Charitable work from start to "Finnish"

While we were unpacking the container, which had been donated by UNICEF and was full of donations from Finland: clothes, shoes, bed linnen, bags, ...) a journalist from the Zimbabwean Herald came over and wrote an article on Dzikwa Trust. That is really good as Dzikwa needs local support and not only foreign sponsoring. Although I am not so sure, whether I should be happy or not about that photo =S

The amazing Rex

Jogging

To be healthy and sporty, we volunteers have found a new way to enjoy the bright mornings of Zimbabwe: There is a lovely hill nearby, from which you have a magnificent view on the surroundings and to which you can actually jog/walk to. The route itself is rather funny as you meet many children going to school in far too warm school uniforms if you consider their walking distance(up to 7km) as well as shouting Kombi drivers(the equivalent to our busses, except that they have all the same price, are seriously packed and don't really follow any timetable). As a murungu(White) you are of course greeted by most people.

Then when one leaves the street and starts to follow up the short path up the hill, there are only a few lonely church meeting places left and maybe one or two devout believers, whose chants are an interesting alternative to Beyonce as running music. My favourite part about the route is the distance, because it isn't very long ;) But seriously, that is a great bonus for us poor people, who are unused to having the sky so close to them (Harare lies at a height of 1483 meters).

More Action

 

             Tinotenda

On Saturday we had a lot of action happening:

First we were part of the "Clean up the World Movement" with Tinotenda, another one of my mischievous Extra Lesson Kids, leading the procession. Takudzwa and Munashe were also part of the group and not only a really good team, but also good litter pickers except when they had to pose for the camera ;)

No, seriously, every single of these kids was wholeheartedly part of the campaign and even the children, who live on Rujeko Street(the one we cleaned up), but are not part of Dzikwa had to be stopped from picking up litter without gloves as this rubbish is probably a hive for cholera and typhoid. Later they got Mazoa, kind of the Fanta of Zimbabwe, and Mupati, little bags of their beloved popcorn.

 Albert - a Marimba genius

Later that day, there was Cultural Training, which actually takes place every Saturday with traditional dance, poetry and Marimba(kind of like a xylophone class, however this time I was part of it, since Satu and me started a theater workshop. The night before I was hectically copying and adapting an easy play script for the elementary school children, when then to my shock on Saturday Alouise presented me a lot of Secondary Students(between 13 and 20), who had a real talent for theater and had already participated in two serious theater productions. Well, what did we do then - we literally improvised. Luckily, I still knew a few theater games and so we did some circle work with exaggerated gestures, funny ways to talk and improvisational theater. We all had a lot of fun and hopefully they also learnt something useful for future theater productions. However, now Alouise had the genius idea of me writing a personalized play script for Dzikwa. Oh God!

Games Olympics

So now the newest update: When I am not annoying everybody about their health cards, interviews, photos, etc. I've been spending time with the children, playing with them, talking to them and simply having a good time. For example, I brought some table games from Germany along and there were two other games already here. So last Friday we had the chance to introduce these games and since then I don't think a day has gone by, when they haven't asked for the "Kimberely" game, which is actually called "Kimble" ;)

A very big day were the Game Olympics on this Friday with five stations and rotating groups. The one thing that actually did make people rotate was the prize, a candy, one would get after collecting five stamps(You can see the stamp cards on the picture). It was actually two candies for every kid, but psssst.

The first station was jump with a rope so many times as the product of two dices showed, then we had one station with a dice game and we had a basketball station, I played fruit salad(Bäumchen wechsel dich) and finally there was the station "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes", which we then presented in the end in a circle. For sure it was a successful Friday afternoon.

Now I still need to introduce two of my darlings. This mischievous pair of 12 year old boys (Munashe and Takudzwa) are as inseparable as one could possibly imagine, even though they go to different schools. And yes, they have invented the game of challenging Kukka as often as possible. To be honest, it usually is as much fun for me as for them, plus it is nice to see two so intelligent boys, who stick together and also who show enough intelligence and bravery to challenge ME! An example? So we were playing fruit salad and both of them were apples, well guess what happened, yes, exactly they spend the whole game switching places until at one point I didn't look and suddenly out of nothing they were separately seated.                      





                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                Munashe and Takudzwa - inseparable

What happens when you step onto the streets...

If you ever visit Dzivara Sekwa/Seppolandia you will know. Since Seppo has been prominent in this area since 1992, these people are more used to White people, yet that is also the reason why, when you are at Dzivara Sekwa, you will suddenly hear all the kids on the streets shouting "Seppo, Seppo". The explanation is rather simple. For these children "Seppo" means the same thing as "a White person" or the actual Shona term "Murungu". That's why we all are little "Seppos" or "Miss Seppos" or "Seppolins", etc.

The next stunt is even more funny, as these children do know a few sentences in English, such as "How are you?", "I'm fine" and "What's your name?". That means, we have told them our names many times and now they come and greet us sometimes with "Kukka, Kukka" and then they ask "What's your name?" Of course, there must be something they can say, when they come toddling along to shake our hands or embrace us. It is also rather adorable, how we are a sightseeing and every child runs as fast as they can to greet us before we might disappear into thin air, even though they see us approximately eight times a day.

In addition, the adults are very friendly and you often here "Hello", "How are you?" and now that they know that we are trying to learn Shona "Mamuka sei?/Maswera sei?" Usually very embarrassing for me, as they laugh, even if the rare situation happens and I got it right.

The streets themselves are also very different to what we are used, even though I have to admit, that I don't really see the difference anymore: They are covered in red dust and everywhere you can find broken litter on the ground. The houses are definitely smaller and I can't remember seeing anything but one-story houses around here. In front of the houses there are sometimes shared patches of land, where vegetables are grown and in front of that little huts or booths to sell these vegetables, sweets or air-time(= Cards to load up prepaid sim-cards). 

Finally, there is one really big difference to our living style, which will actually be one of the things I will probably miss most in Germany: As the houses obviously don't offer a lot of space, everybody is outside, talking too each other, sharing their lives and being part of the community life.

Yummy, Yummy

You now know so much about my life, but somehow we have missed the one thing that is absolutely needed in life: chocolate ;)

Well, I can admit that I have long-lasting relationship with chocolate, but as this is a rather warm country even in Winter (Summer is starting now and the later there will be autumn and spring - and I am not joking) I haven't only been living on chocolate =P

First you should probably know what a local eats and that's something I know by heart after after doing so many health cards:
In the morning a big chunk of white bread (Imagine a loaf of bread and part it into four pieces-> that's a slice) and if there is sugar very sweet tea. Some of the better off get jam or peanut butter on their breads.
Then lunch, which luckily every Dzikwa child has now a right to, is always sadza (more on that later) with some salty/oily vegetables(I think it is Mangold) and a meaty relish. Than in the evening there is again sadza with something and on Sunday's they even have rice.

This doesn't sound too bad and I don't really mind eating that minus the meat every day, however imagine if you have been eating that for your whole life! And then imagine you have a stomach, which can't take heavy things, such as sadza. We are so lucky to be able to eat every day a different meal.

So Sadza, that's kind of a maize porridge, made of Mieli-Meal that you cook with boiling water and that you have to stir like crazy. One evening, I actually did make some sadza myself and I now know that I will first have to visit the gym for a year to get that feat accomplished. By the way, Zimbabweans are also heat resistant - no oven holder for them please.

I am a bit more lucky and eat here also other stuff. So if I live with them at the Shelter, then I have either glutenfree bread,yogurth or porridge for breakfast. I also have already baked pancakes and a rice porridge for my whole house(approximately 16 people). Since I have been hearing questions for more porridge and pancakes, I think they all enjoyed it. Then lunch I eat at the Center with the children, however my meal consists only of sadza and veggies, a very nice combination in my opinion and why would I really need meat? In the evening, the volunteers from Finland usually cook something with vegetables, rice, and tomato sauce + tomato sauce Zimbabwean (That's how the locals call Ketchup). That's very good for me, as I learn how to cook with little means
Oh, and one of the best things in Zimbabwe otherwise are the Avocados-> The size of their stones are usually the size of our Avocado and then the ripeness, mmmmh.

Me and my beloved Sadza with Veggies

My new home(s)

Our room a the Shelter - the left one is our bed.

I have been telling you a lot about my work at the Dzikwa Center, but somehow I haven't yet mentioned how my day around that work looks like. That means this post is about living in Zimbabwe.

Well, somehow it happened that I found two homes at the same time. The one is at Pagomo, where Oili and Seppo live. It's a very nice place.

However, that seemed to good to be true and I didn't feel this was appropriate for volunteering in Africa. For Oili and Seppo it is just right as they simply need the internet for their work and they have to be able to host many different guests, but yeah most of the other Finnish volunteers were living at a different location, so I kind of moved to it, too: 


  Letwin, Joyline and Prisiclla 
          snuggling up:
It is called the Shelter and there the children, who are the over 18 Dzikwa children with too difficult home situations. Plus, at the Shelter live the head of ICT, Nyaradzai, a lovely person and great Shelter Mom, Alouise, the Head of Cultural Activities and a good teacher in nearly all subjects. Then I shouldn't forget Edina, a social worker, who is really committed to Dzikwa, as she has taken over the custody for the two siblings Letwin(a beautiful voice) and Joyline(the baby of the Shelter), who are under 18 and couldn't otherwise be living at the Shelter. Let's continue the introduction of the Shelter People: Blessing and Tonderai are our two boys, who are both in Upper Sixth and close to having their A-Level Exams - that's why I have taught Blessing a few of my tricks for learning, such as getting the blood into your head with a headstand and have been discussing with Tonderai the French Revolution. Not to forget, in the girls room one will also find Rachel, one of the most happy persons in the world, who is at the moment training to become a dentist, Michelle, a great singer and dancer, Bridget and Theresa.

And finally there are we, the volunteers. At the moment it's slightly crowded as we have four Finnish volunteers and me from the "Finnish-German" delegation ;) So there is Satu who came on the same day as me, who is one of the most lovely persons I know and who aspires to become a doctor for children. Then last week Sara and Jenny arrived the Helsinki Metropolia University of Applied Sciences, where they are studying Social Studies. They're also very nice and engaged people. Last, but not least, there is Simon, one of the more rare male volunteers, who also just finished his A-Levels and is mainly involved with the forestry project and the environmental side of Dzikwa Trust.                                                                                                                                 Satu and me - keeping the                                                           Shelter shiny with Cobra Polish  

At the Shelter, we girls share a room, which is pretty nice and has three beds of which one is so big that I can actually share it with Satu. The only problem is missing cupboard space so my stuff mostly stays at Pagomo and I exchange it, when I go to Pagomo to use the Internet there. Skype and Facebook are very much needed, when one is writing the own University Application or ones birthday.

A Zimbabwean wedding

Diana and Troy - during the cake ritual

The second wedding in my life and my first Zimbabwean wedding took place today at 11 o'clock - it was scheduled for 9am: That's African time and we thought that being half an hour late would suffice! So it was the wedding of one of Seppo's and Oili's children, Troy and now his lovely wife Diana. Even Bu, the sponosr of Troy came from Finnland. He has been the sponsor since his 1st grade 1997 till Troy graduated this year in Finance at the University of Chinhoyi.



                      

                                                   Bu enjoying the wedding

Anyway it was a beautiful African-English wedding ceremony. The procedures and program are similar to ours, but how it then actually happens is very amusing: The whole wedding was filled with laughter, music and dancing down the aisle, not to forget the very loud and fierce pastor. Very surprising were also all the shouts accompanying the ceremony, such as "Hallelujah", "Amen", and the more Native American sounding "Ririri", which all the Africans can do perfectly especially when compared to me. It is lovely how interactive, musical and also colourful the wedding was - he wedding took place in this beautiful venue outside between Dschungel plants and vividly coloured dresses.

                     Rituals at the wedding ceremony

Other funny rituals, I should mention, are the groom kneeling in front of the bride and then untying the green ribbon that stops the bride from stepping down the aisle. In addition, the bride and groom offer cake on their knees to their family-in-law and somehow that also included me. And probably the most funny was Troy's examination of Diana, whether this was actually Diana below the veil, without actually being allowed to unveil her. The guests were offering many good advises and it became a really funny disply of acting skills on Troy's side. Well, in the end it was her backside confirming her identity ;)

Otherwise we also enjoyed the show dances by the bridal team. It was definitely different to the formal and stiff way of dancing, which we adhere to. At least the word Rumba defines here a very different kid of Dance - jumping on your toes, shaking your ass and pretty much looking like a Native American doing the rain dance. In the end the bridal team even changed into rags to dance "Old School" to remind of the poorer origins of their families. Also very funny was the tradition to shoot the just-married couple with your hands while shouting Popopo.

I neither should forget to tell you about my new friend, the four month old Alvin. You know, in Zimbabwe you not only become friends in five minutes, but also the new babysitter for their child. So suddenly Alvin, the nephew of Troy, was sitting on my lap and as a good Zimbabwean tagging my hair. 

All in all, it was a beautiful wedding between two people, who truly seem to love each other. Moreover, it was a great display of the African spirit: It was a large family gathering and joining of two large families, it was fun and it was infectious -> The wonder happened and I was actually dancing along.

Dzikwa staff having a great time:

 Taka, Seppo, Satu, Levita, 

 Bu, Priscilla & Njaradzai

Birthday time

Yesterday I celebrated my 18th birthday and to be honest this was the best place to do so:

I spend the day visiting schools and taking pictures of children, doing health cards, having a weekly meeting with all the other staff members and conducting two Extra Lessons at the same time!, because my poor partner volunteer, Satu, was feeling very ill. Luckily I was doing with the smaller ones Multiplication and so could let one of the kids take over asking questions for short intervalls, while I went to the other class. To be honest I think they enjoyed that probably more than me teaching them =D It was a gratifying, but so challenging experience that I don't want to repeat it really so soon. Thanks God is my partner know feeling better. Then of course in the evening I had a quiet birthday party consisting of a lot of calls and chats with all you guys. And would you believe it, Oili and Seppo got me some of the things I was absolutely missing the most: Chocolate, Rice Cakes and Gluten-free flower for cake baking, jipppie.

Altogether the day showed me how being an adult means that your birthday doesn't have to be about you, but that it feels far better if you spend it giving your time and effort to care for others and for a useful cause. And then in the evening, I was reminded how lucky I am to have all you guys to love <3 

Visiting Schools

Lately I am very busy with finalising all the measurements and photos of the children, who couldn't come to Sports Day and in the course of that I have managed to visit nearly all the schools nearby. They are surprisingly clean and green, though it makes sense considering that litter-picking and watering are punishments at these schools. However, when it comes to light in the class rooms and the facilities themselves, we can consider ourselves lucky. For instance one of the Highschools deemed themselves lucky to have 10 computers for 2300 students. 

The visit to the schools was otherwise very funny, because everybody was laughing at our tries to speak Shona and the kids themselves treated us like celebrities: They ran after us shouting "How are you?", asking "What's your name?" and laughing their heads off. 

Sports Day

          Here you can see the different houses Eland, Impala, Cheetah and Kudu

Then the next highlight was the annual Sports Day, where the kids were competing against each other in all kinds of Athletic disciplines in the Stadium of Harare(high-jump, long-jump, discus, shotput, ball throwing, War of Tag and a lot of Running). It was very clear that all of us had immense fun. 

I was busy with measuring all the kids to check their Body-Mass-Index and taking pictures of them for their sponsors(With 390 kids there is a lot of paperwork and organisational detail to do) and in my free time I was admiring the runners: The speed of all these kids, who are younger than me, running on their barefeet is incredible. Even though they only beat Usain Bolt on paper, some of them could be the next Usain Bolt. Later I also got to run the 800m run for everyone. It was so much fun to run together with the kids.

I should probably also tell, how 299 kids got to the Stadium: The drive there in three buses was already really exciting, but nothing in comparison to the drive back: We were 299 kids + some of the staff squeezing into two buses each meant for 70 passengers and I haven't even mentioned the old motor of the bus or the tables and chairs on top of the buses. I can tell you, that was one of the most exciting bus rides, I've ever had in my life!

The bus drive - and that was only the one to the Stadium.

What's happening?

So what have I been doing generally? Mainly I have been busy doing all kinds of organisatory stuff, such as Health Cards, a medical card for every child, which requires short interviews with the children and weight, height and blood pressure measurements. Then I have been doing interviews about their lives, taking pictures for their Sponsors and conducting Extras Lessons in Maths and English. I am responsible for twelve children in Grades five to seven and to improve their rather poor Maths understanding. So at the moment we are especially focusing on simple multiplication and rounding of numbers. If anyone has a great idea, how to teach Maths - I am listening!

The most fun thing of course is, spending some time with the kids playing games, such as "Maflowa"-> similar to Quitchie (There are only two ball throwers on both sides and then a certain number of people, who try to evade the balls in the middle (how many there have to be is a secret yet to be uncovered). However, the main group consists of all the very involved spectators, who are waiting for their turn.) Also a great game is "Look inside the Lion bites" actually the equivalent to Plumpssack. And I have taught them "Fischer, Fischer, welche Fahne weht heute?" - they really like that game, but have changed the rules a bit. I even have participated in a soccer game and even though I was mostly standing in the way, we won, wooohoo.