July 19: Leaving Tanzania

I am sitting at a table with my friend Mike at Kilimanjaro International Airport right now.  He is headed off to Zanzibar to meet up with the rest of the group, and I am heading home!!  At first, it seemed as though this day would never come.  The first 4 weeks in Tanzania were so difficult and there was so much work to be done in a very limited amount of time.  But, the second month went by so quickly!  All the weekend trips made it go by even quicker!  I can't believe I'm going home, but I am very happy to be doing so (but also sad to be leaving TZ!)

Although I am looking forward to being back in America, I had a great experience in Tanzania and am so happy I came here.  I learned a lot, saw a lot, and met a lot of really great people from all different backgrounds.  It was rough at times and I realized how much I take for granted back at home, but I am glad I had this eye-opening experience.  I obviously have not experienced the things that people are experiencing here, but I have now at least been exposed to the hardships people face here--and will hopefully make the trip back here and help make life better for people in Africa!

Saying goodbye to mama was so sad this morning.  I didn't think it would be this hard to leave, but it was!  I have gotten so close to her and she actually treated me like her real daughter.  As we were hugging good-bye, she started crying and Adrienne and I couldn't help but follow her lead with our own tears.  I will truly miss mama and Derick and Mesha, and would be so happy if I ever had the chance to see them again.  It was also really sad saying goodbye to our teacher Francis yesterday.  He is going back to Kenya with his wife Mary, and I will miss them both.  It was truly a privilege having him as my teacher!

So much happened, and it is so hard to sum up my whole experience in one simple blog post.  So, I'm going to end on that note.  Until next time, Tanzania... 

July 13-14: Tarangire + Ngorongoro Crater

This weekend, we went on two safaris—one at Tarangire and one at Ngorongoro.  Both were really, really cool and we saw a lot of animals!  Unfortunately we didn’t see any leopards, cheetahs, or rhinos… but we saw lots of elephants, giraffes, zebras, wildebeest, gazelles, different kinds of birds, baboons, blue monkeys, ostrich, warthogs, buffalos, and some lions!  We only saw giraffes and blue monkeys in Tarangire, and lions in Ngorongoro, but we saw everything else at both parks.  We also saw a lot of really pretty scenery and we visited a Maasai village in Ngorongoro.

At the Maasai village, they sang us their “welcome song” and danced for us.  People were allowed to go up and dance with them, but since I did that last time in Tanzania, I filmed it for everyone else to have.  After the welcome song, we entered the village and split up into pairs.  Adrienne and I went off with our tour guide, Lebrus.  He asked us if we were married and we responded, “Nope, too young for that!”  He seemed shocked and he was twenty-one and married with a kid.  A lot of Maasai marry as young as 16 or 17 and start having kids right away.  We went into one of the Maasai huts, which are very small with two small holes for windows, two small beds made of cow hide, a fire pit, and a place for a baby cow to sleep.  We learned that the Maasai only eat/drink three things—cow milk, cow blood, and various animal meats.  Lebrus told us a little more about how the Maasai tribe lives, and then we visited the school.  The children in the school were so cute!  They sang to us, and then one little girl went to the front of the classroom and acted as “teacher”.  She counted to 100 and all the other students repeated after her.  I filmed the whole thing.  After the tour, I purchased two very pretty bracelets. 

Other than seeing all the animals and visiting the Maasai village, the most exciting thing that happened was watching a baboon attack one family’s food.  In Tarangire, blue monkeys were continuously stealing people’s food in the picnic area… but the baboon in Ngorongoro was really scary.  I was actually following the baboon and taking pictures of him through a fence- and then all of the sudden, the baboon hopped the fence and landed right in the center of this family’s picnic table.  Most of the family stood up, but one girl stayed seated.  The baboon stole all their food and started eating it.  Then the dad stupidly threw a rock at the baboon—to which the baboon responded very angrily.  The baboon stopped eating its food and pushed the picnic bench, scaring the dad.  The dad tried to run away and slipped on a wall of rocks, falling on his butt (We were all trying so hard not to laugh.  It was a scary situation, but the dad falling over was actually hilarious).  After the baboon could see the family backing off, it went back to eating their food and another little monkey came to join.  Eventually, a whole family of baboons were eating the family’s food.  Matt filmed the bench push and the trip, so I will have to show you that video.  It was so funny. 

Another baboon story: we were in the parking lot waiting to enter the Ngorongoro park, and we watched a baboon jump into this family’s safari vehicle, and then all the people in the vehicle walked out the door on the other side.  That was also really funny to watch, but must have been really scary to be that family.  They warned us to keep our windows closed at all times though!  So… their fault!

In between safaris, on Saturday night, we stayed at a campsite that was near Ngorongoro.  There were some people in tents, and some people inside.  We got rooms inside and Adrienne and I roomed together.  We explored a little bit and then had dinner.  Dinner was yummy—chapati, potatoes, rice, meats, veggies, fruits, and pumpkin soup.  After dinner, we tried to watch Despicable Me but everyone fell asleep.  We had to get up really early Sunday morning to begin our safari.

We had a long journey back to Moshi after the safari was over—5-6 hours.  We stopped to have dinner in Arusha and that was the poorest decision made all weekend.  It took us forever to get our food, and when we were done eating it took us forever to pay.  We had to pay individually, and we had to pay for drinks and food separately.  Well, no one had exact change and the waiters didn’t know how to do math.  No one was getting the proper change back and Francis was getting really frustrated.  It’s not like the language barrier was an issue because we had Francis speaking perfect Swahili to them.  When we finally paid the bill and were all ready to finish our drive back to Moshi, we discovered that one of the safari vehicles’ headlamps weren’t working.  So… it took about another hour to figure that situation out and finally get going.  We were supposed to get home around 6, and didn’t get home until 10:30pm.  

July 12: Zebra for Dinner

We were supposed to cook dinner with Mary tonight, but Jeanne (our American professor) was having company, so we had to reschedule.  Instead, we had dinner at home with mama and she cooked us zebra!  We thought this was funny because we are going on a safari tomorrow night… She also turned the TV on to a safari channel, so we were watching zebras on TV right before we ate them.  I thought it was pretty good though!  A little tough, but tasty.  The power went out but I had enough battery on my computer, so we watched a movie with Derike.  We have to get up really early tomorrow to leave for our safari.

July 11: Meeting Eline

Today, we worked until 11am.  We swept with the kids, taught the morning lesson, sang a few songs, had teatime, and played with the kids until our ride picked us up.  Usually, it’s the same routine, different day, and it was nice to have a bit of a change this morning!  This woman, Eline, picked us up from Longuo.  She was a very nice Swedish woman in her mid-late twenties.  Eline is employed by Mosaic International (the American company who partners with BCC) and she has been living in Tanzania for 8 months now, working as the Language Therapist for BCC.  In November, she will be moving to Romania for a year to work with the other NGO there.  As the language therapist, Eline travels to all 11 centers, working with the children at each one. 

            

Today, she brought us to two different centers.  We went to the two centers where the mothers of the children also make and sell crafts.  We saw bead and kitengue crafts.  It was cool to watch the mothers make crafts and to see some of the other centers.  The majority of the students had severe disabilities and were unable to respond to greetings; but the volunteers and caregivers did their best to interact with the students.  One of the centers had two volunteers from Belgium who we spoke with for a while.  They are doing a general Tanzania Volunteer program and randomly got placed with BCC.  This center was also located next to a primary school.  All the students ran up to us to have their pictures taken when we got out of the car.  Then they held our hands and walked us around.  It was nice that this center was located next to a primary school because the primary school students would play with the students with disabilities, and I believe this type of inclusion practice is beneficial for the students.

            

After visiting the two centers, we went to this Indian place for lunch with Eline.  I don’t usually like curry, but I ordered this mixed vegetable curry, which was actually very good.  When we were done eating, Eline left us to get back to work and we walked around town for a little bit before heading home. 

           

I was going to go to KCMC to get internet, but for some reason I was so tired and decided to go home and nap instead.  I slept until dinner—which was chips maiya for the third time this week (totally unhealthy but totally yummy) and now I’m just going to watch movies and read until I fall asleep. 

            

Tomorrow I am working until lunchtime, then we have a reflection session, and then I am staying at our professor’s house to cook dinner with Francis’s wife!  Adrienne, Ume, Grace, and I all thought that would be fun!  

The kids from the primary school at one of the centers

July 7: Last Sunday in Moshi

Today was my last Sunday in Moshi!  Next weekend we are going on an overnight safari to Ngorongoro Crater, Lake Manyara, and Tarangire--leaving early Saturday morning, and getting back late Sunday night.

Last night, we told mama we wanted to teach her how to make s'mores--an American dessert.  We ran out of time last night, so I told her we could just do it tomorrow instead.  Well, I meant tomorrow night.  

So this morning, mama said welcome for tea, but there was no food like usual--no bread, no egg, no banana... nothing!  I didn't think anything of this at first, finished drinking my tea, and started to get dressed for church.  I only had ten minutes to get ready, and I hear mama say Rachel, charcoal is ready.  I step into the kitchen and sure enough, mama had pulled out the marshmallows, chocolates, and digestives (our substitute for graham crackers) that I had showed her last night, and she had charcoal burning and ready for me to show her how to make s'mores.  So... that was a little unexpected.  It was 8:30am, and I needed to leave for church veryyyy soon.  I found this very entertaining, and quickly showed mama how to make s'mores.  I also soon discovered that she wanted to serve us s'mores with our tea, which is why she didn't give us other food this morning.  I guess we didn't make it clear that s'mores was an after-dinner type of dessert, not a breakfast food.  We thought that was obvious, but how could it have been? Mama and Derick enjoyed the s'mores though, so that was good!

Making s'mores in the kitchen at 8:30 in the morning!

I took a s'mores to go and met up with Grace and Ume to walk to our professor's house.  We were going to church with Francis and his wife.  It was an outdoor baptist church with a white pastor from Ohio.  I really liked the outdoor setting, and the singing.  The words were projected onto a big screen, and I had a good time singing along.  

After church, I just went home and read my book (Gone Girl), took a quick nap, had chips maiya for lunch, and worked out.  When I was done working out, Derick asked me to play outside, so I followed him out the door.  We walked out of our compound and to the path where a lot of other kids were playing.  Na saw me and we basically ran to each other, haha.  I missed her!  Since it was winter break, she went to stay with her aunt, so it's been a month since I saw her last.  She followed me around all night holding my hand.  She's so cute, I want to steal her!   

It started getting dark and mama called me inside to shower and have dinner.  It's back to work for everyone tomorrow!  

July 6: Boma

This morning we left for Boma around 9:30am.  We got on a dala-dala right outside our house and got off in town.  We walked past the dala-dala circle (where there are a number of dala-dalas that take passengers to further places), and at this point we were confused.  Adrienne and I expected to get onto one of those dala-dalas, but mama just kept leading us through town (at this point, we know nothing about Boma--no idea where it is, how long it takes to get there, what mama actually has there, etc.) Finally, mama stopped on the side of the road and we realized this is where we would be waiting for a second dala-dala to pick us up.

When the correct dala-dala finally came, stepping on was way more chaotic than usual.  Everyone rushed to get on and the dala-dala quickly sped away while all the passengers were cracking up.  I let out a bemused laugh to go along with everyone else, but I had no idea what all the commotion was.  Mama informed us that where we had got on was not a real bus stop, and the police were coming toward the dala-dala--causing everyone to move quickly and the dala-dala to speed away.  I turned around to see a lone policeman, on foot, with absolutely nothing he could do about the speeding dala-dala stopping at the wrong places and carrying far too many passengers.  Although this is a pretty bad thing, I found it amusing considering lack of proper police equipment was one of the policy issues in my case study--and here was a perfect example to demonstrate that point.

With all the stops, it took us about 40 minutes to get to Boma.  We got off the dala-dala dnt ehf rist thing I noticed was how dusty it was.  Mama had warned us it would be dusty and told me to change out of my skirt before we left--but I didn't think it would be this dusty.  We walked through the marketplace and mama bought some avocados and lemons, and then we continued to walk to mama's place.  It took us approximately 20 minutes to walk there, and we discovered that mama has a lot of friends in Boma.  Many people of all ages--kids, teenagers, women the same age as mama, old men--stopped to greet mama.

After the fairly long walk, we arrived at mama's shop.  Mama has a small shop, much like what you would see in town or along the roads of KCMC; in her shop she sells coffee, tea, sodas, biscuits, alcohol, beer, and other little things.  Mama also has a tree in Boma.  A couple weeks ago, mama originally told us she had a garden in Boma--but further conversations hinted that mama really just had a tree with a couple flowers.  So that was funny.  It was a really pretty tree though!

We walked around behind the shop and there was the house--the very big house--that mama is building.  She gave us a tour of the very unfinished house, and if she ever gets around to finishing it, it will be a very nice place.  There were 3 bedrooms, 2 kitchens, a living room, and multiple bathrooms.  It is much bigger than the place mama has in Moshi.  Right now, there are no floors, walls, or windows, and only some rooms have ceilings.  Mama keeps asking Adrienne and me to help pay for her to finish the house, so that gets a little awkward because that's not exactly appropriate.  

After walking around and seeing mama's place, she made us lunch.  She roasted corn--which kept falling off the pot and onto the dirty ground, and we were served it anyway.  And she also made rice with these really, reallllly yummy beans topped with avocados, tomatoes, and cucumbers.  It was delicious!  When we were done eating, Adrienne and I were pretty tired so mama told us to take a nap.  Sometimes mama stays the night in Boma, so she does have a bed there.  Also, her shopkeeper, Lightness, stays in Boma most days and sleeps there.

When we woke up from our nap, we walked around a little bit more, had a beautiful view of the mountain, and then went back home.  Back at home, we showered up, ate dinner, and just stayed in and relaxed for the rest of the night.

Also, I didn't have time to put the pics from Boma onto a USB--but here is a picture of Derike and Mesha rockin' Cornell Soccer shirts!

July 4

Happy 4th of July!  I even wore red white and blue to work today!  Work was good today--Eriki, Perpetua, Elisia, Monika, Dennis, and Hyeiness were all there.  We taught the lessons again, and we made some more learning supplies for the students which we are going to have laminated.  For lunch, we had ugali (stiff porridge) with this really yummy sauce, which Eva told us how to make.  I plan on making that when I go back home!  Nothing too eventful happened today--and Dennis only peed once!  I played soccer with Eriki for a little bit, and colored with Elisia.  

Mama made chapati for dinner, which I was really excited and happy about!  It's soooo good.  Also, we are going to go to Boma with mama on Saturday so I'm looking forward to that!  I was going to go to Glacier tonight, because everyone wanted to go and celebrate the 4th... but I was too tired and decided to stay back.  Turns out, almost everyone else felt the same way and only Adrienne and Ume ended up going!  

Tomorrow is our last day of work at Longuo, but we plan on making a couple more visits during our free time next week! 

Elisia and Eriki! (And my red white and blue!)