Abroad Journeys: June 12-14

Sorry! Here are my journals from Wednesday-Friday… I haven’t had very good internet at the school, and I have been out and about town conducting interviews with my group. Overall, it was a pretty busy week but it was fun!

My motorcycle case study group!

12: On Wednesday, Chana, Masuma, and I went to the Social Welfare Department and interviewed the regional social welfare officer. The interview wasn’t as helpful as we hoped. The officer told us that they don’t counsel many motorcycle accident victims although the service is available. Furthermore, there is a rehabilitation department and they also don’t receive motorcycle victims. As a policy recommendation, maybe we can encourage hospitals to refer trauma patients to the welfare department.

After our interview, we worked on writing our case study a little bit more and then we went home around 4:30. I worked out with Ume and Grace, and then went home to play with the kids. Adrienne and I played jump rope with the kids (who were all really, really good!) It was fun. For dinner, we had this plantain and beef stew thing with fresh avocado. After eating, Mesha came over and Adrienne and I hung out with him for a little bit. We tried to teach Mesha how to play the card game “bullshit,” but it took him a really long time to understand the concept. One time, he put down 3 cards and said “one 5.” We had to explain to him that if he puts down 3 cards and says he is only putting down 1, we obviously know he is lying. Another time, he lied about what cards he was putting down, but neither Adrienne nor I called out “BS”. A few seconds later, while Adrienne was searching for cards to put down, Mesha flipped his cards over and goes, “I lied!” He clearly did not understand the game, but it was really funny.

13: On Thursday, we interviewed the Regional Police Officer at the Kilimanjaro Regional Police Station, and the manager of the Motorcycle Association. We got a lot of useful information from the police! We learned that between the months of January and May this year, there were 100 motorcycle accidents in Moshi—11 resulting in deaths and 61 resulting in severe injuries. Motorcycle accidents account for 65% of all road traffic accidents in Moshi. Just yesterday, there were 6 motorcycle accidents and an accident occurred 5 minutes before we arrived at the police station. The officer showed us a video of the scene—and that was kind of intense. A motorcycle had been complete crushed by a dala dala, and the victim was sprawled on the road next to the dala dala. They zoomed in on bones on the ground, and even worse—they zoomed in on the body. The guy was laying in a pool of blood and his head was completely messed up. I had to look away from the video, it kind of made me feel sick. Other than that, it was a successful interview and we collected a lot of useful information. The same can be said for our interview with the motorcycle association manager.

After our interview, we went back to the school for a little bit to do work and then Ume, Mike, and I went into town around 1:30. We did a lot of shopping which was fun! These 3 guys walked us around, so we hit up a lot of shops! We would tell them what we were looking for and then they would show us. They were nice to us because we have bought things from them multiple times now. We got a lot of good prices (we think!) I’m becoming a better negotiator!

We took a taxi back to our houses and I was home by 5pm. I took a quick nap, and then Adrienne woke me up for dinner. Mama made beans with bananas, and we had avocados on the side. It was actually a very healthy dinner!

14: On Friday, my group had a little bit of work to do in the morning. Chana and Masuma interviewed a social welfare worker at KCMC while Ume, Mike, and I stayed back to keep on writing. We had a lot of things due, but my group has stayed pretty on top of our work so we turned everything in ahead of time! Originally, we were supposed to have our reflection session at Dr. Stacey’s house, but she forgot and planned a party for her daughter. So instead, we went to this Impala Hotel and had our reflection session there. After reflecting on the week and sharing stories, Becca told us our internship assignments. I got the one I wanted (Yay!) I’m working with the Building a Caring Community (BCC) organization—so I’ll be working with children with disabilities, and their mothers. I’m working with Grace and Rebecca, so I’m also excited about that! Our internships start next Monday! Also, the location is right in town… so I will still be living in my homestay! Adrienne will be living here also. She and Ume are working together with the mothers with HIV/AIDS organization. We were excited because we both love our homestay so much!

After our reflection session, we went into town to do a little bit of walking around and shopping before dinner. I bought this really cool backpack made of all different patterns of kitengue (sp?--this African fabric that the women make all of their skirts and the majority of their dresses out of). We also had the women take our measurements to make us custom kitengue clothing! I am having a high-waisted mini-skirt made, and a headband! We will go back next week to pick it up. After walking around town for a little over an hour, we decided to go to the restaurant (IndoItaliano--same as last week) early for some drinks. Our reservation wasn't until 6:30, but we got there before 6. We shared a couple bottles of wine from South Africa and Katrina and I shared pizza. It was pretty good--much better than the pasta I had last week. Dinner was fun; Friday night and Saturday are always a good break from the hard work throughout the week.

When Adrienne and I got home, we went to bed pretty much right away.