Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Baba's Birthday






Happy Birthday Dad!
These pictures are from my walk home from school today...blistering heat mind you.
On the right are the lush rice fields, and on the left is dust and huts.
Have a good day; I love you!

Monday, February 22, 2010

Chagga Waterfalls

Today we went on a trek through the foothills of Mt. Kilimanjaro in what was supposed to be a trip to find Marangu Falls. A friend at the hostel, Amanda, works with a man who offered to take us to the falls and show us around some caves as well. Masaki was his name, and hiking was his game. An hour and a half and three different dala rides later, we arrived in the village. It was already much cooler than Moshi because of the altitude, and the surroundings were quite rainforest-like.

Masaki wanted us to visit the Hope Foundation along the way, so we first hiked to the orphanage to find a much heated church service, laundry on the line and Mama Marina, (the 60 year old woman in charge). We visited for a short bit with some coffee and tea, then headed off to see a waterfall nearby. Great news: it did in fact rain all day long, and us Mzungus (white folk and not a derogatory term) slipped and slid both to and from each destination. Locals popped in randomly all day to accompany our group of 6, so we had an interesting day to say the least. All were very helpful, as it was obvious we were not in Kansas anymore, and they just lent a helping hand and looks of pity to the poor slipping Mzungus.

One waterfall down, caves to visit, kids to meet after church at the orphanage, and Marangu falls to go...

We decided it was best to hike to the cave next, as it was somewhat on the way back to the orphanage. More great news: Fantastic Caverns? No. It was actually a manmade cave somewhat like the catacombs in France, minus the bones and standing room, and on a much smaller scale. To make an already long story a little shorter, we hiked to a shelter that turned out to be the home of the Chagga people “operating” the caves. In groups of three a teenage boy took us down a 90 degree angled ladder to pitch black dirt tunnels. About two hundred years ago, civil war broke out between the Chagga and Maasai tribes, as the Maasai took the cattle of the Chagga people believing all cattle belonged to them. Another long story short: the Chagga built these underground rooms for protection, and to lure in the enemy for their demise. Now both tribes live side by side in Moshi in complete harmony.
Cave, and random waterfall down, the rest to go.
We hiked back to the Hope foundation where 3 hours later the church service had yet to conclude. Mama Marina had prepared for us a lunch of goat stew and maize, so we ate while a thunderstorm passed. Once the rain stopped, we said our good-byes and headed out of the village. Time had gotten away from us, and we opted not to go to Marangu falls, as we would not have made it back to Moshi by dark-—more importantly by dinner.
Another weekend down, and five days until safari...will try and post pictures, but my camera is being most uncooperative. Kwaheri!

Saturday, February 20, 2010

Hello Cello

Hi-ya...
Today is Saturday, and I am about to go to TCC to start my second placement this afternoon. Don't ask me what TCC stands for...I have no idea. It happened by chance that they needed someone to teach basic computer skills to the kids, so I will take my laptop every Thursday and Saturday to work with them. Apparently they are learning computer theory, but have no option for hands on experience, which they need for some future exams.



Have a good weekend!

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Ode to the Green Dala

To get to my school, I must take a dala dala (for those of you who do not remember, that is a "bus"), because it is in a village 7 kilometers outside of town. Each morning we meet a teacher and one student and head into school. An hour and a half later, I arrive at school. After school it is a 2 hour dala ride home.
The only way to describe the dala rides are to reference the 1st Hoffmeister family van...the green one to be exact and still holding the title of greatest vehicle ever.
Picture a bus the size of the van with 4 rows of seats and approximately 28 people inside, take out the captain's seats, airplane lighting, air-conditoning and television...and you've got yourself a dala dala. Oh and if we are describing today's trip, add in 4 huge baskets of fruits and greens, a bucket of dead fish, and lots of stares cast in my direction. Delightful. Good news Mom: the roads to the village are quite bumpy so we never reach a speed above 10 miles an hour.
So today I salute you Hoffmeister family. You drove a Dala Dala for years and didn't even know it. You saw 7 seats and thought that meant seven passengers. You provided countless hours of entertainment and nice napping and did it all for less than 700 Tanzanian shillings. Well done.


P.s. Can't get photos uploaded...will keep trying.

Monday, February 15, 2010

Parasites, Crocs, Kenya, and Jumping





I will start with our Saturday excursion to Lake Chala, where I clumsily had a pretty good tumble down a very steep hill…cliff really…on our trek to the water. The lake is a good 1.5 hour drive from Moshi, and 12 of us rented a Dala Dala (kind of like a van but functions as a bus), for the trip. Lake Chala is a crater filled with dark blue water that is surrounded by Tanzania on one side, and Kenya on the other. Our plans to circle the entire lake were genuine in the beginning, but 90 degrees and several falls later, we decided to hang out by the water instead. Oh! This reminds me; African summer weather, definitely NOT Missouri in July. Yeah, joke was on us that day. Anyhow, apparently the water is swimmable, but the possibility of parasites and crocodiles kept us on the shore, where we just waded a wee bit and watched some local boys fish with sticks and a bit of string.
Sunday, a group of us went to a Masai village 45 minutes west of Moshi. We are sooo lucky to have had the experience today, because unlike most villages that people visit, this was an actual village of an authentic tribe, and we were invited by one of the guards at the hostel, Seneti. Most of the time, the villages are tourist traps costing 80,000 TSH, and not counting the extra for pictures. This was actually just Senati visiting his family, as he works in Moshi at the hostel and had not been home in one month and one day. Mud huts, donkeys, very thin cows, a few chickens, goats, and the nicest people are what we encountered upon arrival. I found from one of the teenagers in tribe that they are a Christian tribe, though of course, the men had many wives, giving an abundance of children…the cutest kids in the entire world might I add.
We “visited” with the family for a good while, which consisted of porcupines thrown at me by the kids, helping them blow up balloons that a girl in our group had brought, shaking hands with all the elders, and drinking Maasai tea: cows milk, sugar cane, tea leaves and hot water. For fear of being rude, I drank all of it, which wasn’t hard seeing as how it was DELICIOUS. I am hoping I don’t regret that decision later…
After our mingling, we walked about 100 yards away from the village, and the jumping began. I am attaching a video hoping that it will work, but if it does not, just know that it is a lot of singing/chanting and high jumping by the men of the tribe. The kids all watched with us, then joined in with songs of their own that seemed to accompany the men.
Sorry…another long one. I’ll leave you now hopefully with photos and a happy late Valentine’s day to you!

Friday, February 12, 2010

First Day of School

First Day of School
First of all: Praise me. Two days in a row for an update is amawwwzing. I suppose it is a sure indicator that once the sun goes down, I have a lot of free time. Now I am sitting outside with the others, listening to safari stories from the guy who just returned this evening. Every night is a free concert. Last night it sounded like a night club in the distance, and today our boy Sousa is making an appearance with brass bands, which apparently is an occurrence every Thursday, as this is the day of the week families throw something like a good bye party for the brides to be married on Saturday.

Mooovvving on...Today was my first day of placement with the Kilimanjaro Young Girls in Need School (KYGN). I. Loved. It. We met the director of school in town and she drove us out to the school because it is a good 7 kilometers outside Moshi. Just that small distance made for an enormous difference. The second the car left the somewhat paved roads and hit the dirt path, it was an entirely different world. Shacks on the right and the most gorgeous rice fields in front of a mountainous backdrop on the left were, no lie, the most stunning shades of green.

The school to which we were driving is one that primarily teaches math, English (though at the extreme beginners level as most kids only had “my name is” and “teacher,” which is what we are called), and the rest was of course in Swahili. Arts and crafts are done sometimes, and P.E. as well. About 30 girls between the ages of 3 and 7 attend the school, and there are three teachers: Rahab, Emanuel, and Matilda. Today we took aside a couple of girls who were a bit behind the class and taught them simple maths and writing. At recess, we seemed to be the main attraction, and fixing our hair was the favorite activity. School for KYGN ends at about half twelve, so for now I have the afternoons fairly free. That being said, I am hoping to visit a few more placements before I commit fully to KYGN, as transportation to the school is a bit of an issue. However, if all goes well, I will stay with the school each day from 8-noon and then perhaps go somewhere else in the afternoon.

Hope everyone is having fun at home…and hopefully will hear from you soon. Miss everyone… Usiku mwema.

Thursday, February 11, 2010

Day 1: Moshi

So I decided to go ahead with the blog hoping that it will make my ability to keep in touch seem much better than it actually is. I’m sorry if it bores you, and I am sorry if it isn’t updated often…although in theory I should have plenty of time at night to write on my laptop, as dinner is served between 6:30 and 7:00 here at the hostel, and people rarely leave after dark.

Maura and I left Dublin at 6:00 on Tuesday morning, and flew to Amsterdam where what we thought was a 3 hour layover was actually only two. Between neither of us having more than 20 minutes of sleep in the previous 24 hours, and the time change in Amsterdam, we found ourselves waking from a nap in the airport Starbucks to the sound of our names being called over the loud speaker. Good news—we made it.

Eight hours later and three hours ahead of Ireland, (nine ahead of home), we arrived in Tanzania. Denis from our hostel came to collect us, and the 40 minute taxi drive to Moshi went by so quickly. The night temperature was nice, so the un-air-conditioned car was quite alright, and even though the moon wasn’t out and Mt. Kilimanjaro wasn’t visible, I assure you I have never seen stars quite like the ones over our car.

Day one is now fully complete, and I am exhausted. The heat in the day is really no different than that of Missouri in July, and we are staying in a tent in the backyard of Hostel Hoff, (fully equipped with electricity and beds you know), so we are lucky enough to catch any breeze that blows our way. Today was just a quick briefing of the “city,” with a bit of time to explore, and nap in the afternoon. Tomorrow I visit my first placement option, one with kids from ages 2-9 years, and I really do not know much past that.

That is all for now, as I am going to attempt to head to bed early to be somewhat more functional tomorrow. Miss everyone… Usiku mwema.