Looking to the new year

When I was an emo high-schooler and had a xanga blog at the end of December I used to always fill out and post this super-long questionaire about all my firsts, achievements, highlights, song lyrics describing the past year, etc.  Since I'm trying not to be that emo anymore but I'd still like to write something to conclude the year, I've decided to go with a list of PLANS (not resolutions, because I never keep those) for 2011:

1.  We'll start with the obvious one:  weight.  Ugh, I hate this.  Over the past few years I've pretty much realized that my natural "eat-whatever-I-want-and-occasionally-exercise" weight is a good 20 pounds more than I would like to be.  That sucks!  Oh, how I hate those people who can eat whatever they want and never gain a pound!  (Like my boyfriend, argh.)  I am SO TIRED of fighting my cravings and trying to lose it.  I know that if I could just suck it up and stick to a diet it would only take a few months to lose that pesky 20.  I've done it before, around junior year of college.  But of course I gained it all back a year or so later with my pre-Peace Corps feasting.  So this year, I've gotta do it!  I have the gym thing down (surprisingly, I never thought I'd be able to make myself a morning exerciser, but I've gotten in the habit thanks to sharing a car and Zach's early work schedule) so the diet is the missing piece.  I'm going to try to really discipline my calorie intake and only splurge for special occasions.  My goal is to be high-school weight again by the end of March.  So now it's on the internet!  Anyone who reads this better hold me to it!

2.  Get some nifty camera equipment.  It has been far too long since I've done anything with my major and my passion for documentary.  Now that I've at least got a steady paycheck, the goal is to pick up a few big things I need in order to start churning out work again.  This plan is also an integral piece of my latest big scheme (below).

3.  Be happier and less whiny.  I'm afraid to say the tumultuousness of the past year has too often made me into an unpleasant grump.  Zach faces the brunt of this, which is not at all fair.  Sure, my life took a complete 180 this year and I went through a lot of huge changes and emotional turmoil.  But I'm feeling more settled now and focusing a lot less on what I gave up (Peace Corps).  Sure I don't love my job now but at least I have one!  And, I have a grand escape scheme (below) to look forward to so I'm going to start looking on the bright side and being more cheerful in my day-to-day life!

4.  Study Spanish.  I have so much free time at work that I need to use for something other than internet surfing.  This also relates to the upcoming big shebang (below...don't you love how I leave it to last?).

Okay, here it is:
5.  Continue planning and begin LA AVENTURA PROJECT!!!!!!!  "What," you may ask, "is that?"  Well, friends, La Aventura Project is the latest, greatest, and biggest travel scheme which Zach and I have come up with.  As you all know, I can't stay in the US for more than a couple years straight without going nuts, and Zach has never really left the country (I don't count Canada and the Bahamas).  Add our good friend  Melissa, who is also feeling a bit bored with the 9 to 5 and itching for an adventure.  Then add the cheapest other continent to fly to from the US, and thus, most appealing destination at this time.  You guessed it: South America!  Here's what's going down:  In October of 2011 the three of us are going to take one backpack each, my camera equipment, our (sure to still be) very limited knowledge of Spanish, and $6,000 each and fly from Columbus to Colombia.  The rough plan is to spend an entire year and travel around the whole continent on $17/day each.  We will volunteer on organic farms (through WWWOOF.org), orphanages or other NGOs, and couchurf in order to get free accomodation and spend less money.  I will also make a sweet-ass documentary about our travel experiences and all the awesome stories we're sure to find.  So yeah, that's the big plan.  It's going to take a lot of fundraising, saving, and planning.  And it's going to be awesome.  We are setting up a blog for the trip, which can be found here.  So bookmark that now, yo!  I'll be sure to post updates as we get more prep done and get closer to the trip.  It's gonna be awesome.

So those are my basic plans for 2011.  Let's get to it!

Arizona Adventure: Verde Hot Springs

Last weekend Zach and I took a mini-trip 2.5 hours from home to the Verde Hot Springs. The springs are located just outside of Camp Verde but the dirt forest road you take for the last 30 miles of the journey takes at least an hour to traverse. The road was not at all well-maintained, really rocky and full of potholes. Also the fact that it ran up and over hills right on the cliff's edge made it quite white knuckle! To say that it reminded me of roads in Tanzania would NOT be an exaggeration at all.  The only difference was at least we were not in a huge rickety bus packed with people and chickens!  We saw one abandoned car that had run over the edge and crashed into a tree part-way down a hill. Who knows how those poor people fared? We had a truck and I would say a high-clearance vehicle like that is totally necessary, although we did meet a couple people who somehow made it there in their compact rental car (they figured "it's a rental...we can trash it.")

The natural hot springs are right along the Verde River. In the 1920s someone built a huge resort and hotel right on top of the springs and it existed until being destroyed by a fire in the 1960s. It was never rebuilt and now all that exists is the concrete foudations along the river. We parked our car in the "campground" (no amenities and only a few other people) and hiked about 1/2 mile upriver to the crossing. Yes, the campground is on the opposite side of the river as the hot springs so you have to ford the river to get to them. No bridge! We found the best place to cross with the help of a random old man and plunged in. It was COLD!! This is December after all, even if we were in the desert part of Arizona. The water was a little above our knees and the current was stronger than we expected. On our first time crossing I totally fell in and got soaked up to my neck and Zach lost a flip-flop to the current. (He needs Chacos!)  As soon as we made it across we were totally breathless from the cold water! Luckily, the hot springs were only a few bends and steps away!  Here they are in all their glory, the Verde Hot Springs:

(the stone wall encloses another pool inside with lots of cool artwork all over the inside walls)

The springs were soooooo pleasant and relaxing!!!  The pool inside the stone structure was A LOT hotter, probably because it's smaller.  It was basically a hot tub.  The outside one was still plenty warm and the view from there was stunning.  So we basically had to alternate between one tub and the other every half hour or so to maintain perfect temperature.  We did meet a few other people there since this place is still quite popular among hippies.  Despite the resort being gone for 50 years now apparently volunteers still come down several times a year to clean and maintain the pools.  I'll try to post some pictures of all the cool grafitti and murals once we upload them.  One other note: this would be a perfect place to get rid of your tan lines, seeing as one of the steps has the phrase "No clothes required!" painted onto it, and people do indeed follow this instruction.  So be prepared.

Overall, we had a great time at the hot springs and I am excited to explore some more natural hot springs since they are all over the west!

The West is The Best

So I have realized recently that just because I'm back from Tanzania doesn't mean my blog has to die a slow death. There are many more adventures in my future and I intend to write about them so why not keep this going? I decided that I'll try to post more frequently, whether it be film reviews, blurbs about weekend trips, or whatever. So here goes...
Despite being semi-settled in full-time jobs in Flagstaff, Zach and I get "the hunger" to travel quite often. We try to resolve this with weekend trips to places we can get to in a few hours. Never having lived in the southwest, there is SO MUCH new stuff for us to see. This past weekend we had an awesome time in and around Durango, Colorado!
We left as soon as I got out of work on Friday at 5. It was about a five hour drive, straight through the Navajo and Hopi Reservations and diagonal across Four Corners from Arizona into Colorado. All we could see before it got dark was the reservations...which basically is super-desolate-looking land with a few "towns" which are basically clusters of shacks with a couple gas stations and liquor stores around. You can definitely tell the US government strategically picked the worst land possible and was like "Here Navajos, you can have ALL THIS!!!!" Go us. Anyway, we stopped and got a $5 Little Caesars pizza which filled us both up for cheap and drove on. We arrived at our couchsurfing host's house around 10:30, dropped our stuff of, and went downtown. It was FREEZING. But we found a couple cool spots to check out. Saw a band and observed the unique Colorado style...warm but trendy clothes, leather boots and knit hats. Everyone looked like "outdoorsy folk," for good reason. We went back to our host's house and finally met her when she got back slightly after us. We stayed up talking and getting to know each other then crammed onto the tiny couch where we slept like rocks despite the cramped space.
On Saturday we woke up and headed straight to Mesa Verde National Park. It was nice to actually SEE where we were in the daytime! We were basically surrounded by mountains and streams. The gorgeous San Juan Peaks were snow-capped and glorious. They looked so big it's hard to believe the Rockies dwarf them! We drove up this awesome windy road to the top of Mesa Verde with excellent views all around us. Being the off-season, there was hardly anyone in the park but we still got to drive around and see different cliff dwellings and archealogical sites around the park. We went on the tour of one specific dwelling and actually got to climb down into one of the lower rooms. It was awesome. I was super mad at myself for completely forgetting my camera (not at all like me)!
We got done with Mesa Verde around 3pm and booked it back to Durango cause we were STARVING!!!! We had only eaten the cookies and pumpkin bread I packed as snacks. Luckily Durango is known as "the Napa Valley of beer" and is home to four awesome microbreweries. We randomly decided on one because it was the first to pop up on my UrbanSpoon iPhone app. It must have been fate cause this place was AWESOME. It was called Steamworks Brewery and we loved it. Great decor and atmosphere. The floor was chalkboard painted so kids were coloring on it despite how shells from the free peanuts were dropped everywhere. They had more brews than any microbrewery I'd been to. And the food was AWESOME. I had a Southwest Veggie Burger with Cajun Fries and Zach had a Cheesesteak with Jalapeno Mashed Potatoes. SO GOOD!!! And every beer on the list sounded amazingly unique. The ones we tried were definitely stellar. The best one was one Zach was really unsure about getting but it turned out to be crazy good. It was called "Prescribed Burn" (southwest reference!!!) and was brewed with chiles in it. So it left this awesome subtle but spicy flavor on your tongue while still being refreshing. Seriously, we were in love with this place. I would drive to Durango once a week just to go there, haha. Steamworks, you won us over. After stuffing our faces we walked around town poking into all the cool shops. Lots of outdoors stuff and hippie-style jewelry and clothing shops. I got a good hat for snowboarding. We did hang out with our hosts a little at their house and tried to do stuff in town that night but we were SO TIRED we went to bed at like 11.
Sunday was another really awesome day. We finally got to spend some time with our hosts. Let me just say, I LOVE couchsurfing. I've never had a bad experience. Really, almost every experience I've had has been awesome. It's such a great way to meet awesome people and share experiences and make friends all over the world. Our hosts in Durango were no exception. There were 4 housemates that we really met: Naima-a really cool outdoorsy girl who had done a lot of traveling and WWOOFing and had great stories. Sage-what a CHARACTER! He was one of the biggest hippies I've ever met...he was literally like a yoga master and a self-taught herbalist. He had all these jars of herbs he'd gathered in the woods and he knew how to use them all for natural cures to ailments and stuff. He was really interesting. Matt and Brittany-they were two hardcore rockclimbers who had just gotten done living out of their truck for the whole summer and fall traveling around the west climbing. They were working for a couple months in Durango and then heading off on a drive all the way down through Mexico to Central America, climbing all the way. All of them did yoga to wake up in the morning and were the kind of crunch-granola-nature people that I LOVE. That's just scratching the surface. I love how many awesome people we've met in our couchsurfing travels. So on Sunday we ate breakfast with everybody and then went on a hike on the Colorado Trail. It runs from Durango all the way to Denver. It was Naima who took us and Sage came along "to gather herbs" (I'm not kidding!!!! He actually found a redroot bush and talked to it to assure it he wasn't going to hurt it then sang a Navajo song while digging up a root). So we took about a 2.5 hour hike that led us across this beautiful rocky Colorado creek then about 1 mile up switchbacks to the top of this mountain. There was a lot of snow on parts of the trail and it was beautiful. Words can't express how beautiful the view was once we got the top and sat with our feet off the cliff. I wish I had had my camera!!! But pictures can't express it either, really. It was breathtaking. We then jogged back down the mountain to warm up and get down faster, found Sage behind a rock and went to get free lunch in a Durango park thanks to the awesome organization Food Not Bombs. I had never heard of it but it's apparently a big organization present in most US cities that collects donations from restaurant leftovers and gives out really good free vegetarian food once a week. So we filled up on pizza, soup, and bread and met some of Naima's friends in the park before we had to jump in the car to head back. So all in all, Durango was AWESOME!!!! We were so grateful to our hosts for putting us up and showing us a good time.
We of course didn't want to go home so we turned the drive into another cool thing. We decided to add about 25 miles and drive through Monument Valley in Utah. Oh man, we weren't sure we would make it by sunset so we had to drive pretty fast and pray we'd get there. But the drive was spectacular. So many awesome rocks. We kept thinking "Oh, this must be the famous part" but then a few minutes later it would get even better. When we passed the Mexican Hat rock I remembered it! I know the last time I was there I was so young but that silly sombrero-shaped rock formation stuck with me. We drove through the Valley of the Gods and then got to the most famous area, Monument Valley, just as the final light was fading from the sky. The sunset made all the different layers of rocks on the horizon different shades of purple as we approached. So awesome. I sound like a broken record with my "awesome"s and "amazing"s but I really cant find words to describe it. Monument Valley, you gotta see it.
So all in all a fun-filled and refreshing Colorado weekend!! It reminded me of why I'm glad to be out here---so many new and unexplored (by me) western desitinations are only a few hours away!

Questions and Rants

Any kid growing up in America hears it constantly…”The sky’s the limit…Reach for your dreams…Nothing is impossible…You can do anything you set your mind to…You can be anything you want to be…”
BUT what if you grow up, get good grades, follow the rules, go through college, and one day realize that you don’t want to BE any “thing” in particular. What if instead of BEING an occupation, you want to BE a person? What if your dream breaks the traditional rules of American adulthood? What if your dream is not to follow any one set path but to keep wandering off in different directions until you’ve explored the whole forest? Then “NO NO NO!!!! That is not okay, that is not what your elementary school teachers meant!!!! Get back on the path!!!!!” Thus the whole idea is proven hypocritical. It’s okay to dream of being a doctor but not a waitress. It’s okay to want to go to law school but not to cosmetology school.
Our whole system is training us for a career. Intelligent, well-adjusted American adults are given 18-22 years of schooling to choose a career, and then spend the next 40-50 years stuck in a Monday-Friday 9-5 box while they desperately scramble “up the ladder.” The average person gets excited about two vacation weeks a year and spends the other fifty weeks working to pay off their new Corvette and save for “retirement.” How do they even know they’re going to make it that far? If you were going to die tomorrow do you think you would be happy about all that money you put towards your chance for a cushy slide into senility? Or would you wish you had spent those countless working hours watching the sun set over the French Riviera, climbing Machu Pichu, or driving across America with the love of your life?
Many of us do have boundless opportunities in America. We can travel anywhere, learn anything, see and do so many things. Where is the logic in rushing into one job and staying there forever? What a waste of the options we have! Why don’t we question this concept of “the ladder to success” more? Why don’t we think more about “living like there’s no tomorrow”? If we really believed all the talk about “Carpe Diem” we wouldn’t be dutifully clocking in and out for 50 years. We’d get on a plane to anywhere, play some music loud, go swimming in the sea, fall in love. Explore this world and do everything we want to do NOW! We never KNOW that there will be a tomorrow. The idea that we could die at any time is confirmed in every major religion. Yet so many religious people seem to have so little life in them!
I’ve yet to hear a good argument for why life has to be boring. No person in history worth emulating has ever gotten there by following the rules. If living life the way I believe will cause me to be seen as a failure by society’s standards than so be it. I’ll have much more fun as a happy drifter then as a stressed-out runner of the rat race. So I’m a “f***-up.” And I’m embracing it.

Leaving Africa

9 months of my life. And it's taken me another 3 to even force myself to sit down and write about it. What happened? I was supposed to be there for 2 years...
There were days of magnificent highs, spent climbing through waterfalls, spotting elephants through bus windows, or even just sharing a meal and laughing together with Mama Maua, happy about the slightest victory over the language barrier. There were other days I could barely hold myself together, boiling over in frustration with strage bus kondas trying to cheat me in a country where nothing ever gets done easily or on time, or ignoring everyone because I was so homesick I would cry at any moment and you can't do that in front of Tanzanians. Moments were I felt on top of the world and couldn't imagine doing anything else. Moments I would've traded it all in a heartbeat for an old friend's hug and a Reeses Peanut Butter Cup. "The hardest job you'll ever love." Hmm. You can't understand how true that is until you experience it. In the end, I decided life is too short not to be with the people you love. That's the oversimplified explanation of why I left, but it gets the point across. That being said, I wouldn't change a single moment of the time I spent there. And not a day goes by that I don't think about the people I left, both the Peace Corps Volunteers and my villagers, and feel the sadness of missing them along with a stabbing guilt for abandoning them too soon.
Readjustment is so weird. Most of the time I feel like it's over, and it kind of saddens me how quickly I seem to have rejoined America. Then at moments I'm overcome with visions of Africa. I'll be at a bar or party in America, someplace full of careless fun. Next thing I know my brain will be back in Dosidosi, picturing the happy toddlers in their torn clothes, bellies distended, playing with sticks in the dirt. I get irrationally angry at the injustice between what I'm seeing here and what I saw there. I have to run away to go cry. How could I have left? I don't know if I helped there, but at least I lived meaningfully, with a pure purpose and no excesses. It's hard not to feel purposeless now, floating around empty with no idea where to go. I can only tell myself that I'll be back again, that this is only a brief intermission between adventures. Reentry...kind of makes me feel crazy.
Clearly Africa changed me. How could it not have? The thought of trying to sum up what I learned is daunting. How do I put 9 months of living/speaking/eating/breathing/sleeping Tanzania into a neat 500-word moral? Even now the tears are running as I remember all the amazing people I miss. Poverty is complicated and human. It is not statistics on a graph or images on a website. It cannot be solved by voting in elections or putting checks in the mail. Maybe it can't be solved at all. I lived in poverty alongside my villagers for 9 months and I've only begun to understand the factors at play. Everyone wants to save the world before they even experience it. The world is a crazy quilty of cultures and people who are all made of the same stuff no matter how differently they live. We can't make any progress without getting to know each other first. Peace Corps was the hardest thing I ever did because I was completely immersed in Tanzania. I learned their language, their foods, their work, their celebrations. I tried to teach a little bit but that will never compare to what they taught me. People are people no matter what and people are beautiful and amazing all over the world. I have family in Africa now. If you want my advice on how to help Africa, I would say to go and see it first. Go live and play and let it change your world. They say once your feet touch African dirt you'll always be back. I believe it.
Tupo pamoja.

Across the Maasai Steppe

"I'm wide awake and so alive. Ringing like a bell. Tell me this is paradise and not someplace I fell, 'cause I keep on fallin' down. I wanna feel the car crash. I wanna feel the capsize. I wanna feel the bomb drop, the earth stop 'til I'm satisfied. I wanna let go and know that I'll be alright, alright." -Matt Nathanson

What is UP? I apologize for the lack of entries lately! I've been busy! I've actually finally gotten a few things up and running in my village with much more in the works. I started teaching Life Skills to the 7th graders and my first lesson went excellently! I continue that and start with my Peer Education/Health Club at the secondary school this week. I also have had several meetings about my orphans' chicken-keeping project and my goal is to have the grant submitted before I come to America (in just 2 weeks). Once I submit it it's up to Peace Corps how long it takes for them to post it online to be open for donations but I'll definitely update on here when it's up. Should be less than $2000 to start a sustainable project so kids can keep going to school! I also went to Iringa for a PEPFAR-sponsored HIV/AIDS training and got some good ideas there while having fun with the other PCVs. After that Bill (an Environment volunteer friend) traveled back to my village with me to help me start a tree nursery in my village. It went awesomely...we prepared an area, built a fence, gathered tons of dirt/sand/manure, prepared planting tubes, and planted 500 seeds in 3 days thanks to help from my school teachers and free child labor! That's how you get things done around here! I have awesome pictures of all the kids working away and hopefully in a few months we'll have a lot of seedlings. Doing that made me feel really great, it was awesome to finally SEE something I helped create happen in my village, even though it was really all Bill! We also are culinary masters and made calzones, enchiladas, french toast, chili and corn bread, Asian coleslaw, carrot cake, and many other things. Several included spinach from my garden which actually is growing! It DOES give you a weird hillbilly sense of pride to eat food you grew yourself. So also this week I'm going to hopefully teach permaculture gardening with my counterpart for some People Living w/ HIV, some Mamas, really anyone who wants to learn! And maybe finally get around to building a solar stove to see how it works and if I can start teaching that.

I just got back from a work trip to Arusha in the Kilimanjaro region with Keith and Heather. We went to visit with a couple NGOs that we had made contact with in order to find out about possible collaboration. Arusha was amazing but getting there was quite interesting. We got to our banking town, Kibaya, thinking that there was an afternoon bus we could take that day to continue on the journey. Of course it had crashed earlier that week so was no longer running. So after getting distracted in town by beer and soap operas for a few hours, we set out kind of late on an attempt to hitchhike. We walked about an hour outside of town and started sticking our thumbs out (actually in TZ it's this other weird arm motion). Of course, no luck, the few trucks that do pass us aren't going as far as we need to go. So we head back to Kibaya for a night and get up at 4:30 am the next morning to catch the bus to Arusha. We'd never been there before so we didn't know the route. Well, apparently there is a road directly from Kibaya to Arusha that goes right through the Maasai Steppe, pretty much the most wild and remote area in Tanzania. The bus was a piece of crap, of course, and the road was HORRIBLE. There was no way to sleep because we were bouncing all over the place for 8 hours. My arm was banging into the window so much I bruised my shoulder. But we were LUCKY because we had seats. The aisle was also packed full of standing people of course. Just to maximize casualties should there be a crash. At one point we got stuck in a pothole and had to get pulled out w/ chains attached to another truck while we almost tipped over. That's travel in Tanzania. But it was awesome in some ways because we saw SO MANY zebras!!!!!!!!! We were basically in the middle of nowhere with only tiny Maasai villages- just clusters of tiny dung huts out on the plains. So there were herds of zebras everywhere really close to the road. We also glimpsed giraffes, baboons, and dikdiks. And at no time were we in a national park. It was really cool. I love zebras. And of course we did eventually get there and met some awesome expats doing amazing work for this NGO called The Flying Medical Service. Definitely some possibilities for them to come do work in our villages, which means Keith and I might get free wine delivered via airplane and free rides in these prop planes if we feel like hopping in w/ the pilot/paramedics who fly into villages in our region to do free clinics. It's gonna be awesome. Arusha was also a really cool city although I was severely disappointed by the 12,500 shilling "Kilimanjaro nachos" which were huge but lacking adequate cheese. So REAL nachos are def on the list for my foodfest in America in just 2 weeks!!!!!!!!!!!! So, I am super excited for OHIO, the wedding, food, friends, and everything! But things are looking up here so I will definitely be back for more Peace Corps....8 months down, 18 to go.
See ya soon (some of you!)

for your development-nerd pleasure...

Village Situation Analysis

Carrie Hoffman, Health Education Volunteer, 2009-2011

Dosidosi Village, Kiteto District, Manyara Region

Introduction

Purpose: The purpose of the Village Situation Analysis (VSA) is to gather information about the village of Dosidosi and then to analyze that information to identify resources, needs, and potential projects for the Peace Corps Volunteer (PCV). The VSA process also is intended to help the PCV gain knowledge and understanding of the community and vice versa for the community to understand the purpose and intentions of the PCV.

Information Collection: The information contained in this VSA was collected using a variety of methods. A total of ten formal house-to-house surveys were conducted in four different sub-villages. The interviewees were of both genders ranging in age from 31-49, and of varying economic status. Three Participatory Analysis for Community Action (PACA) were held and attended by men and women, a majority of whom were under the age of 30, although villagers of all ages were invited. Questionnaires and surveys were also answered by the Village Executive Officer (VEO), local nurses, and primary school teachers. Meetings of the village government and several village committees and groups were attended. Numerous questions were also answered through informal conversations with community leaders and villagers. Village historical background was provided by elder Kiondo Maguruko. Outstanding assistance with conducting house-to-house surveys and PACA meetings was provided by Hadija Omari.

Information Sharing: The completed VSA will be provided in both English and Swahili to the Peace Corps office, Kiteto district officials, Dosidosi village officials, and any other committees, organizations, or leaders who might find the information helpful.

Community Profile

General Information: The village of Dosidosi is located in Kiteto district just inside the southern border of Manyara region. Dosidosi is made up of mostly Wagogo, Mnguo, and Maasai tribes. In 1948 while Tanzania was still a British colony many Wagogo people began settling in the area to open businesses and establish farms. The first man to open a shop in the area was Ismael Ibrahim. Dosidosi officially became a village in 1976 after Tanzania gained independence from Great Britain. The village name comes from a Maasai word for the particular type of soil found in the area.

Community Characteristics: Dosidosi is located on the main road south from Kiteto-town, about 40 kilometers south of Kiteto (also called Kibaya.) Dosidosi consists of six different sub-villages spread over 3420 acres. The main sub-village of Dosidosi Madukani contains the government office and most businesses. Each other sub-village varies in distance from two to six kilometers away from the village center. The village is rural, dry, and semi-arid. It stands at an average elevation of 1000 meters and is surrounded by several small mountains. The weather is cool during the dry season and hot during the rainy season with consistent strong winds. There are no nearby lakes or rivers and lack of rain several months of the year poses challenges for agriculture and basic survival.

Transportation, Communication, and Basic Services: There are no buses originating in Dosidosi, however coasters and buses pass through three times a day in either direction to go to Kibaya (two hour trip) or Dodoma (three hour trip). All roads in the surrounding area are completely dirt and thus can be difficult to traverse during the rainy season. Transportation to other parts of Tanzania can be boarded in Matui (15 kilometers away) or Kibaya. There are also many motorcycles in the village which people hire for transportation. The majority of villagers, however, travel by bicycle or on foot.

There are no power lines in the village. Only a few private homes have electricity powered by generators or solar panels. There are no land telephone lines and until recently was no reliable cell phone service. A new Vodacom tower opened in November, providing coverage for the few villagers who have cell phones.

Population: The population of Dosidosi is 2752, approximately 62% female and 48% male. 43% of the total population is under 18. There are 12 identified single-parent households and nine completely orphaned children.

Population Breakdown by Age

Age (Years)	Population
0-2	156
3-5	167
6-13	593
14-18	268
19-44	1486
45-60	43
61+	24

These numbers indicate that Dosidosi may expect to encounter shortages of farm space and work in the near future when the currently under-18 population reaches adulthood.

Education: There are two primary schools in Dosidosi- one in Dosidosi Madukani and one in the sub-village Mguli. There is one secondary school which was opened in 2008 so as of now only has Form 1 and Form 2 students. The costs for schooling are for uniforms, shoes, notebooks, pens, and other fees. For primary school the total expense for one year of schooling ranges from 38,400 shillings to 59,700 shillings depending on the grade level. For secondary school the total expenses for one year range from 176,000 shillings to 313,000 shillings depending on the student’s form and whether they are a boarder.

Student and Teacher Population

School	Number of Students	Number of Teachers
Dosidosi Primary School	502	8
Mguli Primary School	224	5
Dosidosi Secondary School	180	11
School Leavers	284	--

All three schools suffer from lack of resources such as more teachers, desks, supplies and equipment. The secondary school is lacking teachers’ housing and dormitories. A few students do leave the community to attend other secondary schools. There is a very high population of school leavers. The majority of these leave school after Standard 7 due to failing their exams or being unable to afford secondary school. Most school leavers continue to live at home and help with their parents’ farms. There are currently no alternative education or vocational training programs in the village for school leavers. Lack of work for the out-of-school youth is a huge problem that villagers agree needs to be addressed. Each school also has a farm on which the students work. The products are then sold for income, with a small amount being used for the provided meals at the secondary school. At both primary schools students return home for chai break and lunch. The secondary school also has several organized sports and clubs for students. 31% of the secondary school students are from other villages and thus live in dormitories.

Economic and Agricultural Assessment: There are no major employers in Dosidosi. There are a few small family-run shops, vegetable stands, cafes, and one bar. A few people make money delivering water, charcoal, or firewood door-to-door. There are also a few skilled laborers such as carpenters, tailors, and mechanics.

Land is used mostly for subsistence agriculture. The average farm size per family is 3-10 acres. Most families’ farms are located 1-3 kilometers outside the village in the surrounding area. The main crops are corn, pigeon-peas, and sunflowers, with a few people also growing potatoes or cow-peas. Very few families plant vegetable gardens. Most families consume the majority of their harvest and sell any excess on the road or at the twice-monthly market in the village. Villagers must go to Kibaya to buy seeds although variety is limited. Most do not use any fertilizer and the few who do use cow manure. Villagers reported they are unable to afford chemical fertilizer or advanced farming equipment. All family members assist with farming by hand.

The main types of livestock in the village are chickens, goats, and cows, with a few donkeys and pigs. Many Maasai keep large herds of cows and/or goats as their main subsistence activity. A fish farm is in the planning stages however as a collaborative project between the Environment Committee and the PCV. A few people are involved in apiculture. In addition to the Environment Committee, there are several economic committees/Non-Governmental Organizations involved in farming activities.

Environmental Assessment: The environment of Dosidosi consists of farm and grazing land with many lightly wooded hills. There are no nearby lakes, rivers, or protected or tourist areas. Many villagers cut down nearby trees and shrubs for use as firewood. This practice may possibly have a harmful effect on the ecosystem. Wild animals in the area include snakes, lizards, meercats, and monkeys. There are currently no projects to preserve the environment taking place.

Villagers get water for drinking, bathing, and cooking from a large reservoir during the rainy season and from small hand-dug wells during the dry season. The primary school also has one water catchment tank connected to a tap which is full during the rainy season. There are no water taps in the village so people are forced to walk long distances to the wells to carry water. During the dry season wells frequently dry up and new ones must be dug. Due to the water shortage during this season, villagers must pay 100 shillings per bucket for water. The water available is not sanitary for drinking and often not clean, however most villagers do not boil their drinking water. This likely contributes to the frequency of gastro-intestinal illnesses among villagers.

The majority of households in Dosidosi have hand-dug dirt pit latrines. Often several families share one latrine and some households lack one completely. All trash is disposed of by being burned in small pits outside homes. There is no organized waste management system and currently no regulations requiring households to have latrines. Villagers also lack knowledge of basic hygiene practices such as hand-washing.

Health and Well-Being Assessment: The most common non-communicable diseases in the village are malaria and pneumonia. These especially affect children. In January of 2010 the village government plans to begin distributing free bed nets to children under five years old to help prevent malaria. The most common communicable diseases are typhoid, eye diseases such as trachoma and conjunctivitis, stomach problems and diarrhea, and Sexually Transmitted Diseases. Children are especially affected by eye diseases which villagers believe is due to the dusty environment. Most villagers only admit to STDs being a problem among the youth, although they are likely much more widespread. According the village officials, there are 25 people in the village who have tested positive for HIV. The number of infected people who have not been tested is likely much higher. A recent baseline survey of HIV/AIDS knowledge showed that a majority of villagers know what HIV/AIDS is but lack understanding about how it is transmitted. There is a People Living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) group in the community but it is unable to be very active due to lack of funding and poor attendance. A majority of villagers also feel that the nutritional status of their families is inadequate due to lack of food diversity available most of the year.

Dosidosi has one private clinic, one government clinic, and one drug store. The private clinic has one doctor and a laboratory for diagnostics. It provides outpatient treatment for common diseases and testing only for HIV. However testing and treatment at this clinic is too expensive for most villagers. The government clinic has two nurses on staff who treat all types of illnesses and injuries. Most health services are available at a low cost and pregnant woman and children receive malaria prophylaxis and many other services for free. HIV/AIDS testing is available in the village, however for patients to test their CD4 counts they must travel to Kibaya and to receive Anti-Retroviral Drugs (ARVs) they must travel six kilometers to the village of Engusero. Thus the cost and inconvenience of transportation prevents many HIV/AIDS patients from acquiring ARVs. HIV is largely a taboo subject to villagers and their unwillingness to discuss the problem likely perpetuates ignorance about prevention and treatment.

Community Resources/Assets: There are many committees and groups present in Dosidosi. These include environment, health, economy, safety, schools, and livestock committees, a PLWHA group, and an elder’s group. There are also several different organizations working to improve agriculture and provide small loans to farmers. The government also plans to open a product bank where villagers can pay a small fee for storage of their harvested products while they wait for the price to go up to sell them. These are mostly run and participated in by women. There is one sports field behind the primary school which is enjoyed by children and adults. There are several traditional healers in the community treating all types of health problems. About half the villagers believe in the ability of the traditional healers and half do not. The NGO FINCA has a microfinance program in the village providing loans for small businesses to men and women. The World Food Program has promised to begin school feeding programs at both the primary and secondary schools but the facilities are still under construction. Other NGOs present include Kinapaa Development, AMCOS, and Pukamaudo. These groups are working on development of health, education, and community, although their exact strength and impact in the village is not yet known. Almost everyone in Dosidosi Madukani is Muslim and there are two mosques in the village. There are no churches in the main area of the village but a few Christians attend Anglican or Catholic churches in other nearby sub-villages or villages.

Analysis

Dosidosi faces many challenges which need to be addressed in order to improve life for the inhabitants. The following are the main problems determined by the PCV and community members.

Water: Lack of water during the dry season is a huge problem for Dosidosi. During this season water is only available from distant wells which constantly dry up due to heavy usage, causing new ones to need to be dug. Villagers must also pay on average 100 shillings per bucket of water during this time. The long walks to carry water are a particular drain on the time and energy of women in the village, leading to decreased productivity in other activities. Solving the water problem would give villagers more money and time to spend on things like education and income generation. Solving the problem is difficult, however, because it would likely require installation of a central mechanical well with a storage tank. Such an undertaking would require large amounts of money, labor, and maintenance training for certain villagers to prepare for inevitable repair needs.

Agriculture: As mentioned, most villagers are farming on a mere subsistence level and struggling to feed their families. Recent drought has had a degenerative effect on harvest yields and put even further strain on the village’s economy. Villagers recognize that lack of agricultural progress is a huge problem but believe that acquiring expensive modern equipment, such as tractors, power tillers and more farming tools, is the solution. More realistically, agriculture could be improved through educating villagers in permaculture techniques to improve crop yields, since permaculture requires no specialized equipment. Farmers could also benefit from practicing crop diversification to improve both soil quality and nutritional status of their families, who consume a majority of the products.

Education: Lack of basic equipment in the schools is a huge issue for the students of Dosidosi. The primary school has desks for only three out of the five classrooms and lacks other basic supplies. The secondary school needs to complete construction on several classrooms, dorms for boarders, and housing for teachers. Currently both boarding students and teachers are sharing extremely crowded houses near the primary school. The secondary school also needs equipment such as a laboratory for improving science education.

Work for Youth: Due to the thigh rate of students leaving school after completing primary school, there are many young adults in the village without jobs or any viable job options for the future. The lack of activities for these youth contributes to the problems of alcoholism, drug abuse, crime, and spread of STDs. This problem could be addressed by finding funding for interested school-leavers to attend agricultural or vocational training programs in other towns and by setting up apprenticeship/mentorship programs partnering interested youth with local tradesmen.

Health: Dosidosi’s health problems stem from two main sources – a lack of resources and a lack of knowledge. The local clinics are understaffed and overburdened. They lack basic supplies such as functioning scales, diagnostic testing equipment, vaccine storage, and many other items. Although the nurses reach out regularly to local mothers with health education information, many other villagers lack basic information about disease prevention and transmission. This problem can be addressed by initiating further health education programs in the schools and community groups. The enveloping problem of nutrition in Dosidosi could be addressed by teaching permaculture and encouraging villagers to grow vegetable gardens, something which almost no one does. The PLWHAs also face problems in regards to nutrition, lack of income, access to ARVs, and stigmatization. These problems could be addressed through engaging in income-generating activities to allow money to be available for better food and transport for getting ARVs.

Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVCs): The 21 orphans and many other vulnerable children in the village, including the children of PLWHAs, face challenges in regards to getting adequate care at home, finances to stay in school, and emotional support. These problems could be addressed by setting up a sponsorship program to assist with OVCs’ school fees, and a support club to teach skills such as gardening, basic health, and engage in income-generating activities.

Possible Projects

In the face of the numerous and complex needs of Dosidosi, narrowing down project options is very difficult. The following are projects which at this time seem most achievable within two years and which have the most possibility to create sustainable development which will continue after the PCV leaves.

Education:

1. Life Skills Education: Due to the lack of health knowledge in the general community, the PCV feels that reaching out to youth will have the most future impact. Weekly Life Skills lessons for the upper levels of the primary school will offer a fun and interactive way to impart knowledge of sex education, HIV/AIDS prevention, and positive decision-making to youth. This requires no funding.
2. Peer Education: To reach out to secondary school students, the PCV feels that a partially student-run, interactive Peer Education Club will be most effective. The PCV will first focus on teaching selected Peer Educators about health knowledge and Life Skills with an emphasis on girls’ empowerment, and then to train them to similarly educate their peers. This group could include activities such as weekly meetings, guest speakers, and possibly group field trips, which would require outside funding.

Health:

1. Clinic Data Management Support: The nurses at the government clinic in Dosidosi are doing an excellent job with the resources they have but need more assistance. The PCV will offer assistance two times per week at the clinic during mother and child clinic day and pregnancy clinic day. The PCV will help by recording data during clinics and supporting education sessions as requested. Securing outside funding to purchase some of the equipment the clinic is lacking would also greatly improve the function of the clinic.
2. PLWHA Assistance: Due to the poor nutritional status of HIV/AIDS patients, the PCV hopes to assist the village PLWHA group in planting a community vegetable garden, implementing permaculture techniques. The products will help to improve nutrition of the PLWHA and any excess can be sold for group income. Additionally, the PLWHA group is interested in starting income-generating activities. The first proposed project is a bicycle-rental business. The group will acquire 20 bicycles and then charge villagers a fee for daily rental. There is a demand for a service like this in the village due to many people traveling long distances on foot to their farms or to visit neighboring villages. Part of the income from this project will go into a fund for bicycle repairs when needed. This project will require outside start-up funds for purchasing the bicycles.
3. Care Groups: The PCV plans to work with one of the nurses at the government clinic to form a Mama’s group for health-related peer education. The Mother Leaders will be chosen by the nurse and meet once a month to learn about various health issues such as nutrition, HIV/AIDS, communicable diseases and sanitation, and prenatal health. They will then be responsible for teaching the other Mamas in their neighborhoods. The PCV also plans to place a health question box at the clinic for anonymous questions and answers to improve adult health knowledge.

Youth Development:

1. OVC Support: Since many OVCs struggle to pay school fees, the PCV has begun developing a PCPP grant to start a chicken-raising project. The OVCs at the primary school will learn to raise and care for chickens and also manage a small business. The profit made from selling eggs and chickens will pay for their school fees and possibly also a portion of the secondary school OVC’s school fees. Additionally, the PCV is seeking to start an OVC support group. The first goal of the group will be to identify the main problems faced by the children on a day-to-day basis. These will then be addressed, possibly by teaching skills like permaculture or engaging in other income-generating activities.

Environment:

1. Mamas’ Garden: A group of 25 Mamas have already secured an area of land and several types of seeds to plant a communal vegetable garden. This garden will improve nutrition and provide an income-generation opportunity. Also, the PCV and counterpart plan to teach and help implement permaculture techniques in making this garden so that it may serve as an example to villagers of the benefits of permaculture.

Conclusion

It is the hope of the PCV that through implementation of these projects the lives of Dosidosi villagers will begin to improve through a process of sustainable change.

Rain

"Well there's not a lot for you to give if you're giving in. And there's not a lot for you to feel if you're not feeling it. You bring it up and bring it in and we'll get you fixed up in no time..."-Tegan and Sara

Not gonna lie, this week has been tough. I've been going through a bit of a crisis of confidence as far as what I'm doing here. For some reason I just got in this really homesick, depressed mood that I couldn't shake. When I'm in the village I try to be productive and usually am but there's still a lot of downtime and if you know me you know that a bored Carrie is an unhappy Carrie. So as of right now I'm just taking it day by day, sometimes moment by moment, trying to remember that it's not about me.

On Sunday I had a slightly revalatory moment. I went to church w/ a few of my neighbors, about a 40 min. walk away in the next village. It was good to go but church services drag on forever here so I eventually realized I was going to have to leave early to be on time for a scheduled meeting. As I was trying to decide what time to sneak out, I kept hearing thunder getting closer and closer, obviously it was about to rain. So of course I left at the most inopportune time possible and the rain started about five minutes into my walk. So stubborn me, I am not going to turn around and spend all day at church waiting for it to stop, and of course I'm completely unprepared w/o umbrella or raincoat, but I keep going. Now when it rains here, it rains Biblically. So I'm walking down this dirt road as fast as I can in my skirt and Birkenstocks, and the heavens just unleash a DOWNPOUR. I was completely drenched in about 10 minutes and still far from home. At 1st I felt like the world's biggest idiot but then I realized, "You know, there's nothing you can do to prevent this so just give up!" And I started to embrace it. I took off my glasses which were useless and carried my shoes, and kept walking barefoot down the road which instantly became a muddy river. It was the most soaked I'd been since the beach and closest thing I've had to a bath in 5 days. I actually wished I had my shampoo! So it was good for something. Honestly, I kind of enjoyed it because it was marvelous to witness with every pore and every sense how hard it can rain in this place that was a dry desert just a couple months ago. Now everything has become green and lush! As I finally neared home I was splashing through huge puddles and sure my cell phone was drowned (it still works, knock on wood!). I was soaked to the bone but feeling strangely renewed. 'Cause really, Idk when the last time I didn't try to avoid or get through a rainstorm as fast as possible was. How often do we ever completely surrender ourselves to nature and the elements? Not that I want to make a habit of taking long hikes in monsoons with no protection, but this one time it was exhilarating. And maybe exactly what I needed.

2010!

Happy New Year!!!!! I truly hope it's been an awesome one for all of you out there! I beat you to it by 8 hours though! I don't have much to update but I did have an amazing Christmas and New Years and am now ready to start getting some serious work done in my vill (aside from a Dar trip and an Iringa trip already scheduled for this month for meetings and trainings). First up is hopefully a community garden Hadija is helping organize now, starting to teach Life Skills at the primary and secondary school, and hopefully a chicken project to raise money for my orphans' school fees. So for those of you who were interested in contributing to help out with that, I'm planning to write a grant for start-up money for the project ASAP. As soon as the grant gets through it will be posted online and you will be able to donate. I'm hoping that raising chickens and selling the eggs for income-generation will give the kids a sustainable way to raise their school fees rather than just relying on donations from America year after year. So as soon as that is up for donations I will let everyone know. May take a few more weeks though. Things move slowly in Africa and in Peace Corps bureaucracy.
Well, that's about it, time to go waste time on facebook until my Internet time runs out!
Mwaka Mpya Njema!!!! (Happy New Year!)