because we are, i am; because i am, we are

Today was very very busy. We started out going to Nkoarangua Hospital and Orphanage. The hospital is a rural, local hospital, but even so they have dental services, an x-ray machine, a lab for running tests, an ICU unit, a communicable disease unit, and the wards. The wards hold 80 people, 40 men, and 40 women. We talked to the dentist, who was also the man who does x-rays, and learned that most of the dentistry is extractions and fillings, no cosmetic dentistry. The hospital offers free testing for HIV/AIDS, and also free medication. It seems that the government pays for HIV/AIDS drugs if they need them, which is very cool.
After that, we went to the orphanage connected to the hospital. There were very young children there, from 2 months to 5 years old. Apparently, most of the children had fathers, and some still had both parents. The way it seems to work, is that if parents are unable to care for their children, they send them to the orphanage until they are 6 or 7 years old. Then the parents or father will return to pick up the child. This is because children can begin working at age 6-7, and then will be able to help bring money to the family. The baby's were extremely cute, and also friendly. We walked in, and they practically jumped into our arms, wanting to play and chattering at us in Kiswahili.
Then we went to the secondary school. In Tanzania, the school system is similar to the British system. Students must pass national exams at different times during their education to continue. Secondary school is basically equivalent to high school in the US. We met some of the teachers, and got to sit in on classes. We ate lunch with the teachers, then went to the funeral.
It was a young man's funeral. He died of cancer, and had only just turned 20. The reason that we went was because Mr. Ndosi, our coordinator here at TCDC, knows the family of the boy, and also lives very near to them. Funerals in Tanzania are very different than funerals in the US. In the US, average funerals draw 100, maybe 200 people. In Tanzania, it is not uncommon for funerals to have attendances of over 1,000 or 2,000 people. Mr. Ndosi said this is because there is a very different sense of family in Tanzania. In America, your mother and father's brothers and sisters are your aunts and uncles. In Tanzania, they are also your mothers and fathers, and their children are your brothers and sisters. So at funerals, many more people show up, not only because of the extended definition of mothers, fathers, sisters and brothers, but because friends are also considered brothers and sisters, family. A phrase that Mr. Ndosi uses to explain it is "because we are, I am; because i am, we are." There is a much bigger emphasis on helping one another, on community. This being the case, Mr. Ndosi said that our presence at the funeral was not offensive, or intrusive, because we were his friends, his family, and therefore since he had to be there, we also had to be there.
The funeral did have at least 1,000 people attending, I would estimate. Not only was the church packed, but the area outside the church was full of people. I was sitting with some of the students from the school, who were chosen to represent the student body at the school, because the deceased had been a student there, and the other children were not let out of class. During the sermon, one of the boys leaned over and translated the entire sermon for me, without me even asking. It was surprising, but when I asked Mr. Ndosi, it is also expected. After the service itself, the coffin was carried behind the church to be buried in the graveyard. Everyone processed back there, and sang songs while the coffin was buried. That was one difference from American funerals that also stood out to me, in addition to size differences, that the coffin is actually buried while everyone is present. After the funeral, we returned to TCDC.
Tomorrow we are going to Ngorongoro Crater Park, to go on a game trip. It should be fun, although we have breakfast at 6 and leave at 6:30.