Wednesday February 23rd

Happy Birthday to Mom - Doris Drennan!

During my walks in the morning, I feel like the Pied Piper! Dozens of school children in uniforms walk along with me. These are primarily elementary school age – 6 to perhaps 12. We practice English and they laugh. Today I went further and visited their school. It is a series of open buildings with wooden desks and one blackboard in each room. I was able to meet several teachers – all women and in their 30’s. The children were required before class to sweep all of the school grounds – with branches and bushes.

Each day the driver picks me up at noon for the one hour drive to USOMAMA which is the cooperative I am working with on this trip. The roads are not paved or oiled; just dirt. All over Tanzania (and the other countries of southern Africa) new roads are being constructed in a joint project with the Chinese. At each work site, there will be one or two Chinese men (always with ball caps) and many local workers. The new roads are 30+ feet wide and at the moment, just dirt and rain culverts and bridges. Therefore, all motor traffic currently moves on very narrow, packed dirt and rock “paths”. This includes extremely large transport trucks, buses, cars and bicycles. The driver remains at USOMAMA while I conduct the training and we begin the journey home. He loves to play Johnny Cash tapes – especially those with religious songs!

The USOMAMA Cooperative is quite successful as I have mentioned. 20+ members are attending the training which fills the room. So far, the group has developed a Vision and Mission Statement as well as listing the goals for 2011 and 2012. We are still working on 2013. Today we will create financial statements – balance sheet, income statement, and simple cash flow – that can be presented to the bank. As USOMAMA is a SACCOS it has funds on “deposit” and would like to become its own bank. The US comparable would be credit unions in the past where deposits were collected from a group of people who worked or lived together; small loans would be made to that same group. Credit Unions are now quite different in the US and cover many unrelated people; credit unions are now more like banks.

The weather since my return has been stunning – very San Diego with blue skies, sunshine, and mid 70’s! This is the rainy season for Tanzania but perhaps my days in Katesh will be enough rain for me.

Hoping that all of you are safe and well.