Sending Taanya on her Earthly Journey

It might sound a bit out of the ordinary to dispose of a loving one’s remains 37 years after her death, but it now seemed appropriate and so that’s what we did.

Taanya was born August 25, 1973, in Ketchikan as a Tsimpshian Indian of Southeast Alaska.  A month later she became a member of the Saxowsky as Taanya Rhea with brother Darron and parents Gail and Denvy.  A half year later Marc became a second brother.  On December 19, 1975, Taanya died of spinal meningitis and was cremated.  In June of 2012 the family agreed to dispose of her ashes around the Yellowstone Park where three major river basins originate.

The first stop was a tributary to the Snake River.  The parking area was empty and we walked to the green bank of a wide slow flowing river.  Darron took the first handful of ashes and gently cast them onto the water.  Marc, Gail and Denvy followed doing the same.  Each seemed to quietly step back as if remembering the two-year old we knew decades ago.

The river was named the Nez Perce after a tribe of native Americans who avoided the US military under the leadership of Chief Joseph when they were to be moved to a reservation.  This in itself was a needful connection.

At the baptism of Jesus, it is said a dove appeared.  In our case, moments after the last ash started down the river an elk appeared in the river with a calf still spotted.  Her appearance, of course, attracted a crowd with cameras.  She carefully and patiently stood in the water watching the gathering crowd before she invited her calf to follow her from the far bank.  After she gave the all-clear they crossed to our side of the river and headed up the bank toward us.  Moments later after passing the crowd they trotted through the same grass we knelt in minutes earlier as we sent Taanya on her way.  This appearance transcended coincidence and the mother/child relationship left a lump in our throats.

Halfway between Yellowstone Lake and the Upper Yellowstone Falls we repeated the same ritual.  Again the river itself was spiritual and moments later we were observing both the Upper and then the Lower Falls knowing that at some point the ashes would pass over those falls and travel on to the Atlantic Ocean via the Yellowstone, Missouri and Mississippi Rivers and the Gulf of Mexico.

While in the Green River basin south of the park, we were looking for an appropriate stream when we realized we were soon to leave that drainage that ultimately lead through the Grand Canyon and into the Pacific Ocean.  At one stop the banks were too steep so we drove on but within seconds we found a turnout with a small gentle stream of clear mountain water flowing through a grassland.  This time everyone including Dominic, Riley and Angelmary lay ashes into the stream.  They too wanted to be a part of Taanya who would have been the aunt they would never know.

At that point the remaining ashes were laid into the water which would take Taanya to anywhere and everywhere in this world.  Taanya, the physical body, is now completely part of the physical world as her soul continues to wait for us to join her.

Sending Taanya on her Earthly Journey

It might sound a bit out of the ordinary to dispose of a loving one's remains 37 years after her death, but it now seemed appropriate and so that's what we did.

Taanya was born August 25, 1973, in Ketchikan as a Tsimpshian Indian of Southeast Alaska.  A month later she became a member of the Saxowsky as Taanya Rhea with brother Darron and parents Gail and Denvy.  A half year later Marc became a second brother.  On December 19, 1975, Taanya died of spinal meningitis and was cremated.  In June of 2012 the family agreed to dispose of her ashes around the Yellowstone Park where three major river basins originate.

The first stop was a tributary to the Snake River.  The parking area was empty and we walked to the green bank of a wide slow flowing river.  Darron took the first handful of ashes and gently cast them onto the water.  Marc, Gail and Denvy followed doing the same.  Each seemed to quietly step back as if remembering the two-year old we knew decades ago.

The river was named the Nez Perce after a tribe of native Americans who avoided the US military under the leadership of Chief Joseph when they were to be moved to a reservation.  This in itself was a needful connection.

At the baptism of Jesus, it is said a dove appeared.  In our case, moments after the last ash started down the river an elk appeared in the river with a calf still spotted.  Her appearance, of course, attracted a crowd with cameras.  She carefully and patiently stood in the water watching the gathering crowd before she invited her calf to follow her from the far bank.  After she gave the all-clear they crossed to our side of the river and headed up the bank toward us.  Moments later after passing the crowd they trotted through the same grass we knelt in minutes earlier as we sent Taanya on her way.  This appearance transcended coincidence and the mother/child relationship left a lump in our throats.

Halfway between Yellowstone Lake and the Upper Yellowstone Falls we repeated the same ritual.  Again the river itself was spiritual and moments later we were observing both the Upper and then the Lower Falls knowing that at some point the ashes would pass over those falls and travel on to the Atlantic Ocean via the Yellowstone, Missouri and Mississippi Rivers and the Gulf of Mexico.

While in the Green River basin south of the park, we were looking for an appropriate stream when we realized we were soon to leave that drainage that ultimately lead through the Grand Canyon and into the Pacific Ocean.  At one stop the banks were too steep so we drove on but within seconds we found a turnout with a small gentle stream of clear mountain water flowing through a grassland.  This time everyone including Dominic, Riley and Angelmary lay ashes into the stream.  They too wanted to be a part of Taanya who would have been the aunt they would never know.

Why we should fail

I ran across these quotes yesterday. I like them.

"The two most important tools an architect has are the eraser in the drawing room and the sledgehammer on the construction site." ---Frank Lloyd Wright

"The physicist's greatest tool is his wastebasket." ---Albert Einstein

"There are days when I make five of them, but one has to reckon that of 20 drawings, only one will be successful." ---Vincent Van Gogh

"There is no such thing as failure. Only giving up too soon." ---Jonas Salk

"There's a way to do it better--find it." ---

"Fail. Fail again. Fail better." ---

"If you want to succeed, double your failure rate." ---Tom Watson, IBM

"I write 99 pages of shit for every one page of masterpiece." ---Ernest Hemingway

Visiting the hospital for poor families

Today Shirley and I had our turn to accompany Dr. James Lace on his rounds at the pediatric clinic that the government runs here in Arusha.  There are private hospitals here that look very fancy on the outside, but the only one accesible to poor families is the government hospital.  The hospital is having some renovations, so the pediatric section has been moved to a health clinic in a neighborhood called Levolosi.  The first issue they had in their new location is that there was no electricity there until last week, when Dr. Lace made a donation that enabled them to run the generator.  (The general electricity here is very unreliable).  When a child comes to the hospital, they are generally accompanied by their mother.  The mother stays with the child in a bed (or sometime 2 or 3 mother and child pairs share a bed) and they must provide their own food and clothes or bedding. 

There are four "sections" in the pediatric ward.  The first is "Intensive care" which consists of three beds separated from the rest in a large room by screens.  There are no special machines there; they are just located closer to the table where the doctor and interns sit to write their notes.  This area is for the children who are the sickest.  The rest of the beds in that large room are the section called "P1"  This is for the kid's who are a little better than the ones in Intensive Care.  The most common diagnosis is malaria and pneumonia.  Dr. Lace told us that malaria is the number one killer of children under age 5 in Tanzania.  It presents as fever, vomiting, diarrhea, as well as other symptoms.  That, of course, could be other things, but they have very few diagnostic tools and malaria is so common that they just generally treat for it.  There were also cases of kidney disease in which protien is shed in the urine, a mystery case of headache and dizziness, and a probable skull fracture that was a week old.  It was very interesting to watch Dr. Lace interact with the interns, both of whom are Tanzanian medical students.  Because there is so little in the way of technology, Dr. Lace emphasizes listening the patient's story, the physical exam, and informed reasoning about what is likely going on.  He has shared with us earlier the challenges of bringing in technology that is appropriate to the setting, and his finding over the years that the most helpful thing is conversations with the doctors about specific cases, sharing information and expanding their knowledge base.  We had one case of an umbilical hernia with a granuloma (a part of the umbilical cord that had not died) in a month old baby.  The intern had thought it was an infection, because she had never seen this before.  But Dr. Lace recognized it immediately -- and now the intern will know about this possibility for the future as well.

A third section is "P2" where the kids from "P1" go when they are a bit better but not yet ready to go home.  The fourth section is the "Malnutrition Room"  There were three patients in there today.  One is an HIV positive baby who was left with his grandparents for 10 months while his mother looked for work.  While there the grandparents stopped giving him his medicine and he stopped eating.  He is responding to the care at the hospital and the intern was considering releasing him, but Dr. Lace said keep him here for at least a week, "We need to fatten him up!"  Another was a baby who is 12 months old, but is the same size as a newborn.  He has been vomiting all his life, can't keep any food down.  It is a mystery how he has survived!  Dr. Lace is hoping that they can get some more "investigations" (tests) done to discover the why of his ailment.

From there we went to the actual hospital.  We were able to tour the renovations which will be quite an improvement.  Instead of open windows, there will be sliding windows with screens.  Instead of concrete slab floors there will be tile floors.  There are lovely rooms with glass doors and walls.  We went to the nursery for the newborns and preemies.  There were some amazing sights there.  A few babies look healthy and responsive and will go home today probably.  There was a set of twins with Cerebral Palsy, and some tiny ones who need oxygen.  Many have nasal gastric feeding tubes because they can't suck, and some can't swallow.  There was one baby I kept watching closely to see if he was going to get that next breath.  It came seldom and was the only sign that he was still alive.  But they said he was better than the day before!  The cribs have 2-3 babies in them.  There is no bedding, so each baby is wrapped in or resting on a cotton cloth, called kanga here. 

We also saw the women in the breast feeding class.  That is good!

We met the only local pediatrician (for an area of 1 1/2 million people).  She said to us "This is how it is here.  It is hard to be born in Africa.  But if you survive your birth, you will be strong!"

-- Linda

Bartering or Not..................

The first shopping trip I was told to barter.  I really didn"t want to because I told them it was too
expensive.   The shop person would say "Give me a price."  I wasn't very successful the first time but
the next time I went shopping I saw a carved wooden bowl I really liked.  I asked, "How much?"
He said, "One hundred dollars".  I said that is too much.  He asked how much I would pay and I
said $30.  Of course he said 'NO".

I went out of that shop empty-handed and the other shop keepers saw that.  After that whatever price they
said, I said that was too much.  Again, they wanted me to give a price and I did.  I got seven gifts that day
for the prices I wanted.

So bartering does work.

Shirley Garrison

Teaching Computer Literacy

One of the challenges of computer training is the lack of consistent electricity. Dr. Lace says this is worse than he has seen before. We may have electric a few hours in the middle of the night but then it's gone during the day. So we have a generator that has worked some days.

The students that we have in the computer class are from a shelter for homeless youth. The agency works hard to get the students off the streets and into their safe environment. One of the goals is to help the individual gain job skills and computer literacy is one of those. Some of these young people are also in tailoring or cooking classes in the afternoons.

Many of the students were shy to start with but have opened up and have gotten quite engaged. Some of the young people have a small amount of English but the language barrier has been another challenge. It is a wonderful feeling to be helping someone through an experience and then for them to share that with another student who hasn't quite understood yet. It may have only been a few days but the students are certainly gaining their skills. And now really enjoying their facebook and emails!!

The Orphans Foundation Fund organization has great hopes for this computer lab to help individuals gain job skills and in the future to also be available for others in the community to pay for their classes. This will then become an income source for some of the programs as well.

Our group felt very close to those individuals in the village last week and were sad to leave them but this week has developed into a whole new group of relationships and just as meaningful. It's a wonder what can happen in a week's time.

Shanga Sign Language

Our group went to Shanga, a place where people who live in Arusha and are disabled can work. Shanga is Swahili for bead, and this place was a bead/craft making workshop and gift shop. There were quite a few people who worked there and we were able to see people making and sanding beads and making other crafts. One of the bead makers was going very fast it was very cool to see his technique. While we were watching him, we saw the group of people in that area all using Tanzanian Sign Language. I myself use American Sign Language so I was fascinated watching them.

The director came over and he knows how to speak Swahili, English, and Tanzanian Sign Language, very impressive. He would interpret for us what the deaf people were saying and our responses or questions to them. We all introduced our names then the director said we could go to the sitting area and one of the girls would come over and teach us some Tanzanian Sign Language. There was a board that had words in Swahili and English and she showed us the signs for them. Our whole group was signing and I was very excited to learn and enjoyed watching the rest of my group sign also. There is a person at the place we are staying who uses Tanzanian Sign Language so I wanted to be able to communicate with him.

Once we learned Tanzanian Sign Language I was asked to go up and show the same words in American Sign Language. I really enjoyed showing them my signs and they loved learning it. All of the deaf workers there came over to watch and they asked me a whole bunch of words to show them and they usually laughed when they saw the difference. It was a fun, interactive experience. This went on for about a half hour and then one of our group leaders asked for a picture with everyone so we all got in a picture. That is a picture I will always cherish.

~Katharine Choate