Today, the group enjoyed a relaxed morning. We started with meetings amongst ourselves, discussing our intentions for the coming week and learning from Tony all about the dynamics of cultural development. We identified which questions we’d like to ask in our social surveys, to whom we should ask the questions, and how exactly we should conduct the surveys.
After completing our morning’s work, the students headed into the market center to use a printing shop and acquire equipment. In the meanwhile, Dr. Hagenberger and Tony stayed behind to have a meeting with some of the representatives from KiHo: Mr. Kateri, Mr. Mbaga, and Mr. Orest. When we the students returned to the Elephant Motel, we joined the group to talk strategy for the next week. For a couple of hours we flushed out a lot of key points of our mission for the trip. We talked about our agenda, the Masai culture, the social survey questions, and Marwa as a whole. Walking away from that meeting, we are all very excited about the next seven days.
Monkey enjoying snacks we’ve shared
Robbie Pesarchick – I’m feeling really great right now. I’d encourage anyone that cares as much to go over to the August blog and read up on the mentality that my group had had after our first experience in the lowlands of Same. There was a tremendous amount of stress that came with those first encounters with severe poverty. I feel as though I’d shaken a bottle of soda and have been carrying it under terrible pressure for the past 8 months. As yesterday and today have unfolded, and I’ve started to see that a path exists toward a solution to some of the struggles for these beautiful people. The bottle is releasing some of that pressure.
I really enjoy seeing the members of KiHo, for whom I have a lot of respect. It’s very nice to know they remember me and are happy to see me again. I’m so happy to be able to return as a professional. Tomorrow we’re headed to KiHo and to the Sunday market, it should be a great day.
Randall Berkley – Today, the students under the supervision of our great drivers, Richard and Kent, went to the permanent market again to buy a couple tape measures and print off a couple files. The market has numerous shops which have printing so we just randomly picked a shop to go to. When we walked into the first store and explained that we were looking to print the maps we had onto 11×17 pages that recommended we go to a different shop. Then when we got to the second shop and printed the 11×17 maps, they suggested a third shop for us to go to for some color printing. I couldn’t get over the sense of community that Same and the entire country of Tanzania have that someone would hinder their own business and send us to a different shop. That would never happen in the U.S.
Today, we made a lot of progress based on the information KiHo provided us yesterday and I can’t explain how encouraging it is that we seem to be on the same page with KiHo on what needs to get done and how it needs to be done. The most exciting part of the day though came after our meeting with KiHo, when Satango got us bananas and stale toast to feed the monkeys that live around the motel. The experience got even better when we gave Benedict’s (the motel manager) kids some stale bread and watched them play with the monkeys too. They were having so much fun!
Sierra Heaton – If I’m being completely honest, this morning I was a little frustrated. We were making progress in work but I was just getting anxious to get out into the community and start our work. However, when Tony talked to us about our surveys, he gave us the perfect words. He told us how we need to feel privileged to be able to speak with the Marwa Masai community. He reminded us that this trip is apart of our journey. We all went to OSU, majored in Civil Engineering, picked this particular capstone project, all which led us to the table of discussion. It was exactly what I needed to hear. After the work we accomplished and the meetings we had with KiHo today, I am actually very pleased at how productive we were. I feel more confident about communicating with the community and I feel as a group we are more prepared. I also believe we are more confident with our surroundings and communication here. Us students went into the Same city with our drivers Kent and Richard while H and Tony met with members of KiHo. Our interactions are more comfortable. When we got back to the Elephant Motel we got to take pictures of some monkeys playing, eventually got to feed them, and we walked to the end of the driveway to watch the sun set. Overall today was a fun and productive day.
Melanie McDonough – Yesterday was an awesome day. So many good things happened. We got to hand feed a bunch of monkeys that hang around the hotel- there was even a mother with her very tiny baby grabbing bananas from us while her baby breast fed… so basically I am a new woman, what an awesome experience and never in my life did I think I would get to do something like that. A lot of other things are on my mind from today. First, I am feeling much more confident to go into the community and interact with the people there- we have come up with a plan to conduct our social surveys (a series of questions to better understand what the community wants and expects for their future water system). Our plan is to be put in teams of 3 and basically just have a conversation with up to 20 people rather than just listing the questions. We have 3 main points we want to hit but the flow of the conversation is completely left up to the community, though if there is a lull for whatever reason I feel prepared to bring the conversation back to where it needs to be. Another thing I am thinking about after today is the idea of sustainability and how important this topic is for our community. As an engineer it will always be my job to focus on technical and environmental sustainability but there is also economic and managerial sustainability that people like Tony, development experts, and NGO’s must focus on. The last thing that made a big impact on me today was just reaffirming how passionate I am about this topic of access to clean water and how doing projects like this one can completely transform lives for the better. If we successfully provide this community with water the women and children will have significantly more time for other things- perhaps a mother will be able to spend more time with her child or a wife will have more time to get involved in the decision making and leadership in the community, maybe a little girl will get to go to school for the first time and some women may start up their own businesses for the first time. This is what this project is all about- giving time to the people so that they can further grow and develop their community.
Alex McWhirter – Today was a major stepping stone for the success of this team and our trip, this project and it’s lifetime and future project to come. Obviously that is a loaded statement but I think on many levels everyone learned and grew a great deal.
Yesterday when we met Setonga, he mentioned needing help with his computer. I was voluntold to meet him in the morning to help out. Not only is Setonga the director of the Elephant Motel, he is also a Catholic priest, founder of an NGO in the States and a sister NGO here in Tanzania and a major leader in the Same community (He also studied at the University of Iowa, sorry mom and dad). My time with him this morning was invaluable. I helped him with an application for several hours and learned more about his journey, beliefs and culture. To follow-up on the 3 names of a Pare person, the 1st, like Melanie mentioned is an event that happened around the birth of the child, the 2nd is a baptismal name soon after birth and the 3rd is the grandfather’s/grandmother’s name and by that method, this are not willed down to your children, rather your grandchildren. Having met Setonga by chance, we are incredibly lucky to have him as a future contact in the area.
What was equally incredible was that during my time away, the team got some major work done. Coming in at the conclusion of the session, I got to hear the polished version of hours of work.
While we went into town to print off some documents, H and Tony continued to meet with Kateri and it was clear from our later meetings that we all want the same thing, to help the people of Marwa. Hearing different methods and practices to get there, from almost every party involved to this point could have been catastrophic, however, with the right lens of a shared vision and a willingness to learn, we were all able to mold, adapt and change our methods.
Unfortunately some people were Euchred-out, which led to H teaching us Back Alley. I think it’s a new team favorite.
Pat Enright – Waking up this morning in Same to a rooster crowing was a pretty similar feeling to the first morning in Moshi, except we were not in the middle of the city this time. We spent the morning gathering ourselves both technically about data collection and with the way we should approach the community surveys we will be administering about water usage to the Maasai later this week. During this process, Tony started speaking about the series of events that all lead us individually to this place. He spoke about how privileged we are to be able to use our talents to give the women of the village time to do other things, such as go to school or start a business, changing their lives and the lives of their descendants drastically. We have the privilege of speaking personally write the Maasai tribe, something not many people have the opportunity to do. I left the meeting feeling very inspired about are doing here and the community meetings we have this week. Following this, we went to the market to make some copies of some papers for a meeting, but only the students went while the professors stayed back at a meeting with Kateri. While we were still accompanied by the drivers, it gave us a feeling of independence and that I was more comfortable in Tanazania – even though I still freeze up and forget the response when someone greets me. Coming back we saw some monkeys playing around the courtyard and we were a little weary of getting too close and our driver, Kent, came over and led us as close as we wanted to go while keeping them back and we were able to get closer to them than I have ever been. After about an hour of this, we began sharing insight between Kent and ourselves about cultural differences and it created a real human connection that was lacking before. Shortly after this, a meeting with Kateri and other members of KiHo, where we spoke in length about our strategy for the project as well as our approach to the community meetings. They shared insight into the project that helped us gain a far better understanding of what should happen in the future to create a sustainable system. He shared things from Maasai culture to topographical features, all of which were immensely helpful and we would not be where we are now without this information. At the end of the day, a few of us walked down the driveway to the road to check out the sunset and the scene was picturesque. We all were absolutely blown away by the sunset in the mountains and even though our pictures turned out great, it still did not do the view justice.
It was a nice combination to see the video and then read the blog. The little boys laugh is contagious!