Come Monday I headed off to Camp Moses to make a plan for the week. Mama Wambura was there when I got there and I told her how Bryson's appointment had gone the week prior and how something really needed to be done about Joseph. After that, Juliet and I chit chatted throughout the day, and she showed me the referral that was written for Joseph to see a urologist almost 8 months ago. It seemed like my persistent nagging had finally paid off, and they (Mama and Juliet) were starting to see how much I care about these kiddies and want to help them.
Juliet and I decided that Wednesday would be the best day to go to KCMC. KCMC is a big hospital in Moshi, which is the next big town over. It was said to be only an hour and a half away by bus. The only thing Juliet seemed to have a problem with was money. They had none. zero. zilch. She explained that there weren't any shillings for the dalla dalla, none to pay the mama's (Moses has 4 mama's during the day and 2 at night, Joshua has 2 full time mama's) or the teachers, and most definitely no money for a trip to Moshi to see a doctor. She explained that it wouldn't cost anything to see the doctor because we had a referral, but it would cost 4,000 shillings there and back for the bus. 4,000 shillings is just over 2 USD. I told her that I was sure my mom would have no problem sponsoring the bus trip. We agreed that the next day I'd do the orientation for some new volunteers and get everything in order for our trip.
It would've been easy to just reach into my bag and hand over the money for the bus. To make it seem like no big deal. And really, it's not. But this sort of thing has been happening since the day I arrived. Oh, we need a few thousand shillings for this, and shillings for the bus, and shillings for bread. I'm almost more than fine to hand it over, because what's a few bucks here and there? Turns out, after a while it's a lot. More than the money, it's the idea that they're getting that they can just simply ask the Mzungu for whatever they need whenever they get themselves in a pinch. This time I made sure it was different. By showing them that I needed to contact outside sources, and search for the money, I hope to change their view of the quick fix and show them how to fix some stuff on their own. You have to draw the line somewhere, and it's not always the easiest thing to do.
Tuesday I came to Camp Moses to finalize the plans for Moshi, and took a new volunteer to Unga Ltd to see Camp Joshua. It was an uneventful trip for the most part; did the tour, sat in on a classroom and watched the kids play a bit of soccer before we decided to head back to town. Over lunch, my phone rang. Earlier I had texted (yes, I have a cell phone in Tanzania.. most people do (locals included!) Much cheaper than in Canada though!) Juliet and asked her to remind Mama Wambura to pick up the bread. Juliet was calling me to explain that Mama Wambura had, yet again, failed to tell anyone she would be out of town and had taken her vehicle with her. This was the only vehicle that was around to pick up food. Juliet said that I needed to go and get the 10 loaves of bread that SunKist donates weekly. This left me with a little problem as there are no dalla dalla's that run to the factory, and although I have a cell phone I don't have a car. Try explaining all this to the new volunteers that were having lunch with me. "Well you see, we don't know how the children are going to get the 1 slice of bread a week because we have no car and Mama has disappeared". Little do they know that this is perfectly 'normal'.
After a few phone calls, my co ordinator agreed to take me to the factory. The only thing was he only has a motorbike. He emptied his big backpacking bag and we were off. Ten loaves of bread got stuffed into the bag and we dropped them off at Camp Moses. A few more people had congregated in the office there, and Juliet explained to me that they all wanted to come to Moshi the next day. I said alright, explained they were going to need to help with costs, and it was all set. We were to meet at Friends Corner (a downtown landmark) at 6:30 the next morning.
Good on you for figuring out that you can help them more by teaching them to help themselves. It would be very easy to hand over the cash as we all know that $2 cannot even buy you a Starbucks here! After you have come home, they will remember you always for helping them learn ways to help themselves, to organize and prepare. You are one smart cookie girl!
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