Alexi was depressed and weakened by aids. He wanted to die and was just laying in bed. Some volunteers came and encouraged him, and built for him this excercise bar where he practices walking on his own.
It looks like a paradise.
Fresh water tumbles off Kilimanjaro, down its eastern slopes and through the green ravines of Mwika. Pink and purple wildflowers speckle the undergrowth beneath the tree canopies. People till the brown-orange earth of their family plots, where they grow their bananas. There's enough rain. Plenty of food. Many roads.
But a closer look brings many questions. Why aren't those kids in school? Why are these women wearing rags? Where are the parents of that undernourished child? Why are those men drunk before breakfast? Visions of a verdant land of plenty are quickly eroded when pondering these questions.
Mwika is a collection of four villages in the Kilimanjaro Region of northeastern Tanzania. It is wedged in the narrow sliver of land between Mt Kilimanjaro to the west and the Kenya border, a few kilometers to the east. It's about 10 kilometers north of the town of Marangu, where most of the mountain's tourists go to begin their climb. The regional capital Moshi is about 40 kilometers away.
The land dramatically slopes eastward away from the mountain. It is carved by the ravines and gullies of dozens of streams and rivers. Rainfall is plentiful. The temperature is mild and moderated by altitude. Nights are cold. Many of the original forests have been cleared for small-scale banana farming.
The people of this area are Wachagga, meaning they come from the Chagga tribe. Their language is Kichagga, but almost everyone can also speak Kiswahili. English is the language of the educated and those who work in the tourism industry.
The beer is a strong and bitter traditional drink that people take from plastic pitchers. Alcoholism is a big contributor to social problems here, where for many it's socially acceptible for men and women to begin drinking early in the morning and keep it up all day.
Another source of social problems is poverty. High population growth rates and lack of family planning has meant many family plots have been subdivided into pieces too small to sustain a family. The number of landless people is growing, which can further entrench generational poverty. Agriculture (subsistence farming) is the only economic activity for a majority of the villagers. Children develop health problems because of lack of a balanced diet (such as one consisting only of cooked bananas) and because of malnourishment or undernourishment.
Health problems are comfounded by poverty and the lack of health care facilities. Transport to nearby Marangu Hospital, for example, is less than $2 US round-trip by mini-bus. But it is not always staffed or equipped to help. In those cases, patients are referred to one of the hospitals in Moshi, another 30 kilometers away. Transport round-trip to Moshi is almost $3 US. Even if health care was free (which it is not), just the cost of transit to Marangu is well out of reach of most people in Mwika.
HIV/AIDS has put an enormous strain in almost all aspects of life. It affect all age groups and economic classes in the village. Countrywide, the urban and the educated have higher rates of infection than the rural and the uneducated. Without local statistics, it's hard to tell if that's the case in Mwika. Anecdotally, it seems that HIV is widespread and in all areas, but because of high unemployment it has not created a shortage of labor. It has, however, torn apart families. The AIDS stigma is strong.
There are very few jobs. Many of the educated people from this tribe leave the region and go to urban areas such as Arusha and Dar es Salaam, or leave Tanzania altogether to work abroad. They like to keep houses on their family land to show that they've kept ties with home, and they like to come back at Christmas time.
Here's some more information written by Heff and Siya, who come from the neighboring village of Mamba:
About Mwika
Mwika is a village in Tanzania’s Kilimanjaro Region. Kilimanjaro is one of the country’s 27 regions, and it’s similar in size and shape to the state of Delaware. It is divided into several districts. Moshi, in the northern part of the region, is among those districts. And within the district of Moshi is Moshi town, the regional capital.
The southern and southeastern sides of Mt Kilimanjaro lie within the District of Moshi. These areas have good volcanic soil, receive year-round rain and are among the most densely populated rural areas of Tanzania. Mwika sits on the eastern slopes of Kilimanjaro at an altitude of about 5,000 feet above sea level. It is sandwiched between the mountain to the west and the Kenya border just to the east.
Nine kilometers to the south is Marangu, where most visitors set off on their climb of Kilimanjaro. The Marangu Gate to Kilimanjaro National Park is at an altitude of 6,000 feet. From the gate you can see the whole hip of the mountain and its companion, Mawenzi.
The temperatures here are moderate because of the altitude. The village is evergreen with pristine mountain rivers tumbling eastward through their valleys. There are waterfalls and springs fed by meltwater from the mountains glaciers. The water is clean enough for residents to drink without boiling.
Tribes
Tanzania has at least 120 tribes, each with their own distinct language. Kilimanjaro Region has many, but the two great tribes are the Chagga, who live in the north, and the Pare, who live in the south. The area around Kilimanjaro is filled with the Chagga people, and they love it. The Pare live in the Pare Mountains, which run north-south in the southern part of the region and in neighboring Tanga Region. Other tribes in the region include the Ugweno, the Meru, the Maasai, and the Taita.
Food
Chagga people know bananas. They cultivate more than a dozen varieties of banana and it is their staple food. The banana trees grow well in the lush environment, and Kilimanjaro Region is the country’s No. 2 producer and consumer of bananas (No. 1 is Kagera, in the northwest corner of the country, home to Tanzania’s other banana experts, the Haya). The Chaggas in these areas make different kinds of food from the different banana varieties because not all can be cooked the same way. Some are fried, some are roasted, some are cooked before ripening, and others are left to ripen. Some that are not good for eating are used to make local beer.
There are many ways to cook it, but a common way is to boil the bananas with meat, animal fat, or vegetables and eat it in soup. Boiled bananas have a similar taste and consistency to boiled potatoes.
Bananas are important as a staple starch and for subsistence farming. It is also a cash crop, and people sell their bunches for export to urban areas within Tanzania. For those subsistence farmers who don’t have other foods available, health problems can form in their children who are missing vitamins that would come from a balanced diet.
Avocado trees are grown here, too. The area is known for its good avocados, and many from here are sold in other towns. The availability of water and good soil means that most common fruits and vegetables can be grown here. Because of Mt Kilimanjaro the threat of drought, hunger, or famine is extremely low, unlike most places in East Africa. Malnutrition remains a risk for children whose families have no land or jobs.
Beer
The Chaggas of Mwika have everything they need to brew their beer with. The drink is called mbege in Swahili. It is brewed by using ripe bananas and bulrash flour (made from a species of Typha, or cattail). To make it, they first boil the ripe bananas and ferment them for about 5 days. Then they squeeze the pulp from them. Separately, they make porridge from the bulrash flour. They stir the two together in big buckets, leaving the mixture to sit until the next day. That following morning, they sell the buckets of strong beer.
Religion
German missionaries came to the area in 1893, allowing the Lutheran faith to gain a strong foothold here. The vast majority — probably about 90 percent — of people in Mwika are Lutherans. The rest are other Protestants, Catholics, or follow indigenous religion. There are no native Muslims in the area.
HIV/AIDS
The disease has really brought tragedy to many families and individuals here. The current generation of young people are the most affected. While the life expectancy for the young people is decreasing, the old people continue living long lives. There are several people older than 110 in Mwika. Many infected people have been coming to the project of Mwika Hope Foundation and Imara Ministries for help and support.
These numbers are as of November 2007:
• 90 widows with HIV/AIDS (80 are on ARVs; age 23 to 60)
• 40 widowers with HIV/AIDS (15 are on ARVs; age 30 to 60)
• 30 children with HIV/AIDS (12 are on ARVs; 25 are orphans)
The number of people with HIV/AIDS here continues to rise as the population grows and infection rates increase. Those who come for help are a small portion of the infected population. Most are afraid of accepting their sickness, and others are afraid of being open to the community about their status because they will be stigmatized by their families and neighbors.
One theory about the high rate of HIV/AIDS in this location is that the big market at Mwika attracts people from different places to come to buy and sell. They come from towns and cities in Tanzania and across the border in Kenya. Many of them travel for a living, and have good income from their businesses, so they find prostitutes and easy women, who in turn spread the disease locally.
Schools
In the densely populated area, there are many primary and secondary schools. At first, most schools were owned by the Lutheran and Catholic churches. After independence in 1963, the socialist Tanzanian government took control of all schools in the country. A generation later during liberalization, private schools were again allowed and many were returned to the churches.
Schools are having a hard time keeping up with the growing population. The problem is common in this country: too many students, too few qualified teachers. The result is overcrowded classrooms and substandard education.
In theory, primary schools are to be taught in Swahili medium and secondary schools in English medium. In practice, many secondary teachers don’t use English and there are many Form 4 graduates who speak very little English. The pay for teachers is generally low – often less than US $100 per month.
Travel
Getting here from abroad isn’t too difficult. Kilimanjaro International Airport, midway between Arusha and Moshi towns, is just over an hour away. The road from Arusha and the airport is paved up to Marangu, where many tourists go to begin their ascent of Kilimanjaro. The road from Marangu to Mwika is only about 9 km. It’s graded dirt, but it’s a major road going to market towns farther north like Rombo and Tarakea. There’s a little, easy-to-miss junction called Kwa Justine, just before Mwika Market. Tor get to the Hope Foundation project, turn left here and go up through the banana farms for 500 metres. Then ask around for Mama Mrina. If you come during the masika rains, you’ll have to walk a bit because the road can be unpassable without a good 4WD truck.
