Hello All!

I hope everyone is enjoying the Holiday season! I have had a wonderful month of December so far! It has really been great! It all started with stopping by Iringa on my way to Morogoro for training and visiting with some friends. Iriniga is really "safi" (technically means "clean" but is also used for cool, fun, nice, etc.). You can buy all sorts of fun fabrics, jewelry, shoes and bags! We had fun exploring!

Morogoro also surpassed my expectations. It is a really big city and there are huge mountains and lakes around the borders. We stayed at a religious center, which is actually where the Education Volunteers have their training. I stayed in a room with three friends. We had two double beds and a twin bed divided in two bedrooms. But it was so hot that we just pulled the ma tresses out of the bedrooms and slept in the living room where there was a fan and we could blast it on high. It was like a two week sleepover! The only problem was that we did have to sleep without mosquito nets, which actually was not too bad. And since we are all on malaria meds it is not a problem, just annoying. The weather in Morogoro is like the complete opposite of Mbeya. It's hot, muggy, there are a ton of bugs everywhere. There are monkeys swinging around and fruit trees everywhere. It was a nice transition, but I was SO HOT. Luckily in our time off from training we were able to make a few visits to a near by pool and go swimming. But do not let this fool you into thinking that training was a vacation because it was far from it. We were in class from at least 8-5 learning about everything from grant writing, to potential project ideas, to how to make a fast burning stove out of concrete. We also got a refresher on permagardening, which a shortened way of saying a "permanent garden." Basically, the idea behind permagardening stems from PEPFAR, which is an initiative set up by George Bush to improve HIV/AIDS education in Africa and the quality of life for people who live with HIV/AIDS. This amazing RPCV (Returned Peace Corps Volunteer), who travels all over Africa to teach, taught us how to create more efficient gardens. The idea behind it is that by using a few new techniques you can grow a significant amount more crops and also teach about good nutrition and show how easy it is to plant things like carrots, peppers, and other greens. Also, how to use lemongrass as fencing, which is also full of good nutrients and great to put in tea for HIV/AIDS patients because it has numbing capabilities and if they have open sores in their mouths it can help to decrease the pain so that they can eat. It's really cool stuff. And pretty easy to teach. The only really overwhelming part is whether people will actually make these changes in their own gardens. Implementation is definitely one of the hardest parts of PC. But all in all it was a really helpful training. Nahasibu, my counterpart, along with all the other counterparts, one per PCV, came during the second week to learn as well. There were some aspects of the training that he has already learned because he went to the same training with the volunteer I replaced. However, I still think it was very helpful. He was really enthusiastic about everything, as Nahasibu usually is.

Another really useful aspect of training was making a plan with my counterpart for the next few months. Here are some ideas we came up with that are a mix of my villagers requests, the results of a needs assessment created by my village, and bouncing ideas off of other PCVs:

1. Since 2008 Mbeya has had an annual Girls Conference, so we will implement this in June of 2011. The Girls Conference pretty much consists of talking to girls about everything a teenage girl could possibly need to know, as well as empowering them to make positive decisions for their future. In addition, we are talking about a Boys Conference as well.

2. To create a club for the youth in my village. Then to teach a few leaders how to do condom demonstrations and where to get condoms. Then these few youth leaders would be able to get condoms in large supply and disperse them to the rest of the village youth, as well as providing instruction for use. Since a lot of the reasons why the youth do not use condoms are because they are embarrassed to actually go to the health center and ask for them. So if their peers are passing them out they should be much more widespread...or that's the idea.

3. I would like to teach Life Skills at the Secondary School. However, I will need to discuss this with my headmaster when I return to my village. But this would cover everything from dating to business.

4. I would really like to work with my Widows Group and maybe create a more sustainable project with them. As popular as the aprons are, and as much as they enjoy making them. I think we may move in a different direction.

5. Hopefully, I will be able to work more at the Health Center. I would like to spend more time learning about HIV/AIDS issues in my village and Maternal Health Care. I think for both of these issues I have a lot more learning to do before I even propose doing education or projects with these groups of people.

6. Since SO MANY villagers want to learn English I think I will continue my English lessons. Even though it is not what I came here to do it is what my villagers want. And it also helps with the 2nd goal of Peace Corps, which is to teach Tanzanians about American culture. So I plan on having fun with this!

7. To continue helping to weigh babies and to pair this with nutrition lessons.

So those are 7 of my goals right now. Another goal that I made at training is to maybe step back on my work a little bit. I realized that I was spending a lot of time working with the NGO in my village, but not a lot of time figuring out what I want to do here. So I am officially stepping back from working with the NGO and focusing solely on Peace Corps work! I am really exited about this and am ready for a fresh start in my village! However, I am a little concerned about how much pressure this leaves on my counterpart, Nahasibu. I will keep you all posted!

In other news after Moro a lot of us decided to go to Dar es Salaam for a few days. It has been great! I feel like I have been in a mini-America, well kind of. There are some areas of Dar where there are more white people than Tanzanians, mostly ex-pats! We had a few nice meals here, fish, Lebanese food, and Chinese. Also, some delicious street food! Yum! All in all it has been a great visit to Dar. One of my favorite parts is that everyone is so impressed that we all know Swahili! It can definitely get you far here.

Tomorrow I am headed back down to Iringa to spend Christmas with some friends. I decided not to head to Mafia Island this year just because it would mean I would get back to my village a lot later than I would like. And I miss my cats!! But Mafia will be there....and like my mom has always reminded me it is okay to not go to EVERY party....sometimes I forget that. So Christmas will be spent in my friends village, I think there are going to be around 10 of us. And we are doing a Secret Santa as well! Which should be really fun! Also on Christmas day we are going to go to an Orphanage in a neighboring village to play some games with the kids and just to have some fun. It should be a great time! I will let you know how it goes.

So Merry Merry Christmas everyone! I hope Santa visits all your houses! Just so you know I will be thinking of you all on this special day! And I will be sure to have my phone on me if you can call!

Ho Ho Ho!