Wednesday, July 27

After being the blog police for our first week here it’s probably about time that I blog myself before I become too much of a hypocrite. This week we have several things going on simultaneously that are running all week –

• HIV Hope seminar, led by Duane in the mornings
• Enfys women group workshop in the morning, led by Megan and I
• Youth Entrepreneurship workshop at Murundu Basic school, taught by Megan and I (sometimes Katie) starting at around noon
• Vacation Bible School (VBS), taught by Kathy and Lauren in the early afternoon

The result is a daily structure this week that is somewhat fixed, but the material and sometimes the people vary. Stuffed around the above activities are a bunch of odds and ends. Today Lauren stayed home sick. Dad (sorry, calling him “Jim” just doesn’t feel right) stayed home with Lauren and built a ladder so that the kids in Murundu have a better way of getting to the roof of the maize mill where they regularly climb to put maize for drying. Duane, Katie, and Kathy spent the morning with the HIV Hope seminar. Then Duane swapped out with my dad at home and Katie, Kathy and Dad headed off to Murundu after lunch. Katie and Kathy jumped right into Bible school with the kids, who had just finished lunch when they arrived. I’m glad to see that the daily lunch portions have gotten bigger for the kids and each child has a plate since the number of children under our care has been reduced.

Megan and I had a blast teaching the Enfys women for a couple hours in the mornings each day this week. I have been looking forward to spending time with them and it has been really good. We have had about 20 ladies coming consistently, the same ones who meet once per week in our absence. Even with the translator I found it easy to engage the group and generally connect with them. When a point resonates with them they clap and cheer. Their attitude makes our time with them so much fun, so we are probably becoming spoiled as facilitators. We’re teaching mostly about entrepreneurship, with emphasis on a knitting business that they are eager to start as an example. We also taught about oral-rehydration and Fena (who runs an STS club in Tanzania) taught them how to make a healthy porridge. I’m excited about this porridge because it can substitute the more normal porridge that is made of only maize. It can be made of all local ingredients and is cooked the same as the maize porridge and “sits” in ones stomach in a way that is nice so it seems to be culturally appropriate. Tomorrow is our last day with the Enfys women, so we will wrap up and give them our care packages which my mom put together.

After meeting the women, Megan and I headed straight over to Murundu basic where we are going through some of the basics of entrepreneurship. With the language barrier we have brought it down to the bare bones, but it’s nice to spend time with the kids. From there it was back to Grace’s Place where Dad, Kathy, Katie, Fena and I met with the Earn It youth for group discussions, interviews, and distribution of their care packages.

Okay, this is getting long. Those remaining up at the moment are indaba-ing in my room, so I’m signing out for now. :)

Tannen