Standing on Solid Ground

"The right decision, taken with equanimity, the right attitude, the truth. When we must die, we must die. Rectitude"

Herwo friends and family!

  When I arrived in Tanzania I felt so much uncertainty, some self-doubt, and a whole lot of hope. I felt a bit torn down and tired from my last bit of University and misadventures in Portland, Oregon, and I felt totally astray from the spiritual path I once felt so tied with-the path that once gave me strength and offered inspired direction. I felt uncertain about my decision to serve, and I doubted my own convictions; could I conjure the energy to face this challenge? should I have really left my life behind? will this be a chance to reclaim a vision of higher purpose? the encouragement of my friends and family gave me hope. If they, the people I love and admire,  believe in me-I can feel affirmed. 

  I felt very beaten down by life in the states. However, I'm definitely a bit too much of a worry wart I've realized. Living in Tanzania for a few months has given a lot of much needed perspective. The adversity that I see people standing against awes and humbles me daily. The first week I arrived in Dar Es Salaam I remember feeling shock and sadness at seeing people, stricken with polio, begging in the streets-sometimes only able to maneuver themselves by their hands, dragging their limp and deformed legs behind. I see 'house girls' work feverishly on a daily basis. Often they have moved far away from their families to work in the homes of others for very little earnings-having forgone formal education.      At the village level, many people are subsistance farmers. They have very little capital income but they can provide for themselves with the animals they care for and the crops they grow. Living off the land is a simple life with it's own riches. However, without income-people don't have access to the things that they aren't able to cultivate themselves. A child of my Tanzanian host family had such a terrible case of intestinal worms that his face was completely gaunt, his arms emaciated. I bought him the medicine that he needed, but what if he gets them again?

  As time here continues to pass, and my language skills continue to improve, I am feeling ever-more confident in my decision to be here. I feel like I can truly impact the lives of others. I can give back for everything we take for granted in the states. Sometimes the reality of my new surroundings escape me and I briefly forget the ways life here contrasts life back home and the reasons why I am here. However when I go to take a 'bucket bath' (in a brick out-house), at the end of everyday, I reflect on the smiles of all of the beautiful people i'm living amongst- all of their hopes and the adversities they face (hopes that may seem meager to most westerners and adversities that dwarf my own)- and I am reminded; I am here to serve and I am honored to do so. 

-Steven

"Barefoot and unadorned, the withered trees spontaneously bloom"

NGO shout-out; 

Deforestation is a continuous and multi-dimensional threat to the planet we enjoy. Trees for the future is a Maryland based NGO that provides resources, education, and raises awareness about the importance of planting trees. Trees For the Future has restored an incredible range of environments in 16+ countries across Africa, Asia, and Latin America. They are a wonderful NGO to support, and generally have knowledge of. Click the hyper link to check them out!

Also, please enjoy this bit of video. The video shows some of the nuns, that live in my village, practicing their choir music. The video is poor quality and sideways for half the time-but the sound is ok!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V0It20nCB14&feature=youtu.be

  

Wine Spritzers, Corporal Punishment, and The Power of Words.

Greetings pageviewers,
  All is well in Tanzania! I've been working on assessing the needs of the village i'm living in and continuing to Transition to a slower pace of life. The needs I've learned about, that are specific to this community, mostly concern Teachers housing (lack of), water security issues,  skills education for youth (carpentry, masonry), and needs for income generating projects. If you have suggestions-don't be shy! so, potential projects are; secure financing to build new teacher housing (an estimated cost of $12,000),  help construct more water catchment/water storage systems, and begin a brick making co-op for youth to make some $$.
  My relationships with the other villagers are continuing to evolve. I go to the convent often and eat dinner with the nuns that live there. Those woman are my 'homies' through and through. We drank wine spritzers the other night! I felt a little cloud of Catholic guilt hanging overhead while I was imbibing with several of the lord's exalted followers. But, no harm in a little fun. That night was actually really fun though. I made a new friend in a weird way when I ate an old woman's corn cobb- not knowing it was hers. This old woman works very hard to keep the grounds of the convent clean and the gardens well kept. She was so disappointed when she came into the jiko (kitchen) and saw me eating her evening snack! (I was told to eat it by one of the sisters, but she didn't know!). She muttered in swahili (jokingly) that she wanted to go get a switch (to spank me). I understood her kiswahili. I felt so guilty that I ran and made her one! she proceeded to give me a good spanking. By the time she'd had her fill of spanking me-we'd all laughed ourselves to tears.
  Learning a new language while being fully immersed has been really interesting. It's helped me to think a lot about how language affects our reality, and the landscape of our minds (mindscape). The language we use can be easily oppressive, or deceitful in the way it leaves us to perceive our surroundings.
example:
“The language we use influences the thoughts we think much more than the thoughts we think influence the language we use. We are encased in fossil metaphors; verbal chains guide us through our daily reality-labyrinth.
“Physicists, for example, spent nearly three centuries looking for a substance, heat, to correspond to the substantive noun, “heat”; it took a revolution in chemistry and thermodynamics before we realized that heat should not be thought of as a noun (a thing) but a verb (a process) — a relationship between the motions of molecules.”

and another quote I found to support these thoughts,

"It seems likely that the principal software used in the human brain consists of

words, metaphors, disguised metaphors, and linguistic structures in general. The
Sapir-Whorf-Korzybski Hypothesis, in anthropology, holds that a change in language can
alter our perception of the cosmos. A revision of language structure, in particular, can
alter the brain as dramatically as a psychedelic. In our metaphor, if we change the
software, the computer operates in a new way.”

– Frank Herbert, ‘The Dosadi Experiment’ 

The words that we use are so central to what is constructed out of our reality. In addition, every language is limiting in different respects. Is it possible that language is sometimes distracting from the core of the present? or our meta-self? can our language take us walking down paths that lead us away from our true selves, and our higher purpose-if we allow ourselves to be lead?  these thoughts have lead ME on kind of a rant, apologies! 

anyway, everything is great. I'm enjoying new inspirations, new people, and new experiences. My only real frustration right now is that I don't have the sequel to the Game of Thrones book I just finished! woe is me. It's still hard to upload videos and such but I'll try to make another video blog soon! I hope that everyone is well! 
<3
Steven

P.S. I'd like to start a tradition of making shout outs to NGO's that are doing good work ever so often in my blogs. This time, I'd like to mention a couple; 

Water scarcity is a growing problem all over the world. Charity Water does great work in the fight to keep or brothers and sisters around the world Hydrated and healthy! check them out! 

How do we monetize things we can't see? How to value Natural services? How to encourage conservation? Consveration International does work throughout the world to create a more sustainable future for our planet by supporting the growth of enduring economies. CI works to monetize natural services and create 'Ecosystem Services Markets', in order to account for nature. Conservation international is changing the way we think about everyday products and services! You can find a lecture on the itunes store, given by CI's founder, Jennifer Morris! Find her talk at 'Standford Technology Ventures Program'. The Talk is called, 'Effective Models for Sustainable Growth'

Quick update!

Greetings page viewers,
I haven't made a post in a while so I thought I would make a quick update. My Kiswahili skills are continuing to improve. I've noticed that some of my Tanzanian friends have seemed impressed, in certain instances, with my vocabulary. It's so satisfying to learn Kiswahili! (and so entertaining for Tanzanians to watch me try to speak) ...perhaps it's because I know that I have to rely on my skills with the language so much to get by. I'm never alone-which is great! because I'm not used to being alone. I feel like I have a Tanzanian family already. Even though communication is broken and peppered with awkward silence- I feel a lot of love. I'm beginning to feel (increasingly as my time here continues to pass) the heart of Tanzania. But anyway, enough of shmarmy stuff; My poops are solid again, I get to eat fried potatoes everyday, I have a red chicken named Lorna, and a troop of nuns are bringing me a new pet Paka (cat), and I live amongst cloud Rainforests. I couldn't be happier with life in Tanzania!

A short walk through the vill

Hi guys, I thought it would be nice to post a video of my making a short walk through my village. It's a little long, but please enjoy!

Vlog # 1 Lushoto, TZ

Moving in to lushoto!

Mambo!
Thanks for visiting my blog page! I moved into the house I'll be staying in for the duration of my service yesterday. I'll spend my first three months here just getting to know my village and performing an assessment of the area to determine possible projects I can work on. I don't have much to share yet, but I've posted a short video above that introduces this blog and shows you around the house I'm staying in. Enjoy! For some reason the quality is really low...ill try to fix that for future videos!