Hey Everyone,
I'm sorry that I haven't been keeping up on my blogs lately, but getting to the internet the past few weeks has been challenging. I'm officially done with my internship now, and I've left Mwanza too. Now I'm in Dar es Salaam waiting for my flight tomorrow morning. In the meantime, I thought I'd just do a fun little list of facts about Tanzania that you may or may not already know...here it goes:
1.) Tanzania is home to the Serengeti, Mount Kilimanjaro, and the "spice island" of Zanzibar.
2.) There are over 175 tribes/ethnic groups in the country and most of them have their own language. That means that people are learning their mother tongue, Swahili, and English if they make it all the way through secondary school.
3.) The average wedding dowry usually consists of cows or money and is given by the groom's family to the bride's family.
4.) The Maasai people believe that every cow in the world belongs to them. In fact, they oftentimes steal cows from other people.
5.) It is common for two people of the same sex to hold hands in public, but it is frowned upon if there is public affection between the opposite sex.
6.) When twins are born, the first one is always named Kulwa and the second is always named Dotto.
7.) If a thief is caught stealing in public, he/she is beaten horribly by everyone around (before police come) and sometimes even beaten to death.
8.) There is a small albino population in Tanzania, and they are oftentimes discriminated against and even killed. Some traditional medicine doctors pay big money to get the body parts of albinos.
9.) Tanzania only gained independence in 1961 after being colonized first by the Germans and then by the British.
10.) Swahili time is different than the clock/time we're used to. It coincides with the sunrises and sunsets (i.e. 1:00 is when the sun comes up)
Monday, July 27, 2009
Saturday, July 11, 2009
saba saba
Hamjambo wote,
Just a short blog today, not a whole lot of time! This past Tuesday was a national holiday here (Saba Saba--seven seven), so I didn't have to work. It was nice to have the short week, and the days continue to fly by. It's hard to believe that I only have two weeks until I come home! Work is still going well. I'm beginning to wrap everything up by writing some final reports and the like. I'll try and write a longer blog next weekend, but until then...take care!
-Ben
Just a short blog today, not a whole lot of time! This past Tuesday was a national holiday here (Saba Saba--seven seven), so I didn't have to work. It was nice to have the short week, and the days continue to fly by. It's hard to believe that I only have two weeks until I come home! Work is still going well. I'm beginning to wrap everything up by writing some final reports and the like. I'll try and write a longer blog next weekend, but until then...take care!
-Ben
Saturday, July 4, 2009
4th of July
Happy 4th of July to everyone back home (or abroad)!
I won't be going to any parades or watching any fireworks. In fact I won't even be able to have a nice BBQ outside, but I am going to hang out with the few American students that are here. I work with one student from Maryland, and there are two other students here from Atlanta staying at the same hostel as me. We're all going to go out to lunch or something, so at least we'll get to celebrate a little bit :).
Work's been going well. The grant is finished and now we sit back and wait for the decision. However, it could take up to 10 weeks for the foundation to decide, so I'm not counting on knowing the result any time soon. It's just nice to have it completed and give me a chance to work more with the health education services of my organization. Sadly, I find that many of the youth enrolled in Shaloom's youth center programs know little about HIV. I feel that lack of education is one of the biggest factors contributing to the epidemic here in TZ. Only 5% of girls complete secondary school in Tanzania, and boys are not much better at 7%. Furthermore, the teachers who are supposed to teach about HIV in school are oftentimes shy when it comes to discussing the subject. Many students tell me that their teachers just skip talking about HIV. Also, some of the ones that do try to teach it are giving the wrong information. People still believe many myths about HIV and that's just adding to the stigma.
Gender inequality is another big factor contributing to the problem. Women are lower on the social hierarchy and are left with fewer rights than men. There is little negotiation for sex, condom usage, or the decision to get tested for HIV. What makes it worse is that most women are economically dependent on men to provide for them and their families. If the women has something she doesn't like about what the man is doing or wants to leave him, that just isn't a possibility. What will she have if she leaves him? Women are still largely left out of the workforce and they depend on their husbands to make the money. Also, many women are beaten by their husbands and they fear that consequence as well when considering questioning their authority. There really needs to be a cultural change that puts women on more of an equal level to men. It starts with education, because if more girls can finish school then more could potentially join the workforce and start to gain respect and independence.
Lastly, there is poverty. More than half of Tanzania's population lives on less than $1 per day, and there is also a very high unemployment rate. The fact is that HIV/AIDS is much lower on the list of important things when you are just struggling to keep food, shelter, and water. Plus, many people here are still dying from other diseases such as diarrhea, parasites, and malaria. Many Tanzanians are just not putting HIV in the forefront of their minds. And how can you blame them?
Nevertheless, 1 in 14 Tanzanian adults has HIV and there is still not enough awareness. Because of the stigma associated with the disease, many people don't even acknowledge that someone has died from AIDS. They explain many AIDS related deaths with other explanations and deny that it was what killed them. But it all comes back to education. If education was improved, women could begin to achieve more rights, unemployment could decrease, and more people could be aware of HIV. However, the government does make secondary school free to students. Primary school is free but secondary school involves fees that many students can't afford. The government claims to not have enough money to make it free and there is little hope for it changing any time soon. CCM is the dominant political party and no other party is even close to rivalling it in attaining a parliamentary majority or a presidential bid. In the meantime, all of these discussed factors must be addressed. As they say here, "pole pole" (slowly) things will progress.
Best,
Ben
I won't be going to any parades or watching any fireworks. In fact I won't even be able to have a nice BBQ outside, but I am going to hang out with the few American students that are here. I work with one student from Maryland, and there are two other students here from Atlanta staying at the same hostel as me. We're all going to go out to lunch or something, so at least we'll get to celebrate a little bit :).
Work's been going well. The grant is finished and now we sit back and wait for the decision. However, it could take up to 10 weeks for the foundation to decide, so I'm not counting on knowing the result any time soon. It's just nice to have it completed and give me a chance to work more with the health education services of my organization. Sadly, I find that many of the youth enrolled in Shaloom's youth center programs know little about HIV. I feel that lack of education is one of the biggest factors contributing to the epidemic here in TZ. Only 5% of girls complete secondary school in Tanzania, and boys are not much better at 7%. Furthermore, the teachers who are supposed to teach about HIV in school are oftentimes shy when it comes to discussing the subject. Many students tell me that their teachers just skip talking about HIV. Also, some of the ones that do try to teach it are giving the wrong information. People still believe many myths about HIV and that's just adding to the stigma.
Gender inequality is another big factor contributing to the problem. Women are lower on the social hierarchy and are left with fewer rights than men. There is little negotiation for sex, condom usage, or the decision to get tested for HIV. What makes it worse is that most women are economically dependent on men to provide for them and their families. If the women has something she doesn't like about what the man is doing or wants to leave him, that just isn't a possibility. What will she have if she leaves him? Women are still largely left out of the workforce and they depend on their husbands to make the money. Also, many women are beaten by their husbands and they fear that consequence as well when considering questioning their authority. There really needs to be a cultural change that puts women on more of an equal level to men. It starts with education, because if more girls can finish school then more could potentially join the workforce and start to gain respect and independence.
Lastly, there is poverty. More than half of Tanzania's population lives on less than $1 per day, and there is also a very high unemployment rate. The fact is that HIV/AIDS is much lower on the list of important things when you are just struggling to keep food, shelter, and water. Plus, many people here are still dying from other diseases such as diarrhea, parasites, and malaria. Many Tanzanians are just not putting HIV in the forefront of their minds. And how can you blame them?
Nevertheless, 1 in 14 Tanzanian adults has HIV and there is still not enough awareness. Because of the stigma associated with the disease, many people don't even acknowledge that someone has died from AIDS. They explain many AIDS related deaths with other explanations and deny that it was what killed them. But it all comes back to education. If education was improved, women could begin to achieve more rights, unemployment could decrease, and more people could be aware of HIV. However, the government does make secondary school free to students. Primary school is free but secondary school involves fees that many students can't afford. The government claims to not have enough money to make it free and there is little hope for it changing any time soon. CCM is the dominant political party and no other party is even close to rivalling it in attaining a parliamentary majority or a presidential bid. In the meantime, all of these discussed factors must be addressed. As they say here, "pole pole" (slowly) things will progress.
Best,
Ben
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