Project Tanzania Report 2007

Preventing HIV/AIDS in African Heritage Communities

Purpose: This web based report shares information about our travel to Tanzania during January 2007. The three week trip was part of a global learning initiative a small group of San Jose State faculty, staff and students have been working together to develop since June of 2006. Those who have participated in this initiative share a vision of developing a unique international learning experience for high potential students from families with low to moderate income.

Participants: The faculty member and two students who made the trip were able to engage in global citizenship by seeking to apply classroom learning in real world settings. We were also encouraged to reflect on the culture of the United States in relationship to the cultures of other countries as we began to develop a much deeper understanding of HIV/AIDS and other major health crises within the context of the global economy.

Dar: Nubra Elaine Floyd, Jimmy Ghifa Crutison, Mary D. Moran

Travel Location: The United Republic of Tanzania is home to more than 150 East African ethnic groups as well as peoples from Asia, India and the Middle East. Dar es Salaam, which is in a major cultural center in the south, overlooks the Indian Ocean. University of Dar es Salaam and Hubert Kairuki Memorial University are both located there and provided us with important resources for program development. Arusha in the north has about two hundred thousand people and is located by the foot of Mount Meru, which makes for a more temperate climate. While there we were accommodated at the centrally located homestead of Mamma Lydia Joachim, who works with an organization called Women's Development in Science and Technology Association (WODSTA) to promote the use of sustainable agroecology by women living in the nearby rural areas.

Arusha: Mamma Lydia's Agroecology Homestead

Goal: The travel was intended to provide a unique educational experience by empowering both faculty, students to take an active role in their own learning. What's more, we all aspire to become critical thinkers, who are not only socially and culturally skilled at relating to others, but also able to make a positive spiritual and emotional contribution within the context of the global community.

Objectives: We specifically wanted to create an innovative and stimulating learning pathway that would:

• Promote cross cultural understanding and provide practical knowledge of issues related to public health education in Africa heritage communities;
  
  
  Dar: HKMU Community Hospital Courtyard
  
  
• Foster participation in the worldwide spiritual community as well as in the global market place where culture and commerce combine to create new healing possibilities;
  
  
  Dar: City Center - Muslim Mosque
  
  
• Encourage mentorship and close working relationships among program participants within the context of an international living and learning experience.
  
  
  Dar: Dinner with Archbishop Valentine's Family
  

Program Costs: Total travel costs were initially budgeted at $2,500 per person and actual costs came to about $3,000 per person. Funding was provided by donors to Second Saturday Education and Culture Network (dba Second Saturday Network) and by San Jose State College of Social Sciences and African American Studies Department. Additional funds were raised from local community members who participated in a silent auction of curio items brought back from our travels.

Arusha: Mt Meru Curio Market - Masai Vendors

Photos by: N. Floyd, M.D. Moran, Dar es Salaam Econolodge Manager