Saturday, July 03, 2004
What a week. Many PCVs are traveling, since most schools are closed until mid-July. Kurt and Ann were visiting Ryan down the road, and we all spent an evening together watching the sunset from the Retreat hilltop, then talked late into the night over chipsi miyai in the moonlight. Kathleen spent a night here at Lee’s Hotel, then Kara the next night so I caught up on their trips to Uganda and Italy, respectively. I bumped into Kim downtown, in the process of transferring her site from Sumve to Bukoba. Becky came by and we shared more PC gossip.
My friend Paul was taking orders for meat before he slaughtered a pig, so I signed on for 2 kg of fresh pork. Then I invited all the PCVs in the region to Nsumba for a pork BBQ on Sunday for a JULY FOURTH CELEBRATION. The pork was delivered in a plastic bag yesterday and I arranged with my neighbor to have it stored in the school freezer until Sunday. Paul dropped by in the evening – he was in bad shape, shivering and coughing with maleria. He clearly should have been in bed, but had committed himself to this pork project and also had to deliver an order for several dozen eggs to a restaurant – and then go buy flour for his family’s evening meal. He wanted to look at my copy of “Where There Is No Doctor” to check on medication side-effects. My heart goes out to this guy. Among other trades, he is also a master mason and on Wednesday as I was riding my bike back from Mwanza I found him building a block retaining wall at a roundabout - using his hands instead of a trowel to apply and smooth the mortar. He is always working hard, and still is always friendly, smiling, and gregarious. Makes me feel very pampered with my soft hands and relaxed schedule.
I’ve racked up a ton of internet time. It is a good thing that I get free access at the University by now. I bought and installed another printer ribbon for them. Wrote thank you emails and confirming letters to the six organizations I visited in Dar last week, reminding them to send materials. Asked Kyeh Kim in the Washington PC office by email for materials and she replied with a batch of great leads that I followed up on. That included downloading a good small business training course that was put together for semi-literate farmers in Zambia. She also led me to a Canadian NGO: Street Kids International < www.streetkids.org > SKI has put together a dynamite program that is right on-target, although it may be too fancy with its videos and all. But from them, I also downloaded an incredible report on the status of street kids, with a clear philosophy of how to work with them. It has given me much to think about, and definitely will impact how we present our program.
By now I think we are not so much about giving a how-to course on small business and instead are about changing belief systems to foster self-reliance and confidence. I think we need to change the name of the project from Life Opportunity Club to something like Skills for Life. I always thought LOC was a bit hokey but it was all I came up with and nobody suggested anything else.
Then, I had a cantankerous meeting with my partners Peter, Samwel and Paul (not the pork guy Paul). Peter and Samwel had asked for $100 a month instead of the $75 we had budgeted, plus $100 to come back from Arusha after visiting their families. We compromised on $95 a month and $25 each to come back from Arusha. Paul was insisting that we must register our organization and was all hung up on what it means to be a “club.” He is probably right about the registration, unless we can operate as a part of an established group like the Rotary or Kulianas or something. I’ve set up appointments with both for next week and will have this issue on the agenda.
I would really like to fund this project with local money instead of foreign donations, but I am worried that it might be very difficult to accomplish. One good suggestion from Sridhar at the ExIm Bank was to have the kids themselves help, through a City Walkathon. What a fabulous idea, but I’m afraid it can’t make too much of a dent in our overall $2000 project cost.
My part of Africa here is looking browner by the day. For sure, we are going to find out what “dry season” means.
My friend Paul was taking orders for meat before he slaughtered a pig, so I signed on for 2 kg of fresh pork. Then I invited all the PCVs in the region to Nsumba for a pork BBQ on Sunday for a JULY FOURTH CELEBRATION. The pork was delivered in a plastic bag yesterday and I arranged with my neighbor to have it stored in the school freezer until Sunday. Paul dropped by in the evening – he was in bad shape, shivering and coughing with maleria. He clearly should have been in bed, but had committed himself to this pork project and also had to deliver an order for several dozen eggs to a restaurant – and then go buy flour for his family’s evening meal. He wanted to look at my copy of “Where There Is No Doctor” to check on medication side-effects. My heart goes out to this guy. Among other trades, he is also a master mason and on Wednesday as I was riding my bike back from Mwanza I found him building a block retaining wall at a roundabout - using his hands instead of a trowel to apply and smooth the mortar. He is always working hard, and still is always friendly, smiling, and gregarious. Makes me feel very pampered with my soft hands and relaxed schedule.
I’ve racked up a ton of internet time. It is a good thing that I get free access at the University by now. I bought and installed another printer ribbon for them. Wrote thank you emails and confirming letters to the six organizations I visited in Dar last week, reminding them to send materials. Asked Kyeh Kim in the Washington PC office by email for materials and she replied with a batch of great leads that I followed up on. That included downloading a good small business training course that was put together for semi-literate farmers in Zambia. She also led me to a Canadian NGO: Street Kids International < www.streetkids.org > SKI has put together a dynamite program that is right on-target, although it may be too fancy with its videos and all. But from them, I also downloaded an incredible report on the status of street kids, with a clear philosophy of how to work with them. It has given me much to think about, and definitely will impact how we present our program.
By now I think we are not so much about giving a how-to course on small business and instead are about changing belief systems to foster self-reliance and confidence. I think we need to change the name of the project from Life Opportunity Club to something like Skills for Life. I always thought LOC was a bit hokey but it was all I came up with and nobody suggested anything else.
Then, I had a cantankerous meeting with my partners Peter, Samwel and Paul (not the pork guy Paul). Peter and Samwel had asked for $100 a month instead of the $75 we had budgeted, plus $100 to come back from Arusha after visiting their families. We compromised on $95 a month and $25 each to come back from Arusha. Paul was insisting that we must register our organization and was all hung up on what it means to be a “club.” He is probably right about the registration, unless we can operate as a part of an established group like the Rotary or Kulianas or something. I’ve set up appointments with both for next week and will have this issue on the agenda.
I would really like to fund this project with local money instead of foreign donations, but I am worried that it might be very difficult to accomplish. One good suggestion from Sridhar at the ExIm Bank was to have the kids themselves help, through a City Walkathon. What a fabulous idea, but I’m afraid it can’t make too much of a dent in our overall $2000 project cost.
My part of Africa here is looking browner by the day. For sure, we are going to find out what “dry season” means.
