Sunset to Sunset

A mixture of ruminations and impressions this evening...the amazing sunset last night, as we sat

on the patio of the Chinese restaurant...a fitting closing to an extremely full day...

The peace and quiet of the hillside as I ate breakfast on the veranda at the Treehouse B and B, while Maddie slept in a bit longer. (Maddie is a rising senior at Wake Forest U. who has been in East Africa for a month and is, at present, my roommate. And we are having a ball getting to know each other. It's like having another granddaughter.) Bird sounds were incredible and varied, and the wind chimes added their accompaniment to the morning symphony, while the vast variety of vegetation provided a feast for the eyes, as the muesli, homemade yogurt, and mangoes fed my stomach. Pure ambrosia!

The villages where we met with the four Tanzanian bibis (grandmothers) in their homes, receiving the gracious largesse of their hospitality and coming to know their stories a bit better...realizing, in their telling and our hearing, that all of us indeed share a common humanity. A grandmother is a nyanya or a bibi.

(Top row: Rosa and Devota;

second row: Martha and Angela)

The children everywhere and in general, very quiet and well-behaved in the presence of adults, though when in a crowd, they are noisy, laughing, typical kids. One little boy, Petri, kepy wanting to touch my hair, and I later learned that my straight, white hair is very atypical for Africa and the children were very amused that I am white from head to toe.

Litter pretty much everywhere in the villages. Why is no one teaching about sanitation or doing anything about it? Fostering the pride of keeping the community nice? Are we talking about Maslow's hierarchy of needs here, with prople so busy taking care of basic needs that nothing else enters their minds? But wouldn't it be possible to emphazise both? Poverty is grinding in so many ways, damages self-esteem, makes people feel less-than...and it is generally agreed that order outside leads to order inside...I know it doesn't feed or clothe or shelter but wouldn't it give HOPE that things could be better? I just can't help wondering...

Tired...hungry...pizza for supper (it was actually very, very, very late lunch!) and then back to the Treehouse in time to watch the sunset from the veranda...as my "day" was braketed in two glorious settings of the sun in this far-away place.

From Mwanza with Love

So...are you ready to hear about Thursday? The morning was spent at the Raila Odinga Nyanya Pre-school Center in the Kibera slum which has two million people living in two square miles. The children were wonderful and it was hard to stop taking photos as they were all so beautiful, This center has been open less than a year and already several chidren have moved onto regular school because they had learned so much, The teacher, Elizabeth, is quite amazing and the children respond to her so well. In this case, a picture is really worth more than a thousand words, so I've given you are some lovely "words"...

In the afternoon, we went to Kaputiei village outside Nairobi, a planned community begun by Jamii Bora, a microfinance orgaization. The first residents, moved out from Mathare and Kibara slums, have been there for about 9 months, with a projection of 2000 houses to be eventually built there. There is a factory on-site in which the women make the bricks and roof tiles; electricity and hot water are supplied by solar panels; and the comunity will eventually be self-sustaining. I met Beatrice, better known as Shosho, who is the founder of the Kosovo Grandtoto Women's Group and one of the strong guiding liights of this fledgling community experiment. She is a woman of great heart, with the most beautiful smile and totally hospitable manner. Her determination and drive comes because she wants to see her 12 grandchildren educated (9 of her grands are AIDS-orphaned).

And now it's day three..yes, only day three! It began with oversleeping, then rushing to get ready to go to the airport in all of 10 minutes! Fortunately I had packed last night. Our flight to Manza, Tanzania, was smooth and ueventful, but the day has been anything but. First, this is a beautiful city on the shores of Lake Victoria the largest fresh-water lake in Africa. Mwanza is also know as the Rock City, aptly named for the incredible rock formations which are everywhere around the city- breath-taking! (My granddaughter can tell you that I love rocks!) The air here is so fresh compared to Nairobi's pollution, and the day was sunny and absolutely gorgeous.

After our arrival, we met with Asia Kapande and Magdalena of the Tanzania Home Economics Association, which has begun working with grandmothers here in cooperation and concert with the Nyaya Project. Magdalena has been training 4 grandmothers in business skills since May and already they are seeing a considerable increase in their small-business profits. After a lovely lunch on a second-floor patio overlooking the lake, we drove out to the TAHEA headquarters and met these four women: Devota, Rosa, Martha, and Angelina, who told us about what the business training is meaning to them and their families. Between them, they have 12 AIDS-orphaned grandchildren, meaning each of these women has lost at least one of her children to AIDS.

All in all, a very full day...which finished with

supper at a Chinese restaurant on the lake

where we watched a gorgeous sunset from our patio table, and then headed back to our respective hotels (Maddie and I are staying at the Treehouse Bed & Breakfast while MM is staying at Ryans' Bay. And all of us are happy with where we are.) I'll tell you more about our hair-raising taxi ride tomorrow and share some sunset photos But right now, though it is mid-afternoon for most of you, it is nearly 10:30p.m. here and I am really ready for bed. Kwa heri from Mwanza, with much love.