I hope that everyone has a nice Christmas and a good New Year. As a fan of "How I Met Your Mother" (thanks Allison!), I agree that New Year's is often the most disappointing holiday of the year. I hope that is not the case for any of you - I wish for all of you to be fulfilled and at peace with yourselves.
Me, I'm going to the beach - it's hard to be disappointed there.
I won't be back near my computer for posting-related activities until after January 7. I promise to post pictures of said beach upon my return.
Friday, December 21, 2007
Thursday, December 20, 2007
Nature in my front window
I saw one of the most incredible spectacles this morning out my front window. If not for a professional tour guide who happened to be here, I would have missed it altogether.
A mother eagle was teaching her babies to fly and hunt. We have a tree in the front of the house which is the territory of some crows and it is nature's baby time. Eagles apparently enjoy crow eggs as a tasty treat. The mother eagle was doing small circles around the tree and it was easy to see the fledgling copy her, but with less fluidity and clunky flapping. I could hear the crow angrily defending its space, but my guess is that the eagles probably scored at least one or two eggs.
It was certainly not something I'm likely to see out the window at home. Despite the urban surroundings, Arusha still has lots of wildlife and active nature.
A mother eagle was teaching her babies to fly and hunt. We have a tree in the front of the house which is the territory of some crows and it is nature's baby time. Eagles apparently enjoy crow eggs as a tasty treat. The mother eagle was doing small circles around the tree and it was easy to see the fledgling copy her, but with less fluidity and clunky flapping. I could hear the crow angrily defending its space, but my guess is that the eagles probably scored at least one or two eggs.
It was certainly not something I'm likely to see out the window at home. Despite the urban surroundings, Arusha still has lots of wildlife and active nature.
I feel loved!
I've just been inundated with stuff from home - I can't explain how wonderful it feels. It's not just the stuff (although I LOVE the stuff), but being so far away and feeling like I'm losing touch with people and in general feeling disconnected...
Getting something in the mail means I've not been totally forgotten - yay!
I think there's a homesick cycle that comes around every 4 or 5 months. I've been here 10 months and this is the second go-round. Supposedly it gets better over time, but honestly I'm not feeling it. I miss home just as much as ever. The fact that it is Christmas-time and usually the time when you get to see all your friends and family I'm sure has nothing to do with it...
A care package has really helped. Thanks Mom and Peter!
Getting something in the mail means I've not been totally forgotten - yay!
I think there's a homesick cycle that comes around every 4 or 5 months. I've been here 10 months and this is the second go-round. Supposedly it gets better over time, but honestly I'm not feeling it. I miss home just as much as ever. The fact that it is Christmas-time and usually the time when you get to see all your friends and family I'm sure has nothing to do with it...
A care package has really helped. Thanks Mom and Peter!
Sunday, December 16, 2007
Cream of Tartar
What exactly is cream of tartar? Wikipedia tells me that it is a bi-product of making wine. I made two apple pies this weekend for a cooperant Christmas party and I didn't have any cream of tartar, even though the recipe called for it. I thought, "shmeh, it can't be that important." My pies turned out all watery. Exceptionally tasty, but watery.
Could cream of tartar have made my pies have the yummy apple goo instead of just yummy apple water?
Anyone? Anyone? (Bueller)?
Could cream of tartar have made my pies have the yummy apple goo instead of just yummy apple water?
Anyone? Anyone? (Bueller)?
Thursday, November 29, 2007
Electricity Update
The final tally was 25.5 hours with no power. Mayo, sandwich spread, leftover pesto, biryani paste, and chicken stock were the casualties. We didn't open the freezer at all, so the ice cream made it.
It went off at work in the afternoon, which gave me a good excuse to leave early, but was off again at home (boo). Lucky us though, it came back on after about 45 minutes though and the fridge was still cold, so no new losses.
It went off at work in the afternoon, which gave me a good excuse to leave early, but was off again at home (boo). Lucky us though, it came back on after about 45 minutes though and the fridge was still cold, so no new losses.
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Electricity
It's now 16 hours and counting since our electricity went out last night - I'm posting while on my break at work. I will definitely have to throw out the mayo. I now understand why people buy things in tiny little amounts here.
I have been thinking I should add another list on the side that would show every time our electricity goes out - or a clicker that would add up the amount of time it is off.
While our water is not technically affected by the power outages, we have to pump it into a tank to bring it in through taps in the house and the pump is run by electricity, so when the reserve is gone, there's no more water from the taps until the power comes back. We have a spigot outside that comes right out of the ground, but there are lots of floaties that come out, so it's a last resort.
Most people have generators that fill in when the power goes, but we are on volunteer stipends, so we just light candles. As soon as everything goes dark, the next immediate sound is the diesel engines starting up on the generators. I can know before I even get home if the power is out by the sound of the generators.
I hope it's back on by the time I get home today - there's ice cream in the freezer (at least I hope it's still there and not a puddle)....
I have been thinking I should add another list on the side that would show every time our electricity goes out - or a clicker that would add up the amount of time it is off.
While our water is not technically affected by the power outages, we have to pump it into a tank to bring it in through taps in the house and the pump is run by electricity, so when the reserve is gone, there's no more water from the taps until the power comes back. We have a spigot outside that comes right out of the ground, but there are lots of floaties that come out, so it's a last resort.
Most people have generators that fill in when the power goes, but we are on volunteer stipends, so we just light candles. As soon as everything goes dark, the next immediate sound is the diesel engines starting up on the generators. I can know before I even get home if the power is out by the sound of the generators.
I hope it's back on by the time I get home today - there's ice cream in the freezer (at least I hope it's still there and not a puddle)....
Monday, November 12, 2007
Jacaranda Trees
I don't think we have these in Canada - not in Saskatoon, anyway.
They are so incredibly beautiful and smell amazing. They stay in bloom for months even though the flowers are always falling off. A pile of Jacaranda flowers on the ground can make even the most dirty, ugly road seem beautiful. There is one along the path where I walk to work and it is so nice to have a carpet of purple to pave my way every morning. The bees love them and will even look for pollen when the flower has fallen to ground. No one is selling Jacaranda honey that I know of, but it sounds like a good income-generating activity idea...
They are so incredibly beautiful and smell amazing. They stay in bloom for months even though the flowers are always falling off. A pile of Jacaranda flowers on the ground can make even the most dirty, ugly road seem beautiful. There is one along the path where I walk to work and it is so nice to have a carpet of purple to pave my way every morning. The bees love them and will even look for pollen when the flower has fallen to ground. No one is selling Jacaranda honey that I know of, but it sounds like a good income-generating activity idea...
Sunday, November 11, 2007
Women in Tanzania
I have been wanting to write about ladies for a long time, but I really needed some pictures because a written explanation just wouldn't be enough. People here have been over-photographed, however, and are really sensitive to having their pictures taken. I can totally understand - it's been completely exploitative. But that doesn't help me get some photos to show examples of how things are. I found a solution recently in farming out my camera to a local friend who blends in and could get me what I was looking for.
Ladies here do EVERYTHING! They are expected to do all the housework in addition to all the major physical labor required to keep things running. Nearly all street cleaners, farm workers, wood choppers, and general carry-alls are women. It is always surprising to see what women can do while carrying things on their heads - and they carry everything on their heads.
While the head is reserved for carrying anything of substantial weight, backs are reserved solely for babies.
You can just see the outline of this wee one's head.
While some women wear pants, it is more common to see women in skirts. Gender norms are a tad bit different here and my ideas often elicit surprise and laughter. A woman at work once asked me "If you don't wear skirts, what makes you a woman?" My reply involved pointing and other hand gestures, indicating that there were many things not involving skirts that did indeed make me a woman. This need to reinforce women's role in skirts extends to the police. This is something I just don't understand. How can a woman fight crime in a skirt??
In any case, womanly skirts and dresses are exceptionally creative and varied. Buying off the rack is quite rare since there is an abundance of different kinds of fabric and even more design options that are fairly inexpensive to have made. In general there are two different kinds of fabrics - kanga and kitenge. Kanga is thin and has a large design surrounded by a border and some kind of message or saying woven onto the bottom. Two pieces are sold together (about a metre each) and a woman usually wears one as a wrap around skirt (the two girls carrying bananas on their heads above are wearing kanga skirts) and the other is made into a shirt, or used as a shawl, or (as can be seen in the picture above) a baby sling. Kitenge is a bit more heavy fabric, is one all-over pattern, and is sold in 4-metre pieces. Most of the bright, creative dresses come from kitenge - sleeve designs are one place that they show their uniqueness. Ladies that wear kitenge almost always have a strip of the same fabric that they use to wrap around their heads in bold knots.
I could only get one good picture of a kitenge dress and I will put up more if I can, but here is one example:
In addition to creative dresses, hair styles are changed like shoes. Black hair provides for a plethora of options that can be changed every week or so. Extensions are common and look way more awesome on these ladies than on "mzungu" hair. Women get braids in all kinds of designs on their head (my favorite is a flower/leaf design that they braid in) - thick braids, teeny skinny braids, braids from the bottom up that are finished in a tower on top of the head. Wigs are totally embraced here as well, and you can't really tell - they look great! Here is one of the more elaborate braiding designs I have ever seen:
Regardless of dress, hair and carrying things, there are all kinds of women here. I have met both shy and bold women; women who embrace independence and shun the need to have a man in order to be fulfilled as well as women who are willing to forsake all their own ambitions and fold themselves completely under their man - in the words of one lady at work who quit right after getting married: "my husband is my first job now." (The same one who commented on women and skirts). I'm sad to say that the first kind are in short supply, although I am encouraged to know that they are teaching gender equity to their children, especially their boys.
Ladies here do EVERYTHING! They are expected to do all the housework in addition to all the major physical labor required to keep things running. Nearly all street cleaners, farm workers, wood choppers, and general carry-alls are women. It is always surprising to see what women can do while carrying things on their heads - and they carry everything on their heads.
While the head is reserved for carrying anything of substantial weight, backs are reserved solely for babies.
You can just see the outline of this wee one's head.
While some women wear pants, it is more common to see women in skirts. Gender norms are a tad bit different here and my ideas often elicit surprise and laughter. A woman at work once asked me "If you don't wear skirts, what makes you a woman?" My reply involved pointing and other hand gestures, indicating that there were many things not involving skirts that did indeed make me a woman. This need to reinforce women's role in skirts extends to the police. This is something I just don't understand. How can a woman fight crime in a skirt??
In any case, womanly skirts and dresses are exceptionally creative and varied. Buying off the rack is quite rare since there is an abundance of different kinds of fabric and even more design options that are fairly inexpensive to have made. In general there are two different kinds of fabrics - kanga and kitenge. Kanga is thin and has a large design surrounded by a border and some kind of message or saying woven onto the bottom. Two pieces are sold together (about a metre each) and a woman usually wears one as a wrap around skirt (the two girls carrying bananas on their heads above are wearing kanga skirts) and the other is made into a shirt, or used as a shawl, or (as can be seen in the picture above) a baby sling. Kitenge is a bit more heavy fabric, is one all-over pattern, and is sold in 4-metre pieces. Most of the bright, creative dresses come from kitenge - sleeve designs are one place that they show their uniqueness. Ladies that wear kitenge almost always have a strip of the same fabric that they use to wrap around their heads in bold knots.
I could only get one good picture of a kitenge dress and I will put up more if I can, but here is one example:
In addition to creative dresses, hair styles are changed like shoes. Black hair provides for a plethora of options that can be changed every week or so. Extensions are common and look way more awesome on these ladies than on "mzungu" hair. Women get braids in all kinds of designs on their head (my favorite is a flower/leaf design that they braid in) - thick braids, teeny skinny braids, braids from the bottom up that are finished in a tower on top of the head. Wigs are totally embraced here as well, and you can't really tell - they look great! Here is one of the more elaborate braiding designs I have ever seen:
Regardless of dress, hair and carrying things, there are all kinds of women here. I have met both shy and bold women; women who embrace independence and shun the need to have a man in order to be fulfilled as well as women who are willing to forsake all their own ambitions and fold themselves completely under their man - in the words of one lady at work who quit right after getting married: "my husband is my first job now." (The same one who commented on women and skirts). I'm sad to say that the first kind are in short supply, although I am encouraged to know that they are teaching gender equity to their children, especially their boys.
Monday, October 15, 2007
Malaria Update
I hope my malaria is gone.
The drugs were worse than the parasite.
I took 2 days off work to catch up on things at home (using malaria as an excuse) and karma got me back. The last day on meds knocked me down - I needed 2 more days, but I sucked it up. Apparently *everyone* knows (except the white girl) that the meds make you feel very lethargic, give you a garbage-y stomach, headaches, and take away your appetite. Basically all the things that you might feel if you had malaria. I didn't eat anything for 2 days - I just couldn't.
I'm feeling much better now, but I may test again in a couple of days to make sure that I have no more microscopic guests in my body.
The drugs were worse than the parasite.
I took 2 days off work to catch up on things at home (using malaria as an excuse) and karma got me back. The last day on meds knocked me down - I needed 2 more days, but I sucked it up. Apparently *everyone* knows (except the white girl) that the meds make you feel very lethargic, give you a garbage-y stomach, headaches, and take away your appetite. Basically all the things that you might feel if you had malaria. I didn't eat anything for 2 days - I just couldn't.
I'm feeling much better now, but I may test again in a couple of days to make sure that I have no more microscopic guests in my body.
Sunday, October 7, 2007
I have malaria!
Seriously. I can't believe it. I don't feel a thing.
I went to get checked for some other not-so-nice symptoms that I don't particularly care to describe, but I can summarize by saying that I thought it might be amoebas. They took a finger-prick blood sample (and other unpleasant things) and a couple of hours later told me I had malaria. I asked the doctor about having no symptoms and he said I clearly don't have the worst kind (p. falciparum). And apparently I don't have amoebas either.
For you tropical medicine enthusiasts:
I was prescribed artemisinin (natural and derivative), which is a very old, very well-known treatment for malaria, but has been passed over for a long time in favor of other treatments like mefloquine. Malaria is becoming resistant to those drugs, however and now artemisenin is being "rediscovered." It kind of makes me feel wierd, though. Oh well - there are only 5 days of treatment.
In the mean time, I'm taking a couple of days break from work. Malaria might explain why I've felt so tired, although it has been called 'the great immitator' since its symptoms often mimic those of other problems. Either way, it's a good excuse to get some rest.
I went to get checked for some other not-so-nice symptoms that I don't particularly care to describe, but I can summarize by saying that I thought it might be amoebas. They took a finger-prick blood sample (and other unpleasant things) and a couple of hours later told me I had malaria. I asked the doctor about having no symptoms and he said I clearly don't have the worst kind (p. falciparum). And apparently I don't have amoebas either.
For you tropical medicine enthusiasts:
I was prescribed artemisinin (natural and derivative), which is a very old, very well-known treatment for malaria, but has been passed over for a long time in favor of other treatments like mefloquine. Malaria is becoming resistant to those drugs, however and now artemisenin is being "rediscovered." It kind of makes me feel wierd, though. Oh well - there are only 5 days of treatment.
In the mean time, I'm taking a couple of days break from work. Malaria might explain why I've felt so tired, although it has been called 'the great immitator' since its symptoms often mimic those of other problems. Either way, it's a good excuse to get some rest.
Tuesday, October 2, 2007
(Almost) Getting Robbed
Twice now, I’ve nearly been a robbery victim.
The first time was when I was waiting for a bus to leave. It was not full and there were 2 guys. One tried to distract me by making me think he had dropped some coins under my seat, while the second guy tried to put his hand in my bag while I (ostensibly) went looking for the coins. A pretty clever scheme, except I saw the second guy’s hand going for my bag and slapped it away while yelling at them. They couldn’t get out of the bus fast enough.
The second time was a bit more intimidating. I was walking home from work at 4:30 IN THE AFTERNOON ON A BUSY STREET and two guys came up behind me, much too close for my comfort. Just as I was going to stop and let them pass, one of them cut the strap of my bag that I had slung across my body (I don’t trust just a shoulder – too easy to snatch). We had a bit of a tug-of-war, which I won and the guy ran off while I screamed at him F&@* OFF!!! Kind of a knee-jerk reaction. I think the second guy was supposed to grab the now-free bag, but I looked him right in the eye and asked if the other guy was his friend – he just slunk off into the bushes.
Some friends were able to identify the would-be thief and I found out that this was his regular “day at the office” when he robbed some other tourists, but got caught. He was sentenced for 6 years. It only felt slightly satisfactory – he’ll probably come out of jail smarter and a better thief.
Personal security here is a bit of a misnomer. It’s pretty hard to guarantee it sometimes. I know of many friends who have been robbed in Arusha, and some them very violently. One friend in particular has told me about being threatened with big bush knives (just a few months ago) and guns, and even one time being stabbed with a screw-driver. This is not a person who is involved in the kinds of activities that would invite violent attacks. Every time, it was when he was walking home at night. All the locals here profess a willingness to fight tooth and nail to prevent someone else from stealing their hard-earned money or stuff. On the one hand I can understand – money and stuff doesn’t come easily here. Who wants to lose it at the drop of a hat? But it’s not worth a life, is it?
These kinds of things make me nervous. If I can have someone more or less pull a knife out on me on a busy street and no one does anything –what can happen at night in a town with almost no street lights? Nine out of ten times, I am fine, but there’s always that one time….
Sunday, September 30, 2007
I'm in the newspaper!
One of my roommates is a journalist and wrote a story about HIV/AIDS in Tanzania featuring yours truly and it made the front page of the Saskatoon Star Phoenix's weekend extra section.
Check it out here.
Check it out here.
Sunday, September 23, 2007
Mt. Kilimanjaro
Kili (as everyone here calls it) is shy and elusive. It is often hidden behind clouds, but I managed to get a good shot recently - but still, it's only just peaking out. In real life, it inspires as much awe as the hype suggests. Incredible.
While my blog was on vacation...
I went on a one-day safari to Arusha National Park. It was AWESOME!! Tanzania has 14 national parks - the Serengeti being the largest and probably the most famous. Arusha NP is the second smallest park in Tanzania, but home to an amazing abundance of plant and animal life.
I can't explain how incredible it is to see animals roaming free in their natural habitat. After that, zoos just seem wrong.
This is us as we started out. (The roommates don't like having their pictures taken). Safari cars are cool because the top is removable so you can stand up and look out at the animals without getting out of the vehicle.
There are no lions and almost no elephants in the park (we didn't see any), but we still saw plenty to keep us open-mouthed in awe and in a perpetual state of "oh my god did you see that?!"
The giraffes were walking ON THE ROAD and didn't seem much daunted by our presence.
There were a lot of giraffes.
And zebras.
I have to put up one more picture of a giraffe. Those things are awesome. This one took an interest in the camera.
I was able to get pictures of warthogs, monkeys, baboons, cape buffalo (they look like they're wearing viking helmets), and some nice vegetation. We also saw lots of flamingos and other species of birds and monkeys as well as a waterbuck (kind of like a deer), but they were too far away or moved too fast for me to get a photo.
A la The Lion King, "when I was a young warthog....." I think they're so cute!
This is a black Colobus monkey - he looks a little scary to me. And also like he's related to a skunk
Baboons - they seem so normal here
But they apparently like it dirty too - no shame in the animal kingdom!
Vikings of Africa
Lush vegetation, honeycomb, and waterfalls were also part of an amazing trip.
This one has a parasitic viny overgrowth
So beautiful!
Bees were here
Wow. So amazing.
I can't explain how incredible it is to see animals roaming free in their natural habitat. After that, zoos just seem wrong.
This is us as we started out. (The roommates don't like having their pictures taken). Safari cars are cool because the top is removable so you can stand up and look out at the animals without getting out of the vehicle.
There are no lions and almost no elephants in the park (we didn't see any), but we still saw plenty to keep us open-mouthed in awe and in a perpetual state of "oh my god did you see that?!"
The giraffes were walking ON THE ROAD and didn't seem much daunted by our presence.
There were a lot of giraffes.
And zebras.
I have to put up one more picture of a giraffe. Those things are awesome. This one took an interest in the camera.
I was able to get pictures of warthogs, monkeys, baboons, cape buffalo (they look like they're wearing viking helmets), and some nice vegetation. We also saw lots of flamingos and other species of birds and monkeys as well as a waterbuck (kind of like a deer), but they were too far away or moved too fast for me to get a photo.
A la The Lion King, "when I was a young warthog....." I think they're so cute!
This is a black Colobus monkey - he looks a little scary to me. And also like he's related to a skunk
Baboons - they seem so normal here
But they apparently like it dirty too - no shame in the animal kingdom!
Vikings of Africa
Lush vegetation, honeycomb, and waterfalls were also part of an amazing trip.
This one has a parasitic viny overgrowth
So beautiful!
Bees were here
Wow. So amazing.
Monday, September 17, 2007
Uhai Centre and AAIDRO
I work at the HIV/AIDS unit (Uhai Centre) in the Catholic Archdiocese of Arusha Integrated Development and Relief Office (AAIDRO). As most of you know, Arusha is just west of Mt. Kilimanjaro. Our skyline is dominated by a remnant of the same volcano family as Kilimanjaro – Mt. Meru. There’s no snow, but still beautiful.
Uhai means life in Swahili and the Centre works to improve the lives of people living with and affected by HIV/AIDS. We work both in the office and in the field. In-house, we offer free voluntary counseling and HIV testing (VCT), treatment for opportunistic infections, and give referrals. We have a small pharmacy but no lab, so we have to send people to hospitals or clinics to get a CD4 count, full-on HIV tests (if they think the rapid test we use may be wrong), get tested for tuberculosis, or anything else that needs lab work. A large portion of our work is done in the field. We do mobile VCT, provide education and sensitization seminars, facilitate support clubs for people living with HIV/AIDS (PLHA) as well as orphans and vulnerable children (OVC). We provide education support for some of these children and also provide some nutritional support for PLHA and OVC.
As you can see, there is quite a lingo of acronyms that comes with working in HIV/AIDS.
One of the activities we support is training home-based care providers for PLHA. We have been connected to a small group of these people who were trained a few years ago, but the grant we were just awarded will allow us to train 340 people in the immediate areas around Arusha. We hope that this will help to reduce the over 4,000 office visits we had last year by allowing people to receive care in their homes. The need is great not only for our clients, but all over the country – approximately 50% of all hospital beds in Tanzania are occupied by people who have illnesses related to HIV/AIDS.
Uhai Centre is funded almost exclusively by foreign donors. Our main supporters are CAFOD (the Catholic Agency for Overseas Development), Misereor (a German Catholic aid agency), Trócaire (Irish Catholic aid organization), and the World Food Program. Our new grant is coming from a fund that 10 donors have contributed to, including the Canadian International Development Agency (yay Canada!)
Uhai Centre is only a unit within AAIDRO and there are many other projects that operate under AAIDRO’s banner. AAIDRO is currently undergoing a review process and contemplating alternative structuring of its programs and projects. I have been invited to contribute to these discussions recently and I feel very flattered that they have asked for my input.
Overall, I am feeling very professionally satisfied. Although I have been here only a short time, some of my work is beginning to show results and it is exciting.
Uhai means life in Swahili and the Centre works to improve the lives of people living with and affected by HIV/AIDS. We work both in the office and in the field. In-house, we offer free voluntary counseling and HIV testing (VCT), treatment for opportunistic infections, and give referrals. We have a small pharmacy but no lab, so we have to send people to hospitals or clinics to get a CD4 count, full-on HIV tests (if they think the rapid test we use may be wrong), get tested for tuberculosis, or anything else that needs lab work. A large portion of our work is done in the field. We do mobile VCT, provide education and sensitization seminars, facilitate support clubs for people living with HIV/AIDS (PLHA) as well as orphans and vulnerable children (OVC). We provide education support for some of these children and also provide some nutritional support for PLHA and OVC.
As you can see, there is quite a lingo of acronyms that comes with working in HIV/AIDS.
One of the activities we support is training home-based care providers for PLHA. We have been connected to a small group of these people who were trained a few years ago, but the grant we were just awarded will allow us to train 340 people in the immediate areas around Arusha. We hope that this will help to reduce the over 4,000 office visits we had last year by allowing people to receive care in their homes. The need is great not only for our clients, but all over the country – approximately 50% of all hospital beds in Tanzania are occupied by people who have illnesses related to HIV/AIDS.
Uhai Centre is funded almost exclusively by foreign donors. Our main supporters are CAFOD (the Catholic Agency for Overseas Development), Misereor (a German Catholic aid agency), Trócaire (Irish Catholic aid organization), and the World Food Program. Our new grant is coming from a fund that 10 donors have contributed to, including the Canadian International Development Agency (yay Canada!)
Uhai Centre is only a unit within AAIDRO and there are many other projects that operate under AAIDRO’s banner. AAIDRO is currently undergoing a review process and contemplating alternative structuring of its programs and projects. I have been invited to contribute to these discussions recently and I feel very flattered that they have asked for my input.
Overall, I am feeling very professionally satisfied. Although I have been here only a short time, some of my work is beginning to show results and it is exciting.
Sunday, September 16, 2007
…And I’m back!
So it seems that my blog took a summer vacation.
A quick summary. In the last three and a half months I have:
• Been to Dar es Salaam twice
• Been to Nairobi once
• Had three sets of multi-day meetings.
• Submitted and been awarded a US$200,000 grant for Uhai Centre to train home-based care providers of people living with HIV/AIDS
• Prepared and almost submitted a 3-year core funding grant for Uhai Centre (just waiting on the accountant for the budget)
• Been named representative of the CUSO cooperants’ association
• Been named the coordinator of a new network for HIV/AIDS organizations that have CUSO cooperants
• Participated in talks about restructuring AAIDRO
• Marked 7 months in Tanzania!
Ok – so maybe my blog took a vacation, but I have been really busy!
You’ll notice I’ve added a reading list. These are the books I’ve read so far – I’m averaging about 2 books a month. There’s a good mix of heavy and light subject matter. I’ve also put in parentheses if the book deals with Africa or HIV – in case any of you might be interested too.
Of my books so far, I highly recommend the following:
• 28 – The BEST book I’ve ever read that explains the many, many facets of HIV and its context in terms of people’s lives, politics and economics
• The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series by Alexander McCall Smith – these books are hilarious and touching. I found these three in the Arusha Library. I’d love to read more of the series if anyone can find them for me
• A Great Feast of Light – I learned so much about Irish history in this book – a topic I knew almost nothing about before. Why did we learn French and British history in school and nothing about Ireland (or Scotland for that matter)? Plus, John Doyle personally sent it to me, which makes it even better (thanks John!)
• Books by MG Vassanji – A little dark, but in these books, Vassanji talks about the land and history of where I am right now. I picked up some Swahili words too.
A quick summary. In the last three and a half months I have:
• Been to Dar es Salaam twice
• Been to Nairobi once
• Had three sets of multi-day meetings.
• Submitted and been awarded a US$200,000 grant for Uhai Centre to train home-based care providers of people living with HIV/AIDS
• Prepared and almost submitted a 3-year core funding grant for Uhai Centre (just waiting on the accountant for the budget)
• Been named representative of the CUSO cooperants’ association
• Been named the coordinator of a new network for HIV/AIDS organizations that have CUSO cooperants
• Participated in talks about restructuring AAIDRO
• Marked 7 months in Tanzania!
Ok – so maybe my blog took a vacation, but I have been really busy!
You’ll notice I’ve added a reading list. These are the books I’ve read so far – I’m averaging about 2 books a month. There’s a good mix of heavy and light subject matter. I’ve also put in parentheses if the book deals with Africa or HIV – in case any of you might be interested too.
Of my books so far, I highly recommend the following:
• 28 – The BEST book I’ve ever read that explains the many, many facets of HIV and its context in terms of people’s lives, politics and economics
• The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series by Alexander McCall Smith – these books are hilarious and touching. I found these three in the Arusha Library. I’d love to read more of the series if anyone can find them for me
• A Great Feast of Light – I learned so much about Irish history in this book – a topic I knew almost nothing about before. Why did we learn French and British history in school and nothing about Ireland (or Scotland for that matter)? Plus, John Doyle personally sent it to me, which makes it even better (thanks John!)
• Books by MG Vassanji – A little dark, but in these books, Vassanji talks about the land and history of where I am right now. I picked up some Swahili words too.
Thursday, May 31, 2007
Top 10 Reasons to Quit Mefloquine*
10. CONSTANT ANXIETY
9. Nightmares about spiders
8. Waking up in the middle of the night certain there is a big spider somewhere on the outside of your mosquito net
7. Having to look under your bed before you go to sleep because you are worried a snake might have slithered in and be waiting for you under there (never mind that you’ve been assured it is VERY unusual to find snakes in town)
6. Waking up in the morning and your first thought is “Will there be a hole in my screen from where a snake came in?”
5. Reading that pilots shouldn’t take it because they need control of their fine motor skills. Oh, that explains why I’m bumping into things and terribly jumpy all the time
4. Did I mention anxiety?
3. Suspicion that your friends are being mean to you for no good reason
2. Nagging fears that because you are in Africa you will get some hideous disease
1. Oh my god is that a snake under my bed? No? Spiders? What, they’re just dust bunnies? Are you messing with me? What is this scratching? Didn’t I read about some African disease that starts with scratching? I can’t take this anymore…
*Mefloquine is a malaria preventative and treatment drug (a.k.a Lariam) that has a reputation for nasty side effects including anxiety and paranoia
9. Nightmares about spiders
8. Waking up in the middle of the night certain there is a big spider somewhere on the outside of your mosquito net
7. Having to look under your bed before you go to sleep because you are worried a snake might have slithered in and be waiting for you under there (never mind that you’ve been assured it is VERY unusual to find snakes in town)
6. Waking up in the morning and your first thought is “Will there be a hole in my screen from where a snake came in?”
5. Reading that pilots shouldn’t take it because they need control of their fine motor skills. Oh, that explains why I’m bumping into things and terribly jumpy all the time
4. Did I mention anxiety?
3. Suspicion that your friends are being mean to you for no good reason
2. Nagging fears that because you are in Africa you will get some hideous disease
1. Oh my god is that a snake under my bed? No? Spiders? What, they’re just dust bunnies? Are you messing with me? What is this scratching? Didn’t I read about some African disease that starts with scratching? I can’t take this anymore…
*Mefloquine is a malaria preventative and treatment drug (a.k.a Lariam) that has a reputation for nasty side effects including anxiety and paranoia
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
The little things that make me happy
You know you’re living in another culture when things you’ve never really thought of before suddenly take on new meaning. We’ve been making small changes to our house in the last few months that are finally starting to make a difference. A few weeks ago I bought a “duvet” (synthetic filled, but still nice and warm) and I have been reveling in my “marshmallow bed.” It’s been quite chilly here (think Spring in Saskatoon, but with no insulated housing and open windows), so I am now very warm and cozy at night. Yesterday our hallway light was fixed after a month and half of being broken so that we can now see ourselves in the mirror at the end of it. Today we had mosquito screens installed on all the windows so that our house will be significantly less buggy. And finally, a friend brought me ice cream on a stick after lunch while I was feverishly trying to finish a funding proposal.
A duvet, a hallway light, window screens, and ice cream. While at home these things might be afterthoughts (well, a good duvet wouldn’t be), here they have put a big smile on my face and make me feel contented.
Thursday, May 24, 2007
A normal day in Arusha (during the rainy season)
I get up about 7 am. Sometimes later if it’s rainy and grey. In my grogginess I realize that I must turn on the hot water heater if I want a warm shower later. I stumble into the kitchen and manage to get some granola and yogurt into a bowl. Shuffle to the living room and plunk down in a chair (stuffed red velour). Somewhere around the third bite I begin to wake up. I make coffee or have a glass of juice. It dawns on me that I’m going to be late if I don’t hurry up and get in the shower. I dump my dishes next to the sink and hurry to my room only to realize that my bed is not made and my mosquito net askew. I tidy up and hurry to the shower praying there’s enough water and I won’t have to yell to get my roommates to turn on the pump just when I’ve lathered shampoo in my hair.
Much time (and water) is wasted standing around in my towel letting the water run until it gets warm even though I’ve turned on the heater about 30 minutes before. I just can’t deal with a cold shower on dreary mornings. I get out of the shower realizing I only have about 15 minutes to get ready and out the door before I’m late. A flurry of getting ready and usually running about 10 minutes late, I dash out.
Negotiate the muddy road in front of the house and around the corner to where I can catch a daladala (public transportation – really a minibus that should only hold about 14 people, but up to 20 are often crammed in – more if there are kids). If I’m lucky I get a daladala with an empty seat. If not, I have to squish in contortions that leave me cramped after 10 or 15 minute ride in bumper-to-bumper traffic. If it’s really muddy or I can’t get a daladala with 14 people or less I say screw it and pay for a taxi. Daladalas cost the equivalent of about $0.20 and a taxi is about $2.50, so I go for the cheaper route as much as possible.
I get off the daladala about 2 blocks from work. I could get off closer, but I like walking for a bit in the mornings. Of course, I often have to negotiate the myriad of hawkers who want me to buy batiks, painted banana leaves, bracelets, or whatever always at a “volunteer price.” I’ve perfected the say-hi-in-passing-and-ignore-whatever-else-they-say routine. Even so, it’s still a nice walk. I go down a path through a beautiful green space and try to ignore the trash and occasional guy taking a pee break. Then I trundle up a hill and around the back of the building (it’s a short-cut). If I’ve timed it right everyone else is just leaving the daily morning prayer or mass so I don’t have to walk past the chapel window while everyone else is inside watching my heathen self saunter in (soooo glad I’m not Catholic – it’s hard enough to try and get there before 8:45am).
My office (double telephone booth) is really on the second floor, but in true holdover from the European colonialist style, the bottom floor is “ground” and the next one up is 1st. Whatever. I like my small space. There’s no room for anyone else to bug me, look over my shoulder or crowd me while I type, or go in after and change what I’ve done. I’m the only one with keys to my office. Well, I guess that’s not true. Sister Wenceslaus has an extra key just in case (yes, really, like “Good King Wenceslaus”). Her office takes up most of the rest of the room that my old storage space (office) is in. She does the accounting, so I trust her. The annoyances of working in a shared space in a different office on a computer that has been described as “a bomb that should be sent to Osama Bin Laden to blow up” were all part of the first month or so after I started work. So now I have some privacy and things are starting to happen.
Despite my much-treasured solitary space, I get a lot of visitors and the occasional yell from my boss, Sister Agreda, to come see her. There’s no such thing as a phone at every desk. In fact, there’s only one phone for the whole floor. I guess the fax machine counts too – but it’s right next to the phone. I’m now the resident English expert, so everyone in the building asks me to double-check their work or edit their newsletter. I usually can fit in my own work too. Sometimes I sit in the reception/registration room visiting with clients. On occasion I will go to the counseling rooms to see how things are going, but I don’t like to invade other people’s privacy. We don’t really offer too much anonymity to clients, but it’s not because we don’t want to. The current system set up is to assign each client a number that they have to use when they come in so we can find their file (student exercise books). Most people have trouble remembering their number, so our backup is to use their name. The counselor who is in charge wants to change the system, but we need more money to do it. She needs a computer and software. That goes on my list of things to find money for. It is telling that a large portion of the clients we, a Catholic organization, serve are Muslims. Tanzania has about a 30-30-30 divide among Christians, Muslims, and Animist or Tribal religions. The Catholics probably all know each other and HIV is such a private issue, especially considering the high levels of stigma here, so it’s not surprising that “outsiders” find us a safe place.
I’m lucky that my job serves lunch. Apparently they didn’t always. People would go out for lunch and often not return to work, so the Archbishop announced that he would feed everyone on-site and that seemed to solve the problem. Every Monday, Wednesday, Friday we get rice with beans, peas, or meat and Tuesday, Thursday is ugali with meat sauce. Ugali is like a thick (almost solid) corn meal porridge. It’s utterly flavorless on its own, but soaks up the flavor of whatever you put with it. Tanzanians eat it with their hands. I’ve tried, but it’s too hot and messy. I prefer a utensil. We’ve only been served meat in the last week and a half. There was a Rift Valley Fever outbreak when I got here, so everything was vegetarian. I thought I would be happy to see meat, but they use EVERY PART OF THE COW. Including tubes of some sort. Eww. It’s also quite tough and stringy sometimes. I’m not a fan. Vegetarian is ok with me. I’ve taken to bringing floss to work for use after eating meat.
Lunch is at 1pm, so that makes the rest of the day go by very quickly. Closing down time is 4pm and sometimes I would like to stay later to finish something, but they lock the front doors soon after, so I have to leave or sleep there. I go home. The heavy rains are all at night, so by afternoon the day is usually very nice. I walk home. It takes about 35-40 minutes and it’s usually a very nice walk. The only thing I don’t like is the black exhaust that comes out of at least half the cars and trucks on the road. I know North America pollutes way more than Africa, but that diesel has to account for something.
If I don’t have to stop at the market or run any other errands, I get home around 5pm and usually crash for a bit. Sometimes I go for a walk or a jog (who am I kidding, I’ve gone jogging once). I start thinking about what to make for dinner about 6 or so. We cook on our gas tank with a burner attached or the electric stove. The stove takes a long time to heat up and it is difficult to control the heat, so we use the gas more often. Both of my roommates are vegetarians, so we really only eat meat if someone is feeling a lack of protein. A plethora of vegetables are available and among the three of us, we have a lot of cooking ideas. Never using a microwave is growing on me.
We have fallen into the habit of watching TV shows on DVD on the computer during dinner. We’ve seen almost all of the Sex & the City episodes at least twice and we’re all currently addicted to another HBO series called Entourage. It’s awesome. If anybody wants to send me things, send me tv shows on a DVD. We love them!!
It’s a tossup who does the dishes – usually the person who didn’t cook. Then I’m usually totally beat and I check my email (or write a blog entry like today) and I crash.
Tuck in my mosquito net and good night.
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Update – finally!
Work is both very rewarding and emotionally draining sometimes. I have been able to finagle an office that has been described as a telephone booth. Maybe it’s the size of 2 telephone booths stuck together. It was an old storage space. I can’t fully extend my arms in either direction, but it’s enough room for a mini computer desk, a chair and hopefully a printer is coming soon. They’ve hooked up internet for me at work too, and I’ve been cranking things out. I’ve submitted 4 funding applications and have 2 more currently in the works. One of the applications was the first step of a 2-step process. It is a big money fund provided by a bunch of international donors including CIDA and USAID. I applied for 2 different projects and I just found out that both applications have been selected to submit full proposals. Yay!! It’s a small step, but it sure feels good to have even minimal success.
The hard part about work is the clients who come in. It is devastating to see what HIV is doing to people and families. I went on one home visit to a woman who was in the final stages of AIDS. She had 2 children, one about 6 or 7 years and the other about 2 years. The father had never been involved. She had severe thrush in her throat and was unable to eat or even speak much. She was also suffering severely from vaginal infections. She was just a pile of bones, really. We gave her some medications, but she died about a week later anyway. I have no idea what has happened to her children. When we were there, her sister shooed the children out of the room and the older one picked up the younger one and I could imagine that might be the future of both of them – children raising themselves. It was awful.
These heart-wrenching stories come to our office everyday and it really is hard to deal with. Just last week a month-and-a-half old baby girl was given to one of our staff members to take to an orphanage because her mother was dying of AIDS and literally going insane, and the mother’s relatives also had HIV and were unable to care for the baby. The baby is too young now to test, but if her mother was that sick, it is likely the child is too. It’s devastating.
I think that’s why I haven’t had much energy to update on a more regular basis. I get home and I’m just exhausted.
I took a bit of a break over the Easter holidays. I guess working for the Catholics has its benefits on holy days. I got the Thursday off before Good Friday and didn’t have to be back until the next Thursday. Before the third cooperant arrived, the two of us who arrived together went to
In general, it’s just taking me some time to adjust to everything. All my previous travels were only for relatively short spurts. It’s so much easier to deal with annoyances when you know you’re going home in a couple of months. Contemplating the next two years of annoyances gives them a different dimension. One of our big problems was the security guard at our “compound.” Soon after we arrived we noticed that he seemed to drink. A lot. Soon, he was drunk from morning till night. He had been asking us for money to repair a lot of the tools he used for gardening, and we found out later that he was giving us inflated prices and drinking away the difference. This made me really angry for 2 reasons. First, I really doubted that he was earning much money as a security guard. I knew that he had a family that he was supporting with his income. His wife was at home raising his children and he was drinking away any extra support he could have given them. What a jerk! Second, he is tiny man who I could knock down if I blew on him. How could he possibly provide us any protection when he can’t even make a coherent sentence? Thankfully after a lot of complaining, the landlord has sacked him and replaced him with reputable service from a security company.
Even though I feel better about my own security (and because we had a big lock installed on our door), I can’t say that I feel good about what happened. That guy had been working in our compound for years. I don’t know what will happen to him – can he find another job? What will happen to his family? Then there’s the whole issue of the need to rely on private security because police really can’t (or don’t) keep a lid on crime. And really, can you blame people who are fighting to survive for seeing an easy solution by stealing from those who, in comparison, seem to have unlimited wealth?
Although our house is (now) secure, and our area is fairly nice we’ve been warned numerous times from a bunch of different people that we shouldn’t be walking around after dark (which is 7pm). It’s just not safe. That is hard to deal with. I’m starting to get cabin fever. It’s not like we can’t go ANYWHERE, it’s just that we have to call a cab if we want to go somewhere. No evening walks, no seeing how things are at night first hand. It’s frustrating.
Of course there are the little moments of amusement that help to keep things from being too deep and heavy. For example, seeing a guy carry about 30 empty 5-gallon yellow plastic cooking oil drums on his head (and spread out next to his body). And there was a daladala (public transportation – kind of like mini-vans) that had a plastic blow-up seagull hanging from the rearview mirror. It was bobbing around while we drove. And one restaurant menu had a description of a fish burger that included “it has that great fishy taste.” It had sounded so good up until that moment.
So, that’s all for now. I’ll be writing more often, so I don’t end up with such long posts in the future.
Saturday, March 24, 2007
I’m finally trying to catch up on keeping in touch! Internet access and connection speeds are definitely a challenge here (i.e. they suck!). I’ve more or less figured out my monthly expenses, so I think I can get internet at home, however I know that there will be a million tiny details and bugs to work out before everything starts running smoothly. Hopefully it will happen soon. I’m feeling so cut off!
Work Update
I’ve been working about a month now and I’m starting to get a sense of the organization and what I will be doing. Although I am officially working with the Arusha Catholic Archdiocese, I am specifically working in one part of the organization called Uhai Centre. Uhai means life in Swahili and they are trying to help people living with HIV/AIDS and their affected families and friends to live and keep their dignity. They offer free voluntary counseling and HIV testing, free medical consultations and prescriptions to deal with opportunistic infections and STIs. They don’t offer ARV treatment, but part of the Archdiocesan offices do, so it is available for some people. They also do a lot of social work that includes supporting orphans and vulnerable children with school fees and uniforms as well as food. They facilitate clubs for orphans and for people living with HIV and AIDS as well as have regular workshops and training sessions to teach people how to live with their condition and also to teach volunteers how to do local area monitoring and home-based care.
Amazingly, there are only 8 people and 3 support staff who are paid to do all of this work. There are more people who need services than the Centre can accommodate and their resources are severely limited. Their funding for the past 3 years has been mainly provided by 2 sources and while there have been other smaller funders, the projects are now over or they have withdrawn funding. It seems that it will be my job to find more funding and keep all the funders happy by being in charge of reporting and monitoring.
At first I was a little daunted by this prospect – I’m so new and don’t know enough about the organization to take on so much. But, I was told to put together the most recent narrative report required for the current funders, and it’s not so bad a job. I get to tell everyone what I need from them and I do the rest. I’m learning a lot from the information I have to include. For example, the local and national HIV/AIDS situation, as well as challenges the organization faces. I get the sense that everyone knows how to do their own job, but there’s only one person (the coordinator) who seems to understand how it all works together (and I’m learning). Getting people to give me reports is eye-opening – monitoring is probably the biggest challenge. I’ve been told many times that it would be the most difficult aspect of the job (is that why they gave it to me?). But, my overall job is to help build capacity, so that may mean developing institutional memory. I can’t be the only one who knows how and is capable of it. What will happen when I leave? My brain has generated lots of ideas and they’re coming along, so I will keep you updated.
Living update
Our house seems to be working smoothly (well, with the exception of no internet – yet). We had a few cockroaches, but with some shoe throwing and broom squishing as well as some Raid spraying, they seem to have gone away. It also helped that we found some holes where they were probably coming from and filled them in with silicone. There haven’t really been any other major bug problems in the house. Tiny biting insects that can’t be controlled are another problem however. There is something fairly nasty here called the Nairobi fly and it doesn’t really bite but somehow releases a toxin that leaves hideous red and pussy welts. They notoriously like soft tender spots (like necks). My roommate got one on the inside of her wrist in the first week – I called it a flesh-eating disease. I should have been kinder. This week they got me – and on the neck of course! It started out looking like a rash, but 24 hours later it was obvious and there’s no way to hide it. It is very painful and there’s nothing to be done, but wait until it goes away. I realized that I probably killed a couple of them under my net and unwittingly slept on them. I won’t do that again!
We have to be careful of going out at night. There are no street lights anywhere and apparently it’s not so safe to be white or Indian (who knew?) at night. So, we have to find a reliable taxi we can call. It’s not as hard as it originally seemed. We have a night watchman who is very concerned with our safety, so that helps. I’ve been able to get out a bit and listen to some good music and even watch a movie under the stars!
Funny words
I have come to the conclusion that my English is not the same English that people are speaking here. The thing that I hate the most is when I ask a question using ‘or.’ For example: “is the store near or far away?” And people answer “yes.” Aaarrggh! I often have to repeat myself or clarify what I mean. Of course, I have to ask people to do the same in Swahili, which is coming along, but slowly. The most entertaining is hearing some interesting pronunciations – such as ‘dough,’ but sounds like ‘doff’ (it works for tough and rough, why not dough?) The other thing is people confusing when to use the hard and soft ‘g.’ People will often use the hard ‘g’ for words like ‘vegetables’ or ‘digital,’ but use the soft ‘g’ for words like ‘gift.’ It kills me every time.
Lots of attention
I am mzungu (sounds like ma-zoong-goo) here. It means white person and kids especially like to point me out and say ‘good morning!’ or ‘good afternoon!’ invariably at the wrong time of day, but it is so adorable. I was recently at a primary school and I had a huge following of children who didn’t say anything, they just followed me around. I have to apologize anytime I am with Tanzanians, because it always happens. The kids were shy at first when I offered to shake hands, but soon they overcame it and were falling over each other for a chance to shake a mzungu hand. The bad part about the attention is that everything costs more for me. In Nicaragua and Guatemala we always called it the gringo tax, but could sometimes avoid it if we were with a local person. Not so here. I had to take a taxi recently with someone from work and my colleague was negotiating the price and the taxi driver told him that he would have to pay more because of the mzungu. I had to apologize again.
That’s it for now
All in all, things are going pretty well, but I miss home! I don’t want to leave, but I miss you all very much. Write me! Call me! Send me something!
More soon
Work Update
I’ve been working about a month now and I’m starting to get a sense of the organization and what I will be doing. Although I am officially working with the Arusha Catholic Archdiocese, I am specifically working in one part of the organization called Uhai Centre. Uhai means life in Swahili and they are trying to help people living with HIV/AIDS and their affected families and friends to live and keep their dignity. They offer free voluntary counseling and HIV testing, free medical consultations and prescriptions to deal with opportunistic infections and STIs. They don’t offer ARV treatment, but part of the Archdiocesan offices do, so it is available for some people. They also do a lot of social work that includes supporting orphans and vulnerable children with school fees and uniforms as well as food. They facilitate clubs for orphans and for people living with HIV and AIDS as well as have regular workshops and training sessions to teach people how to live with their condition and also to teach volunteers how to do local area monitoring and home-based care.
Amazingly, there are only 8 people and 3 support staff who are paid to do all of this work. There are more people who need services than the Centre can accommodate and their resources are severely limited. Their funding for the past 3 years has been mainly provided by 2 sources and while there have been other smaller funders, the projects are now over or they have withdrawn funding. It seems that it will be my job to find more funding and keep all the funders happy by being in charge of reporting and monitoring.
At first I was a little daunted by this prospect – I’m so new and don’t know enough about the organization to take on so much. But, I was told to put together the most recent narrative report required for the current funders, and it’s not so bad a job. I get to tell everyone what I need from them and I do the rest. I’m learning a lot from the information I have to include. For example, the local and national HIV/AIDS situation, as well as challenges the organization faces. I get the sense that everyone knows how to do their own job, but there’s only one person (the coordinator) who seems to understand how it all works together (and I’m learning). Getting people to give me reports is eye-opening – monitoring is probably the biggest challenge. I’ve been told many times that it would be the most difficult aspect of the job (is that why they gave it to me?). But, my overall job is to help build capacity, so that may mean developing institutional memory. I can’t be the only one who knows how and is capable of it. What will happen when I leave? My brain has generated lots of ideas and they’re coming along, so I will keep you updated.
Living update
Our house seems to be working smoothly (well, with the exception of no internet – yet). We had a few cockroaches, but with some shoe throwing and broom squishing as well as some Raid spraying, they seem to have gone away. It also helped that we found some holes where they were probably coming from and filled them in with silicone. There haven’t really been any other major bug problems in the house. Tiny biting insects that can’t be controlled are another problem however. There is something fairly nasty here called the Nairobi fly and it doesn’t really bite but somehow releases a toxin that leaves hideous red and pussy welts. They notoriously like soft tender spots (like necks). My roommate got one on the inside of her wrist in the first week – I called it a flesh-eating disease. I should have been kinder. This week they got me – and on the neck of course! It started out looking like a rash, but 24 hours later it was obvious and there’s no way to hide it. It is very painful and there’s nothing to be done, but wait until it goes away. I realized that I probably killed a couple of them under my net and unwittingly slept on them. I won’t do that again!
We have to be careful of going out at night. There are no street lights anywhere and apparently it’s not so safe to be white or Indian (who knew?) at night. So, we have to find a reliable taxi we can call. It’s not as hard as it originally seemed. We have a night watchman who is very concerned with our safety, so that helps. I’ve been able to get out a bit and listen to some good music and even watch a movie under the stars!
Funny words
I have come to the conclusion that my English is not the same English that people are speaking here. The thing that I hate the most is when I ask a question using ‘or.’ For example: “is the store near or far away?” And people answer “yes.” Aaarrggh! I often have to repeat myself or clarify what I mean. Of course, I have to ask people to do the same in Swahili, which is coming along, but slowly. The most entertaining is hearing some interesting pronunciations – such as ‘dough,’ but sounds like ‘doff’ (it works for tough and rough, why not dough?) The other thing is people confusing when to use the hard and soft ‘g.’ People will often use the hard ‘g’ for words like ‘vegetables’ or ‘digital,’ but use the soft ‘g’ for words like ‘gift.’ It kills me every time.
Lots of attention
I am mzungu (sounds like ma-zoong-goo) here. It means white person and kids especially like to point me out and say ‘good morning!’ or ‘good afternoon!’ invariably at the wrong time of day, but it is so adorable. I was recently at a primary school and I had a huge following of children who didn’t say anything, they just followed me around. I have to apologize anytime I am with Tanzanians, because it always happens. The kids were shy at first when I offered to shake hands, but soon they overcame it and were falling over each other for a chance to shake a mzungu hand. The bad part about the attention is that everything costs more for me. In Nicaragua and Guatemala we always called it the gringo tax, but could sometimes avoid it if we were with a local person. Not so here. I had to take a taxi recently with someone from work and my colleague was negotiating the price and the taxi driver told him that he would have to pay more because of the mzungu. I had to apologize again.
That’s it for now
All in all, things are going pretty well, but I miss home! I don’t want to leave, but I miss you all very much. Write me! Call me! Send me something!
More soon
Arrival and first impressions of Tanzania
So - this post is actually a month old, but since this is my blog about living in Tanzania, I wanted it to start at the beginning
Getting there
I left Saskatoon at 11:40 am on February 12 and arrived at Kilimanjaro International Airport on February 13 at almost 9pm local time, crossing 8 time zones in the process. I used the 26 hour transit time for really important activities such as watching all the Oscar-nominated movies and entertaining TV I could find. I was somewhat thwarted twice however. On the Saskatoon-Toronto leg, I watched Volver and was denied the last 20 minutes because we were about to land – those 20 minutes contain the whole explanation of the movie….arrrgghhh! A similar, but less agonizing thing happened on the way to Amsterdam on an episode of The Office.
That transatlantic flight was fantastic. KLM is very nice. Each seat had its own screen and remote control. They handed out hot towels and good food all the time.
I cut it pretty close making my connection in Toronto – mostly because I ended up having to pay excess baggage for my books, which incidentally disappeared and my box that Air Canada insisted was sturdy enough was destroyed. I’m trying to get a settlement, so I’ll let you how that works out. I’m crossing my fingers.
When I arrived at the gate in Toronto to board for Amsterdam, I frantically scanned the crowd for the other cooperant, MK who I met in Ottawa last October. I didn’t see her and when I boarded, I asked if she had made the connection. They told me that she wasn’t even booked on the flight. With a heavy heart I got on the plane thinking that I would be going to Africa by myself after all.
But I had a great surprise to find her on the plane (yay!). Apparently they spelled her name wrong when the ticket was booked (one of a travel agent’s worst sins). But she was there and so I’ve had company the whole time.
We had some fun in Amsterdam eating cheese and chocolate and relaxing in some super comfy leather lounges. CUSO has us sharing a house…
House
Our house is big. We have 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms (although the second one is in a bedroom). I opted for the room with no bathroom and overall, I think I have the better choice – no stink to hang around in my room (eewww!)
It’s concrete and the bedroom floors are not painted so that is kind of ugly, but the rest of it is really nice. We have a HUGE window in the living room and I like to open the windows in the morning and enjoy the cool air.
The house is inside a mini-compound with a few other houses and a security guard (two at night, and a big dog). I’m not sure if the owner owns all the houses or just ours. Ours has an upstairs, where we’ve been told some lady lives, but I haven’t met her yet. We have the ground floor.
The last 2 days have been spent getting over the foggy head of jet lag and arranging the house. At this moment we are still short a broom and a mop bucket, but that is to be remedied today and the cleaning will commence shortly.
It’s not really filthy, but I’m taking no chances and scrubbing everything with bleach before I allow any food in. Turns out MK is also a clean freak and is a fellow How Clean is Your House fan. Yay! I think we’ll get along fine.
Arusha
The Lonely Planet guide book calls Arusha “one of Tanzania’s most developed and fastest-growing towns.” I knew before arriving that Arusha is the hub of most safari tourism given its proximity to so many national parks, so I think I had an idea of what it would look like. I assumed lots of groomed streets and colonial-like architecture.
That’s not exactly what it looks like.
While the town is not the ugliest place I’ve ever been to, I think it will take some time for me to find the beautiful spots. I want to do lots of exploring and getting to know the city. Many of the buildings are Arabic style architecture, but with lots of the throw-together-whatever-works-and-call-it-a-building kind of structures too. I think because the tourism draw is for the areas outside of town, not the town itself, Arusha is a commercial center, with the resulting utilitarian effect on its appearance.
Getting around
I need to learn and speak more Kiswahili!! This is the first time I’ve traveled and not been able to speak even a little of the language or been able to make myself understood. It is a definite drag.
Last night MK and I went to a Chinese restaurant (not bad!) and we asked our security guard if he would walk us to the road to get a taxi. Really, I should say we made a lot of gestures and had confusing, mostly useless conversation. I do know my numbers, so I was able to confirm the price of the taxi and it all went pretty ok, but what a hassle!
I’m reviewing my Swahili notes from December, but my dictionary was in the box of lost books, so I’m out of luck for now. My notes have all the kitchen, bathroom, and bedroom words, so as soon as it’s all clean, I’m going to stick signs in Swahili on everything.
Coming up
I will meet with my organization, the Arusha Archdiocesan Integrated Development and Relief Office (AAIDRO) on Monday and I assume I will get going from there.
The jet lag is wearing off and that is a good thing. I slept much better last night, but still woke up again at 5am this morning (9pm Saskatoon time). I love the mosquito net, but it always makes me think what it’s keeping out and then I get the creepy crawlies. I’ll get over it, I’m sure.
Ciao for now
Getting there
I left Saskatoon at 11:40 am on February 12 and arrived at Kilimanjaro International Airport on February 13 at almost 9pm local time, crossing 8 time zones in the process. I used the 26 hour transit time for really important activities such as watching all the Oscar-nominated movies and entertaining TV I could find. I was somewhat thwarted twice however. On the Saskatoon-Toronto leg, I watched Volver and was denied the last 20 minutes because we were about to land – those 20 minutes contain the whole explanation of the movie….arrrgghhh! A similar, but less agonizing thing happened on the way to Amsterdam on an episode of The Office.
That transatlantic flight was fantastic. KLM is very nice. Each seat had its own screen and remote control. They handed out hot towels and good food all the time.
I cut it pretty close making my connection in Toronto – mostly because I ended up having to pay excess baggage for my books, which incidentally disappeared and my box that Air Canada insisted was sturdy enough was destroyed. I’m trying to get a settlement, so I’ll let you how that works out. I’m crossing my fingers.
When I arrived at the gate in Toronto to board for Amsterdam, I frantically scanned the crowd for the other cooperant, MK who I met in Ottawa last October. I didn’t see her and when I boarded, I asked if she had made the connection. They told me that she wasn’t even booked on the flight. With a heavy heart I got on the plane thinking that I would be going to Africa by myself after all.
But I had a great surprise to find her on the plane (yay!). Apparently they spelled her name wrong when the ticket was booked (one of a travel agent’s worst sins). But she was there and so I’ve had company the whole time.
We had some fun in Amsterdam eating cheese and chocolate and relaxing in some super comfy leather lounges. CUSO has us sharing a house…
House
Our house is big. We have 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms (although the second one is in a bedroom). I opted for the room with no bathroom and overall, I think I have the better choice – no stink to hang around in my room (eewww!)
It’s concrete and the bedroom floors are not painted so that is kind of ugly, but the rest of it is really nice. We have a HUGE window in the living room and I like to open the windows in the morning and enjoy the cool air.
The house is inside a mini-compound with a few other houses and a security guard (two at night, and a big dog). I’m not sure if the owner owns all the houses or just ours. Ours has an upstairs, where we’ve been told some lady lives, but I haven’t met her yet. We have the ground floor.
The last 2 days have been spent getting over the foggy head of jet lag and arranging the house. At this moment we are still short a broom and a mop bucket, but that is to be remedied today and the cleaning will commence shortly.
It’s not really filthy, but I’m taking no chances and scrubbing everything with bleach before I allow any food in. Turns out MK is also a clean freak and is a fellow How Clean is Your House fan. Yay! I think we’ll get along fine.
Arusha
The Lonely Planet guide book calls Arusha “one of Tanzania’s most developed and fastest-growing towns.” I knew before arriving that Arusha is the hub of most safari tourism given its proximity to so many national parks, so I think I had an idea of what it would look like. I assumed lots of groomed streets and colonial-like architecture.
That’s not exactly what it looks like.
While the town is not the ugliest place I’ve ever been to, I think it will take some time for me to find the beautiful spots. I want to do lots of exploring and getting to know the city. Many of the buildings are Arabic style architecture, but with lots of the throw-together-whatever-works-and-call-it-a-building kind of structures too. I think because the tourism draw is for the areas outside of town, not the town itself, Arusha is a commercial center, with the resulting utilitarian effect on its appearance.
Getting around
I need to learn and speak more Kiswahili!! This is the first time I’ve traveled and not been able to speak even a little of the language or been able to make myself understood. It is a definite drag.
Last night MK and I went to a Chinese restaurant (not bad!) and we asked our security guard if he would walk us to the road to get a taxi. Really, I should say we made a lot of gestures and had confusing, mostly useless conversation. I do know my numbers, so I was able to confirm the price of the taxi and it all went pretty ok, but what a hassle!
I’m reviewing my Swahili notes from December, but my dictionary was in the box of lost books, so I’m out of luck for now. My notes have all the kitchen, bathroom, and bedroom words, so as soon as it’s all clean, I’m going to stick signs in Swahili on everything.
Coming up
I will meet with my organization, the Arusha Archdiocesan Integrated Development and Relief Office (AAIDRO) on Monday and I assume I will get going from there.
The jet lag is wearing off and that is a good thing. I slept much better last night, but still woke up again at 5am this morning (9pm Saskatoon time). I love the mosquito net, but it always makes me think what it’s keeping out and then I get the creepy crawlies. I’ll get over it, I’m sure.
Ciao for now
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