Bring on Zanzibar

I've been a little slow on the blog this week as I've been a little preoccupied with my own plans and agendas for the next year. Will update you all soon enough. Exciting times ahead!

I'm off to Zanzibar this afternoon for Zanzibar Fashion Week. Heading there with 2 guys; Blake - who is the co-owner of the Australian Fashion Label Willow and James - the IT manager at St Judes. We have a bit of an itinerary planned and will be attending a couple of "fashion" parties over the next few days. Who knows what is install for me! I've got 2 nights in Stonetown selling SEW bags and running a stall, 1 night in Nungwi and 2 nights in Matemwe. Matemwe is meant to have some of the best diving spots in the world so whilst working on my tan I'll be getting down and at one with nature. Should be a good recovery, as I feel the next few days are going to be pretty boozy. Not sure what to expect from a Zanzibar Fashion Festival.. stay tuned for no doubt funny stories.

This week saw me attend St Judes. If you haven't heard of the amazing Gemma Rice (now Sisia), google this incredible women and read her story on the impact she has had on education within Arusha. I only attended one of the campuses, as there are 3, and had lunch there with the marketing manager, Emily. 5 years ago St Judes had 18 volunteers, they now have a maximum of 50 volunteers working for them who are all experts in their field. All volunteers live on campus, receive a weekly wage and must stay for a minimum of 1 year. Emily, who I met, has been there for nearly 2 years now. They are all incredibly skilled in their fields which has had an enormous impact on the success and growth of St Judes. Next year will see their first lot of children graduate from year 11. As these children are extremely poor, it's worrying to know where they go to from here. What happens after year 11? all of them can't afford schooling, let a alone university.

Instead of having 180 kids in a class, classes at St Judes are made up of 28 students. They have a computer lab, basketball court & playing equipment. All teachers and head of staff are Tanzanian; only the volunteers are international. All kids get picked up on the St Judes bus every day and are fed lunch. Those from year 5 onwards can board on campus where they receive 3 meals a day, as opposed to the 1 meal a day at home that their parents can afford.

As tradition goes, I was asked to jump up on stage in front of 500 children and introduce myself. Those beady and inquisitive eyes staring back at me sent me into a state of nervousness. Children can sometimes be so intimidating. Calmly I introduced myself and thanked them all for having me. I then received, in harmony, a very very LOUD thankyou back from them all! It sent goosebumps over my body. Assembly was gorgeous! Lots of singing, dancing, clapping and percussion. It was full of music & laughter. The principle was so soft and kind. Their school song, sung in both Swahili and English, had dance moves to it. Made me look at the seriousness of PLC and how it can DEFINITELY be revised. Why does it have to be so serious? These children were singing their school song with such passion and love... Dancing away! The way it should be! Let the personality shine through!

The visit was inspiring, moving and eye opening day. Gemma has written a book, and whilst I haven't read it, I've heard its a must!

I must run! I am off to see the Mummas to pick up 50 SEW bags to sell this weekend, pack for Zanzibar and then meet James at 12 to jump on the plane. Party and dinner tonight with Blake and James in Zanzibar WOOHOO!

Stay tuned for stories post fashion week come Wednesday!

Love to you all xx

Men with Guns

I've had certain requests to put up gnarly photos of kids with guns and crazy African women but unfortunately, i got nudddaaaa.. sorry chris binns.Two reasons: 1. I haven't really come across many AFrican men with guns, thankgod and 2. I've seen a million kids with machetes but am too damn scared to take their photo on the off chance of getting my head chopped off. So unfortunately, for those avid blog readers. It's just boring tales of Arusha life, hiking to waterfalls and crazy Mumma ladies who get locked up in prisons!

2 weeks down! Im pretty much in the swing of Arusha life. I drive a little blue Suzuki around, spend a lot of time lying next to the pool at lodges and have my SEW Mummas under control. This weekend is totally uneventful and i'm starting to feel pretty restless and feel like I've achieved what I need to do here. It's time to move on!

However, I have to tell you about the incredible day I had hiking 20kms to a waterfall 3 hours out of Arusha. Meeting out guides Ezekiel (ezzy for short) and Goodluck (yep, GOODLUCK) we headed off with our tourist backpacks to the foothill of the beautiful Mt Meru. Winding through tiny villages and up steel hills our first stop was Goodlucks family where they insisted we come inside and sit on their couches and pose for photos (photo attached).

After trekking through unbelievable vegetation (and I truly mean that.. it was unbelievably beautiful) we arrive at the waterfall. Whilst the waterfall was beautiful, it really was just water coming out from a rock, and to be honest I was more taken back by the scenery getting there. Barbs and I stripped off down to a bathers and plunged into the waterfall. We were the only ones swimming.. i dont think the African boys hanging around the waterfall were too upset.

After cutting my foot on a bottle of Konyagi (the local drink here) and our guides thinking I was going to die from losing so much blood, we headed back on the track and back home to Arusha.. another 2 hour hike. Again the scenery was indescribable. So incredibly green, lush and beautiful. Photos attached to give you some sort of idea. After leaving Arusha at 9.00am, we got back to civilization at 4.00pm. Stupid us didn't bring lunch, so we turned up home with chronic sunburn, starved and exhausted! Well worth it.. however no men with guns or crazy African women to report back home. However, I promise, I saw many kids riding past me and plowing in the fields with these intense machetes. I didn't want to go near them.

SEW is going well and we had two days of filming on Thursday and Friday in both the SEW workshop and with Oliva, one of the Mummas. Once the documentary is made you will all hear her story. It is powerful, extremely sad, eye opening and inspiring. I love her so much and was so proud of her for opening up and sharing it with the world. Our videographer, on the other hand, I wanted to punch in the head... but we found a gel once I backed off and just let him run his course... RUSSIANS! Interesting people. He's doing an amazing thing for SEW and at the end of the day,I can't thank him enough.

Onwards and upwards from here. I'm off to Zanzibar on my lonesome this weekend to sell SEW bags and experience some of the best diving and snorkeling in the world. Then it's on to possibly do a 3 day hike up Mt Meru and on to explore Rwanda and Uganda. Travelling by myself should be interesting, a mind challenge, but I think completely beneficial.

Lots of love back home to Australia. I'm feeling a little homesick lately.
xx

Tented Camps

I don't even know where to begin with this post. Whilst this town is renowned for being extremely slow (swahili style - pole pole) I feel I am moving at a very rapid pace. It's been a couple of days since I last posted and within that time, I've headed out to a tented camp for 2 days, Arusha had a public holiday, I had an incredible day at SEW in terms of market growth and tomorrow I'm off one a 5 hour trek to waterfalls. Where to begin... I guess to start with the Tented Camp.

Saturday morning the 7 of us; Chelsea, Michael, Greg, Nicole, Newch, Amy and I piled into Michael's car and drove 3 hours out of Arusha to the Ngorongoro Crater. There is no other way to explain this place other that it is Africa. Kms and kms of land, Maasai men and their families dotting the landscape as their trek for miles and months on end with their animals. It's dry and baron, there are very few trees and there is occasional watering hole as you drive along the rocky roads. The roads are horrendous and what should take you an hours journey in Australia, takes 3 hours in Africa.

Upon reaching Ol Meres Tented Camp we were tired and exhausted. Didn't help that 5 of us had consumed 8 bottles of wine night the prior and proceeded to have a dance party, so were feeling a little under the weather. The accommodation was simple but incredibly beautiful. All had 2 beds, a toilet and a balcony that looked towards the Ngorongoro Crater. We settled in and headed off for a hike with the Maasai warrior where I spotted my first wild Zebra! Excited is an understatement. Come sunset we settled in for a sundowner and dinner of peanut soup... YUCK, veggies, pilaf and chicken... of course with BYO wine. Barbara who ran the place was a Slovenian women who used to be a married to a Maasai warrior. An interesting women and I'm dissapointed I didn't get to have a proper chat with her to learn more about her story and how she came to be out in the middle of absolute nowhere! Arian was the manager, an interesting man who seems to of lived absolutely everywhere in the world. He was Holland and has had a very very colourful life. When asked how long he will be in Ol Meres, which mind you is so bloody remote, he commented "when i'm done". His freedom and outlook on life inspired me of course, but such a nomad!

Sunday we were up early and back to Arusha to try and avoid the heat that creeps upon you very strongly at around 1.30pm. Mexican for lunch at a local shop in town.. definitely not raving about that one, and back to Arusha to lay by the pool and read my new book on the Rwanda genocide; "We wish to inform you that tomorrow we will be killed with our families". Powerful and pretty close to home this one!

Today was an incredible day at SEW and I really feel that we could make a great difference to the organisation and how it currently sits. I met with a videographer this morning who is putting together a 3 minute documentary about the women and the organisation. The video will be used for promotional material only and will be used to push our product to market and communicate the powerful story that rests behind this organisation. We will provide an overview of the company but then concentrate on Oliva's story. Make sure you look out for it. It should be ready by end of next week as Vladimir (our Russian videographer) will start filming this Thursday.
This afternoon I also met with two ladies who will be forming a partnership with SEW and volunteering for 3 months to look at our branding, product development, design and partnership opportunities. After this fantastic meeting, it got me thinking about the way the organisation is currently structured and the need to develop the culture of the company and the responsibility and ownership that each of the women hold. Without delving too much into it, it's inspired me to run with this and concentrate my efforts on the current structure of SEW and the key areas that need to be developed, starting internally.

The story behind SEW is so powerful & the women are beautiful and grateful. However at the end of the day we need to ensure that the product & quality is of a high standard, the brand is consistent and we are developing a product that is unique, sort after and can compete on an international level. Herman, myself and the two girls (Becky and Ezster) will be taking a close look into this in the forthcoming weeks and making some effective changes to really take this organisation to the next level.

I think that's it for now! It's another public holiday here tomorrow so Barbs and I are meeting a guide at 9.00am who is taking us on a trek 2 hours out of Arusha to waterfalls at the base of Mt Meru. Can't wait!

Trials and Tribulations

An interesting day in the land of Arusha yesterday. I had my first experience with the democratic and judicial system here. Frustrating and tedious are the first words that spring to mind.

Unfortunately one of our workers - not one of the Mummas - was accused of theft from the next door neighbours shop. Of course no one witnessed the theft and the whole basis of the ordeal was based on one ladies statement that they saw one of our workers washing her hands in their shop. It was a long day, drawn out and the matter is still yet to be resolved.

I accompanied our worker to the police station with two of the Mummas, who were to act as witnesses. The matter was discussed for 6 hours; no one saw anything, no goods were found and the whole case was based on the statement of the shopkeeper. The process was long and it felt like they were just discussing the whole matter back and forth for hours on end. It also didn't help that everything was being discussed in Swahili so I was sitting there as a naive westerner not really having any idea what the hell was going on. Nothing is done quickly around here. Nothing!

Luckily our workers husband came down and confirmed that he would like to take the matter to court, as opposed to resolving the issue and paying the shopkeeper. It intrigued me that we had to wait for our workers husband to come down before we could decide what we wanted to do. Women here are very very much subservient wives, and it was up to the husband to decide how he would like to deal with the matter.

The court hearing is today, and as there is no evidence to support the shopkeepers claim, I'd assume that our workers name will be cleared. People see a lot of organisations like SEW with white people working for them and assume that their workers have a lot of money. It is very common for people to instigate incidents like this in the hope of receiving some bribe or money.

It was an extremely frustrating day as there was absolutely nothing that I could do to help this woman's case. I had to be patient and witness the Tanzanian police deal with the matter... which was definitely not done effectively and efficiently.

To enable you to picture the police office; the building is very small with 4 cells, a discussion room and the chief police officers room. It's positioned just out of town and situated next to a primary school. It absolutely stinks of bad BO, urine and dirt. Many people at the time were locked up in the cells and therefore had no access to toilets... you can imagine. Everything is done on paper, there is no computers and no sign of procedures. There is also always a large group people loitering around outside looking for gossip.

It intrigued me how many people were allowed to sit inside the room when the matter was being discussed. At one point we had 3 women from SEW, 3 shopkeepers, a police officer, another women who just wanted to watch and myself. Lots of people were peering into the room the whole time, trying to get wind of the situation. Everyone was also answering their mobile phones throughout the whole thing gossiping and chatting about the ordeal... very very different!

It's definitely been a baptism of fire. However I really can't complain. Everyday so far is different, interesting and incredible.

On a positive note, I found a yoga place.. who would have thought! I headed there last night which was amazing after the day I had. This weekend I'm off to Ol Meres Tented Camp and possibly Lake Chala with a group of people from St Jude's that I met today. Thankgod it's Friday! It's been an incredible week!

Meeting the Mummas

Day 5!

Amy got home last night, which was so fantastic! Whilst it hasn't been that long since we've seen each other, it felt like decades of stories that we had to catch up on. It's good to have her here.

Yesterday was my first taste into my life with SEW. As communications manager, my role with SEW will be to grow their market within Arusha, their international markets, develop a marketing plan, negotiate propositions for partnerships and joint ventures, whilst making sure all the Mummas are happy and Herman, the project manager, is doing a great job.

Herman is a Tanzanian man and is the first male to ever take on the role of a project manager for SEW. As all the Mummas are of course female, SEW require a female representative to ensure that the women are comfortable and that the workshop is running efficiently. Herman is a lovely man; soft, attentive and motivated to make this social enterprise a success. He has a family of his own with 4 boys. He's promised to take me to his home one weekend so I can meet them. We have already developed a great relationship and he provided a great initiation for me yesterday, taking me on my first Dalla Dalla - the local bus here.

Whilst I haven't been able to spend that much time with the women as of yet, what I have learnt is that they are incredible; jovial, happy and grateful. I look forward to learning their individual stories as I go on with SEW and sharing their stories with you. A lot of the women are widows because they're husbands have abandoned them when they were diagnosed. A couple also have children. There are 10 Mummas in total and it is rare that you will have all 10 in the workshop at once. Mostly everyday one will be sick as they will have to attend the clinic/ hospital or are not feeling well. Generally by 2.30pm they start to get tired and lack a lot of energy. Their working hours are from 8.30am to 4.00pm and within that time they make approximately 2 bags.

People are shamed in society if they are HIV positive and many of the women are divorcees because of it. SEW pride themselves on their ability to pay a reasonable wage and therefore provide these women the opportunity to not only care for themselves but put their children through school. Asinta, one of the Mummas, is the primary bread winner in the family, a rarity for Tanzanian life.

It's an eye opening experience and I'm learning everyday.

I had my first board meeting with Australia today over Skype and I'm straight into it. First points on the agenda are meeting with two South African women who are interested in a joint venture aswell as Zanzibar Fashion Week on the 25th October. Other than that, Nicki has lined up a long list of people for me to meet with that want to be involved in SEW. It's all systems go!

The introduction

It's been three days now that I've been in Arusha. I arrived late Thursday night and have settled in nicely to my home with Joe and Amy. The first couple of days have really been about catching up on sleep and getting over the jet-lag.

The house is cute; a three bedroom cottage surrounded by beautiful gardens in a reasonably safe area. We have three staff that look after the house; Clara who is our housekeeper; Thomas the day guard and Supati the night guard. Will post photos of the three of them soon. Such beautiful kind hearted people, who lead and live such simple lives. Joe is Amy's housemate and has been living in Arusha for 3.5 years. He is a legal and policy advisor of the UN. An interesting character from New Jersey. Very polite, a gentlemen. You can tell he has lived here for awhile due to the way he conducts himself around the town. He is set in his ways and the house is very much his. I should mention his cat Rascal, who is beyond a doubt the most annoying and irritating cat.... doesn't help that I hate cats.

Friday night, first night out, was the introduction to the UN crew; all of Amys friends. Jumping on the back of Joe's bike we headed to Nicks Pub. You have two options for dinner at Nicks Pub; chicken or fish, chicken with with chips and banana or fish with chips and banana. Think of a pub, and think of the furthest thing from it. Nicks was just plastic tables and chairs with a pool table, serving whole fish and BBQ'd chicken. Drinks were cheap and Charlie, Chelsea, Nicole, Newch, Joe, Gigi and I sat around talking. All are extremely interesting people and come from an array of different backgrounds. Both Charlie and Joe have been living in Arusha for 3 and a half years. Gigi is a French pilot who bases himself out of Dar Es Salaam and has been here for 2 years; very very French and loves a drink.. too much most probably. Newch (nickname for new Charlie) is new and has only been here for 3 weeks, she works in archives at the UN and has come from a six year stint in Cambodia; great girl, really friendly. Nicole & Chelsea are here on the same placement as Amy and have been here since May, they're contract ends on December 31st. Nicole, otherwise known as Strippy, is from San Diego and Chelsea is from NZ. Both lovely and have made me feel apart of the group already. People come and go from this place quickly so having new people come into the group is not rare. All are incredible people who have had such interesting lives. Chelsea has just come from Northern Iraq after teaching English there for 6 months with her boyfriend; shes in the prosecution team at the UN.

Arusha is not what you'd imagine. There are a lot of expats here so the place is rather westernised and prices are pretty expensive. An average meal will cost you around 12,000 shillings which is approximately $10 AUD. Tanzania is the safari capital of Africa and Arusha is the base of Mt Kilimanjaro so there a lot of people that pass through here. The UN also house 500 employees who all base themselves out of Arusha. In saying that, it is still Africa and there are parts of Arusha that really lend itself to this. Dirt streets, hundreds of people, shops crammed on top of one another. It is small, but beautiful as it's surrounded by two mountains. It takes no more than 10 minutes to drive around the entire town.

Everyone has a car,so getting around is not a problem. You're strongly advised not to walk anywhere, especially at night. There is a bridge called muggers bridge which is renowned for pick-pocketing and theft. Unfortunately it has been rumoured that a girl was raped there just last week. In saying that, I do feel safe and I think at the end of the day it comes down to ensuring you have your whits about you. Incidents like that are going to happen all over the world. In Zanzibar two weeks ago, two girls had acid thrown on them due to the way they were dressed. Zanzibar is an extremely Muslim city, so many locals felt insulted by their attire.

Arusha is a funny town and will definitely take awhile getting used to. I head off to the SEW workshop tomorrow to start my first day with SEW (sewtanzania.org). I'm excited to meet the women and hear their stories. My first week will be all about meeting the women, familiarising myself with the product and the supporters of the organisation. The first point on the agenda is Zanzibar Fashion Week on 25th October, and Nicki has already lined up a couple of meetings with me in terms of marketing, campaigns and manufacturers. The contract is for a month and I will reassess my position and thoughts on this in the days leading up to it. Since being here, I have developed a strong desire to work in an orphanage for a month.. we will see though, I'm not making any rash decisions.

It's been an interesting couple of days. Excited for Amy to arrive home tomorrow morning and spend some time with her. Joe departs for New York tonight, so I will have a switch of housemates.

xx