Sauti Moja in Longido

We spent this past week with Corey from Sauti Moja, both in Arusha (Tanzania) and Longido Village (a couple of hours north of Arusha). It was such a great experience for all of us. In the photo above, you can see a view of Mt. Kilimanjaro at sunset from the camp that Corey built in order to spend extended time in Longido doing the work he does.


You can read about the work of Sauti Moja (Kiswahili for "one voice") by clicking on the link. In a nutshell, his organization serves vulnerable women and children, especially Maasai women and children, by supporting local community groups and projects initiated by the Maasai people themselves. We saw how he well-respected and accepted he is by the Maasai in Longido and it seems to be because of the approach Sauti Moja has. They do not march in with simplisitic solutions or impose a Western model on how to tackle specific health issues like HIV / Aids but instead start by listening, talking with the community members, and building a relationship. He also speaks fluent Kiswahili having been in Tanzania since about 2003.


I should mention that we know Corey because our families are kind of connected. . . my sister was married to his uncle. Corey's mom, Lil, was also the first parent who ever trusted me to babysit!


Corey and his partner Shanna in Arusha (she is a very talented visual artist):
One of the tents in Longido, where we stayed:


The tents are very comfortable - we actually slept in real beds off the floor:

Great views of Mt. Kilimanjaro and Mt. Meru from the "porch" of Corey's tent:

Maasai women in front of their "boma" huts (walls are cow dung and mud with thatched roof):
Corey visiting some of the Maasai kids:

The library at the LOOCIP compound, a partner group that Sauti Moja assists:

Computer training centre at the same compound - there is no electricity but this centre is powered by solar panels:

Mitchell & Jackson playing soccer with new friend Arnold and the security guard:

We had a pretty full week. Besides visiting the Maasai village, seeing newborn pups (Jackson's favourite activity), and playing soccer with local kids (Mitchell's favourite activity), a little work got done as well. Ted was able to help in putting together and painting bunk-beds for the Child Mother project. Child mothers include indigenous girls as young as 12 or 13 who find themselves pregnant, through no fault or control of their own, and who are then kicked out of school and perhaps disconnected fronm their community also. This project provides counseling and support to these girls, including short-term stays in a facility until a re-uniting with their families can be worked out.

The raw bed-bunk material - the guys did not just pick up metal bed frames - everything had to be designed, explained, and fabricated at metal shops in Arusha - there is no IKEA here to make things simple:

Ted, Corey and Geoff (friend of Corey's from Denver who is working in Arusha with an archeologist) assembling the pieces:

Time to paint, with Mitchell & Jackson eager to help. The boys especially liked being able to hang out with cool older guys like Corey and Geoff instead of just boring old mom & dad:

Jackson is concentrating on doing a good job:

The beds also need railings and ladders, so an exploratory trip to the local lumber yard was necessary:

Another day, we tagged along to visit the village of Mairowa. On the drive there, we saw giraffes, ostriches and other antelopes. Corey meets regularly with community leaders from this village to help them with their projects:

Meeting some of the local kids from Mairowa. It was only a matter of time until another soccer game broke out:

On our last day, Mitchell & I went with Corey and some of his colleagues to a different village to help with some research. They periodically weigh and measure these children to monitor their growth and provide nutritional support to families. Some families have been especially hit hard with the chronic droughts:

We weighed each child and then Mitchell gave them a treat for putting up with the process:

Mitchell will miss all the little friends he made - they loved playing with him too:

Jackson will especially miss his animal friends. He fell in love with three dogs in Longido named Meru, Kili and Chex (that's Meru in the photo below). He badly wanted to take one of Chex and Meru's puppies home but sadly that is not possible:

We don't have any photos of one of the great highlights of our time in Longido. That was the night we sat around a campfire with a group of Maasai men, including the mzee (respected elder and leader). It was a really special privilege, as they welcomed us completely and let their guard down, in a sense, to see their real personalities. While we were sitting around, another Maasai man from the village found us in this cave on the side of the mountain (where we had the campfire in order to get out of the wind) and asked the mzee to put a curse on whoever had stolen his cell-phone! Apparently it works. That's because the word goes out that the mzee has done this and the guilty culprit usually ends up returning the stolen goods out of fear of the curse. Fascinating stuff!

We just arrived in Cairo so more on that soon. . . only 4 days till Christmas. If you haven't finished your Christmas shopping, here is the perfect last-minute solution - check out the gift catalogue on the Sauti Moja website!