You know you're in Tanzania when....
The dala-dala (or bus) won’t leave until its full, which means the person on your lap has someone on his or her lap.
You end up holding someone's child for a 5 hour bus ride because they already have two on top of them
The children point at you and yell “mzungu”. In small villages, once someone has spotted you the entire town rushes out to stare and laugh. It's kind of like you're the animal and they're at the zoo.
Children seem to be lacking in the toy department but even the 8 year old has a cell phone.
You can't belive your luck when the power has been on for 24 hours. Better hurry and shower because it is sure to go off any second!
Dinner by candle light no longer seems romantic.
Your feet always seem to have a nice healthy glow....and then you realize in the shower that it's all dirt
You don't eat the eggs, because the hens feast on a hearty diet of your garbage every day
Every challenge or 'hiccup' in a plan is explained away with the simple phrase 'hakuna matata' or 'TIA-This is Africa'
Tuesday 30 August 2011
Monday 29 August 2011
Sunday 21 August 2011
The Maasai People
Yesterday I had the amazing opportunity to visit a Maasai village. The Maasai people are known for their strong culture and traditions throughout Kenya and Tanzania and have a very distinctive appearance. They are often covered in bright shawls and the elders have very intricate jewlrey, with their earrings signifying their age. Elders have very droopy ears that are almost completely covered in various beads and metals. The Maasai people live very simple lifestyles. The men are warriors, and responsible for the cattle and livelihood of the tribe, while the women are responsible for the home and children.
A couple of the volunteers and I were greeted by a young Maasai man at the bus stop. He was a former student at the school, and often brings volunteers out to meet his family. We got off the bus literally in the middle of nowhere, completely surrounded by flatlands with the occasional group of cattle. During the 2-3 km walk to his village he explained that he lived with his whole family, as descended from his grandfather. It was quite a big group, as his grandfather had 4 wives. His father also had two wives, and his mother was the second wife. There was definately a pecking order, and we were introduced to his grandmother first upon arrival (admist the large groups of curious children).
Eventually we were pulled away from the kids to go and eat lunch. It was an absolutely delicious stew of corn and beans that we shared with out maasai warrior, his cousin and his grandfather. The males never eat in front of the children or women, so none of them joined us. While fascinated by their culture, I cannot imagine growing up in such a patriarchal society. Especially since schooling is a priviledge reserved for only one or two of the best males.
After lunch it was time to head back, but not before some singing and dancing. When we emerged from the darkness of the hut the children grabbed our hands and started singing a beautifully lyrical song. Along with the song came a flurry of jumping up and down (kind of like on a pogo stick). We repeated this for about 10 minutes before we were allowed to catch our breath. Sadly we waved goodbye, and made a washroom stop behind a rock before walking the 3 km back to the side of the road.
Looking back it seems as though we were witnessing a piece of living history. Their lifestyle seemed so primitive (though obviously they all had their mobile phones), but they were such a happy family, and said that they could not imagine living any other way, nor would they want to.
Take-away from the Maasai village: All you need in life is a kanga (the long piece of fabric they wrap around themselves) and a stick!
A couple of the volunteers and I were greeted by a young Maasai man at the bus stop. He was a former student at the school, and often brings volunteers out to meet his family. We got off the bus literally in the middle of nowhere, completely surrounded by flatlands with the occasional group of cattle. During the 2-3 km walk to his village he explained that he lived with his whole family, as descended from his grandfather. It was quite a big group, as his grandfather had 4 wives. His father also had two wives, and his mother was the second wife. There was definately a pecking order, and we were introduced to his grandmother first upon arrival (admist the large groups of curious children).
The grandmother is in the middle in the blue!
We were brought around to the rest of the females in turn, the first wife of our maasai's father, then the second wife, then the wife of his cousin. All of them invited us into their little huts. Some of the homes were circular huts made of mud with straw roofs while a couple had metal roofs. They were all very dark, with small fire pits. There was also usually one bedroom area for the women and small children. The older children sleep outside. To our amazement the cousin (Alexander) even had one solar panel that provided power to his radio! The family had many different areas for all of their animals, which included their cows (who were away grazing somewhere), goats, chickens, and dogs.
Once all the introductions were over, we were allowed to spend some time with the children. We had brought them bubbles, construction paper, skipping ropes and stickers. After pulling these things out, madness quickly ensued. We then spent about an hour teaching them how to make paper planes, blowing bubbles, and chasing them around. They were absolutely fascinated about my skin, freckles and hair. This then led to them giving my hair a makeover.
Eventually we were pulled away from the kids to go and eat lunch. It was an absolutely delicious stew of corn and beans that we shared with out maasai warrior, his cousin and his grandfather. The males never eat in front of the children or women, so none of them joined us. While fascinated by their culture, I cannot imagine growing up in such a patriarchal society. Especially since schooling is a priviledge reserved for only one or two of the best males.
After lunch it was time to head back, but not before some singing and dancing. When we emerged from the darkness of the hut the children grabbed our hands and started singing a beautifully lyrical song. Along with the song came a flurry of jumping up and down (kind of like on a pogo stick). We repeated this for about 10 minutes before we were allowed to catch our breath. Sadly we waved goodbye, and made a washroom stop behind a rock before walking the 3 km back to the side of the road.
Looking back it seems as though we were witnessing a piece of living history. Their lifestyle seemed so primitive (though obviously they all had their mobile phones), but they were such a happy family, and said that they could not imagine living any other way, nor would they want to.
Take-away from the Maasai village: All you need in life is a kanga (the long piece of fabric they wrap around themselves) and a stick!
Friday 19 August 2011
Home Visits
Usually volunteers visit a couple students' homes every Friday. The point of the home visits is to learn more about the students' lives outside of school, and to see who needs the most help. This Friday we visited two students, Fausta and Erica.
The first visit was to Fausta. After a 30 minute walk into town, a 30 minute dala dala ride (a local bus where 30 people are crammed into about 15 seats) and a 30 minute walk from the dala dala stop into her village, we arrived at her house. She lives in a room in a building with about 8 rooms all attached to a central walkway, sharing that room with her husband, and 3 of her 5 children. The other 2 live in a room across the hall. Upon entering the room, I was very impressed with how prettily it was decorated. There was a bed, three couches and a couple chairs against the wall, along with a coffee table and some storage space. No washroom, but there was electricity. Fausta obviously took great pride in her home and was very excited to have us there. Tanzanians are quite hospitable and she had prepared a huge thermos of chai tea and bowls of roasted peanuts for us. We had brought our translator Herman with us and with his help we discussed how she was liking school, and what her goals for the future were. She explained that she wanted to expand her peanut business and also start to sell clothing. Her children popped in throughout our conversation and even her husband joined us. We had attracted a lot of attention during the walk through her village and apparently the news had spread to him that he had visitors, so he left work to come and join us. It was a lovely visit with a lovely women (constantly smiling, hugging us, and thanking us for coming), and a nice way to ease into the home visits.
Erica's house was close by so we were able to walk after saying goodbye to Fausta. Her living conditions were a stark contrast to Fausta's. She lives in a small dark room with a metal roof without any electricity. Erica lives with her Uncle and cousins so that she can get to school more easily (even so it is a 2 hour journey to school every day). Her son Victor stays in another village with her other family members. Once we had settled in, Erica started crying as she explained that she had nothing to offer us to eat or drink. We tried to console her and explain that we had come to see and talk to her, and that nothing else mattered. It was heartbreaking to see how upset she was. She said that once she graduates she would like to embroider fabric.
I was astonished at how much effort the students have to put in to get to school every day (and I know that some of the other students have it much worse). It is amazing that they are able to balance their studies with all of their other responsibilities. I also don't know how Monika will pick who gets to start their businesses at the co-op (every term a couple students get the start up capital from GHTA and run their businesses out of the organization's space in town). So many of them of try so hard, and it's very difficult to see all of the challenges they have simply because of the position they were born into.
The first visit was to Fausta. After a 30 minute walk into town, a 30 minute dala dala ride (a local bus where 30 people are crammed into about 15 seats) and a 30 minute walk from the dala dala stop into her village, we arrived at her house. She lives in a room in a building with about 8 rooms all attached to a central walkway, sharing that room with her husband, and 3 of her 5 children. The other 2 live in a room across the hall. Upon entering the room, I was very impressed with how prettily it was decorated. There was a bed, three couches and a couple chairs against the wall, along with a coffee table and some storage space. No washroom, but there was electricity. Fausta obviously took great pride in her home and was very excited to have us there. Tanzanians are quite hospitable and she had prepared a huge thermos of chai tea and bowls of roasted peanuts for us. We had brought our translator Herman with us and with his help we discussed how she was liking school, and what her goals for the future were. She explained that she wanted to expand her peanut business and also start to sell clothing. Her children popped in throughout our conversation and even her husband joined us. We had attracted a lot of attention during the walk through her village and apparently the news had spread to him that he had visitors, so he left work to come and join us. It was a lovely visit with a lovely women (constantly smiling, hugging us, and thanking us for coming), and a nice way to ease into the home visits.
Erica's house was close by so we were able to walk after saying goodbye to Fausta. Her living conditions were a stark contrast to Fausta's. She lives in a small dark room with a metal roof without any electricity. Erica lives with her Uncle and cousins so that she can get to school more easily (even so it is a 2 hour journey to school every day). Her son Victor stays in another village with her other family members. Once we had settled in, Erica started crying as she explained that she had nothing to offer us to eat or drink. We tried to console her and explain that we had come to see and talk to her, and that nothing else mattered. It was heartbreaking to see how upset she was. She said that once she graduates she would like to embroider fabric.
I was astonished at how much effort the students have to put in to get to school every day (and I know that some of the other students have it much worse). It is amazing that they are able to balance their studies with all of their other responsibilities. I also don't know how Monika will pick who gets to start their businesses at the co-op (every term a couple students get the start up capital from GHTA and run their businesses out of the organization's space in town). So many of them of try so hard, and it's very difficult to see all of the challenges they have simply because of the position they were born into.
Tuesday 16 August 2011
Corruption
Coming from Canada, it's so difficult to wrap your mind around the way things work in a country that is rampant with corruption. For example, the volunteering visa fee was just raised to $500. My thinking was that this would just deter volunteers from coming to Tanzania to help out. To my surprise, it turns out that many of the larger international volunteer organizations are not affected by this change. This is because many of them collect money from volunteers (not the full amount) and split this- giving some to immigration officials and keeping the rest. The immigration officials then issue fake visas, and everyone is happy. I was shocked to learn this, and realize that it is the smaller organizations who try to do everything legally (in this situation by paying all required fees in full) that get the worst end of the deal. It is also very difficult to get anything done if you are not paying bribes. Luckily, Give a Heart to Africa has an honest person from immigration sitting on their board who makes sure that everything goes through without any problems. They refuse to pay any bribes and make sure that every is done the right way, even if it costs a lot more. It is very disappointing to find out that some of the most visible international organizations operate dishonestly!
Sunday 14 August 2011
Safari!
I've never really had an intense desire to go on safari but since I'm spending 6 weeks in Africa I figured I might as well take advantage of my location and go for it. Everything fell into place this past weekend when two fellow volunteers and I teamed up with a woman from England and a woman from Ireland to go on a 2 night/3 day trip.
The first day we hit up Terengire National Park, also known as the little Serengeti. Things started off extremely quickly as our car was almost immediately surrounded by a wildebeast and zebra stampede, reminding us that this is the time for the wildebeast migration. The rest of the park did not disappoint, and we saw TONS of animals, including: giraffes, ostriches, elephants, baboons, lions, impalas, warthogs (pumba), and lots of birds. At one point we were sitting by a stream completely surrounded by all of the animals. It seemed kind of like Noah's arc as more and more just kept streaming around us, totally oblivious to our existance.
The next day we headed to the Ngorogoro crater which is a conservation area and a UNESCO world heritage site. It was reached by this insanely winding road along a cliff that our driver insisted he must zoom along (otherwise there is too much dust). The drive was beautiful and punctuated with alternating views of the crater and masai villages. Our first viewpoint stop was perfectly timed with a couple of masai crossing the road with their herds, their bright red cloth providing a stark contrast to the light dirt of the cliffs. On the crater we saw all of the same animals as yesterday (except for giraffes because of the altitude) and more. At one point there were a couple trucks stopped at a point in the road. We went up to see what was going on and there was a large female lion laying on the road panting extremely hard. At first we thought she might be pregnant but that was not the case....which leads to the most exciting part of the day. Continuing on we saw a young male lion eating a wildebeast! It was pretty disgusting but also amazing to see. It turned out that the female lion had killed the wildebeast for her son and she was exhausted from the hunt so that's why she was lying on the road. Crazy crazy nature. And yes the pride of lions were staying in this one rocky area just like Pride Rock in the Lion King! And there were hyenas, very very ugly. Lunch was eaten by a pretty lake filled with hippos. Apparently hippos are quite dangerous and generally kill more people in Africa than lions so we kept our distance. We were also lucky enough to see a rhino later in the day. Sadly they are extremely endangered and there are only 25 in the park. Overall the day was amazing! One of the girls I was with took a couple videos (including the lion's meal) so hopefully I will be able to get my hands on those.
The last day (today) we went to Lake Manyara. It was very pretty, but there were a lot less animals than the other places we'd been. It also seemed a little more touristy, and at some points you felt like you were at the zoo. What I loved about the other two parks was that you were actually in the natural environment and there was nothing contrived, or man made (except for some rest stops).
I arrived back in Moshi, covered in dust and exhausted but very satisfied with my adventures. Tomorow I start as a computer teacher, doing Excel. It will be different from last week when I was filling in for the business teacher, discussing SWOTs with the students. Later!
The first day we hit up Terengire National Park, also known as the little Serengeti. Things started off extremely quickly as our car was almost immediately surrounded by a wildebeast and zebra stampede, reminding us that this is the time for the wildebeast migration. The rest of the park did not disappoint, and we saw TONS of animals, including: giraffes, ostriches, elephants, baboons, lions, impalas, warthogs (pumba), and lots of birds. At one point we were sitting by a stream completely surrounded by all of the animals. It seemed kind of like Noah's arc as more and more just kept streaming around us, totally oblivious to our existance.
The next day we headed to the Ngorogoro crater which is a conservation area and a UNESCO world heritage site. It was reached by this insanely winding road along a cliff that our driver insisted he must zoom along (otherwise there is too much dust). The drive was beautiful and punctuated with alternating views of the crater and masai villages. Our first viewpoint stop was perfectly timed with a couple of masai crossing the road with their herds, their bright red cloth providing a stark contrast to the light dirt of the cliffs. On the crater we saw all of the same animals as yesterday (except for giraffes because of the altitude) and more. At one point there were a couple trucks stopped at a point in the road. We went up to see what was going on and there was a large female lion laying on the road panting extremely hard. At first we thought she might be pregnant but that was not the case....which leads to the most exciting part of the day. Continuing on we saw a young male lion eating a wildebeast! It was pretty disgusting but also amazing to see. It turned out that the female lion had killed the wildebeast for her son and she was exhausted from the hunt so that's why she was lying on the road. Crazy crazy nature. And yes the pride of lions were staying in this one rocky area just like Pride Rock in the Lion King! And there were hyenas, very very ugly. Lunch was eaten by a pretty lake filled with hippos. Apparently hippos are quite dangerous and generally kill more people in Africa than lions so we kept our distance. We were also lucky enough to see a rhino later in the day. Sadly they are extremely endangered and there are only 25 in the park. Overall the day was amazing! One of the girls I was with took a couple videos (including the lion's meal) so hopefully I will be able to get my hands on those.
The last day (today) we went to Lake Manyara. It was very pretty, but there were a lot less animals than the other places we'd been. It also seemed a little more touristy, and at some points you felt like you were at the zoo. What I loved about the other two parks was that you were actually in the natural environment and there was nothing contrived, or man made (except for some rest stops).
I arrived back in Moshi, covered in dust and exhausted but very satisfied with my adventures. Tomorow I start as a computer teacher, doing Excel. It will be different from last week when I was filling in for the business teacher, discussing SWOTs with the students. Later!
The lion eating the wildebeast!
Wednesday 10 August 2011
The Witch Doctor
About a week before I got here, one of the school laptops was stolen. This was devastating because there are only about 10 working laptops (with various problems). The one that was stolen was the teaching laptop, aka the best one with all of the lesson plans, tests, and exams on it. On Monday there was a huge meeting with all of the students, volunteers and staff (gardiner, night watch man, cleaning lady and cook) to try to figure out what had happened. Three possibilities came out:
-One of the students took it early in the morning
-The night watchman took it at some point during the night or morning
-Our cleaning lady took it
The conversation got quite heated and everyone was given one week to figure out what had happened. It's kind of scary because thiefs that are caught in Tanzania are usually beaten quite badly (sometimes until they die). The laptop is probably already sold so we're not going to get it back but it's important to find out who stole it to make sure they are not allowed back in the school and given other opportunities to steal.
Anyways, the students decided that they would all put their money together so that a few of them could travel to Arusha, a city about an hour away. They came up with a list of suspects and are going to give that list to a couple of witch doctors to see what answer they come up with. We're kind of concerned about what will happen if the witch doctors name an inoccent person but stay tuned........
-One of the students took it early in the morning
-The night watchman took it at some point during the night or morning
-Our cleaning lady took it
The conversation got quite heated and everyone was given one week to figure out what had happened. It's kind of scary because thiefs that are caught in Tanzania are usually beaten quite badly (sometimes until they die). The laptop is probably already sold so we're not going to get it back but it's important to find out who stole it to make sure they are not allowed back in the school and given other opportunities to steal.
Anyways, the students decided that they would all put their money together so that a few of them could travel to Arusha, a city about an hour away. They came up with a list of suspects and are going to give that list to a couple of witch doctors to see what answer they come up with. We're kind of concerned about what will happen if the witch doctors name an inoccent person but stay tuned........
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