Friday, February 17, 2006

hello all...wow i guess it really has been since december that i have added anything to the ol' blogsite. so there is a chance that many of you are probably not checking it...but HA! you never know when there might be an update from me. so...its been awhile...how are you? how have you been? yeah yeah i hear ya. me i have been good. i wont lie, this past month has been a bit rough on the ol' jane-a-roo. we were told the month following our in-service training (the last update) would be rough and we would loose some good people. it has been and we did. cant quite pin point why. perhaps because we have been here for 8 months now...cant say you didn’t try in eight months. also we are actually expected to work and get projects done. mind you there is very relaxed enforcement mechanisms for doing this...but it is expected maintained on a personal level, which could be hared...you are always your worse critic. for example thoughts of "what am i doing here anyway...i have read a book a day for the last week. i am wasting tax payers' dollars. i don’t know kiswahili yet...i am never going to learn it. i could be working toward a career right now not working on my squats while in the restroom" that is the sort of stuff that has been running through my head and while my literary knowledge is growing, so are the arguments to stay. i actually have completed my first project (well there is still some paperwork that i am waiting for). At the end of january i organized a seminar for 30 women from 10 villages to come to a 2 day seminar on better nutrition and food preservation. it went much better than i could have expected to. we had a lot of fun and really think that many of the women might actually try to follow through with what they learned. as a follow up each village was supposed to teach what they learned in the seminar back in their village...which i am estimating that 300 now have a better understanding of how to achieve better nutrition with products that can be grown in the village. there is also the chance to small business development. we taught jam making and storing and also bread making. both can be used to sell for added household income. to say the least it was very rewarding to see so many women having the opportunity to not only learn something new, but just get out of the village. leave the kids behind and meet new people and open up and get a chance to tell their story...not an opportunity that is easy to come by for these ladies. next step...solar drying.
i am also still working on trying to improve the livestock management of chickens. but really...all the knowledge and materials are already available in the village...they just have to realize it...they know how to do this...they just the confidence. so i am trying to stay has hands out as possible. so i have a group of 12 people that are organizing 9 separate seminars on various aspects of chicken care and then we are going to build 6 chicken coups, start 2 businesses (one to make chicken feed and one to sell veterinarian supplies) vaccinate every darn chicken in kihanga and then bring in 120 top breed roosters. those that attend and have their coup built and have their chickens vaccinated will receive a brand spanking new rooster to breed with their local variety type to improve egg and meat production.

i know this is SO exciting for you to read. so here is a little blurb on tanzania that komal sent me from reuters...
Baby feeds on dog's milk
Thu Feb 9, 2006 8:56 AM ET

DAR ES SALAAM (Reuters) - A Tanzanian mother went into hysterics when she found her six month-old baby suckling dog's milk, a local daily reported Thursday.
The mother left her son on a mat while she went to hang clothes in the yard of her Dar Es Salaam home, Uhuru newspaper said. When she came back to find him suckling on the dog, she screamed and rushed to her brother's house to seek advice.
But the brother managed to convince her dog's milk was harmless. "Since that day the baby is doing well and hasn't had diarrhea or any signs of illness," he was quoted as saying.
Another relative, who witnessed the incident Monday, was also unperturbed. "The baby was satisfied, since his belly was full and his lips had traces of milk," he told Uhuru.


and here i am teaching better nutrition....sounds like this baby already found it some! on a more somber note...i would like to tell everyone to visit wendy's website... please. i just found out about her relapse (on a selfish side note, i would like to take a moment to say that i am here for two years..it is pointless not to tell me news that you might think i will find disappointing. all that happens is that every time it has been awhile since I have heard from someone, my over active bored imagination in the village makes you in some kind of harm, so if there is something i should know....just tell me. i am a big girl and i can make my own decisions how to handle it...if it is news that you dont want me to hear alone...that it is better to have someone else there, call the peace corps office in DC. they have people that will come to my house and be there with when i hear bad news. sorry just a tangent) so anyway..check out wendy's site and buy one of Stephens dreads!!!! hee hee hee...you can even see what different hairstyles would suit him and maybe help him choose his new locks!!!!! www.wendywier.com


well i better head...i will try to post more regularly. maybe work up a funny story of some kind. believe me there is plenty of fodder from the funny situations that i find myself in to come up with something.

hope you all are well...and just a side note...the total letter count for the month of january (my BIRTHDAY month) is 3. though i am sure this is just due to the slow postal service...i am sure.

love to all
jane