend! Last weekend we all got to go to Pangana as a group. We stayed at a nice bungalow hotel that is actually owned by a previous PCV and her husband. It was really nice to get away for a bit. I love my family, but this away time was necessary. This place was beautiful. I shared a bungalow with my friend, Jen. There was a shower in our room! As a group, we pretty much filled up the whole place, so it waslike our own private resort for the weekend. There was a pool an bar. THE FOOD WAS AMAZING. For breakfast, there was granola, and milk, and cheese, and fruits....oh my god. Oh, and did I mention it's on the beach too? Ya, we had our own private strip of beach. I spent all day in the Indian Ocean. I went swimming and kayaking twice. It was awesome. We also got to play some beach volleyball. This is why I refused to sit in front of a computer for two hours on Sunday, so I'm sorry, but life was calling!
So needless to say, we were all pretty sad to leave after a couple of days, but I was also excited to see my family again. And it seemed like they were very excited to see me too. Mama said she wants me to teach her how to swim. Unfortunately, that weekend wasn't quite as much fun for my friend, Becca, who had a nasty spider bite on her hand. Her hand turned into a balloon and she had to go into town to the Tanga Regional Hospital, after which she forwarned us to never get sick in Tanzania. They weren't able to do much more for her than give her a couple of incredibly painful shots in the buttocks, so she had to go into Dar to be looked at. She's still there, but is doing a lot better, and hopefully will be returning to Kilulu later today. We miss her immensely!....We still don't know exactly what bit her, but I make a point to tuck my mosquito net in thoroughly now before bedtime.
This week, the training has gotten more intense. We've been at MATI almost everyday. We had a training session of soil erosion, as well as starting tree nurseries and tree grafting. It sounds like a tree nursery would be a great first project to try. Often they can be used as income generating projects for different groups like women or OVC (Orphans and Vulnerable Children).
We had another coulple of village meetings this week. The first was with a number of village leaders. We split the group between men and women. We drew up a seasonal calendar, which included the rainy season, harvest season, season of lowest income,etc. They also drew up community maps of Kilulu, to map out things like waater sources, farms, schools, etc. And then we asked some daily activity questions to each group, including which diseases are most frequent here, what opportunities are there for women, etc. The purpose of the meeting was to find out more about our village and come up with a village analysis and project assessment. This is something we will have to do at our volunteer site as an exercise to find suitable projects to focus on. One area of interest in Kilulu is the lack of medical resources and health education that is here. During our permagarden, we had a chance to talk with the head master of the school about the health education there, which was a good indicator ofthe poor quality of knowledge the kids are getting. When asked about HIV/AIDS education, she said that they make sure to teach the kids not to share food at school because they may get infected. Not only is the edcation lacking, but there is only one health center on the outskirts of Kilulu, so many people aren't being tested. Previously, the villagers had given us an eestimation of 32 infected people, but I really don't know how reiable that statement can be. We also had a meeting with the out of school youth of Kilulu, during which we asked about HIV/AIDS. They said that in the past there have been mobile testing centers that come through the village, but even then people don't get tested because they just don't want to know. They think that if they are sick, they will die sooner if they know that they have AIDS. Also there is the stigma and discrimination that comes along with those affected by AIDS.
All of our discussions of integration have included the incredibly strong collective attitude that is present in Tanzania. America is so opposite in its individualism and solitary livelihood, and in Tanzania, the community is the whole. Your village is your family, and your responsibility. Everyone helps each other out, no questions asked. Yet, when it comes to getting themselves tested, and protecting the rest of the community from illness, this just doesn't happen. At the end of our meeting with the village youth Paul, one of the trainees, introduced this concept of how remarkable the sense of community is here and how things aren't that way in America. And then he asked them why they take care of each other in so many other respects, yet they don't get tested and potentially foster more sickness within the community. I think he made a really good point and that his question was really effective ingetting them to think about taking better care of each other in more ways than one.
Yesterday was another MATI day, and an exciting one too. Next week we get to go shadow current volunteers for a few days and i found out that I will be travelling all the way down to the Southern Highlands, to the Njombe region. We are all being pretty well spread out. I'm staying with Greta, a current health volunteer living down there. I am so excited! It will definitely be a long, bumpy, all day (and night) bus ride, but I've heard its beautiful and I can't wait to go see another part of the country. After we get back, we find out our sites, and then there's just one more week until swearing in! I can't believe how quickly that came.
Thanks so much to all of you for the many letters and packages I got at MATI yesterday. I felt very popular, and it was so good to hear stories and get updates from home. I really appreciate it and it means a lot to me. Thank you so so much!! Mom, Baba Mgumi loves his harmonica!
Guess what?! I have a phone! Amazing! My number is : 788819368. I think if you want to call me, you dial 255 788819368 (I think). Calling cards are a great cheap way to call an you can get them online. Or I've heard that you can call or text through Skype and texting me in Tanzania with Skype is actually cheaper than texting me in America. Reception sucks sometimes, but hopefully I can hear some familiar voices again soon. Once again here's my address as well if you missed it:

Cameron Bradley
P.O. Box 9123
Dar es Salaam,
Tanzania

**You can mail me here for the next 3 weeks, and as soon as I know my new address I will post it!

I think that's all I got for now. I'm not sure where I'll be next Sunday so don't know if I'll be able to post, but keep checking! If not, hopefully I'll be able to update the week after. Hope all is well at home!