Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Monday, December 26, 2011

8:39 PM

Once again it has been too long since my last post.  Grab a cup of coffee before reading this as I have a lot to update.

 

Since my last post in October I have been back to Tanzania in December.  So much to report.  CCI has been busy and personally my time has been consumed as well.  As all of you know I do this as a volunteer, I don't earn a penny, I volunteer every minute of every day and the time (or at least I was contemplating it) has come to get a full time paid job.  I don't focus on getting a job because there are no jobs, or at least none that I am interested in until I received an email from Fidelity on a job that looked interesting.  I was seriously interested in this position.  When I came back from Tanzania in October I scheduled an interview and was thrilled when I got called back for a second interview. I was glad to have met with them two times in November as I was going back to Tanzania on December 5th.  I was actually thinking that I may have to cancel my trip, but then again, I owed nothing to them yet...it was just an interview. 

I have been living this life for 2.5 years, I couldn't just stop doing what I do because of two interviews...right?

In the midst of running the organization, leading 15 volunteers at Gillette Stadium for every Patriot game, spending each weekend at a Christmas fair selling our Tanzanian crafts,  working at my parish 20 hours a week and planning our "Walk A Mile in our Feet" Barefoot walk on May 5th, I was interviewing.  I did not want to post on this blog until my future was determined.  I was busy but my future was uncertain.

 December 5th came with no further word on this prospective job so I boarded my Delta flight to Amsterdam, with 1300 Christmas ornaments in tow.

Also during this time, friends of mine in Tanzania were working to find me a small house to rent and I was working with India to get 5000 unpainted/unfinished 3" round balls (ornaments) shipped and scheduled to arrive when I reached Tanzania. 

Everything worked out.  CCI rented a lovely little house in Moivaro. 6km outside of Arusha, in a quiet neighborhood with great neighbors.  It has a garage for our car, two bathrooms and three bedrooms, two of which are storage for our ornaments. 

I was thrilled when I arrived to see our new place...although it was empty, I loved it.  It was ours.  We are ready to host volunteers and my mind was racing with possibilities.

 

During the next few weeks, our empty house was filling up.  Our shippment from India arrived, I hired a fundi to make a couch, desk and some kitchen cabinets and of course I had a Christmas tree.  It was my home away from home.  It is not easy, but I managed even when the electricity went out for hours every day.  I missed the company of others, but loved the fact that I was independent.  I went grocery shopping and cooked for myself every evening, except when there was no power.  It was challenging.  I can honestly say that I could not have done this three years ago, my life has evolved into something else and I learn more and more about myself every day while I am there. 

I missed home often, but I had work to do.  Every morning I would be on the road meeting with a vendor trying to wholesale our ornaments and visiting with the painters who after one week were doing a wonderful job with our ornaments.

 

On the 14th of December I headed to Dar Es Salaam by car with a driver.  I had a lot of ornaments, so I thought it would be a good idea to have a car and driver while there to make it a bit more convenient.  We left at 7:30pm and were driving to Dar during the night, we would avoid traffic and the hot sun.  I made myself comfortable in the back seat and would sleep most of the ride, that is until at 2:00am I was notified that the car had some trouble and we were pulling into the place where some mechanics were hanging out.  Hard to believe, but yes, at 2:00am in the middle of nowhere there were people working on a bus.  I was advised to stay down and don't let anyone know I was in the car...or we would be in trouble!  There I am for 1.5 hours with mosquitos flying around my head, under a blanket in 90 degree weather barely breathing for fear that I would be revealed.  I would say it was frightening, but I found it to be more thrilling,

 

We were on the road again and I fell back asleep...waking up in Tanga, it was my birthday.  I was not impressed with Tanga - an old manufacturing town on the coast. It was hot and humid.  I was dropped off at a restaurant for two hours while the car went for a check up.  It was at this restaurant that I received an email from Agrium; a Canadian company we were really hoping to get a grant from.  I knew they were having their annual meeting in December and I knew we were being considered.  Blah, blah, blah...we did not get the grant.  Happy Birthday to me.  Spent another 4.5 hours driving to Dar.  I was tired, dirty and disappointed in my email news this morning.  Oh well, I had to snap out of it, I had ornaments to sell.

Later that evening I arrived at a hotel glad to be out of the car, showered and fed.  I was looking forward to logging on to my email, it was my birthday so my family and friends would be sending me happy wishes.  I was missing everyone back home and I needed some reinforcement.  It was great at first, reading all my greetings and then an email arrived from Fidelity.  I remember being startled, it has been almost 4 weeks since I had my second interview and I was in Tanzania.  Needless to say the delay in responding was due to the fact that Fidelity offered the job to someone else "more qualified".  So there I was sitting near a beach on the Indian Ocean on my birthday and tears flowed down my cheeks.  First the grant, then the job, I was rejected, lonely and wondering what the heck I was doing in Tanzania on my birthday.  I called home and was comforted as well as I could be from 12,000 miles away.  It was an awful birthday...couldn't Agrium and Fidelity wait one day to send me the news they had for me?  I had to snap out of this and focus on why I was there...I was having a busy day visiting 6 vendors the following day and then I was going to Zanzibar the day after that.

 

I remember saying many times while I was in Tanzania "I need a job".  Especially since things are so expensive in Tanzania.  I don't know what people think when they say the cost of living is less in developing countries.  Holy Moly, things are expensive!  Oh well...no job this year.  I continue to volunteer my life away and keep very busy.

 

I returned back to Arusha from Dar with some successes.  Our ornaments are now selling in all the Duty Free Airport shops in Tanzania, Serena Hotels, two shops in Zanzibar and one shop in Dar.  However, we did lose a vendor or two because they thought the Christmas season was over.  I explained to them that tourists would buy these all year long.  I will be going back soon and will target them again.

 

Things take a long time to get done in Tanzania.  Airtel deactivated my phone number for some strange reason, so I lost all my contacts and they lost my phone number, I spent many hours in their office with no luck.  I did manage to open a bank account, buy electricity for our house and visit Fr. Venance, the sisters and my friend Wes at the Arumeru District Commissioners office.  I didn't see many people, it was a whirlwind in many ways.

I found that I liked to be home by 5:00pm and once there, I stayed there for the night.  Grateful for my laptop.

 

I could go on and on...I was glad to come home on the 23rd of December.  Having spent the Christmas season in Tanzania I witnessed first hand that there is no Christmas season in Tanzania.  Many struggle to get to tomorrow.  Christmas is just another day there.  It is a faith filled holiday, not the commercialism and sensationalism it is here.  I have a lot of respect for that.  It was humbling.

 

27 hours after I left my little house in Arusha I happily arrived home in Stoughton.  Jet lag got the best of me I crashed by 7:00pm.  Christmas eve I found myself at Gillette Stadium with 15 wonderful volunteers.

My life has been busy.  The ladies at the parish are relived I didn't get the job at Fidelity.  I have mixed feelings.

I trust that God has another plan for me.  I patiently wait for it to be revealed, perhaps it already is? 

I rambled too long..it is late, time for me to get some sleep. Happy New Year to all of you.  Thank you for your support and thank you for reading this very long posting.

 

If you are in the Boston area please consider "walking a mile in their feet" visit: www.barefootwalk.net

 

 On behalf of all of us at CCI all around the world:  Blessings, good health and prosperity for 2012,

Chris

 

All is good in Tanzania

Sunday, October 23, 2011

1:52 PM

I have spent the past five days in Tanzania...I only have 3.5 days left in this beautiful country; a short trip to check on things, and get some of my many ideas put into action.

 

I hadn't planned on coming, in the USA we are busy planning events for the Spring and arranging all of our Christmas/Holiday festivals and fairs, as well as our volunteering at the NFL Patriot games.  I was contemplating taking a trip for a long time, but not sure whether a trip for one week was worth it, I have been so busy with a hectic schedule in the USA, it was hard to break away from that routine and start a new one here...  at the last minute with a push from my family and friends, plane tickets were purchased and today  I find myself culturally emerged in their world.

 

What initiated this trip was the fact that I have 2800 hand painted African design Christmas ornaments in my garage that were meant to come here...It was the middle of the fiasco earlier this year and at the last minute changed their delivery to America...so there I was in Stoughton, Massachusetts with 3000 Christmas ornaments that said "Tanzania" on them.  Over the summer we sold about 200 of them, but what on earth was I going to do with the remaining 2800?

Our original intention was to market them to gift shops here.  This idea began in 2007 during my first trip to Tanzania. I was looking for Christmas ornaments to purchase and couldn't find any...I thought it would be a item that tourist would buy, so I had them made (yeah, I know who would do that but me?)  Since Christmas is only two months away...it was the right time to bring some here for a test run.

Do you have any idea how much space 2800 Christmas ornaments take in your garage?  It was impossible to get them all here...so I took what I could…404 ornaments to see how ill or well received they would be.

 

Not sure if it is beginners luck or what, but the business I went to, bought 70 of them.  Within the first 26 hours of being in Tanzania 100 of our oraments were placed in shops along the safari route for tourists to purchase.  Day two was not as good, but good enough... 50 were sold.  Day three, an additional 40 were sold and many places anticipate their next order to be 200+!

 

I find it very easy to work here...I am a white women working in a black man's world.   I am trying to build a viable business in Tanzania to help support our school...  I am respected and admired by business owners . 

 

I have been all over the Arusha area...Moshi, KIA (airport), Karatu, Lake Manyara.  Many of the places I visited outside of Arusha, I was informed that I had to meet with the purchasing managers in Arusha.  Tomorrow (Monday) I have 8 appointments scheduled as well as  a host of other tasks to complete.  I only have 3.5 days left and so much to accomplish.  Our Tanzania friends in Arusha and board members in Arusha think this a an incredible item with a lot of potential and anticipate thousands being sold each year.  We will see...it is just the beginning...if all goes as planned we will expand to Dar es Saalam, Zanzibar, and Kenya. 

 

I find myself excited by the possibilities here!

 

I have been staying at the Parish House for the past 5 days and today it was time to move to a inexpensive guest house.  It was very comfortable there and the company was great, it wasn't even the fact that the electricity shut down for for 5 hours every evening and no internet...it was that the priests in residence were going on a week long retreat and I didn't feel comfortable staying their by myself...especially with no power and internet...so I moved.  It is quite nice here...I am glad to have internet and power, but I miss the company and good conversations with everyone.

 

Yesterday I had the privilege of  being the guest of honor at a once every seven year event...Masai Circumcision celebration.  I will write more about that later on this blog or you'll have to read my book.

 

So many things are going on during this trip, I interviewed Safari drivers and did you know that on average they earn approximately 5000 Tsh per day ($3.00).  They get paid 20,000 Tsh (ha  1700 Tsh to one USD) and they have to pay for their accommodations and meals, they are left with 5000 Tsh.  I encouraged them to go on strike...I planed the seed...I hope they follow up.

 

I still have a lot of work to do here.  I can't even begin to think about all of our unfinished tasks in America…. But now...it is time to sleep.

 

I would love your thoughts on our latest project and upcoming spring events: www.barefootwalk.net and let me know what you think!   

 

Keep the faith and always believe.

Peace,

Chris

 

Friday, September 30, 2011

10:14 AM

I am getting better...it has only been 11 days since I wrote in this blog!    Much better than a month or two. 

Since coming back from The Classy Awards, I have been motivated in getting some things done.  We sent letters to many asking for their support, we scheduled our entire Christmas season for our craft fairs and we started to plan a fundraising event for May 2012.  These things take a long time and a lot of planning.

 

We will be hosting a meeting for all those who want to get involved next Friday @ 7:00pm.  If interested in joining our successful team, please email us at info@chriscares.org

 

We continue to be blessed by wonderful volunteers for Gillette Stadium.  We had a great team at the Patriot home opener and look forward to Circle K from Bridgewater State helping us at out next game versus the Jets on the 9th of October.

 

Last Sunday I spent the day at the Allston Village Street Fair in Allston Mass.  I met some wonderful people and we sold some of our merchandise. However,  at the end of the evening my day turned upside down.  The organizers of the event told all of the vendors to park at Blanchard's Liquor store and we all discovered that our cars were towed when the event ended.  It was an expensive day for CCI.  I went there to try to raise funding and  awareness...we ended up losing over $100.00.  I knew of 12 other vendors that had their cars towed too, so I was not alone.  None of us were happy.

Tomorrow we are expected to be at the Walpole Arts and Music festival in the rain. 

 

I am seriously contemplating heading to Tanzania in two weeks.  I haven't really heard from anyone there in a long time.  I would like to go to see how everyone is and be there physically so they know I am committed to keeping my promise...there is a three week time span between Patriot games, so my trip would be short, we also need to get our Christmas ornaments in some shops before Christmas and increase our Tanzanian inventory for our Christmas fairs.  I will keep everyone posted. 

 

Thanks for reading...will try to update again soon.

 

Love,

Chris

 

Here there and Everywhere

Monday, September 19, 2011

10:16 AM

It appears there has been another time lapse between updates.  We had some help over the summer and they did a great job keeping up with our supporters.

It has been a month since they left and a busy one at that.  Our summer seems to have gone by in a blur.

 

We continue to work hard at Gillette Stadium- we rely on our volunteers who

  dedicate their time and energy to help us accomplish our mission.  If our team is not at Gillette they are all around New England selling our women's crafts.  We spent time at the Springfield Jazz festival, African Festival, Naukabout Festival, Reggae Festivals plus many more.  We have been very successful.  So much so that we are running out of inventory for our Christmas season.  Our weekends are just about 100% booked in November and December either at Gillette or Holiday fairs at school and churches.

Our August was busy gathering support for another Classy Award.  I hadn't thought about running again this year, but after a nomination we decided to run with it.

Our supporters helped us a great deal...some blogged asking for their vote, others posted it in their column, facebook and of course we had our polling stations asking random people to help for their votes.  With our surprise within two w

eeks we were in first place, we held onto it with 24 hours left in the voting.  It was again a time consuming process.  It took a lot of effort and thanks to many of you, we made it into the top three in the "most successful "fundraiser by an individual or group" category.   There are two ways to look at this category - first it is

 the person or group who works hard to raise money for their cause, whether throughout the year giving there everything everyday to raise funding for their cause or it could be interpreted a one event successful blockbuster event a year.  In our case we don't have one event a year, we have one event every 5 days which equals that of one event.   Of course our events take much more time, energy and commitment because we never stop.  Perhaps we have to revisit that and free ourselves up for other things.   How would you interpret this category?

 

All I know is I am busy, I can't possibly keep up with everyone the way I would like to.  I find there are more and more emails unanswered and mundane task

s incomplete...I am too busy raising money everyday...all the time.  If you are reading this and I have not replied to your email, I am sorry and I ask for your patience.  I am working on it!  To those who I promised I would reach out and get in touch...I will!

 

The Classy Awards this year were held on Saturday, September 17th, 2011 and we had a Patriot game at Gillette Stadium with two teams of volunteers coming to the stadium at 12:30.  I didn't think I could attend the Classy Awards this year... after all, 12 hours after the Awards ceremony I had to be at Gillette Stadium.  I was disappointed that they were running concurrently.

 

Being in the top three, I was granted a free round trip airline ticket on Southwest Airlines!  Thank you Southwest!  However,when I looked for flights there were none that could get me back to Boston for the Patriot/Charger game.  I needed a red eye from the west coast to the east coast.  We really did not have the the

 funds to send me to San Diego to attend the awards.   I had to declin

e the invitation..

One week later Classy asked me to send them a video - it was while we were editing our video that I realized I really wanted to be there. I discussed it with my husband and he encouraged me and came up with the idea "what if you fly Southwest to San Diego and pay for the redeye home".  I immediately started looking for a one way redeye home.  I had to leave SD after 10:30 and arrive in Boston by 11:00am.  Great!  Delta had a flight via Atlanta departing 10:50 and arriving in Boston at 11:15am...I realized I would be a little late getting to Gillette but it was doable...the price was half of that of a round trip.  One week before the event I booked m

y flights to San Diego.

 

I volunteer at my church a few hours a week too...the past few weeks have been crazy busy because I work in the Religious education office and school starts today.  What started as a few hours a week has ended up being 30 hours a week over the past month.  This too has lead me

 to neglect some of CCI's responsibilities.  I am cutting my hours there...I have to.

 

You can see by the date, the Classy Awards have come and gone, the volunteer day at Gillette too has come and gone and I am trying to write in this blog and take care of CCI today.

The Classy Awards were wonderful; enchanting, inspiring and sexy. It was gr

eat to be there.  I met many wonderful liked minded indiviudals; all doing great work all around the world, in so many different fields:  medical, animal, environmental, military charities and those that want to change the world from Guatemala to Tanzania...so many people working with little to make a big impact.  I was humbled and honored to be there. 

 

On Friday Classy had a collaborative to bring together all the finalists before the ceremony on Saturday, which was a great idea.  It was there I met some

 fabulous people, some from last year, many more new individuals and charities that I was introduced to.  I was introduced prior to the event to "Little Dresses for Africa" they were running for small charity of the year.  We connected and Rachel brought 50 little dresses for me to take to Tanzania!  So many peopel doing remarkable work.  Thank you "Little Dresses for Africa"  I can't wait to deliver them to little girls in Tanzania! I was presented with our trophy from last year, which was beautiful...so beautiful, it brought tears to my eyes.  It was a great night, cut short by jet lag!  The time I spent there was tremendous.

 

The Classy Awards once again were extraordinary...the team a Stay Classy worked hard to make our night memorable and special. I met more amazing people; people I look forward to following thier endeavors, collaborating with and moving mountains with.  I left the Classy awards motivated,  energized and inspired.  This year was different that last year.  Last year we went as a group - 4 of us, we were content on winning.  I didn't have the opportunity to network and talk to the many that were there.  This year, however, I was flying solo and enjoyed the interaction with so many. 

 

Last year we won the "Volunteer of the Year" award, but this year I felt like a winner again.  Stay tuned as we build momentum and get that school built in Tanzania.

 

I have so many things to work on….I will start now and hope to see you soon. 

 

Blessing to you all.

Love,

Chris

Keeping Busy at CCI

Saturday, July 23, 2011

8:59 PM

We continue to keep busy at CCI.  Hard to believe  that it is the end of July!    We spent the past two weeks selling our crafts.  One weekend was spent in Springfield at the Hoop City Jazz & Art Festival. It was a two day event and fairly successful.  It was good to get out in the summer sunshine and spread the word about what we are doing and sell some of our women's crafts.  Last weekend we were back for the 2nd Annual African Festival in Boston City Hall.  It was a great day where we got to see many of our old friends and meet many new ones.  The only downside was we were selling a children's book for a friend of one of our board members and two of them were stolen!  We now wonder how many other things walked away unpaid for. We need to keep a better eye on things while at these events.

 

This weekend was a quiet one for us...no Gillette gigs or craft fairs.  We are actively seeking events...next weekend we are in Providence, RI at the Wooly Fair.  We enjoy these outside events in the summer, we will miss them during the winter.  We are marketing our  Christmas ornaments... if you are interested in Christmas in July - get them early! Visit our "Fair Trade" tab and order them online.

 

On Thursday, we have the first of three Poker Tournaments.  We were lucky to get into the South Shore Poker Club and the last non profit organization to be granted a permit for such events.  The town of Holbrook will be shutting them down in mid-August. A great big thank you to Jack for introducing us to the SSPC while they are still operating.  Thank you Chris for obtaining the permit and scheduling dates when she did!  If you are in the neighborhood:  July 29, August 5 & August 19th come on down to Maple Street in Holbrook and test your poker skills!

On Wednesday morning Chris has been invited by SCOR to help a woman who is looking to start a non profit to build schools in Guatemala.  She has a lot of good advise for her!

 

The NFL has yet to unlock the lockout.  It is now up to the players and they are expected to vote on Monday. We really hope they come to an agreement so we can move forward with recruiting efforts for volunteers for the entire season.  The first Patriots event is scheduled for August 3rd: Season Ticket holder event.  The first pre-season game is scheduled for August 11th!  We are looking for volunteers who can come to every game this season.  We now have three ice cream/popcorn concessions.  Chris and Gil lead the volunteers for  two of them, we are seeking another vital volunteer.  Gil is a great member of our team and we couldn’t do it without him. 

 

On August 14th we will be at Blessed Sacrament Parish in Walpole selling our Tanzanian crafts after their morning Masses.  Thank you Fr. Leo for helping us secure this opportunity! 

 

Chris keeps busy!  She volunteers at her parish 20 hours a week trying to get the Religious Education program online, she spends countless hours at CCI raising funds to build the school of St. Nicholas in Tanzania and she spends 4 hours a day looking for a paying job...We are amazed that as qualified as she is, she can't find a paying job!  She works hard at everything she does...all of us interns refer to her as "super woman".  Chris  has a great attitude and trusts that this is where God wants her to be at this time. 

Chris also spends time writing her book.  She tells me that it is not only about her work in Tanzania but now includes bits and pieces about  the 500 job applications she has  submitted in the past 2.5 years without any success.  You would never know it because  when you talk to Chris, she is not discouraged. You can't bring this woman down

 

If you haven't had the chance to meet her or listen to her story and see the gleam in her eyes and the joyful expression of her face when she talks about her work in Tanzania and this non profit organization, you have not yet been truly inspired.

 

Sincerely,

A summer intern at CCI.