Wednesday June 2, 2010 - pm
Walk up the road past the CPAR office to a beautiful compound that houses UMATU – a cooperative of women living positively with HIV. We were greeted by a boisterous group of women who performed energetic and entertaining dances and songs to make us laugh and set the tone for a very upbeat meeting. They then showered us with flowers as we all conga-lined our way into their meeting room. The house is one of the nicest ones we have seen yet in the village. It was built from funds raised by Valerie Pringle working with a group of breast cancer survivors who wanted to help other women..JPG)
UMATU is a combination of words meaning love and hope. It began in 2005 by 2 women and has grown astronomically since then. There is a great stigma against HIV positive people in Tanzania. UMATU are women who have accepted HIV, are on ARV’s and have broken the silence. They talk to people, showing them that they are strong and healthy and provide counseling and encourage people to get tested for HIV. CPAR has helped build capacity in this organization so they can stand alone. They have a number of income generation projects under way, with many plans for expansion. .JPG)
They had a very frank discussion with the KEC students. HIV is such a huge issue in Africa, they were surprised and somewhat horrified to find we are perhaps a bit complacent about it in Canada.
During the discussion, a chicken roamed in out of the yard and made herself at home in the very centre of the room, her comfort level illustrating just how closely people will live with their animals..JPG)
We toured the building and the girls were delighted to find they could purchase bags made from kangas (brightly printed lengths of cloth with Swahili sayings printed on them). Any chance to shop makes it a great day! Many more ordered bags (they really are great!) for the next day.
We were excited to be able to support these women in their fair-trade income generation project. Interesting to see that the sewing machine used was an old-style treadle machine - doesn't need electricity.
Back to the hostel for supper and then over to the CPAR office for some computer time. After working in shifts, the students walked home ahead and left Peter, Susan and I in the office. We walked home in the dark just after 10 (and it’s very dark – no streetlights and big trees that obscure the many stars) to find that not only was the gate to the hostel compound locked but the escari (guard) was no where to be found. A few of the girls were waiting just inside the gate (tried to jump out and scare us, but we’re made of sterner stuff) and gleefully informed us that we would have to climb over the gate, like they had. The gate is iron bars about 10 feet high with sharpened spikes at the top. Susan was up and over first – it didn’t look too bad. However, when I scaled it next, shorter legs and a fear of heights came into play at the top of the fence – and did I mention the sharpened spikes? Very carefully crossed the top and made it back down then managed to get my camera out in time to catch a shot of Pete trying not to impale any parts of his body he wanted to keep whole. Janice (safely on the inside the whole time) stood by to shout encouragement, very glad she was locked on the right side of the fence for the night. All in all it added a bit of spice to an otherwise ordinary night in paradise..jpg)
Walk up the road past the CPAR office to a beautiful compound that houses UMATU – a cooperative of women living positively with HIV. We were greeted by a boisterous group of women who performed energetic and entertaining dances and songs to make us laugh and set the tone for a very upbeat meeting. They then showered us with flowers as we all conga-lined our way into their meeting room. The house is one of the nicest ones we have seen yet in the village. It was built from funds raised by Valerie Pringle working with a group of breast cancer survivors who wanted to help other women.
UMATU is a combination of words meaning love and hope. It began in 2005 by 2 women and has grown astronomically since then. There is a great stigma against HIV positive people in Tanzania. UMATU are women who have accepted HIV, are on ARV’s and have broken the silence. They talk to people, showing them that they are strong and healthy and provide counseling and encourage people to get tested for HIV. CPAR has helped build capacity in this organization so they can stand alone. They have a number of income generation projects under way, with many plans for expansion. They had a very frank discussion with the KEC students. HIV is such a huge issue in Africa, they were surprised and somewhat horrified to find we are perhaps a bit complacent about it in Canada.
During the discussion, a chicken roamed in out of the yard and made herself at home in the very centre of the room, her comfort level illustrating just how closely people will live with their animals.
We toured the building and the girls were delighted to find they could purchase bags made from kangas (brightly printed lengths of cloth with Swahili sayings printed on them). Any chance to shop makes it a great day! Many more ordered bags (they really are great!) for the next day.We were excited to be able to support these women in their fair-trade income generation project. Interesting to see that the sewing machine used was an old-style treadle machine - doesn't need electricity.
Back to the hostel for supper and then over to the CPAR office for some computer time. After working in shifts, the students walked home ahead and left Peter, Susan and I in the office. We walked home in the dark just after 10 (and it’s very dark – no streetlights and big trees that obscure the many stars) to find that not only was the gate to the hostel compound locked but the escari (guard) was no where to be found. A few of the girls were waiting just inside the gate (tried to jump out and scare us, but we’re made of sterner stuff) and gleefully informed us that we would have to climb over the gate, like they had. The gate is iron bars about 10 feet high with sharpened spikes at the top. Susan was up and over first – it didn’t look too bad. However, when I scaled it next, shorter legs and a fear of heights came into play at the top of the fence – and did I mention the sharpened spikes? Very carefully crossed the top and made it back down then managed to get my camera out in time to catch a shot of Pete trying not to impale any parts of his body he wanted to keep whole. Janice (safely on the inside the whole time) stood by to shout encouragement, very glad she was locked on the right side of the fence for the night. All in all it added a bit of spice to an otherwise ordinary night in paradise.
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