First Project

Hey

So it's been a good week. I got my first project going and i'm really excited. Two weeks ago I was doing my "Village Situation Analysis," which is just a fancy word for a survey and i met with a whole bunch of folks in my village going house to house. Conducting the VSA made me realize that most villagers hadn't really understood what my mission was there and in that way, it ended up being an effective tool in explaining my role.

Once they realized that i was affiliated with the local government, who they view basically as a bunch of criminals, which they kind of are, people become quite honest in answering my questions. Corruption exists at all levels of government here, even in the tiniest of villages in the middle of nowhere. Everyone's trying to get a piece. The VSA gave me a great sense of what people view as problematic in their village, especially in the way of health concerns. Malaria and Waterborne diseases were emphasized as the biggest health problems, but i have a suspicion that HIV/Aids is a much larger problem than they perceive b/c nobody gets tested and then people don't actually end up dying from Aids, they die from tuberculosis, malaria, or another terrible illness. People often don't make the Aids connection. We should have a better idea of how many people really are infected next month when representatives from US AID is coming to do door-to-door testing. People in my village think this will be more effective in getting people's cooperation for testing as there will be more privacy involved. Hopefully it goes well, i'll you know.

As far as my project goes... It's not directly health related. I'm starting a "Mama's Group." It's a group of about 50 women who are going to undertake some good old-fashioned cash cropping. We're going to be growing Matikiti Maji (watermelon) and simsim, which is a grain that is converted into a cooking oil. Both have a really high market value and grow quite well in my region. In fact, Morogoro region and especially my side of the Uluguru Mountain range has some of the most fertile land in Tanzania, people here just aren't using it to their advantage. Most people in my village, these women included, have individual plots of land usually about a half acre in size or less where they grow Mahindi (corn) and/or Mpunga (rice). They use this mostly just to feed their families and use the small surplus to buy a few other foods and basic household supplies. We plan on starting with a 3 acre plot for the watermelon and 7 acre plot for the simsim. Hopefully this will be expanded with time. There's plenty of land and it's all free! Can you imagine that Mom, free land!?!?

Apparently some of these women have been interested in starting this sort of project in the past, but they lack the organization, leadership and money management skills. So here I am. While business management is not included in any of my previous undertakings, I think I'll be able to handle this. If all goes well I intend to teach a bit about saving and investment (concepts that don't really exist in the village), by taking money earned from this project to start another project - raising chickens. A lot of people raise chickens in my village, but most die due to disease, notably, Newcastle Disease. A vaccine exists for Newcastle but it is very expensive, so no one buys it and they're chickens die. If we make money from farming, I'll be able to buy them the vaccine and learn how to administer it from the agriculture college in Morogoro town.

These women are unbelievably excited and motivated. They've already established a 10 person committee, along with a treasurer, secretary, and chairwoman. Every member is putting in $2 (a lot here) as a stake in the project to get things going. Additionally, they're in the process of drawing a detailed list of ground rules and procedures for the women involved. We'll probably be going over it this coming week.

After hearing about how I was helping these women establish this project, I was contacted by a number of other groups, including some wazee (old men) and a group of Maasai women. The Wazee want to raise chickens and i don't know what the Maasai have in mind yet, i'm meeting with them next friday. It's up to them what they want to do, but I may introduce the idea of the women making traditional Maasai jewelry and crafts to sell to the tourists who pass through town on their way to Selous Game Reserve. Most of these safari vehicles don't stop in town, aside from a quick snap of the camera at the locals, but i think it's possible that we could attract them with site of cheap, colorful Maasai goods being sold by true Maasai women. While i know many of you are familiar with this tribe, the Maasai are in many ways a novelty of East Africa as they are one of the few tribes left who have retained most of their customs and traditional dress, while embracing many aspects of modernity such as cellphones and motorcycles. In fact, the Maasai tend to be the wealthiest people in the area because, as pastoralists, some individuals own from 1,000 to 10,000 heads of cattle. A cow sells for around $500 a pop. You do the math. It's a lot of money. Yet this money naturally stays in the hands of the men, so by getting the women involved in some sort of income-generation could be beneficial to them in many ways.

So yeah, I've got some things going on and I'm excited. I'm meeting with a group of out of school youth on Monday with the hope, i believe, of having me help them in some sort of income generation activity. I won't be able to begin to apply for any grants for a couple months until we have a training conference in december, so at this point it's all about starting small and just getting some structure formed. Who knows where it will all go...

Other than that, things are good. I'm running a lot and am planning on hopefully running the Kilimanjaro Marathon in March. I've been putting what seems to be like 12ish miles a day, 6 days a week, but i got a ways to go until in my marathon shape. I think i can get there though. Ok my computer time is running out. I love you all and thanks so much for everyone who has written/sent me packages. I truly appreciate this stuff.

Just a note, i realized that the way i wrote my address sort of looks like a Texas one. Hey Texas is big, maybe they have a Morogoro too...

So let's address our mail like this from now on instead:

Justin Sullivan
P.O. Box 751
Morogoro
Tanzania

Much love
Justin