Freedom Day

Habari za wikendi? (how's your weekend going)

My internship is going well so far. It's fairly hectic getting used to how the organization operates, but I'm finding my place in it all. I'm still producing health education materials, but I'm also working on writing a grant now. We're applying for funding through the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to pay for a proposed nutritional program for PLWHA (ppl living with HIV/AIDS). They receive free ARVs from Shaloom, but many of them are not getting good, nutritious food every day either because they can't afford it or it is not accessible. So we're trying to start a program that is similar to a soup kitchen model. It would help PLWHA get a free nutritious meal once a day M-F. I'll keep you updated on how that's going.

In other news, it was Freedom Day yesterday. It wasn't their independence day but the concept is similar. It is a showing of solidarity where many people come to celebrate and fight against things like corruption. They celebrate this by launching a long three month torch relay--it's just like the olympic torch relay only it's run throughout Tanzania. Yesterday, the torch was lit in Mwanza and started its journey. There was a huge gathering for this at the soccer stadium. There was singing, dancing, performing, ect., and I ended up being out in the sun for far too long (got a little sun burn for sure :) It was a good experience overall and a happy celebration.

Today, I'm happy because I bought a pizza for myself at a restaurant downtown. Since I've arrived here, I've only been eating Tanzanian food, and I've been getting tired of the same thing all the time. They normally eat the same thing everyday. Always rice, beans, or ugali (maize and cassava flour mixed with water into a porridge). Then they have cooked bananas put into a kind of stew with vegetables. They aren't plantains or the bananas you're used to, but similar to plantains more than anything. For meats, they somtimes have fried chicken, fish, beef, goat, and last night I had chicken livers. So after eating that same food twice a day, everyday for 2-3 weeks, I was very happy to have a pizza, yum.

That's about it for now. Hope everyone is enjoying their summers!

Until next time,
-Ben