Safari

This post should really be titled "Why You're Actually Reading This Blog".

Paulo and I headed out to pick up TC from the airport last Wednesday night. We had one day of sorting things out in Arusha and then we were off on safari bright and early on Friday for a three day safari.

Enough talk. Picture time!

Day One - Lake Manyara

Elephant spotted just moments after entering the park.

Blue Monkey

"Roads? Where we're going, we don't need roads!"

Zebra against the African backdrop.

"You lookin' at me?" My lunch companion.

This giraffe played peek-a-boo with us with the bushes to the left.

Day Two - Ngorongoro Crater

Warthog

Mr. and Mrs. Ostrich

Water Buffalo checking us out.

Wildebeest blocking our driving route.

Hippo family moving from one pool to another.

Entering the forest area of Ngorongoro.

Day Three - Tarangire

Lioness takes off after a Wildebeest who was silly enough to venture towards the water when the lions were RIGHT THERE!

This chase ended with no food but a move of the pride from one area of shade to another. Later, they would catch a Wildebeest and we would return to see them eating dinner.

Giraffe

Tarangiri is known as 'the home of elephants' for a reason.

We were so close to this elephant, we could almost touch it.

Bull elephant reaching for the acacia tree.

When Kesho (Tomorrow) turns to Kwa Heri (Goodbye)

I left Jifundishe and Ngongongare on October 13th. It already feels like a lifetime ago. Well, it feels longer than a week and a half, at least.

I struggle, when I write or talk about village life in Tanzania, with the idea of romanticising it. So I will say this; life here isn't easy, but it isn't difficult either. When you have never known a life without near-daily power outages, this isn't a hardship. It is simply your reality and you work with what you have.

My last night and morning in Ngongongare, I had clear views to Mt. Meru. I also had the joy of a 28 hour (at the time I left) power outage. Hey, solar power. I love you! Despite the cloudy days and draining my solar power a few days earlier so I could get some work done during the day - power was routinely cut during the day while Tanesco replaced a series of power poles - I had enough power to charge my phone and finish some computer work for Jifundishe.

Mt. Meru in the early morning of the day I left.

I headed to the office for the last time to put the finishing touches on the User Guides I created. As Anne and Deb were off doing work in other places, it was just Anande and myself seated in opposite ends of the staff house with the generator running between us. Conversations usually started with muffled shouting, followed by one of us giving up and walking to the other person's office.

My mornings and evenings were usually spent in this seat. Positioning it here meant I had
a ledge to rest my coffee/beer on, I was facing the right direction to watch the sunset, and
when someone called out 'Hodi' at the backdoor, I only had to lean back to see who it was.

I headed back up to the house to grab my bags and say 'kwa heri' (goodbye) to Frida. When I arrived, I found that she had still cooked lunch (although I told her I was leaving at lunchtime) and that the lunch consisted of all the foods I had commented on when she had cooked them. Frida is friendly enough but the word stoic is definitely one that comes to mind when I think of her. To find that she had done this meant a lot, and I wish I had been more diligent in my Swahili so I could have said more to her than 'thank you very much', 'I will miss you' and 'next time I will speak more Swahili'. Frida, of course, waved off my declarations of feelings as if a fly was hovering around her face, and then she walked away when I asked for a picture.

Looking at the kitchen from the living room.

Again, I don't want to romanticise village life, but I really do slip into it so easily when I'm here. As long as I have my Dial-A-Paulo when I need a ride somewhere (or a beer run on a Friday night...), I enjoy the quiet that comes with living in a small community. My time here just reinforced that I want to do an extended stay again at some point in the future. And while I enjoyed my time of Cradle of Love, my time at Jifundishe feels much more productive. I'm not just another volunteer passing through, I'm actually contributing something meaningful and lasting for this organisation.

My evening view. I'd read my book and either drink tea or beer until the sunset.

I had a few days before my Travel Companion (henceforth called TC) arrived and I really did not want to spend any more time in Arusha. I took the Friday to visit the Tanzanian Tourist Board office and get a bus ticket to Kondoa with the intention of seeing the Kondoa Rock Art. Dark and early Saturday morning, I hopped on a bus headed to Kondoa.

When I reached Kondoa, I contacted the Cultural Tour Guide I had connected with at the Tourist Office, and discovered that the price he quoted me was based on two people taking the tour. As a solo traveller, I'd have to pay the whole price myself. Even on the phone, he said "it's very expensive for one person." Yes. Yes, it is. I could arrange to visit the site myself, but I woke up Sunday morning with some stomach issues. I ventured out to grab some food and water, then returned to my room with cable. There would be no visiting the Rock Paintings on Monday as I had planned.

Despite this, I enjoyed Kondoa. I was feeling better on Monday and was able to walk around the town. It was just far enough off the beaten path that I was an oddity as a white person but everyone was incredibly friendly. It was also almost entirely Muslim which meant that my tattoo was a huge hit because they are forbidden by Islam. Everyone wanted to touch it, and one guy looked like he was going to throw up when I explained how a tattoo gun works. Pretty much everyone here is terrified of needles so the fact that I sat for 40 minutes getting repeatedly poked with one won me a few 'hardcore' points in their eyes.

As I sat on the bus to leave, I realised that I hadn't taken a single picture of the town.

Just a reason to go back, I guess!

Back in Arusha Then On The Road Again

I'm posting from my phone so fingers crossed this works! I left Ngongongare last Thursday and then headed to Kondoa for a few days. Internet access down there was very limited!

I've written a few posts but without Internet, they're still on my laptop! I'm waiting for my travel partner to arrive tonight and then we're off on safari on Friday. We are staying in a lodge and most of them have WiFi these days so hopefully I'll catch up on my posting then.

I just wanted to let you know that I'm still alive and I haven't forgotten to post, I just couldn't.

Staying on a Little Longer

Happy Thanksgiving to my Canadian friends and family!

Suck it, rest of you!

First, thank you to my mom for pointing out that I had left the default settings on the comments so you had to login to leave a comment. That’s now fixed, mom. You can write those comments now.

On Friday morning, Anne and I discussed my staying on at Jifundishe for this week as they are installing Shule-Direct this Wednesday. Shule-Direct – shule means school – is the Tanzanian government’s eLearning component of their curriculum. The great thing about Shule-Direct is that it can be loaded onto the RACHEL-Pi server and therefore, it is available even when the Internet is unavailable. All this is to say that I am still in Ngongongare until Thursday.

My home until Thursday

I spent a relatively quiet weekend in Ngongongare. Relatively quiet because the church choir practiced all weekend. They started Friday at 5pm, and they stopped only for power outages, sleep, and the portions of the Sunday Service they weren’t required to sing. Normally, I would love the idea of live music all weekend except they sang three songs. Over and over and over and over and over. Add to that, the lead singer is tone deaf and kept trying to hit notes well outside her limited range. I know it’s a small village and they are reliant on the talent available, but I refuse to believe this woman is the best this village has to offer. When they finally stopped at 10pm Sunday night, I was tempted to go outside and start cheering.

Other than the cacophony from my neighbours, it was a weekend where nothing really happened. I relaxed, read a novel, went for walks, practiced my Swahili with Frida, stopped by the local duka (shop) for Coca baridi (cold Coke), and picked up Anne’s cold from last week.

The blue-ish duka in the middle is where I buy my Coca baridi

Okay, so that last part wasn’t so fun but Anne passed on her cold medicine and I’m feeling much better. It’s agreed that if I still have a sore throat tomorrow then I’ll head to the clinic to double check. Poor Frida looked so concerned when she saw me take the medicine at lunch today; I had to assure her that the dawa (medicine) was not related to her cooking.

Where I spend my days

Today, I started introducing the students and teachers to RACHEL-Pi. Well, a student-teacher today, Amret. I had him walk through my instructions on how to switch from the Internet to RACHEL-Pi. Initially, he was unimpressed by what appeared to be just a regular internet page. Then I explained to him that you could use this when the internet is down or when the power is out. I could have told him I was giving him $1,000,000 and I think his reaction would have been the same.

Then I showed him that he could connect with his phone.

“But then I have to use data.”

“No. When you connect to RACHEL-Pi, it doesn’t use your data. You are connected to their free server so it costs you nothing.”

“So, I bring my phone to Jifundishe, open up one of these books on RACHEL-Pi, read it, and it will cost me nothing?”

“That’s right.”

“So, the computer lab is full, I can still study these Wikipedia articles on my phone.”

“Yes.”

“And it doesn’t use my data?”

“No.”

“I have to tell my class. I have to tell everyone.”

As I was packing up, he was already showing other students in the computer room how to log onto the server and I felt a small twinge of remorse that I had to take the server away albeit temporarily. We walked out together chatting about RACHEL-Pi and what it would mean for the students. When we came to his group of friends studying on the lawn, we said goodbye and I headed back to Cacti House (the volunteer quarters). He was talking to his friends too quickly for me to catch what he said, but I did hear him say “RACHEL-Pi”.

Education is, in my opinion, one of the cornerstones to eradicating poverty. Whether in a formal classroom setting or through visiting a free library, education can improve lives. Even just the simple knowledge of how to keep a clean water source safe can help a community. RACHEL-Pi is the brainchild of a group called World Possible. In the words of Amret today, "they really do make the world possible." Please visit their page and consider making a donation.

Some of the students heading home

Village Life

I did it! I left Arusha!

It wasn’t quite on the Monday as I had planned – I have the Ministry of Home Affairs (Immigration) to thank for that – but it happened. Bright and early on the Tuesday morning, I hopped in the cab of Paulo’s friend, stopped at MOHA to pick up my now twice-stamped passport, and made the drive out to Ngongongare.

The painfully slow drive out to Ngongongare.

They’re expanding the road two a dual-carriageway between the border all the way to Moshi – and Paulo thinks this is all going to be done by February, he has much more faith in Tanzanian work ethic than I do! – and they’re just east of Arusha at the moment. With no lines on the road – HA! When are there ever lines? – and big chunks of pavement missing, driving along the road was a bit of a free-for-all.

Plus, it had started raining on Monday night and while it had abated after the initial onslaught, it didn’t stop until shortly after 8am Tuesday morning.

When it rains this hard, you take shelter where you can.
Even a gas station.

I think I’m cursed when it comes to travel weather. My first time in Switzerland in 1999, they had the worst flooding in years, and my train into Interlaken was the last one in or out via Thun for two days due to flooding on the track. My last time in Switzerland in 2013, they had horribly raining weather and it even snowed ON MAY 24^TH! Last time I was in Tanzania, the locals complained about how wet the dry season was and that they still had to mow grass that should have been brown by then. This time? It has rained almost every day and the locals are complaining about how wet the dry season is.

I’m sorry, Tanzania.

But the northern part of the country has also been in semi-drought status for a number of years so you’re also welcome.

Two things have happened since I was last here. 1) The library moved to a larger location in the next village over. 2) There is now a volunteer house to stay at on the same plot of land as the library. My previous trips have all been driving to Deb’s and then walking to Imbaseni from there. The road to Deb’s is rough. The road to the Jifundishe library… well, first off, let’s stop calling it a road. Calling it a road is giving it airs. It’s exposed rock face occasionally filled in with dirt. How we made it to the library in a car will forever be a source of mystery for me.

This is the flattest part of the road.

It took less than a minute of being here to undo all the stress and frustration of my week in Arusha. I wouldn’t call my days lazy, but definitely chill. Jifundishe recently got RACHEL-PI which is a small data hub (like a server) that contains Wikipedia for Schools, a bunch of Khan Academy resources, Farming and Husbandry documents created by a Kenyan company (so transferable to here), and many other resources which will be a definite benefit to Jifundishe as a whole. The best part is you don’t need the internet to access these resources, you just need to connect to the hub. The hub itself can be plugged in or run off of its own chargeable battery. Just in case it’s not abundantly clear, I’m pretty jazzed about this thing.

What I’m not jazzed about? It’s a lot of information but it’s not exactly user friendly. Hmm, I wonder what I, with a background as a Technical Writer and Instructional Designer, could possibly be working on while I’m here?

Not ‘toning down my sarcasm’, that’s for sure.

Because of the short duration of my stay – I’m back to Arusha on Saturday – I opted to have Frida (Free-da) cook for me instead of having to deal with getting my own food sorted. She undercooks the vegetables and overcooks the pasta and rice, but the meals are amazing. At first I was on the fence about having someone cook for me because I know that I can handle doing it myself, but that first bite of the first lunch was heavenly. She always cooks too much and it takes every ounce of restraint I have not to gorge myself on her cooking.

Lunch time!

She doesn’t speak much English but she’s very patient with my Swahili. I think she was pleasantly surprised on the first day to realise she doesn’t have to shake the coffee and tea at me when she asks “Kahawa au chai?” I also make sure that even thought it’s technically my space she is cooking in and I can just enter, I call out “Hodi” when I arrive and I wait for her to respond. This might not be her house, but she’s been here longer than I have and will continue to cook in the kitchen and clean the living space long after I’m gone. The least I can do, is show respect in our interactions.

Immigration and Observations

I met with Anne and Anande for lunch on Thursday and I will be heading out to Jifundishe on Monday for five days. YAY! After that, I may return for another short stint but we’re playing it by ear. Upside? I got to deal with Immigration again! Did I say ‘upside’? Hmm, and I haven’t even had a beer yet today.

I headed to the Arusha office on Friday (the place of the infamous chest-stare-visa-renewal) and was approved for my volunteer position, but have to return on Monday morning because something wasn’t working that they required to complete the process. I couldn’t understand the gentleman telling me this, it was either the computer or printer or photocopier, or maybe they just couldn’t find a pen. I’m not really sure. I think he said that they needed to make a copy of my passport and the photocopier wasn’t working. I wanted to point out that they already scanned my passport at one of the three immigration lines I had to go through at the airport so my scanned passport should already be in their system, but as I still need the nice man to put yet another Immigration stamp in said passport, I just smiled, asked what time they open on Monday morning, and tried to keep the eye twitching to a minimum.

My plan for the day was that after I visited the Immigration Office, I would stop at ‘The Immigration Canteen’ for lunch. The Canteen is a restaurant on the grounds of the Ministry of Home Affairs (which oversees Immigration) that we loved because it had an outdoor seating area and served fantastic (by Tanzania standards) and cheap pizza. It was the one part of repeated trips to that office that I looked forward to. Alas, alack, sigh, the outdoor seating area is no more. It is now a cheerless white room with almost no natural light. I didn’t even bother to stop and see if they still served pizza.

It’s like Arusha wants me to hate it.

On my various forays around town, I’ve noted that Arusha has at least two different driving schools. I know that, in theory, Tanzanians have to pass a driving test, but is it really so difficult you’d pay to attend a driving school? I imagine the training is something along the lines of “this is the gas and this is the break. Try not to use the break or you will wear it out.”

“Drive on the left side of the road, unless you have a reason to drive on the right. Pretty much anything can be used as a reason.”

“Use your horn all the time, whether or not you need to. Emergency? Hold your horn down and drive in the middle of the road.”

“Your blinker can be used to indicate a turn, if you want. It’s not necessary. It can also be used to thank the driver of an oncoming vehicle BECAUSE THAT IS IN NO WAY CONFUSING!”

“Only stop at a stoplight if you can see there is traffic in the lane that has the right-of-way.”

“It is acceptable to start turning 20 meters before the corner if you see an opening in the traffic.”

One of the highest causes of death in Tanzania is traffic fatalities. I can’t think why.