Kwaheri Tanzania

Well the journey is over. I'm leaving Tanzania tomorrow. TOMORROW! It seems so soon! While I can't wait to see everyone back home again, I'm also not ready to leave Tanzania. There are so many people I'm just now getting to know, and I feel like I finally have gotten the hang of things around here, including the language. I think I woke up one morning a few weeks ago and realized, Hey, I can communicate in Swahili! I am by no means fluent, but I'm just now becoming confident speaking to people in Swahili and now I'm going back to the states. I think any study abroad program should be for a year; you really need a semester to get into the swing of things and another to enjoy it.

I've learned so much in Tanzania and know I will continue to learn from my experiences here. I've met some amazing people and seen incredible places. I wish everyone could experience Tanzania, and I'm so glad that my sister was able to.

My last few days in Dar have been nice. Miranda and I went to one of my friends' houses and she taught us how to make chapatti, and tonight I had my last night of teaching in Mwenge. It was really sad to say goodbye to all of the students, especially knowing how unlikely it is that I will see them again. Hopefully I can keep in touch though.

There are a lot of things I'm going to miss about TZ, such as...

• Mwenge
• Chillin on the roof--with great company
• The fruit
• The stars
• The people (Tanzanians and foreigners)
• Swahili
• A city that is somehow bustling yet no one is ever in a hurry

Still, I'm really excited to get home to things like...

• Friends and family
• Laundry machines!!!
• Air conditioning
• People respecting the concept of a line
• English
• My lovely mountains

Well I guess that's all from Dar es Salaam. Thank you to everyone here that has made my time in Tanzania so enjoyable and so rewarding, and to everyone at home, I'll see you soon!

Tutaonana tena.

Woodcarvers, Lions, and Spice Rastas, Oh My!

Hoorayy! I'm finally here!

After a LOOONNG journey from Raleigh, NC to Dar es Salaam, I finally arrived in Tanzania!! Parker was waiting for me at baggage claim and we hopped in a taxi that took us to our hotel. After I settled in a bit, Parker and Katie took me to Posta where we went to a khanga market and bought some very cool fabrics.

After Posta, we went back to the hotel and, despite my efforts to stay awake, I took the greatest nap of my life. Later that afternoon, we went to Mwenge where I met all of the amazing woodcarvers who are also Parker and Katie's students. These woodcarvers are probably the nicest, happiest, most talented people I have ever met; they were extremely welcoming and incredibly nice (even though they called me "shiny" because I'm so white...).

That evening, I went with Parker and Katie to watch them teach English to the woodcarvers. However, a few Princeton students have come to take Parker and Katie's place since they will be leaving soon, so Parker didn't get to teach that much. After the class, everyone walked to the "tuk, tuks" together and rode home. Parker and I had a very nice dinner at our hotel and hit the sheets pretty early.

Early the next morning, we hopped a bus to Arusha and 10 hours later, we were there. The next day, we headed off on four day camping safari. (Parker went into depth in her blog, so I will spare you all in this one.) As much as I don't like camping, I found the camping safari to be a very cool experience. Although, not showering for four days is not a good look for me...

After the safari, we headed to Kendwa Rocks in Zanzibar and stayed on the beach for two days. During our stay there, I muscled up the courage to go scuba diving for the first time in four years. I was extremely nervous, so I ran out of air in about 25 minutes....Oops. It wasn't the greatest scuba experience, but we saw some incredible things.

After Kendwa Rocks, we took a bus to Stonetown where we are right now. Last night Parker took me to a market-type place for dinner and they had TONS of seafood, Zanzibar pizza (dough, bananas, and chocolate) and the greatest tea I have ever had. It was so good that we asked Sammy, the tea maker, to teach us how to make it. He said that he would take us to a spice market the next morning at 4:00 or 5:00. We assumed that he meant 10:00 or 11:00 because 4:00AM in Tanzania is actually 10:00AM (it's odd, I know). Anywho, we met him this morning and he told us that he went to the market at 4:00AM and waited for us....Oops. It all worked out, though, and we bought lots of spices.

On our way out of the market, we walked through a place FULL of chickens. Sammy, the spice rasta guy, explained that if you buy a chicken and don't know how to kill it yourself, you bring it outside and someone will kill it for you. Unfortunately, right as I walked by, someone was chopping up a squirming little chicken--it was enough to make someone go vegeterian, but I do love me some chicken....

Since I arrived in Dar, Parker has been teaching me some Swahili. She gives me vocabulary lists and verb conjugations every other day and I listen to her speak to everyone, so I'm trying to learn the language as best as I can. By the way, Parker speaks Swahili EXTREMELY well; in my mind, she's pretty much fluent. The two of us plan to speak Swahili to each other even after we get back because I think it is the coolest language, and Parker wants to get better, too.

Well, that's where I am in my Tanzanian adventure for now! We leave to go back to Dar tomorrow morning and spend about three days there, then Parker and I head back to the States for the rest of the summer. This has been incredibly long, but I hope you enjoyed my Tanzanian adventure so far!

I miss you all and I am excited to see you!!
Kwa herini (bye) for now.
xoxoxoxo
-miranda

Lions, Tigers, and Bears?

Well I'm back in Tanzania, and my sister is finally here! It's really nice to see a familiar face from home, and it's great to be able to show her what I've been up to since January. Katie and I showed her around Dar and introduced her to a bunch of the students from Mwenge. They all said we looked alike, only Miranda is "so white and shiny!"

The two of us took a bus north to Arusha, a town near Mt. Kilimanjaro. From there we did a four-day safari, which was a lot of fun. We visited three different parks: Lake Manyara National Park, Serengeti National Park, and Ngorongoro Conservation Area. They were all beautiful yet surprisingly different from one another.

Serengeti landscape

We started out in Lake Manyara. It's much more forested than I had expected, though when you get down near the lake, it flattens out quite a bit. In the forest we saw tons of monkeys, and down by the water we saw everything from giraffes to elephants and warthogs to hippos. The coolest part was that the edge of the lake was covered with hundreds of flamingos! It was pretty amazing to see the water covered in a layer of pink.

Next we drove through Ngorongoro to the Serengeti. On the way there, a baboon stole one of our lunches. We were in a parking lot at the gate and everyone else had gotten out to stretch their legs. I was still chillin' in the car, and when I looked up there was a baboon in the front seat grabbing at our food. Of course, all I could think of was to yell "Hey! Wait! Come back!" Alas, he didn't listen and we were short one lunch.

Unlike Lake Manyara, the Serengeti is totally flat. It's almost entirely open savanna except for a few bushes here and there. Since it's the dry season, everything is golden. The first day we saw a group of lions on the other side of a small river chowing down on a delicious wildebeest. On the way back to the campsite, we ran into more lions that were right next to our car; I probably could have reached out the window and played with one of the cute, very non-ferocious looking cubs, but I decided against it.

Lions in the Serengeti

The next day we drove to the western edge of the Serengeti to see part of the annual wildebeest/ zebra migration. It's the dry season, so thousands of animals migrate north toward the Maasai Mara in Kenya before returning to Tanzania in the fall when the rains start again. The zebra must be a little quicker (or slower) than the wildebeest because what we saw were hundreds of wildebeest on either side of the road. It was pretty amazing; there was an endless herd running toward the road. They would narrow down to single file to cross the road then fan out again on the other side. During the wet season, many of the wildebeest come to the Serengeti to have wildebeest babies, so there were tons of wobbly calves running around as well.

We also saw large herds of zebra, though they didn't seem to be in such a hurry. They were just hanging around big grassy areas eating. The Serengeti definitely seems to be the place to spot cool animals. Other than lions, zebra, and wildebeest, we saw hippo, buffalo, elephants, crocodiles, etc. On the way out of the park, we also saw lions in love (it's baby-making season).

Finally we bactracked to Ngorongoro. Ngorongoro is really interesting for a few different reasons. It is dominated by a large crater than was once a huge volcano but has since collapsed. Beyond the crater, the land is similar to that of the Serengeti- flat, golden, and grassy, though there are some mountains in the distance. Around the crater, things are much more lush and green, and the walls of the crater are a beautiful mix of greens and blues. When we were there, it was cloudy, but this made for some cool effects when the sun shone through little pockets in the clouds, highlighting certain places within the crater. It's a beautiful place with tons of wild animals. We saw buffalo, zebra, hyenas, more love-lions, a cheetah, lots of flamingos, and even a black rhino off in the distance.

Wildebeest in Ngorongoro Crater

The other cool thing about Ngorongoro is that it isn't a national park so people are allowed to live traditionally within the conservation area. The people that live there are all Maasai. It's interesting to see these people living in the non-park park just as they did before colonial days. I can't imagine what it's like having q giraffe in my back yard and chasing lions away from my cattle. Katie is up there now doing an archaeological dig. She said that about a month ago, a Maasai man killed a lion with a bow and arrow after it ate two of his goats. They then cut the lion open and ate the goat meat out of its stomach (apparently it's not good luck to eat the lion itself). This has to be the closest people will ever get to living with the dinosaurs...!

After our short stint in the North, Miranda and I headed to Zanzibar. We were laying on a beautiful beach for a few days and are now in Stonetown exploring the narrow streets and tasting the delicious street food. It's our first time travelling alone together, and It's been a lot of fun. Tanzania isn't exactly a place that she would typically choose to travel, so she's really stepping out of her comfort zone, which is great. After her being away at boarding school and me being away at college, it's nice to have some sisterly bonding time.

A nice Zanzibar sunset

Gorillas in the Mist

With the rest of our all-to-short time in Rwanda, Katie and I visited the Volcanoes National Park. It’s a beautiful park that backs up to other national parks in Uganda and the DRC. The chain of volcanoes between the three countries is home to the world’s only mountain gorillas, and I got to visit them! I’ve seen gorillas in zoos before (although apparently those are lowland gorillas, not mountain gorillas), but it was nothing like this. But I’ll get back to the gorillas.

We took off from Kigali at 4:30 AM, which was pretty painful, but the drive through the mountains was beautiful. As the sun rose, we were looking down into a valley covered in a thick layer of fog. It was amazing; it looked like a silvery lake with little islands peaking out above the surface. The countryside of Rwanda is incredible. They try to use every square inch of the country for agriculture; I’ve never thought agriculture made for a particularly pretty landscape, but here it does. Everywhere you look there are green terraced hills (apparently the terracing is done mostly by people convicted by local courts for participating in the genocide).

As we made it closer to the park, we could see 5 volcanoes looming in the distance. Katie’s plan was to climb one of them, Mt. Bisoke, and I was off to see gorillas, so we were pretty excited. We started off climbing up an unbelievably muddy slope at the base of Mt. Bisoke, but it only took us about an hour to find the gorillas. It was amazing. The group we saw is called the Umubano group and consists of about 8 gorillas. We first saw a female with a baby. The female was just chillin’ out, eating the stinging nettles that had brutalized me on the way up. The baby, Sun, was having a blast climbing trees and swinging around. She’d check us out for a bit and then put on a little show. It was so cute!

Soon another baby joined up. In true African spirit, she is called No Worries, and she is quite a bit bigger than Sun. They’d start rough-housing and she’d toss the smaller one around. When they wandered off, we followed them to a nice shady spot where we could also see the huge silverback, Charles. He must have been 500 pounds; he was massive! He could have taken us all out if he wanted, but the gorillas are all so docile. They didn’t mind us being there at all, and I think the babies enjoyed having an audience. You are supposed to keep a distance of 25 feet or so, but it was hard because the gorillas would move close to us, rather than the other way around. At one point one of the babies wanted to come play with us, and the guide had to shoo her off.

The whole experience was just incredible. It’s such an amazing feeling being in the presence of such huge powerful creatures, and they are so gentle. It’s very humbling. Gorillas have a pretty sweet life, though. They just hang out all day getting drunk off bamboo shoots and wandering around the rainforest while the babies play around in trees. At one point, No Worries would hang on a vine, getting a running start, and then swing back and forth while spinning in circles. When she fell off, she would just lay there because she was too dizzy to get up. It was precious (see the video at the bottom). Overall it was quite an amazing day. Katie had a nice, yet anti-climactic, climb up a volcano that was covered in fog. For me, I’m have trouble describing how cool the gorillas were, and now I’m having trouble picking which photos to use, so here are a bunch.

Charles, the huge silverback

Charles and one of the babies, No Worries

My token non-gorilla picture. Volcanoes!

One of the females grubbin' out on some delicious leaves

Woohoo gorillas!

Sun, the cutest gorilla of the bunch

I love gorilla babies

Mom & baby

Video of some good vine-swinging. You have to tilt your head because I don't know how to rotate the video...

A Thousand Hills

So Rwanda is amazing. Although I was only there for a few days, it is one of my favorite places I've ever been. It was so different than anywhere else I've visited this trip. Taking a bus from Kampala to Kigali (the capital of Rwanda), I was amazed by the beautiful scenery; it really is the Land of a Thousand Hills. Kigali is situated on a few of the hills, and the first thing I noticed was how clean the city is. Unlike Dar and Kampala that are littered with trash, Kigali is spotless. In Kigali, there are no street vendors like there are in Dar. Although I enjoy the street vendors in most cities, they really do give a place a somewhat chaotic feel. Kigali on the other hand was quiet and peaceful. People went about their business and were always friendly. In Tanzania, most people associate foreigners with wealth and can be quite abrasive trying to convince you to buy whatever they are selling, yet in Kigali, I never felt like a walking money symbol. The air is clean and the climate is perfect, and the city was refreshing.

We only had one day in Kigali. We wandered around the city trying to get a feel for things and really enjoyed what we saw. We stopped for ice cream at the Hotel des Mille Colinnes. It's the hotel that the movie Hotel Rwanda was based on, though the movie was actually filmed in South Africa. It's a nice hotel with a great view. There weren't many people there, and it had the same calm quiet feel that most of Kigali has. It's so hard to imagine a place like that being the site of something so chaotic and terrible.

"Hotel Rwanda"

We also visited the genocide memorial center. It is really well done and I feel like I could have spent an entire day there. I learned so much about the genocide that I did not know, like the fact that France signed a huge arms deal with the Rwandan army just beforehand. French troops also went into the hills around Kigali convincing many Tutsi in hiding that it was safe to come out. The troops left, and when the people emerged from the hills they were slaughtered. I also realized just how much of a failure the UN mission was. There were so many warning signs that were ignored. One anonymous man involved in the planning went to the UN and told them what was in the works. He offered to go public with all the information he had along with locations for training camps in exchange for his protection. The UN said they couldn't guarantee his safety, so the matter was dropped. Even after the genocide started, the amount of troops needed to evacuate foreign nationals was enough to stop it.

There was one section dedicated to the children who were killed. It was heart wrenching. They profiled a few children. There would be a picture of them along with their name, age, favorite food, behavior, and cause of death. I held it together pretty well until then; I was a mess. They also have a section dedicated to genocides worldwide. That was really interesting, especially considering I'd never learned about many of them in history class... Outside there was a beautiful rose garden surrounding mass graves. The whole place was done very well, and it's nice that something so beautiful and so educational was made to commemorate something so horrible.

Part of the memorial garden overlooking the city

Walking around Kigali, you'd never know that the country was ripped apart just 14 years ago. Now it is so peaceful, and it seems like a place that runs so smoothly. We were only in Rwanda for a short time, but after talking to people who have been there for longer, I feel like my first impressions were probably not too far off. It seems that now, people are first and foremost Rwandan, though they don't forget where they came from. There are still cases where people are arrested for trying to spread genocide ideologies, but most people have turned their goals to healing and improving the country, and it really shows.

When we crossed the border, it was the first time our bags were actually inspected by customs. They weren't looking for drugs or weapons, they were looking for plastic bags. Plastic bags are not allowed in Rwanda. They are making a huge effort to clean up the country, which is great. Also, plastic bags collect rainwater and create vectors for malaria-carrying mosquitoes. It's amazing that the country has been able to move from the aftermath of genocide to keeping the country free of things like plastic bags. There are lots of rules in Rwanda, and even though some may need some work, they seem to be doing a lot of good. Urbanization is not so obvious there, and poverty in Kigali is not as prevalent as it is in other major cities. The rate of development in Rwanda is clearly much faster than in Tanzania or Uganda.

The view of from our hotel in Kigali

I absolutely loved Kigali. It's devastating that something so horrible could happen in such a beautiful and peaceful place. Although I'm sure the country will always bear the scars of genocide, the people have really come together to make Rwanda an incredible place again, and I can't wait to go back.

Rafting, Soccer, and Third World Transportation

Greetings from Uganda! It was an adventure getting here. We took the overnight bus from Nairobi, and ride was much bumpier than any of our previous bus trips. After a 4 am border crossing and some more bumpy roads, we arrived in Kampala, the capital of Uganda. I'm here with some buddies from the university, and we are having a great time. Kampala reminds me a lot of Dar es Salaam with a bunch of markets and crazy minibuses (here they are called matatus rather than daladalas).

A sea of matatus in downtown Kampala

We took a side trip to Jinja, a small town on Lake Victoria at the source of the Nile. It's a pretty small place with lots of crafts, and it reminded me of some of the towns in the mountains of NC, only with less Floridians and more pineapples. We went rafting on the Nile, which was pretty intense. The rapids were quite a bit bigger than what we've got at NC; it rivaled the Gauley for sure, only you don't have to worry about getting stuck under rocks or fallen trees. The river is beautiful, and monitor lizards and all kinds of birds are always basking on the shore.

Fried grasshoppers for sale on the streets of Jinja

Although rafting was tons of fun, it was wierd being in such a touristy setting again. It was all foreigners. They pick you up in a big blue bus and shuttle you from your hostel in Kampala to your hostel in Jinja. You don't interact with people from Uganda at all, and it made me really uncomfortable at times. Nontheless, our hostel in Jinja did have an incredible panoramic view of the Nile, and the ride into Jinja town was breathtaking.

Kids we met on the shore of Lake Victoria. The little one with the butt hanging out was terrified of us...

Now we are back in Kampala, and it's been an exciting day. One major source of public transportation here are the bodabodas, i.e. motorcycles. This morning, Katie and I each took a bodaboda to the bus station and realized we were broke. We then proceeded to ride around the outskirts of Kampala stopping by five different banks (on the back of our respective motorcycles) before we found an ATM that would take our Visas. After that we were ready to swear off bodas altogether. Alas, after lunch we found ourselves sharing the backseat of another one on the way to a soccer game. We were waving a Ugandan flag on either side of the bike, attracting quite a fan crowd among other game-goers. I'm happy to say we arrived alive with our flags in tact.

Go Uganda!

The soccer game was a World Cup qualifying match between Uganda and Niger. It was pretty nuts. It was like a major football game at home, only here the entire country is rooting for the same team. People were decked out in red, black, and gold (the colors in the Ugandan flag) and had all kinds of ridiculous cheesy fan paraphernalia. Uganda won (1-0), and the whole city was celebrating.

Katie and I were trying to decide what to do with the days we have before we return to Dar (via plane, thankfully), and we decided to head to Rwanda. It's supposed to be beautiful ("the land of a thousand hills"). We leave tomorrow, and I can't wait! No overnight buses this time though.

A Tale of Two Cities

Well, school is over, and it ended pretty suddenly. I finished my exams on Friday, said goodbye to most of my friends, and hopped a bus for Kenya early Saturday morning. It was a 15 hour ride, though luckily I now know which bus companies have waterproof transport, so the ride was fairly comfortable. I got to see a lot of countryside that I haven't seen before. Past Arusha (near Mt. Kilimanjaro), the landscape changes from lush and green to dry open savanna, which is something I have not yet seen in Tanzania. It's Maasai land up there, and we saw a lot of pastoralists with their cattle herds.

Crossing the border to Kenya was much less eventful than crossing the border to Malawi. We took one bus the whole way and managed not to get ripped off. At one point along the ride I woke up and thought maybe I'd teleported to Europe. Suddenly we were in a city that is much more western and much more developed than Dar es Salaam. There are trash cans everywhere, so the city center is very clean. Women don't wear traditional dresses like they do in Dar, and the tall buildings are like those in a city at home. I haven't seen many foreigners, yet people still don't stop and stare at us because we are white. There are no street vendors like in Dar, and the daladalas (or matatus as they are called here) are totally pimped out with neon lights and everything. The best part is, it's actually chilly here! Overall the city is not nearly as scary or intimidating as I had expected (and for anyone concerned, there are no riots or instability of any kind going on anymore).

Kenyatta Conference Center

Yesterday Katie was feeling pretty sick, so we went to a clinic. Once again you could really see the difference in development; you'd have to go to an expensive private clinic to get something like this in Dar, and there were even female doctors. I've been having some weird stomach thing off and on for a few weeks, so I decided to see the doctor as well. I'm glad I did because it turns out I've had some sort of persistent food poisoning for weeks. They also gave me treatment for a few other waterborne parasites just in case. Katie's results were 'inconclusive,' which is a bit ironic since she is the one who has been feeling sick. They gave her medicine for a few different things though, and she seems to be feeling a lot better.

View of Nairobi from the top of the conference center

We visited the National Archives which has a great collection of art from all over Africa. Today we went to the top of the Kenyatta Conference Center where we could see all of Nairobi. It is pretty clear that a lot more planning went into this city than into Dar; it even has it's own central park, which is our next stop for the day. Tonight we catch an overnight bus to Kampala, Uganda for another adventure.

Sweet giraffe panels from the National Archives

I was a little hesitant about coming to Nairobi, but I'm glad I did. It's been really interesting to see how different it is from Dar es Salaam, and it's been refreshing to be in a western city again. Granted we really only saw a small part of the city, but it was definitely the nice part. I've met some really friendly people, had a decent cup of coffee, and seen another side of Africa. Plus now my body will be free of any and all malicious bacteria!

Looking Back

Well my time here is almost over. I still have 5 weeks until I go home, but I’ll be finished with school on Friday! That’s crazy. I know that the good memories will stay with me forever, but I hope I don’t forget the bad ones, either. There were so many good things, but it was quite a challenge along the way.

Without doubt the toughest thing for me was standing out so obviously. People know that you are a foreigner, so you are automatically treated differently. Some people treat you better than their neighbor, and some are resentful. People here are generally very friendly, but when someone strikes up a conversation with you on the bus, it is hard to tell whether it’s someone just being friendly or if their intentions more along the lines of networking. So many people see foreigners and think “That’s my ticket out of Africa.” My friend Jacqueline admits it. She likes white people and only dates white men; she sees them as a way out of the system. Not that I blame her. I would not want to be roped into marrying a man who didn't see me as an equal. There are certain things that are expected of women here, and Jacqueline doesn’t want to be governed by those expectations. On one hand I say kudos to her—break free from the system! On the other hand, it’s hard for me to take our friendship seriously. She really doesn’t know much about me other than that I’m foreign, but she talks like we are best friends. It’s hard to tell what people’s intentions are here; some want to use you to climb the social or career ladder, some want to rob you, some want you to bring them to America, and some people are just genuinely being friendly. Unfortunately, this means that it can be quite hard to get past superficial friendships with people here and also unfortunately, it took me a long time to figure this out.

But it’s been an amazing experience. I’ve learned so much, like the fact that crossing cultural lines isn’t as easy as I once thought. I depend so much on the other foreign students here because we come from a similar culture and language. Language is crucial; that’s another barrier to getting to know people more than just superficially. I’ve gotten to know many of the foreign students much more than Tanzanians. The Tanzanians I have gotten to know are the ones that are generally better at English than others. That, or they are Kenyan, in which case English is not a problem whatsoever. I have a whole new respect for people doing things like the Peace Corps. I always thought that I was a super-independent person. Peace Corps? Cool, bring it on. Now I’m not so sure I have the patience, the drive, or the ability to entertain myself that something like that would take. I think I’d get too lonely.

I’ve also learned quite a bit about the hardships people face here. There is a really noticeable absence of middle class, so most people are living in poverty. It breaks my heart, and it is everywhere. I’m afraid I’ve become hardened to a lot of it; children begging on the street don’t pull my heart strings quite as much as they used to. I wish I could help everyone, but that is going to take some changes that are much much bigger than me, and I know that realistically, I won’t make much of a difference in the whole scheme of things. That sounds depressing, but I just mean that I am realizing what is reality versus what is me being an idealist.

My experience in Tanzania has been amazing. I’ve been exposed to people, places, and ideas that I would never be exposed to at home. I’ve learned so much, too. I thought I’d come home with a whole new direction in life; I thought that my ideas and values would be confirmed and I’d come back knowing what I want to do with my life. As convenient as that would have been, it’s not really the way it happened. I have truly learned a lot about myself, but I think I might be more jumbled than I was before. On the bright side, that means that my African adventure still won’t be over even when I get home.

Well, I have some pretty cool things planned for my last month here. I plan on going to Uganda for a couple weeks, and then my sister is coming to visit in June. I can’t wait! Traveling around will be quite different than living in Dar, but it should be a lot of fun. I’ll keep you posted.

As an Afterthought...

I don't want to go overboard with the blogging in one day, but I figured as long as I'm using the internet, I'd give a little update on the protests. Turns out, we did end up going on strike. Last week the students boycotted classes Monday through Wednesday. The chancellor is supposed to shut down the university if the strike goes on for three days, but since he did that last year, he will lose his job if he does it again. Instead, he expelled 300 students who weren’t in class on Wednesday (rather than bring back the 25 students who were suspended in the first place)…

Now we are having a re-election for DARUSO president, but Odong’ isn’t on the ballot. I don’t think they even tried to justify it this time. Things definitely operate a little differently here…

Mountains! Finally!

Last weekend, I went with five other girls up to Lushoto, a small town in the beautiful Usambara mountains. We went hiking through the rainforest, picnicked by a waterfall, and learned all about the cool plants there (well, I did because I am a nerd). Here are some highlights.

Chillin' on the side of the road after we blew a tire on the way there.

Around Lushoto.

A lovely lunch by a waterfall.

We hiked up to a nice viewpoint (twice). Although it was too foggy to see anything either time, we did get to watch the mist rolling in below this mountain.

The hiking was unique. Basically we would walk from village to village along paths in the forest. Every now and then you would turn a corner and see a picturesque little community nestled in the mountains.

Chameleons! We saw quite a few of this guys.

More Protests

Well, there was a brief time when the political activism here on campus almost got the school shut down for the rest of the semester (reminiscent of this time last year when all the students got sent home). Although it would have been interesting to see, it seems that things have quieted down some.

The main student organization on campus is called DARUSO (Dar es Salaam University Students Organization, or something along those lines). The president of DARUSO is the equivalent to the student body president at home, only here, it’s quite a big deal. The president has always had ties with the CCM, the ruling political party in Tanzania. Apparently in the 90s, one president was actually kidnapped by the CCM for opposing their policies.

Well, we just had the DARUSO elections last week, and it was pretty crazy. The guy that won (his name is Odong’) is from Uganda, so he has no ties with any political party in Tanzania. Odong’ had openly stated that he was not affiliated with any party and that he would make decisions for the good of the students rather that the good of the administration. Well, the administration was not pleased with that, so they made him jump through some hoops. They said they did not actually have a copy of his secondary school transcript and gave him the weekend to get it from Uganda. Knowing how things work here, I’d say that’s next to impossible. For days, people would randomly start shouting his name from the dorms, and there would be a roaring chorus of “Odong’! Odong’!” from all the residence halls, day and night.

When Monday rolled around, 25 students that had campaigned for Odong’ got suspended, and there were rumors of a strike. Last year, the students went on strike regarding school fees. If a strike goes on for 3 days, the university closes and all the students get sent home, which is what happened in that case. On Tuesday, word got around that Odong’ himself was going to be suspended, and people were sure there would be a strike. I’m not sure what happened, but we’ve had class all week. I heard that the protesters could not get the support of the current DARUSO administration, so they were afraid they would not have enough students to pull it off (especially since the university has not qualms about suspending 50 to 100 students). I’ve also heard that the school isn’t going to suspend Odong’, and that there will be a re-election. Who knows.

Speaking of protests, that water riot back in February finally paid off. The university said they would work on the water situation, but we were all a little skeptical. It seems that they were serious because for the first time all semester, we’ve had running water every day for a week! It’s glorious!

And my first African illness is...

…Malaria! Yup, blood parasites have taken over my body. Note to all: malaria prophylaxes are a waste of money. Last semester, 3 or 4 foreign students got malaria, on all the different anti-malarial medications you can get to come to Tanzania. This semester, 3 of us have gotten it while taking anti-malarials. Most of my friends haven’t taken theirs for months, and most of those jerks are malaria free. One friend who stopped taking his medicine did get it, but his case wasn’t even as bad as mine, and mine is fairly mild. Luckily, I caught it early. One of the girls who had it a few weeks ago got to the point where she was delirious and couldn’t see straight. For me, as long as I stay in my room, take my medicine, and sleep a lot, I feel alright. When I make the journey to class, the cafeteria, or even the fruit stand 100 yards away, it wears me out. The worst part is coming back up the six flights of stairs to my room. My fever spikes, I get light-headed, and I have to take a nap afterwards. I’m lucky I haven’t gotten too nauseas to eat, though. It could be a lot worse.

The thing about being sick in a third world country is that you are in a third world country. When your body feels like it’s on fire, there is no air conditioned area you can run to (not that you would run there anyway…), and of course the one time you’d welcome the chilly shower temperature, there’s no running water. And since there is no running water, you can’t flush the toilet on your frequent trips to the bathroom. Although, Friday was a glorious day because the water did come on; I was able to wash my pillow case and the kanga/ sarong I’d been wearing for days, both of which were pretty sweaty and smelly.

Also, I just found out that my roommate has typhoid fever. What a pair of wagongwa (sick people) we are. I saw some medicine lying on her desk and asked if she was sick.
“Yes, a little. But not as sick as you.”
“Aw, what’s wrong?”
“My tonsils are infected.”
“Pole.” Pole (pronounced pole-ay) is used all the time. It means ‘sorry,’ or ‘condolences.’ People say it if you are sick, if you trip, if you spill your drink, etc.
“Yeah, I have typhoid, too.”
“WHAT?!?!” That one took me a little off guard. She was pretty non-chalant about it. She seems to be doing pretty well, though. We both sleep a lot. I think I’d rather have malaria.

Anyway, I’m lucky to have Sarah around to take such good care of me. I’ve finished my medicine and I definitely feel better than I did a few days ago, but I’m still waiting to be able to go to the cafeteria without feeling like my body is going to give out. Hopefully soon. In the meantime, I’m sure I’ll be doing a lot of reading, watching a lot of movies, and feeding my new intense hatred of mosquitoes.

Bagamoyo and Relentless Rains

This weekend, our UF group went to Bagamoyo, a small town north of Dar es Salaam. It’s a pretty cool little town that was once the capital of German East Africa. It reminded me a little of Stone Town in Zanzibar, and apparently it is in the running to be a World Heritage Site. Bagamoyo was a big trading hub during colonial days and before, and there are ruins of an old mosque and tombs from Arab traders in the 13^th century. Now the town is known for its art and is home to a famous arts college.

Alas, that’s about all I caught of the history of the place. We were with a group of about 50 or so Tanzanian students of Swahili literature, and all of our tours were in Swahili. It’s hard enough for me to have a face-to-face conversation with someone about the weather in Swahili, much less listen to a lecture. Oh well, I did get to look at pretty things like the biggest baobab tree I’ve ever seen in my life.

Well, the rainy season has started. It started over Easter. Literally, one day it started raining, and it has rained every day since then. Sometimes it rains part of the day and is sunny for the rest. I like those days because when the rain stops, the air is nice and cool. Other days it rains nonstop, and those days make me realize why everyone in Tanzania hates the rain. Most of the walkways by the dorms are dirt, and the stairs around campus are surrounded by dusty hills. There’s not much grass on those hills, so all the dirt and silt floods the walking paths. Most buildings and houses have little moats around the outside to collect the rain and mud before it flows into their living room. If it weren’t for the wonderful maintenance staff constantly shoveling the mud, I’m convinced this place would be underground within a year.

Mwenge is especially bad. One day last week was one of those rain-all-day days, and the whole place was flooded. The area behind the shops where all the woodcarvers do their work was one giant muddy lake. To get to our class, you have to walk through an alley, and we were wading through ankle deep water to get there. I don’t know how those guys handle that kind of wetness.

Here are some pics from the weekend trip:

Kaole Ruins. The buildings are from around the 13th century,
and the stones are made from coral.


Biggest baobab tree ever! This thing had branches that were 3-4 feet thick. Definitely one of the top three coolest trees I've ever seen.




This church in Bagamoyo is where Dr. Livingstone's body was laid out before being sent to Zanzibar. When we were here, there was a wedding going on inside, and they were singing some of the most beautiful church music I've ever heard.

Flying Monkeys

Yesterday, a monkey stole my breakfast.

I sat down outside with a delicious chapatti (flat tortilla pancake thing) and out of nowhere a monkey comes barreling up behind me- he must have had wings or something. All of a sudden he's at my shoulder grabbing my food. Unfortunately, my yelling at him didn't make him give me back my breakfast. Stupid monkeys. They're cute until you're sitting at a table with no chapatti.

Mixed Feelings About a Tropical Paradise

I spent my Easter break on a beach in Zanzibar, which is not such a bad way to spend the holiday. The first time I went to Zanzibar, I was taken by the beautiful beaches, the rich culture and history of Stonetown, and the pockets of the island that smell like spices. The trip this weekend was beautiful, relaxing, and yet somehow very odd. There were eight of us (American, Canadian, and Finnish), and we went to a beautiful beach hostel in the northern part of the island. The beach was completely white, and the water was some of the clearest I’ve ever seen, but something about the place really bothered me.

Zanzibar is generally very rural and undeveloped. Driving down the road, all you see are villages with mud and cinderblock huts. The simplicity of life in those villages is a little appealing, but it’s really weird to see them set right next to a 4-star hotel. Even the backpacker lodges are fairly nice, and they are much more expensive than necessary. It seems that out of all that money that gets dumped into these lodges, very little trickles back into the local economy.

When I got to the resort, it was like culture shock all over again. Everyone staying there was white, and the only Tanzanians were the wait staff. No one tries to speak to you in Swahili, and everyone just lies on the beach all day perfecting their tan. I couldn’t help but wonder if people come to Tanzania and this is all they see. It just seems weird to come all this way and then seclude yourself from the culture. Or maybe they are just on vacation like me. Either way, it was very different from school. As frustrated as I sometimes become trying to get used to Dar es Salaam, I don’t think I could ever get used to life on a beach resort.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining about my weekend in Zanzibar. I had a blast. Some of us went SCUBA diving on a few nearby reefs, and that was great. The coral was fantastic and the marine life was really cool. We even saw a couple of sea turtles! Still, it was difficult to reconcile my weekend on the beach with my experience of Tanzania for the past 2 ½ months. Next break I might go to the mountains instead…

Still Rockin' and Rollin'

Hello! It's been a while, so I thought I'd add a little update. I can't believe it, but I've already been here for 9 weeks--the semester is almost halfway over! I've got midterms this week and Easter break this weekend, so I think a group of us will be heading to Zanzibar for some R & R.

A few weeks ago, our group went to Mikumi National Park to frolic with the wild animals. No lions, but we did see wildebeest, buffalo, elephants, giraffe, impala, and lots of baboons. We also went to a snake park and got to play with some slithering serpents.

I've been exploring Dar on the weekends. Last weekend, I went to a beautiful beach, and to make it even better, there were water slides. This is Africa, so lifeguards aren't really there to save your life, so they don't mind if you pile 6 people on two rafts to see just how fast you can possibly go. Sweet.

It is still incredibly hot here. Sometimes it is too hot to lay in your bed doing nothing; you have to move in order to think about something other than the heat. March is supposed to bring rains and slightly cooler temperatures, but I have seen no such precipitation. I finally decided I couldn't handle long hair anymore, so I cut it off. I've never had hair this short in my life, but it is so nice to get it off my neck!

Hope everyone back home is doing well!

National Scandals and University Activism

A lot has been going on in Tanzania, not so much for me personally, but it’s been really interesting to see all of this unfolding. In February there was a big government scandal that made people pretty angry, especially since a similar thing has been going on for about two years. There is also an interesting relationship forming between President Bush and TZ’s President Kikwete that has some sketchy vibes. And here on campus we’ve had our own protests and crazy campus politics. Here’s the rundown…

2005- 2007

· $131 million was swindled from the Bank of Tanzania. Five or so banks (local and international) were involved in laundering the money by using forged documents; most of it ended up in foreign banks, and the rest was used to buy land, houses, cars, etc. in Dar es Salaam. As of last week, they’ve supposedly recovered a third of it.

2007

· Sometime in 2007, Tanzania reports the possibility of vast oil reserves as well as uranium deposits in the Southwest. It is estimated that by 2015, Africa will supply the US with a quarter of their oil.

· Bush creates Africom (around October, but it's planned to be fully up-and-running in September this year). It’s a combatant command under the Department of Defense and is responsible for all military operations in Africa.

2008

· Jan 31: Kikwete was elected as the Chairman of the African Union

· Feb 6-8: Prime Minister Lowassa resigned and the entire cabinet was dissolved. Severe drought in 2006 had left many people without power, so the prime minister and the cabinet signed a contract with a Texas-based company to provide electricity to Tanzania. Turns out, they were really just embezzling tons of money (something like $175 million, which could do a lot here).

· Feb 17: Bush comes to Tanzania (I can’t escape!). He signed an aid deal to provide $700 million to build roads and infrastructure (a record deal between the US and TZ, I believe). He and Kikwete seem pretty buddy-buddy. The students weren’t too receptive to his visit, and there was an organized protest by much of the Muslim population in Dar (peaceful, of course—I don’t want to spread any false stereotypes). A lot of Tanzanians think that Bush is trying to get on Kikwete’s good side so that he can either build a military base here or get their oil. I'm sure they're right.

· Feb 22: On campus, the water has been turned off for days. Friday night, the students protested. They marched down to the Vice Chancellor's house, drumming on buckets and chanting “water!” in Swahili, and broke the chains on his gate. They marched all around campus rallying people and tore down one of the water tanks. It was pretty crazy. The next day there was a more organized rally where they addressed concerns for the lack of water, proposed tuition increase, etc. Students here are way more politically active than students at home.

· Feb 26: Students gave the university a two week period to make a decision about the tuition increase. They are proposing to increase it by 80%, and people here really can’t afford that. Last spring this happened and students went on strike right before exams. The university was closed until the issue was resolved in the summer. They are supposed to make their tuition decision by Tuesday, and if the students don’t like the answer, they say they will go on strike again. Should make for an interesting Tuesday…

So that’s what’s in the news in these parts. I’m interested to see how it all develops. Hopefully the students will prevent tuition increases and the US doesn’t come mess everything up in Tanzania in search of oil. I guess we’ll see…

Top 10 differences between life at UNC and UDSM

1. Classes. They have no rhyme or reason. They don’t meet Monday/ Wednesday/ Friday or Tuesday/ Thursday; they seem to meet whenever is good for the professor. For example, one of my classes meets Thursday morning at 7am (yes, 7!) and Friday at 5pm, both in different locations. When you get to class, there are usually way more students than seats. There is always a mad rush into/ out of class where students coming in are elbowing their way through the students coming out so that they can actually get a seat. Sometimes if you’re too slow there might not even be standing room and you get to crowd around the windows and hope you can hear.
2. Food. You pretty much have three options at every meal: rice, ugali, or chipsi mayai (i.e. a French fry omelet). Ugali is made from corn meal and is similar to grits, only more solid. You get a mound of ugali plus a bowl of something like beans or okra. You grab a chunk of ugali, roll it around in the palm of your hand, and squish it up so that you can use to scoop out the beans. It’s not particularly tasty, but it is a staple (along with chipsi). I personally get very excited over rice and beans.
3. Dorm life. I’m pretty used to the trek up to the 6^th floor and the fact that we only have running water about 50% of the time. Generally, as long as I have a bottle sitting around to wash my feet with at night, I’m ok. Surprisingly, we actually have power about 90% of the time. We don’t have a kitchen, lounge, or laundry facilities, but we do have a kickin’ view. I won’t lie… I’m really not a fan of bucket laundry.
4. The heat! It’s about 90 degrees every day. The classes don’t have fans—definitely not AC—so it gets pretty steamy in there with 100 other people. I’ve completely forgotten what it is like not to be sweaty.
5. Bureaucracy. Trying to register for classes has been quite the experience. You have to take a little sheet around to each department and get permission to take a class with them before you can actually register. It’s three weeks in and I’m still not registered. This may also have to do with the fact that I’m not technically a student. Somehow, my paperwork got processed late, so I haven’t actually been admitted to the university. Therefore, I have no student ID, registration number, or any goodies like that. I’m really hoping that one irons out…
6. Being a foreigner. Unlike in the US where you can never really tell who is foreign or not, the student body here (and the population) is pretty racially homogenous. Everyone walking past knows that I am a clueless new kid.
7. Free time. At home I spend my free time on the quad, studying, or doing various unproductive things. Here, if I have free time I am usually running around campus trying to take care of some unending paperwork. Lately, I’ve also been spending a lot of time in Mwenge—a small area a short daladala ride from campus. It’s basically a market and is pretty well known for its woodcarvings. I go there every night to teach English to a group of woodcarvers and shop owners, and I love it. These guys are some of the friendliest, most appreciative people I’ve ever met, and everyone has a story. One of the other teachers is also a shop owner from Kenya, and he’s helping me with my Swahili, so I’ve been hanging out in his shop quite a bit.
8. Personal space. People here don’t value theirs as much as I value mine.
9. HIV/ AIDS. Everyone is aware of it, but they still have random, unprotected sex. There was some free testing initiative at the hospital a while back, and apparently few people went because no one wants to know if they are positive. There is definitely a stigma against it, and no one wants to be shunned by their friends and family if they find out they are positive. I haven’t really talked to any students about HIV (though it comes up frequently in discussions in Mwenge), so I’m not sure what it’s like on campus; apparently multiple professors died from it last year though.
10. Language. Swahili is simple in the sense that it doesn’t have many exceptions and is generally a pretty vague language, but it’s not intuitive at all and is nothing like English. In town, some people speak English but others speak none (just rapid Swahili). On campus the classes are in English, but some of the students are better than others. My roommate, for example, seems to have a lot of trouble with it; part of the reason we don’t talk is because it takes us so long to get an idea across. I’m hoping my Swahili will start to improve more now that I’m putting a little more effort into it.

If only I had an invisibility cloak...

The university is in full swing now, and I am desperately trying to keep up. I feel like I've been running around all week getting my residence permit, opening a bank account, trying out classes, etc. Classes officially started last week (when I was in Malawi), but apparently no one, not even the professors, show up during the first week. This week I started going to class on Wednesday, and even then most of the professors didn't come! I think things start to really pick up next week.

I went to one class today, and it was huge. The professor said he had to cap it at 400 because there were too many people. So here I am, the only white person in a 400+ person class, thinking maybe I won't stand out quite as much if I'm squished up next to the wall. The professor says that we will elect two class representatives and asks for nominations. Some guy on the clear opposite side of the class stands up, points my direction, and says "the mzungu in the corner!" Mzungu (plural: wazungu) means European/ white person, so suddenly there were more than 400 students craning to get a better look at the foreign kid. The teacher starts rattling off in Swahili for everyone to be serious (because wazungu aren't real people!), and asks for more nominations. Then the entire class starts saying "mzungu, mzungu!" It was horribly uncomfortable for about a minute until some girl stood up and nominated herself. God bless.

When I was in Malawi, it was the rainy season so there were very few tourists. Katie & I got a lot of stares and whispers there--everyone is surprised to see a pasty white kid walking down the road. It feels like being in a zoo. In Dar es Salaam, people are used to seeing us foreigners. You still get stares of course, and people yell "mzungu!" all the time (not in a mean way, just pointing it out in case you weren't sure that you're white). All the foreigners stand out like a sore thumb, but on campus no one really cares, so I wasn't quite prepared for a return to the zoo feeling when I went to class. This will take some getting used to.

Something else that will take getting used to is the fact that people seem to instantly fall in love with you if you are a mzungu. I've had plenty of people profess their love to me on the street. Once again, this doesn't really happen with students who are used to having foreign faces in their midst. But as I was eating a delicious ice cream cone after class, trying to forget the feeling of 400 pairs of eyes on me, it did. Of course, it caught me off guard again. What usually follows is "Are you married?" and then "What religion are you?" (By that they mean "Are you Christian or Muslim?" There's really no other option). So every time I have to make up a fiancee and a church. Lying to people is exhausting... I really don't enjoy it.

You also have to be very careful about being friendly around men because many of them interpret pleasantries as interest (then come the marriage/ religion questions). It took me a while to figure out that men and women are generally not friends here. On campus people are a little more western, so you do get inter-gender friendships, but it is still not as common as it is at home. This is unfortunate because I haven't met many girls. My roommate is nice but doesn't speak and is hardly ever here. I've met a lot of people hanging out at Daruso (like an outdoor student union/ cafeteria), but they are never women. Ever.

So it seems I have a lot to get used to. Now that the students are back on campus I am learning a whole new social dynamic and trying to find my niche. It is interesting, and at times frustrating, but always an adventure.

More from Malawi

Well I’m back in Dar. Malawi was amazing, and quite an adventure. We spent 4 days on the lake relaxing and SCUBA diving then headed up north to camp out in a national park for a few nights. Here are some highlights:

Driving through the mountains of Tanzania (as rain poured in through bus windows while Bongo Flavor, i.e. Tanzanian rap, blasted through the aisle).

Hotel Hepatitis. This is where we stayed in Mbeya on our way back from Malawi, and I hope the picture captures the sheer dirtiness. If it helps, add some bugs on the walls and a hint of urine in the air…

Nkhata Bay. The town is one street, but it sure does have a lot of energy.

This is the view from our room at sunset. Pretty rockin, I’d say.

Darwin’s nightmare! This double-tailed mutant lizard was chillin' outside our room.

Driving up to Nyika Plateau, a national park on the border of Malawi and Zambia, the vegetation was very tropical and reminded me a lot of Costa Rica. There were also tons of tobacco farms, which brought me back to NC...

The Nyika village kids loved us because we gave them cookies.

There is one road into/ out of Nyika, and it is a dirt road in pretty rough condition. Since it is the rainy season, we took a bit of a gamble going there (it’s easy to get stuck and not be able to leave the park). There are these cargo trucks that are 2 wheel drive that can spend a week going 60 miles. We got to one particularly bad hill and there were three semis that had been parked at the base for two nights. We spent two hours on that hill while our guides helped to push three giant trucks to the top (yes, Katie and I stayed put since we figured we’d be more of a hinder than a help). At least we got to watch a cool sky for two hours. Our truck made it up on the first try.

Nyika is famous for its orchids. There are over 100 species there! In some places I felt I was doing an injustice to the world because it was all I could do not to step on them. It was weird, though, because there were also clover, dandelions, rosemary, and blackberry. What caught me off guard the most was the pine forest behind our campsite. I did not expect pine trees in Malawi, but it definitely reminded me of home.

The park is at 5000 – 6000 ft, and it is full of beautiful open spaces, perfect for watching wildlife frolic through the grass. It’s one part Virginia, one part Ireland, and two parts something totally unique. It’s really an amazing sight. (Notice the zebra and roan antelope in the front).

Kwacha. It looks and spends like Monopoly money and made me feel like quite the pimp.

This is the view from our tent. We literally had the whole park to ourselves—there was no one in the lodge or hostel and we were the only ones in the campsite.

I barely made it back in the country. My visa expires on Friday (I was unaware of this), so I had to sweet talk my way back into Tanzania. Luckily some unknown and very kind person put up the money for my residence permit while I was gone, so I'm not going to be an illegal alien. Woohoo!