Considering the week ahead

This weekend was fantastic - Zanzibar is absolutely BREATHTAKING. White sand beaches, exquisite turquoise water, amazing architecture, and an eclectic mix of Arabic, African and Indian cultures and history. Stone Town was fascinating and I really enjoyed exploring the narrow streets and learning as much as I could about the former slave trade, the reigns of the various Sultans, and the arc of the spice industry. What an awesome place! I'll have to post some pictures later because the computer I'm using does not want to cooperate.

Today began my final week in Tanzania and I have such mixed feelings about that. On the one hand I really miss my dear partner and family and friends (and air conditioning!), but on the other hand I feel that there is so much to be done here and not enough time in one lifetime to make a dent in it, much less in four weeks. Our mentor at TAFCOM, Nie, reminds us to take it pole-pole (slowly); patience is absolutely a requirement in Africa.

Erin and I have had some good email exchanges with past TAFCOM volunteers and I feel like I have a clear mission when I get home - establish a US-based 501c3 organization to enable contributions from the States, as well as be a good ambassador for TAFCOM. Once the 501c3 is established, several avenues for fund raising will open up for us, including being able to accept donations through Facebook. Seeing as how I don't have a job, I should have plenty of time to work on getting the entity set up! :-)

Today we took the always fun daladala to Pasua to look at the site for the future TAFCOM Children's Center (you may recall that they currently rent a small room to house the kids). About two years ago Jonas and Nie sold their only car to purchase the plot of land for the Center. Jonas believed that if well-wishers or organizations could see they really meant business about building a Children's Center, then the funds to do so would follow. I guess that's a real life example of "putting your money where your mouth is!!" The money they got from selling the car purchased the land and enough building supplies to start a foundation for the future Center. The land and the foundation and a pile of bricks now sit patiently waiting for the money and the hands needed to build the Center.

As I worked in the office last week, I asked Jonas if he had a budget for building the Children's Center. He said he would bring something to me this week and I suspect that I'll see numbers by tomorrow. This morning he brought in the architectural drawings/plans for the center, which are simple but very nice - eventually the structure would be three stories and include classrooms, dormitories, a store front for their tailoring students, and plenty of office space. The layout is such that it can be built in phases, starting small in Phase I with a basic classroom and office space. Over time the other phases can be added when the budget allows. I am interested to see the proposed budget later this week! I think that having a "business plan" for the Center is an important step towards being able to raise the funds to build it.

The heavy rains and Nie's illness last week prevented us from visiting many families, so we hope that the next two days will allow us to do that. Erin and I are anxious to go back and visit Happiness and his wife Amose, and we plan to take food with us this time. We also want to see the kids again to tell them goodbye and give them their last round of pipi's (candies - and it's pronounced PEE-PEE).