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Newsroom
AIDS Walk Africa 2007: Day 3
3/13/2007
A shy child peers from behind his mother's skirt. |
Virtual Walk
AIDS Walk Africa 2007
Day 3 - Tuesday, March 13, 2007
Read Ramona's blog.
Pre-walk
Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5
By Heather Mason Kiefer
Photos by Jon Hrusa
Sakila Flats Walk: 14.1 kilometers, or 8.76 miles
Highest elevation: 4,140 feet
We awoke in high spirits today, despite sore muscles and itchy mosquito bites. Our convoy of Land Rovers left River Trees at 7:30, and we rode for 10 minutes before debarking just a quick walk from our first stop of the day: the Meru Women’s Dairy Farmers Association.
Chris Kibuku (R) leads the walkers. |
The association appears modest — a small building next to a stable with a few cows. But it’s having a tremendous impact on the community. It is a cooperative made up of women in the community, working together to produce milk to sell at the market.
In order to live healthy lives and protect the health of their children, women must be able to support themselves and their families. The association is a perfect illustration of the progress many Tanzanian women are making toward economic empowerment.
Members pay a small fee to join the cooperative and receive a cow. They bring the cow’s milk to the cooperative, where it is pasteurized and packaged for sale into small plastic pouches. And using a stroke of technological genius, the cows’ dung is processed into methane gas, which is used to heat the furnaces that pasteurize the milk.
Bobbi Zifkin (R) hands over the walkers' donation of $1,600 to the leaders of the Meru Women's Dairy Farmers Asssociation. |
We were blown away by the simple ingenuity of the cooperative and what it was doing to strengthen this community. When James, an employee of the cooperative, told us they had just 50 cows for 268 members, we immediately wanted to help. Led by walker and Foundation Board member Bobbi Zifkin, we quickly pooled $1,600 — enough to pay for four new cows. When Bobbi presented the money to the chairwoman of the association, the chairwoman whispered, “Asante sana,” which means, “Thank you very much.” It was one of the most rewarding moments of the walk so far.
The walking began in earnest after we left the cooperative, but the terrain was mercifully flat after yesterday’s hills. We marched along at a good clip, stopping occasionally to shake children’s hands or examine wildlife. (Among the highlights: a bright green chameleon, as well as a giant banana slug.) We reached our lunchtime destination, a picturesque resort at the top of a hill called Holy Mountain, well ahead of schedule.
A mother carries her baby on her back as she passes the walkers. |
Before lunch, we gathered under a pavilion for a program on the Foundation’s work. Dr. Ric Marlink, the Foundation’s scientific director for care and treatment, was first to speak. Along with discussing the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Africa and how the Foundation’s international programs are combating it, Ric also described his early years reviewing grants for the Foundation when Elizabeth was alive.
Tanzania Country Director Anja Giphart, and physicians Denis Tindyebwa and Werner Schimana, then spoke about the
HIV/AIDS counsellor Tatu Msangi describes how PMTCT saved her baby in a lunchtime briefing. |
Foundation’s programs from a Tanzanian perspective, explaining the challenges of administering prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) and care and treatment services in a developing country.
But the star of the show was Tatu Msangi, a health services provider at nearby Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Center (KCMC) who is living with HIV. Tatu told us her story of visiting the antenatal clinic at KCMC and discovering she was HIV-positive. Thanks to the Foundation-funded PMTCT services she received, Tatu proudly told us, her two-year-old daughter, Faith, is HIV-negative.
The walkers trek beneath Sakila Mountain. |
After listening to this happy story, we were treated to a delicious lunch catered by River Trees. Some of the walkers fed their leftovers to the local puppies they had befriended. We then packed up and set off. The second half of the day, which took us past Sakila Mountain, was a bit more strenuous than the first, but well worth it when we crested the last hill and could see across the plains for miles. Before we knew it we were back in the cars for the short ride home.
Local children join the walkers. |
A mother stands with her children. |
The day concluded with a boisterous dinner, where we applauded the cooking staff for their mouth-watering food (which gets better with every meal), and had a special cake ceremony for all walkers celebrating milestone birthdays, anniversaries, and college acceptances. The cooking staff paraded out of the kitchen with the cakes and sang a beautiful song in Swahili.
As walker Annie Senatore commented at dinner, our group became a family today. It’s hard to explain but there is an incredible vibe among all of us – walkers, walk staff, drivers, and everyone else involved in this event. We don’t want the week to end.
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