Morogoro Visit

Mambo!

This past Saturday we were given the opportunity to go to Morogoro and visit with SON (Serving Our Neighbours) International and assist them in holding an open house. They held stations that gave information on Biosand filters, methods of water purification, hand cleaning, and puberty.

Below is a picture of the SIHA International Team along with SON International employees and some of the kids that came to the open house. We were given the chance to play some games with everyone involved!

On Sunday we did a hike in the Uluguru mountain area from the town of Morogoro to Chuma falls. We were able to crawl under the waterfall and enjoy the cool water.

We Wrote a Test!

Tulifanya jaribio!
For the past four weeks we have been doing Swahili lessons 3-4 times a week. One of our Community Consultants, Pastone, has been teaching us. So far we have learnt greetings, verbs, present/past/future tenses, food, and family!

On Saturday, June 10th, teacher Pastone gave us a test.

We surprisingly all passed with flying colours!

Above is a picture of us collaboratively writing the test. Below is a picture of Pastone handing us back our tests in order of highest to lowest mark.

Project Work

Habari!

The past few weeks have involved a lot of discussion regarding which projects we will be working on for the summer and the direction in which to take these projects. Here is a small look into some of  the projects from previous years:

Endeleza Vijana Organization (EVO) Partnership: EVO was established in 2013 and aims to support youth through everyday challenges by providing them education on health related issues and life skills. In summer 2015, SIHA provided EVO with seminars on various topics aimed to increase members' capacity in achieving organizational goals. Their current programs include: Sports 4 Life Program, World Aids Day, and Partner Invitation Card (which aims to increase male involvement in couple HIV/AIDS testing).

The Water Projects: Biosand Filters (BSFs): SIHA first installed BSFs in 2013 in response to high rates of diarrheal disease and limited access to effective treatment methods. SIHA connected with SON international: a local non-for profit that builds and services BSFs. A pilot project was initiated to assess BSF utility in various demographics and in different locations.

In July 2015, SIHA found all of the BSFs dried out or in poor condition at all four locations. SIHA connected SON international with those utilizing the BSFs. In February 2016, SON international repaired and relocated the BSFs, with SIHA funding these costs.

Rainwater Collection System (RWCS): SIHA constructed a RWCS in 2012 to improve water accessibility for the community of Kikongo. The RWCS is composed of a 26 000 L tank, which sits underground and water is supplied via pump. In the following years the RWCS had finance and management issues despite evaluation and encouragement of the SIHA team to promote a sense of ownership within the community and the local government. In 201 6 the SIHA team decided to pass full ownership of the RWCS to the Kikongo Primary School.

Mwanabwito Education Committee (MEC) Partnership: MEC addresses health barriers through community education. The overarching goal is to reduce the number of people that are affected by malaria. This has been done by door to door seminars, malaria movie nights, class room seminars, etc.

Malaria Prevention: ITNs Project:  Malaria has been identified as a primary health concern in multiple communities. Key informants helped to identify barriers to malaria prevention in these communities: the accessibility and cost of Insecticide Treated Nets (ITNs). SIHA has worked to connect local businesses with community groups (such as MEC) to distribute bednets at a reasonable price to communities with the goal of decreasing dependency on SIHA.

Oceans, mountains, & monkeys!

We have officially been in Mlandizi, Tanzania for two weeks and we are not sick of each other yet!

This past week and a half have been very busy. Sunday was a  day off and we made the (very very) bumpy ride over to Bagamoyo. At Bagamoyo we were able to dip our feet into the Indian Ocean for the first time since arriving in Tanzania! Here, we braved the busy fish market and walked around the town.

On Tuesday, we headed out to Morogoro. After a 4 hour wait and a 2 hour bus ride we finally arrived at our home for the next two nights. In Morogoro we had the opportunity to visit SON (Serving Our Neighbour)  international, a local NGO that works with water and community development. We were able to sit down with Todd and Ann Ziems and learn about what the organization does, how they started, and their plans for the future. SON also gave us the chance to visit a primary school to watch them give a lesson about Biosand Filters to the kids.

We also got to venture through the mountains in the surrounding area where we were greeted by rivers, waterfalls, and monkeys in the treetops.

SIHA 2017: We made it!!

Mambo!

We are SIHA’s 2017 International Team. We consist of 6 travel members: Megan Jamieson, Grace Quaale, Steven Lin, Stephanie Koshka, Ryan Gwynne, and Jun Jang. Accompanying us are the project managers, Morgan Scheves and Jacqueline Noga. SIHA is a student-run organization through the University of Alberta that focuses on health based projects and partnerships in the field of non-governmental public health. We are currently operating out of Mlandizi, Tanzania to expand and evaluate local health initiatives.

We hit the ground running our first week in. We landed in Dar es Salaam on Tuesday, where we stayed for two nights at the YMCA hostel. Here we organized phone plans, made a trip to the market, and got acquainted with the area. On Wednesday we braved the scorching heat (30+!) and made the trip to Mlandizi where we will be situated for the summer. On arrival we were greeted with warm smiles to our temporary new home and office!

The next few days were filled with trips to the local market, enjoying meals made by Mama (home keeper), an endless pit of jokes, and familiarizing ourselves with the projects we will potentially be working on for the summer! During the next few weeks we will further discuss which projects we will be taking on and decide the direction in which we want to see SIHA international go. We will also be making a trip to Morogoro to visit SON international to gain more insight into a well run non-governmental organization.

The concept of ‘Tanzanian time’ essentially means doing things on your own time. We have all adjusted well to this idea but we will still be updating this blog once a week!

Kwaheri!