Tuesday, August 30, 2005
Monday, August 29, 2005
Today the school reopened. Students were expected to arrive and bring with them money for an assessment for damages from the riot, and a form that had been sent to their homes. One side of the form was a statement that basically said I Will Not Riot Again, but in addition to being signed by the student and his parents, it had to be signed and stamped by District Commissioner, Regional Commissioner, and Head of the School Board in the student’s home town. The other side had two questions, basically: 1. What were the reason(s) you participated? and 2. Who were the leaders.
The teachers were gathered in the Staff Room, organized to “process” the returning students. Each class had an assigned teacher with a checklist, waiting to assure that the returnee had fully paid his school fees (check), paid the damage assessment (check), paid any other outstanding bills (check) and had completed the Form and it had been accepted (check). Only then would the student be permitted to proceed to their classroom.
A handful of day students showed up. My own responsibility was class VI-B, who are all boarding students. Only one of my VI-B student showed up. He was accepted.
This experience was typical – we “processed” one or two students per class. But there are all kinds of problems. Some of the forms were only sent out late last week, so weren’t received in time for the students to get their stamped authorizations. A student arrived from Tarime, quite a long distance away, and was immediately sent back home to get the stamped signatures, even though his family hadn’t even received the bloody form.
Then, this afternoon I had to visit a teacher at our neighboring school, Nganza. There was a Class VI student camped out with the teacher there. He DID have the needed stamps, but he answered the “Why did you riot” and “Who were the leaders” questions by saying that when it seemed that there might be a demonstration, he ran away and so he wasn’t there and doesn’t know who the leaders were. But the school wouldn’t accept those answers, and so here he was, all upset and not knowing what to do.
I tried to coach him: Stick to your answers, but be ready for the obvious followup questions: At what point did you leave? What was going on just then? Why did you think things might get out of hand? Where did you go? Who can confirm that? But I don’t think he got it – the culture here is just to stop answering questions when things get tense, and that simply looks like passive resistance. He wouldn’t role-play with me at all, just sat there, hung his head and half smiled. And this is a SMART kid.
It is clearly going to take quite a while to get this school back in operation.
Tuesday, August 30, 2005
Day two, and no change here at Nsumba Secondary. A very few additional students showed up today, but there certainly was no parade of returning students, not even among Class IV that will be facing national examinations in a month. Even the day students who were not involved aren’t returning. Those that have come back say that nobody wants to fill out the forms identifying the leaders of the disturbance, that they have been threatened if they do, and anyway they are afraid they would have to testify in court.
****FLASH**** It was just reported that there was a riot at another school, this one over near Arusha, and it caused considerably more damage than ours. It must be the thing to do this year – this makes four schools now: Nsumba, Sumve (since re-opened, where Kara is the PCV), Tarime, and now Karatu (where a first year PCV, Matthew Reid, is teaching).
So what to do here at Nsumba? Wait for next week? Change the rules for returning? Close the school? STAY TUNED for then next THRILLing episode of Education in Tanzania, when... ?
Today the school reopened. Students were expected to arrive and bring with them money for an assessment for damages from the riot, and a form that had been sent to their homes. One side of the form was a statement that basically said I Will Not Riot Again, but in addition to being signed by the student and his parents, it had to be signed and stamped by District Commissioner, Regional Commissioner, and Head of the School Board in the student’s home town. The other side had two questions, basically: 1. What were the reason(s) you participated? and 2. Who were the leaders.
The teachers were gathered in the Staff Room, organized to “process” the returning students. Each class had an assigned teacher with a checklist, waiting to assure that the returnee had fully paid his school fees (check), paid the damage assessment (check), paid any other outstanding bills (check) and had completed the Form and it had been accepted (check). Only then would the student be permitted to proceed to their classroom.
A handful of day students showed up. My own responsibility was class VI-B, who are all boarding students. Only one of my VI-B student showed up. He was accepted.
This experience was typical – we “processed” one or two students per class. But there are all kinds of problems. Some of the forms were only sent out late last week, so weren’t received in time for the students to get their stamped authorizations. A student arrived from Tarime, quite a long distance away, and was immediately sent back home to get the stamped signatures, even though his family hadn’t even received the bloody form.
Then, this afternoon I had to visit a teacher at our neighboring school, Nganza. There was a Class VI student camped out with the teacher there. He DID have the needed stamps, but he answered the “Why did you riot” and “Who were the leaders” questions by saying that when it seemed that there might be a demonstration, he ran away and so he wasn’t there and doesn’t know who the leaders were. But the school wouldn’t accept those answers, and so here he was, all upset and not knowing what to do.
I tried to coach him: Stick to your answers, but be ready for the obvious followup questions: At what point did you leave? What was going on just then? Why did you think things might get out of hand? Where did you go? Who can confirm that? But I don’t think he got it – the culture here is just to stop answering questions when things get tense, and that simply looks like passive resistance. He wouldn’t role-play with me at all, just sat there, hung his head and half smiled. And this is a SMART kid.
It is clearly going to take quite a while to get this school back in operation.
Tuesday, August 30, 2005
Day two, and no change here at Nsumba Secondary. A very few additional students showed up today, but there certainly was no parade of returning students, not even among Class IV that will be facing national examinations in a month. Even the day students who were not involved aren’t returning. Those that have come back say that nobody wants to fill out the forms identifying the leaders of the disturbance, that they have been threatened if they do, and anyway they are afraid they would have to testify in court.
****FLASH**** It was just reported that there was a riot at another school, this one over near Arusha, and it caused considerably more damage than ours. It must be the thing to do this year – this makes four schools now: Nsumba, Sumve (since re-opened, where Kara is the PCV), Tarime, and now Karatu (where a first year PCV, Matthew Reid, is teaching).
So what to do here at Nsumba? Wait for next week? Change the rules for returning? Close the school? STAY TUNED for then next THRILLing episode of Education in Tanzania, when... ?
Thursday, August 25, 2005
Hodie is back, but everything does not seem to be OK with her. I had left instructions with Hasan to feed her, let her out during the day and put her in the house at night, where she has a pad to sleep. The problem is that still, after two years, I can’t really communicate with Hasan and the Tanzanian idea of dogs is that they are OK so long as they stay away and take care of themselves. I don’t think that was happening.
When we all arrived here in mid-August, Hodie was here, bouncy and playful. But when I got back here from Dar, she was nowhere to be seen. Hasan said that a woman at the University across the street was taking care of her. I talked to her on Tuesday and she said she would bring Hodie from her house the next day (yesterday). I was on the way to see her yesterday when Hodie came trotting by. She is a thin dog anyway, but she did not look good – much thinner than before and her ribs were showing. She was more interested in scavenging the ground for scraps of food than greeting me. But it is good to have her back, and now I know that I must make much better arrangements for her when I leave for more than a day or so. She is eating well, so she should be back in good form before long.
Yesterday some 29 or 39, I’m not sure, students who were identified by the police were to face a judge, downtown. Adam was going to attend the hearing and intended to come over last night to tell me about it, but he didn’t. I should hear details in the Staff Room today, though. But my neighbor told me yesterday that he does not like the idea of teaching these students again. According to him, they were on the way to get some of the teachers when they were stopped by the police. If true, that is nastier than I heard earlier. He also feels that the school has not talked about re-establishing discipline, so he feels that the issues and insubordination have not been dealt with. Hmmmmm.
My own feeling is that it is a lost season, and I would just as soon chuck it all as a bad deal. I’m not sure how to start in again – the last several lessons were so poorly attended and the period between the terms was so halfhearted – and we are coming up on the pre-National Test time when the students only want to review material by themselves anyway...
When we all arrived here in mid-August, Hodie was here, bouncy and playful. But when I got back here from Dar, she was nowhere to be seen. Hasan said that a woman at the University across the street was taking care of her. I talked to her on Tuesday and she said she would bring Hodie from her house the next day (yesterday). I was on the way to see her yesterday when Hodie came trotting by. She is a thin dog anyway, but she did not look good – much thinner than before and her ribs were showing. She was more interested in scavenging the ground for scraps of food than greeting me. But it is good to have her back, and now I know that I must make much better arrangements for her when I leave for more than a day or so. She is eating well, so she should be back in good form before long.
Yesterday some 29 or 39, I’m not sure, students who were identified by the police were to face a judge, downtown. Adam was going to attend the hearing and intended to come over last night to tell me about it, but he didn’t. I should hear details in the Staff Room today, though. But my neighbor told me yesterday that he does not like the idea of teaching these students again. According to him, they were on the way to get some of the teachers when they were stopped by the police. If true, that is nastier than I heard earlier. He also feels that the school has not talked about re-establishing discipline, so he feels that the issues and insubordination have not been dealt with. Hmmmmm.
My own feeling is that it is a lost season, and I would just as soon chuck it all as a bad deal. I’m not sure how to start in again – the last several lessons were so poorly attended and the period between the terms was so halfhearted – and we are coming up on the pre-National Test time when the students only want to review material by themselves anyway...
Sunday, August 21, 2005
Saturday, August 20
Home again, with my piles of dirty clothes, files of photos on my computer, tons of memories, sorting out the papers and detritus of the trip, and feeling just a little lost. Africa is still stuck in weird weather. I’d intended to go to the beach near Dar today before returning to Mwanza tomorrow, but it was overcast again so I called the airline and moved my flight up a day. It must have been raining a bit here too, because the grass is a lot greener than it was a week ago.
I got everything done in Dar that I wanted. I met with Pam White (Dir. of USAID Tanzania) at the embassy, and she is enthusiastic about coming to Mwanza on Oct 29 for the graduation of our student entrepreneurs. She is very nice, but all business – as I expected when meeting the chief officer of a big bureaucracy, but still it is such a marked change from how you approach a Tanzanian official.
I also met with the new Tanzania Peace Corps Director, Christine Djondo, and she will come to the graduation also. So with Atiba from TechnoServe coming too, we will have the people I wanted to bring together, unless the lead-up to the Tanzanian national elections on October 31 becomes violent.
And it is still possible that the new US Ambassador, Mike Retzer, will also be there. I left more writeups of what we are doing for the people who are planning his schedule of activities. Retzer has done a lot of fund raising for Bush, and owns 20 McDonalds in Arkansas and Mississippi. I suspect the embassy staff must have all kinds of office pools going on how long it will take for McDonalds to open in Tanzania.
Home again, with my piles of dirty clothes, files of photos on my computer, tons of memories, sorting out the papers and detritus of the trip, and feeling just a little lost. Africa is still stuck in weird weather. I’d intended to go to the beach near Dar today before returning to Mwanza tomorrow, but it was overcast again so I called the airline and moved my flight up a day. It must have been raining a bit here too, because the grass is a lot greener than it was a week ago.
I got everything done in Dar that I wanted. I met with Pam White (Dir. of USAID Tanzania) at the embassy, and she is enthusiastic about coming to Mwanza on Oct 29 for the graduation of our student entrepreneurs. She is very nice, but all business – as I expected when meeting the chief officer of a big bureaucracy, but still it is such a marked change from how you approach a Tanzanian official.
I also met with the new Tanzania Peace Corps Director, Christine Djondo, and she will come to the graduation also. So with Atiba from TechnoServe coming too, we will have the people I wanted to bring together, unless the lead-up to the Tanzanian national elections on October 31 becomes violent.
And it is still possible that the new US Ambassador, Mike Retzer, will also be there. I left more writeups of what we are doing for the people who are planning his schedule of activities. Retzer has done a lot of fund raising for Bush, and owns 20 McDonalds in Arkansas and Mississippi. I suspect the embassy staff must have all kinds of office pools going on how long it will take for McDonalds to open in Tanzania.
Thursday, August 18, 2005
Corruption.
It is endemic here, but you don’t really see it. It is like the HIV/AIDS that nobody dies from, but the numbers all show how devastating it is in the country. But you see the shadow of corruption everywhere.
The Rotarians say that corruption increases the cost of doing business by about 20%. They all try to duck out of political dinners, celebrations and meetings because they know that if they go, they will be shaken down for contributions.
While we were at the Red Monkey, Paola and I had a discussion about business and development in a country like Tanzania, and how corruption fit into the picture. It turned out that the RM is owned by a Tanzanian instead of the foreign ownership that is so common in all the really good resorts. It was started about five years ago. Using my course in entrepreneurship as the lead-in, I asked the owner how he had put the capital together to start his business. First he pointed out that this was his village, he was born here 50 years ago. Then he gave a chuckle and said “and I was a policeman.”
The Imani Lodge, where Diane, Ellen, and I stayed because we couldn’t all fit into the Maruhubi on short notice, was about a 10 minute taxi ride from the rest of the gang at the Maruhubi. We dawdled late into the morning, enjoying the luxury, peace and quiet after the continual push and scheduling of the previous weeks. So there was only one other couple, Tanzanian, at breakfast with us, and we ended up riding in the same taxi with them. How does it happen that a Tanzanian couple has the money for such an expensive pleasure as the Imani? The woman explained that her husband had needed a vacation because he had been working so hard as the District Commissioner at Mtwara.
Paul refuses to do any construction work for Nsumba because it is so difficult to get his money after the work is completed, if he manages to get it at all. He says that after a contract is negotiated by the school and approved by the government, the Headmaster then comes back and insists that the work be done for less money than was agreed in the contract.
Peter, accountant and logistics officer for a gold mining company, says that there are always overruns on construction and maintenance contracts for vague or unsupportable reasons.
I’ve heard that one reason that every organization here seems to need new SUVs with their decal on the door as the first order of business is that the Director who chooses the dealer is often receives a Special Sales Commission for the purchase.
It would seem that foreign aid for Tanzanian infrastructure should be given to the country instead of controlled by the donor, so that Tanzanians can develop the necessary technology and skills. But how can you do that if most of the money will just piss away?
The roads that are being built all over Mwanza are a donation from the European Union, but the signs tell me that not only is the Contractor an Italian firm, but the Supervising Engineer and the Inspector are two other (different) Italian firms. The roads are solid and good; the streets built by the City are thin skins of asphalt over dirt, and fall apart within a year.
There is this great story about the road to the airport. When the British left, there was a solid all-weather road. A bit narrow, but it took only ten minutes to drive to the airport. After independence the road got no maintenance and, predicatably, fell apart. It became so bad that they received foreign donor money to rip up the rest of it, expecting that a dirt road would be better. So, by five years ago, it took over an hour for this “ten minute” drive. This lack of adequate infrastructure was justification for a major foreign donation, and the beautiful road that was completed just before I arrived again allows access to the airport in only ten minutes.
It is endemic here, but you don’t really see it. It is like the HIV/AIDS that nobody dies from, but the numbers all show how devastating it is in the country. But you see the shadow of corruption everywhere.
The Rotarians say that corruption increases the cost of doing business by about 20%. They all try to duck out of political dinners, celebrations and meetings because they know that if they go, they will be shaken down for contributions.
While we were at the Red Monkey, Paola and I had a discussion about business and development in a country like Tanzania, and how corruption fit into the picture. It turned out that the RM is owned by a Tanzanian instead of the foreign ownership that is so common in all the really good resorts. It was started about five years ago. Using my course in entrepreneurship as the lead-in, I asked the owner how he had put the capital together to start his business. First he pointed out that this was his village, he was born here 50 years ago. Then he gave a chuckle and said “and I was a policeman.”
The Imani Lodge, where Diane, Ellen, and I stayed because we couldn’t all fit into the Maruhubi on short notice, was about a 10 minute taxi ride from the rest of the gang at the Maruhubi. We dawdled late into the morning, enjoying the luxury, peace and quiet after the continual push and scheduling of the previous weeks. So there was only one other couple, Tanzanian, at breakfast with us, and we ended up riding in the same taxi with them. How does it happen that a Tanzanian couple has the money for such an expensive pleasure as the Imani? The woman explained that her husband had needed a vacation because he had been working so hard as the District Commissioner at Mtwara.
Paul refuses to do any construction work for Nsumba because it is so difficult to get his money after the work is completed, if he manages to get it at all. He says that after a contract is negotiated by the school and approved by the government, the Headmaster then comes back and insists that the work be done for less money than was agreed in the contract.
Peter, accountant and logistics officer for a gold mining company, says that there are always overruns on construction and maintenance contracts for vague or unsupportable reasons.
I’ve heard that one reason that every organization here seems to need new SUVs with their decal on the door as the first order of business is that the Director who chooses the dealer is often receives a Special Sales Commission for the purchase.
It would seem that foreign aid for Tanzanian infrastructure should be given to the country instead of controlled by the donor, so that Tanzanians can develop the necessary technology and skills. But how can you do that if most of the money will just piss away?
The roads that are being built all over Mwanza are a donation from the European Union, but the signs tell me that not only is the Contractor an Italian firm, but the Supervising Engineer and the Inspector are two other (different) Italian firms. The roads are solid and good; the streets built by the City are thin skins of asphalt over dirt, and fall apart within a year.
There is this great story about the road to the airport. When the British left, there was a solid all-weather road. A bit narrow, but it took only ten minutes to drive to the airport. After independence the road got no maintenance and, predicatably, fell apart. It became so bad that they received foreign donor money to rip up the rest of it, expecting that a dirt road would be better. So, by five years ago, it took over an hour for this “ten minute” drive. This lack of adequate infrastructure was justification for a major foreign donation, and the beautiful road that was completed just before I arrived again allows access to the airport in only ten minutes.
Wednesday, August 17, 2005
August 9, Tuesday
Good news – Maria says she was able to confirm our flights to Zanzibar on the 11th. So we will have two extra days on the Spice Island, at the expense of exploring Mwanza more fully. But since Nsumba is in such turmoil, this is no real loss.
As the day began, Diane and I went to Bugando Hospital to see if we could find Dr. Dass, to reschedule her pediatrics presentation there. We stumbled around in the warren of dingy hospital halls until we found a promising office and, after some confused misdirection, were asked to come inside and Just Wait. When that became old, we pressed a bit more, and learned that he would be there in the afternoon. That is a long time to wait, so we managed to get his phone number to set up her appointment. Yes, she can come tomorrow at 10, but probably not give a presentation because the interns are studying for a test. But maybe some will be there for a discussion, so...
Back to the hotel where the gang was finishing breakfast. We took taxis out to an orphanage, the Starehe Home for Children, near Nsumba. This is the place where I had thought Myrna might assist, if she had come to Africa as planned last December. We werre met there by Tini, a young energetic German-American blond, who has been volunteering there a few months every year and is now raising money to build a pre-school and primary school on the Starehe grounds. Starehe accepts abandoned children who are referred from social service NGOs, infants up to the time when they complete school and are on their own, providing scholorships for the most promising so they can obtain a good education. They run a superb, amazing program, and are building a spectacular dormatory-education building, thanks to European donations. It is almost world-class, complete with parquet floors and adequate electrical outlets (placed close to the floor where children can reach them, but that is nit-picking), far outclassing any government educational institution I have seen here.
Most students were in school, so the children we met were all quite young. As soon as we approached, they ran to us to hold on, to be picked up, to be recognized. Beautiful children, any one of which would be a heart-tugging poster child for aid appeals. As it turns out, $20 a month is enough to “sponsor” a child – provide food, clothing and shelter, medical care and school fees. I have been wondering how I could continue to be involved in helping Tanzania in some small way after I leave, but don’t trust my school to use any donation wisely. Starehe will be the way to do that, and I look forward to getting more information about this sponsorship program from Tini.
Then to Nsumba, where we got a complete tour of the school. We were greeted very warmly, and of course we had to shake hands and make greetings with every person in the room. Shari kept saying that she wished her students could see it, as we looked at the brutal classrooms with the blackboards painted on the wall, the dormatory space – eight students to a room in double bunks with no chairs or study desks, and only one small cabinet for storage of personal belongings. Diane found that the infirmary stocked about four medications for stomach pain another for malaria, nothing for pain, headache and the more common US student complaints. There was a large jar for aspirin, but it was empty.
No school was in session, thanks to the food riot, but the teachers were all required to stay in the staff room because the police or Ministry of Education investigators might want to talk with them at any time.
My friends on the staff completely took over our schedule after that, determined to be with us, help us, guide us. It was beautiful and very personal, in the Tanzanian way, but changed our schedule. We were hanging around my home there for the rest of the day, with a seemingly endless stream of people arriving, greeting and shaking hands, Hodie beside herself playing with everyone and licking Alice in the face, to the consternation of the Tanzanians. We ordered food, which our hosts insisted we buy from the Duka by the road. This was a good idea, but so overwhelmed the Duka that the food was hours late in arriving and the kids were getting hungry and complaining. But we still managed to take a walk up the steep hill to the Retreat lookout for a spectacular view of the Lake and to see the sunset.
Paola and I got into a spat at the end of the day as the taxi our friends called for us arrived at about the same time that Alice decided that yes, she was hungry after all and would like some food now. Matt and I had a “discussion” over this later that moved from accusations to consideration of deeper issues, and may have helped us both in our family relationships. ‘Nuff said about that.
Tomorrow may be difficult. Because of the scheduling changes, too many of us are going in separate directions, and I have to spend time with Maria to sort out finances and flight tickets. Don’t quite know how to handle this, and also take care of planning for the kids during the day. Well, we’ll see.
** *** **
About that food riot at Nsumba: I talked to a couple of day students on the road near Nsumba, who denied any idea of what or how anything happened since it occurred at night when they weren’t there. Good point, that. Still, a riot like this doesn’t suddenly happen out of nowhere, so I’ve tried to piece together what might have happened. I’ve already talked about the decreasing discipline I saw in my own classes in the preceding month or so. I’m hearing that the violence was most probably led by the Form V students – these are the students who were added by government fiat this year. They do not have teachers, and just sit in classrooms by themselves. They have no books or materials, and there is not even dormitory space for them. They sleep in a large room that used to be an agricultural laboratory before the government stopped the agricultural studies program. It doesn’t take Sherlock Holmes to figure out that these students would be feeling pretty desperate.
Anyway, the school now intends to charge all the students for the damage before they return to school. There would work out to about $17 per student, and would be difficult for many students to come up with. Meanwhile, some of the Staff is objecting to charging ALL the students for the damage, because certainly the day students and the students who had been in the infirmary or were away from the school for some reason like family sickness certainly weren’t involved. But if they don’t spread the charges over all the students, the fee for the boarders will be even higher. No matter what, we will surely lose many students, and those who return will return slowly over a period of weeks. So I think the rest of the year is pretty much lost, so far as teaching and education goes.
Gotta think that if I were a Form V student getting shafted by the system and was now expected to pay additional money to return and still have no teachers, resources or boarding space, I would think it a real opportunity to sit out a year and hope for better next year.
Wednesday, Aug 10
Got a phone call from Myrna this morning, on her birthday, after she opened the birthday presents I sent her. She sounded excited to receive the carved wooden jewelry box, containing photos, a variety of African spices, and a brooch of my Mother’s. Glad the things I selected made a hit.
Today we went in different directions. Paola to VETA, Diane to Bugando Hospital for a presentation to the pediatrics ward that had her all excited afterwards. She is traveling light now, having donated a big bunch of medical books and supplies to the hospital. Shari and I, with Allegra and Alice, took a quick tour of Soko Mlango Mlango, the huge used clothing market, then toured the produce, fish, housewear, everything else market in town, and finally visited the Sikh Gurdwara where the guru showed us around and answered questions.
In the afternoon we went out to Nganza Secondary and presented our programs – Matt talked about the difference between feature and news stories and answered questions. Ellen did some drawing exercised designed to loosen up the group and then had them actually draw their own six-panel cartoon strip. Shari presented a portfolio of photos of our families through all seasons – spring, summer, fall, and winter. The picture of a snowman especially surprised them. They did not think that you could actually touch snow to shape it like that without freezing your hands.
Thursday, August 11
Travel day. Anna Mtayangulwa, Erasto Joel and K came to the Aspen Hotel to see us off, and Anna gave Shari a kitange as thanks for the books that she had brought to donate to Nsumba. To come to town to wish us off is such a Tanzanian way to show friendship and gratitude – these are really wonderful people.
Otherwise the flight to Dar es Salaam and on to Zanzibar was mostly uneventful. However, our baggage was checked through, but while we were going through the airport in Dar, MJ noticed my bag on the carousel. I raised an alarm, and they then found two of our bags that had been offloaded and would have been marooned there. If it hadn’t been for MJ’s sharp eyes....
In Zanzibar we took a minivan to the Red Monkey Bungalows and B&B. A trip that ended with a long slow drive along a beach road through the most desperately poor villages that I have seen in Tanzania. These people have nothing except dilapidated houses and broken walls. The Red Monkey is at the end of one of these villages, picturesque but a bit seedy, along a moderately clean cove and beach, facing the fabulously beautiful green ocean. We debated quite a while whether we wanted to stay here or go back to the rather posh resort where we ate lunch-dinner on the drive in, but decided to give it a try for at least a night. We doubled up so that nobody would have to use the dark, dank and musty triple room they had prepared for us.
But that evening, there was a fabulous party on the beach that really won us over – for a while, at least. The owner of the Red Monkey built a small beach bonfire, and soon about two dozen little black kids showed up, with drums, and began dancing. We joined them in conga lines, set up a limbo pole, played and jumped with them. After while some older women joined in and watched the party, bringing their infants on their backs or laps and teaching them to jump to the drumming. What a unique and great experience.
Allegra and Alice made a sand birthday cake for me on the beach. I had no idea that was happening, until Alice began coming over to me every few minutes to say “Don’t peek at your birthday cake, OK?” I didn’t, until they were ready, and it was a great celebration of my birthday.
August 12
The water here is a shallow cover over a very wide sand bar. The surf breaks ‘way out there where you can hardly see it, and you wade out forever before you are in water past your knees. At low tide it is dry, at high tide you do get some wave action but not much.
Diane and I took the boys snorkeling today, in the dugout canoe with outriggers. It is a long time since I was snorkeling and that felt good, and it was fun to be with Roy and MJ, but the snorkeling wasn’t much. A few clumps of so-so coral, some zebra fish and only a few others. Kind of like the Red Money itself, which had great food, a staff that wanted to be helpful, but just couldn’t pull it off.
On the next day, the rest of the gang tried the fishing and snorkeling combination, while Ellen, Diane and I took a taxi to another resort for the day. Even trying to put a good face on it, the fishing-snorkeling was a disaster. They didn’t have snorkeling equipment for the number of people who wanted to go, the day was cold and windy, the fishing amounted to using a line attached to a piece of wood at one end with a hook at the other. Not even a fishing pole. Nobody got so much as a single bite. The snorkeling lasted five minutes before everyone was cold and shivering.
At that other resort, we talked it over, and decided to declare the Red Monkey a loss. With the help of a raft of helpful people, I located the number to call the Mahurubi Bungalows in Stonetown, our next destination, and they agreed to work with us so we could arrive a day early even though it is the peak season, now.
August 14
Travel day. Negotiated to get out of the Red Monkey with the least financial damage, cancelling the Day with the Dolphins that we had requested and made a deposit on. We arrived at our hotel in Stonetown, and sorted out our accomodations. They had to split us up for the first night with some of us to another lodge, but it was a VERY welcome change. Gilly, who manages the place, could not have been more helpful in arranging transportation, suggesting things to do, making life pleasant.
I called Charlie, the PCV serving in Stonetown, and he met us for the evening. He took us to a great restaurant he likes, and we had superb food, overlooking the ocean at dusk.
August 15
Recovery day. The Mahurubi was luxurious, beautiful, helpful in every way, and deliciously comfortable. Spent the morning just relaxing, the afternoon leisurely exploring the narrow winding streets of Stonetown. We went downtown by daladala. In Stonetown these are little trucks with a covered bed and seats running lengthwise along the sides. You have to crouch to get in and out, but it is cheap, effective, and it works.
In the evening we ate at the oceanfront fish stands where you choose your fish from a table loaded with everything imaginable. Then they grill it for you and bring it to you. Kingfish, lobster, barracuda, octopus, squid, salads, felafel, nan, chapati, whatever you could want. The kids loved it. So did the rest of us.
August 17, Wednesday
Now the safari is over. It feels kind-of empty. Last night I flew to Dar with Diane, Ellen, Shari, MJ and Allegra. They had a 5-6 hour layover before their KLM flight to Amsterdam, and the Dar airport is not a great place to kill time. I stayed with them until about 8:30, by which time I thought I should really go find a place to spend the night. We took some formal photographs to mark the occasion. There was a wall in the cafeteria covered with a wood filigree and near it a huge faux Grecian urn and a large display of dead flowers and lots of very plastic orange fall maple leaves. We moved all that stuff as backdrops for the photos. People were interested, somewhat perplexed. The Masai doorman stopped people from walking through while I set the camera remote and got into the picture. The first group portrait is straight up. The second one – they connived, and I am the only straight one in the group. The others: crossed eyes, tongues hanging out, all kinds of contortions. That is the one that is the keeper!
For the record, I took a taxi to the usual Peace Corps digs, the Safari Inn, only to find it full. Seems just about every place in Dar is full. But checking the register, Charlie (who had shared a great meal with us in Zanzibar, in a restaurant overlooking the ocean) was listed. I gave him a ring in his room, and we spent the night together. He had just taken his Graduate Record Exam that day and was feeling exhausted but happy. He figures he got into the 88th percentile in math and the 91st percentile in the verbal. Not bad! Good for him!
This trip has been wonderful. It is so rare to have a significant chunk of the family together for 16 days, and then on top of that, to spend it sharing an adventure. Having the kids along, with all their energy, enthusiasm and excitement, was a real plus – even if the continual noise and frenetic activity got a bit much for the old folks sometimes. But they were great, and wonderful companions for each other. I don’t think they had a single fight of significance through the whole trip. I feel closer to everybody after the trip, and think that all our family ties have been strengthened.
Africa itself was a bit weird. The weather was cool, sometimes cold, and except for a few days in Mwanza, almost always overcast. Even in Zanzibar we only had one day that approached my hot, steamy expectation, and that for only a few hours in the afternoon. This just isn’t Africa in the winter!
Now I guess we all have to begin the transition back to reality.
Good news – Maria says she was able to confirm our flights to Zanzibar on the 11th. So we will have two extra days on the Spice Island, at the expense of exploring Mwanza more fully. But since Nsumba is in such turmoil, this is no real loss.
As the day began, Diane and I went to Bugando Hospital to see if we could find Dr. Dass, to reschedule her pediatrics presentation there. We stumbled around in the warren of dingy hospital halls until we found a promising office and, after some confused misdirection, were asked to come inside and Just Wait. When that became old, we pressed a bit more, and learned that he would be there in the afternoon. That is a long time to wait, so we managed to get his phone number to set up her appointment. Yes, she can come tomorrow at 10, but probably not give a presentation because the interns are studying for a test. But maybe some will be there for a discussion, so...
Back to the hotel where the gang was finishing breakfast. We took taxis out to an orphanage, the Starehe Home for Children, near Nsumba. This is the place where I had thought Myrna might assist, if she had come to Africa as planned last December. We werre met there by Tini, a young energetic German-American blond, who has been volunteering there a few months every year and is now raising money to build a pre-school and primary school on the Starehe grounds. Starehe accepts abandoned children who are referred from social service NGOs, infants up to the time when they complete school and are on their own, providing scholorships for the most promising so they can obtain a good education. They run a superb, amazing program, and are building a spectacular dormatory-education building, thanks to European donations. It is almost world-class, complete with parquet floors and adequate electrical outlets (placed close to the floor where children can reach them, but that is nit-picking), far outclassing any government educational institution I have seen here.
Most students were in school, so the children we met were all quite young. As soon as we approached, they ran to us to hold on, to be picked up, to be recognized. Beautiful children, any one of which would be a heart-tugging poster child for aid appeals. As it turns out, $20 a month is enough to “sponsor” a child – provide food, clothing and shelter, medical care and school fees. I have been wondering how I could continue to be involved in helping Tanzania in some small way after I leave, but don’t trust my school to use any donation wisely. Starehe will be the way to do that, and I look forward to getting more information about this sponsorship program from Tini.
Then to Nsumba, where we got a complete tour of the school. We were greeted very warmly, and of course we had to shake hands and make greetings with every person in the room. Shari kept saying that she wished her students could see it, as we looked at the brutal classrooms with the blackboards painted on the wall, the dormatory space – eight students to a room in double bunks with no chairs or study desks, and only one small cabinet for storage of personal belongings. Diane found that the infirmary stocked about four medications for stomach pain another for malaria, nothing for pain, headache and the more common US student complaints. There was a large jar for aspirin, but it was empty.
No school was in session, thanks to the food riot, but the teachers were all required to stay in the staff room because the police or Ministry of Education investigators might want to talk with them at any time.
My friends on the staff completely took over our schedule after that, determined to be with us, help us, guide us. It was beautiful and very personal, in the Tanzanian way, but changed our schedule. We were hanging around my home there for the rest of the day, with a seemingly endless stream of people arriving, greeting and shaking hands, Hodie beside herself playing with everyone and licking Alice in the face, to the consternation of the Tanzanians. We ordered food, which our hosts insisted we buy from the Duka by the road. This was a good idea, but so overwhelmed the Duka that the food was hours late in arriving and the kids were getting hungry and complaining. But we still managed to take a walk up the steep hill to the Retreat lookout for a spectacular view of the Lake and to see the sunset.
Paola and I got into a spat at the end of the day as the taxi our friends called for us arrived at about the same time that Alice decided that yes, she was hungry after all and would like some food now. Matt and I had a “discussion” over this later that moved from accusations to consideration of deeper issues, and may have helped us both in our family relationships. ‘Nuff said about that.
Tomorrow may be difficult. Because of the scheduling changes, too many of us are going in separate directions, and I have to spend time with Maria to sort out finances and flight tickets. Don’t quite know how to handle this, and also take care of planning for the kids during the day. Well, we’ll see.
** *** **
About that food riot at Nsumba: I talked to a couple of day students on the road near Nsumba, who denied any idea of what or how anything happened since it occurred at night when they weren’t there. Good point, that. Still, a riot like this doesn’t suddenly happen out of nowhere, so I’ve tried to piece together what might have happened. I’ve already talked about the decreasing discipline I saw in my own classes in the preceding month or so. I’m hearing that the violence was most probably led by the Form V students – these are the students who were added by government fiat this year. They do not have teachers, and just sit in classrooms by themselves. They have no books or materials, and there is not even dormitory space for them. They sleep in a large room that used to be an agricultural laboratory before the government stopped the agricultural studies program. It doesn’t take Sherlock Holmes to figure out that these students would be feeling pretty desperate.
Anyway, the school now intends to charge all the students for the damage before they return to school. There would work out to about $17 per student, and would be difficult for many students to come up with. Meanwhile, some of the Staff is objecting to charging ALL the students for the damage, because certainly the day students and the students who had been in the infirmary or were away from the school for some reason like family sickness certainly weren’t involved. But if they don’t spread the charges over all the students, the fee for the boarders will be even higher. No matter what, we will surely lose many students, and those who return will return slowly over a period of weeks. So I think the rest of the year is pretty much lost, so far as teaching and education goes.
Gotta think that if I were a Form V student getting shafted by the system and was now expected to pay additional money to return and still have no teachers, resources or boarding space, I would think it a real opportunity to sit out a year and hope for better next year.
Wednesday, Aug 10
Got a phone call from Myrna this morning, on her birthday, after she opened the birthday presents I sent her. She sounded excited to receive the carved wooden jewelry box, containing photos, a variety of African spices, and a brooch of my Mother’s. Glad the things I selected made a hit.
Today we went in different directions. Paola to VETA, Diane to Bugando Hospital for a presentation to the pediatrics ward that had her all excited afterwards. She is traveling light now, having donated a big bunch of medical books and supplies to the hospital. Shari and I, with Allegra and Alice, took a quick tour of Soko Mlango Mlango, the huge used clothing market, then toured the produce, fish, housewear, everything else market in town, and finally visited the Sikh Gurdwara where the guru showed us around and answered questions.
In the afternoon we went out to Nganza Secondary and presented our programs – Matt talked about the difference between feature and news stories and answered questions. Ellen did some drawing exercised designed to loosen up the group and then had them actually draw their own six-panel cartoon strip. Shari presented a portfolio of photos of our families through all seasons – spring, summer, fall, and winter. The picture of a snowman especially surprised them. They did not think that you could actually touch snow to shape it like that without freezing your hands.
Thursday, August 11
Travel day. Anna Mtayangulwa, Erasto Joel and K came to the Aspen Hotel to see us off, and Anna gave Shari a kitange as thanks for the books that she had brought to donate to Nsumba. To come to town to wish us off is such a Tanzanian way to show friendship and gratitude – these are really wonderful people.
Otherwise the flight to Dar es Salaam and on to Zanzibar was mostly uneventful. However, our baggage was checked through, but while we were going through the airport in Dar, MJ noticed my bag on the carousel. I raised an alarm, and they then found two of our bags that had been offloaded and would have been marooned there. If it hadn’t been for MJ’s sharp eyes....
In Zanzibar we took a minivan to the Red Monkey Bungalows and B&B. A trip that ended with a long slow drive along a beach road through the most desperately poor villages that I have seen in Tanzania. These people have nothing except dilapidated houses and broken walls. The Red Monkey is at the end of one of these villages, picturesque but a bit seedy, along a moderately clean cove and beach, facing the fabulously beautiful green ocean. We debated quite a while whether we wanted to stay here or go back to the rather posh resort where we ate lunch-dinner on the drive in, but decided to give it a try for at least a night. We doubled up so that nobody would have to use the dark, dank and musty triple room they had prepared for us.
But that evening, there was a fabulous party on the beach that really won us over – for a while, at least. The owner of the Red Monkey built a small beach bonfire, and soon about two dozen little black kids showed up, with drums, and began dancing. We joined them in conga lines, set up a limbo pole, played and jumped with them. After while some older women joined in and watched the party, bringing their infants on their backs or laps and teaching them to jump to the drumming. What a unique and great experience.
Allegra and Alice made a sand birthday cake for me on the beach. I had no idea that was happening, until Alice began coming over to me every few minutes to say “Don’t peek at your birthday cake, OK?” I didn’t, until they were ready, and it was a great celebration of my birthday.
August 12
The water here is a shallow cover over a very wide sand bar. The surf breaks ‘way out there where you can hardly see it, and you wade out forever before you are in water past your knees. At low tide it is dry, at high tide you do get some wave action but not much.
Diane and I took the boys snorkeling today, in the dugout canoe with outriggers. It is a long time since I was snorkeling and that felt good, and it was fun to be with Roy and MJ, but the snorkeling wasn’t much. A few clumps of so-so coral, some zebra fish and only a few others. Kind of like the Red Money itself, which had great food, a staff that wanted to be helpful, but just couldn’t pull it off.
On the next day, the rest of the gang tried the fishing and snorkeling combination, while Ellen, Diane and I took a taxi to another resort for the day. Even trying to put a good face on it, the fishing-snorkeling was a disaster. They didn’t have snorkeling equipment for the number of people who wanted to go, the day was cold and windy, the fishing amounted to using a line attached to a piece of wood at one end with a hook at the other. Not even a fishing pole. Nobody got so much as a single bite. The snorkeling lasted five minutes before everyone was cold and shivering.
At that other resort, we talked it over, and decided to declare the Red Monkey a loss. With the help of a raft of helpful people, I located the number to call the Mahurubi Bungalows in Stonetown, our next destination, and they agreed to work with us so we could arrive a day early even though it is the peak season, now.
August 14
Travel day. Negotiated to get out of the Red Monkey with the least financial damage, cancelling the Day with the Dolphins that we had requested and made a deposit on. We arrived at our hotel in Stonetown, and sorted out our accomodations. They had to split us up for the first night with some of us to another lodge, but it was a VERY welcome change. Gilly, who manages the place, could not have been more helpful in arranging transportation, suggesting things to do, making life pleasant.
I called Charlie, the PCV serving in Stonetown, and he met us for the evening. He took us to a great restaurant he likes, and we had superb food, overlooking the ocean at dusk.
August 15
Recovery day. The Mahurubi was luxurious, beautiful, helpful in every way, and deliciously comfortable. Spent the morning just relaxing, the afternoon leisurely exploring the narrow winding streets of Stonetown. We went downtown by daladala. In Stonetown these are little trucks with a covered bed and seats running lengthwise along the sides. You have to crouch to get in and out, but it is cheap, effective, and it works.
In the evening we ate at the oceanfront fish stands where you choose your fish from a table loaded with everything imaginable. Then they grill it for you and bring it to you. Kingfish, lobster, barracuda, octopus, squid, salads, felafel, nan, chapati, whatever you could want. The kids loved it. So did the rest of us.
August 17, Wednesday
Now the safari is over. It feels kind-of empty. Last night I flew to Dar with Diane, Ellen, Shari, MJ and Allegra. They had a 5-6 hour layover before their KLM flight to Amsterdam, and the Dar airport is not a great place to kill time. I stayed with them until about 8:30, by which time I thought I should really go find a place to spend the night. We took some formal photographs to mark the occasion. There was a wall in the cafeteria covered with a wood filigree and near it a huge faux Grecian urn and a large display of dead flowers and lots of very plastic orange fall maple leaves. We moved all that stuff as backdrops for the photos. People were interested, somewhat perplexed. The Masai doorman stopped people from walking through while I set the camera remote and got into the picture. The first group portrait is straight up. The second one – they connived, and I am the only straight one in the group. The others: crossed eyes, tongues hanging out, all kinds of contortions. That is the one that is the keeper!
For the record, I took a taxi to the usual Peace Corps digs, the Safari Inn, only to find it full. Seems just about every place in Dar is full. But checking the register, Charlie (who had shared a great meal with us in Zanzibar, in a restaurant overlooking the ocean) was listed. I gave him a ring in his room, and we spent the night together. He had just taken his Graduate Record Exam that day and was feeling exhausted but happy. He figures he got into the 88th percentile in math and the 91st percentile in the verbal. Not bad! Good for him!
This trip has been wonderful. It is so rare to have a significant chunk of the family together for 16 days, and then on top of that, to spend it sharing an adventure. Having the kids along, with all their energy, enthusiasm and excitement, was a real plus – even if the continual noise and frenetic activity got a bit much for the old folks sometimes. But they were great, and wonderful companions for each other. I don’t think they had a single fight of significance through the whole trip. I feel closer to everybody after the trip, and think that all our family ties have been strengthened.
Africa itself was a bit weird. The weather was cool, sometimes cold, and except for a few days in Mwanza, almost always overcast. Even in Zanzibar we only had one day that approached my hot, steamy expectation, and that for only a few hours in the afternoon. This just isn’t Africa in the winter!
Now I guess we all have to begin the transition back to reality.
Wednesday, August 10, 2005
Monday, Aug 8
We are working with Maria to see if we can move up our flight to Zanzibar and find accommodations there, since my school is closed. The stumbling block is the flight, because the airline office is not open today since it is NaneNane day. But being here in Mwanza it has been good to have email contact with family in the US and business in China.
The two safari wagons were still ours for the day, so we gathered the other PC Volunteers, Kim, Kathleen, Kara, Ryan, and Ashley, a friend from Nairobi who is working with refugees for the UNHCR. Somehow, Ashley had found and has been reading my blog and the joke was that she know more about me and what I’ve been doing that Ryan does, living a mile away. Kim leaves for Dar es Salaam to end her service, and Kara should hear tomorrow about whether the Peace Corps feels she should end her service for safety reasons, because of the arson at her school.
We found the big empty field where they are holding a NaneNane festival near Igoma, and I gotta say I was very impressed. There was a large crowd there, and many booths featuring agricultural methods and small business ideas and appropriate technology such as effective foot-operated pumps for irrigation. It really did look like a small rural county fair, with even a few cows and goats on display. There were other displays showing cotton plants with various kinds of diseases and insect infestations with information on how to combat them. Still others demonstrated various plants that can be sown along with corn to prevent exhausting the soil nutrients, or how to easily sun-dry fruits, vegetables and fish.
THIS is the kind of thing that is SO important for Tanzania, and that I thought was mostly missing. I wonder who or what group it was that was the prime motivator in organizing the event. It would be a great project for some PC Volunteers to assist.
I asked the gregarious man at the booth of the Agricultural University why Tanzania has eliminated Agriculture and Agricultural Science from the school curriculum in the secondary schools. He just threw up his hands and said that changes occur repeatedly, it is all political, elections are coming up before long, and hopefully things will change again.
Then we left the Fair and went to the Bujora Museum for a very dry, slow and boring presentation of artifacts from the Sukuma people. The Sukuma is the largest tribe in Tanzania and centers around the Mwanza region. There are actually some interesting things there, but there were no informative written descriptions and our guide just didn’t cut it. But the meal they prepared for us was really good. After that there was a fascinating program of native dancing. That ended with the group dancing around two fat, very long pythons. The kids were really excited by that, and Kim just jumped up and stood there for the whole dance, cringing with her hands up to her face.
Finally we just sat around talking for another hour or so, then had our drivers take us back to the hotel. We asked them to ferry the Volunteers back to the Lake Hotel and out to Ryan’s site in Nyegezi, and so the safari with lorries and guides has ended.
Whenever we stop somewhere, the boys get out the frizbee and throw it around. They are doing a great job of entertaining themselves. the girls are playing games with each other too, even if Alice gets a little pouty now and then. Alice has collected 79 soda bottle caps, and they are doing everything with them – using them like legos, dominos, making patterns...
Tomorrow is rather unplanned. I want to go to Bugando Hospital with Diane to arrange the time for her to give a presentation, then maybe try to rent a daladala for the day. Then we’ll come back to the Hotel to pick up the group and head out to an orphanage, the Starehe Home for Children, and Nsumba. Along the line we should hear from Maria about the Zanzibar flight, and from Ryan about maybe having Ellen give an art workshop and Matt give a talk on journalism to students at Nganza, the school down the road from Nsumba that has NOT rioted or burned down.
August 9, Tuesday
Good news – Maria says she was able to confirm our flights to Zanzibar on the 11th. So we will have two extra days on the Spice Island, at the expense of exploring Mwanza more fully. But since Nsumba is in such turmoil, this is no real loss.
As the day began, Diane and I went to Bugando Hospital to see if we could find Dr. Dass, to reschedule her pediatrics presentation there. We stumbled around in the warren of dingy hospital halls until we found a promising office and, after some confused misdirection, were asked to come inside and Just Wait. When that became old, we pressed a bit more, and learned that he would be there in the afternoon. That is a long time to wait, so we managed to get his phone number to set up her appointment. Yes, she can come tomorrow at 10, but probably not give a presentation because the interns are studying for a test. But maybe some will be there for a discussion, so...
Back to the hotel where the gang was finishing breakfast. We took taxis out to an orphanage, the Starehe Home for Children, near Nsumba. This is the place where I had thought Myrna might assist, if she had come to Africa as planned last December. We werre met there by Tini, a young energetic German-American blond, who has been volunteering there a few months every year and is now raising money to build a pre-school and primary school on the Starehe grounds. Starehe accepts abandoned children who are referred from social service NGOs, infants up to the time when they complete school and are on their own, providing scholorships for the most promising so they can obtain a good education. They run a superb, amazing program, and are building a spectacular dormatory-education building, thanks to European donations. It is almost world-class, complete with parquet floors and adequate electrical outlets (placed close to the floor where children can reach them, but that is nit-picking), far outclassing any government educational institution I have seen here.
Most students were in school, so the children we met were all quite young. As soon as we approached, they ran to us to hold on, to be picked up, to be recognized. Beautiful children, any one of which would be a heart-tugging poster child for aid appeals. As it turns out, $20 a month is enough to “sponsor” a child – provide food, clothing and shelter, medical care and school fees. I have been wondering how I could continue to be involved in helping Tanzania in some small way after I leave, but don’t trust my school to use any donation wisely. Starehe will be the way to do that, and I look forward to getting more information about this sponsorship program from Tini.
Then to Nsumba, where we got a complete tour of the school. We were greeted very warmly, and of course we had to shake hands and make greetings with every person in the room. Shari kept saying that she wished her students could see it, as we looked at the brutal classrooms with the blackboards painted on the wall, the dormatory space – eight students to a room in double bunks with no chairs or study desks, and only one small cabinet for storage of personal belongings. Diane found that the infirmary stocked about four medications for stomach pain another for malaria, nothing for pain, headache and the more common US student complaints. There was a large jar for aspirin, but it was empty.
No school was in session, thanks to the food riot, but the teachers were all required to stay in the staff room because the police or Ministry of Education investigators might want to talk with them at any time.
My friends on the staff completely took over our schedule after that, determined to be with us, help us, guide us. It was beautiful and very personal, in the Tanzanian way, but changed our schedule. We were hanging around my home there for the rest of the day, with a seemingly endless stream of people arriving, greeting and shaking hands, Hodie beside herself playing with everyone and licking Alice in the face, to the consternation of the Tanzanians. We ordered food, which our hosts insisted we buy from the Duka by the road. This was a good idea, but so overwhelmed the Duka that the food was hours late in arriving and the kids were getting hungry and complaining. But we still managed to take a walk up the steep hill to the Retreat lookout for a spectacular view of the Lake and to see the sunset.
Paola and I got into a spat at the end of the day as the taxi our friends called for us arrived at about the same time that Alice decided that yes, she was hungry after all and would like some food now. Matt and I had a “discussion” over this later that moved from accusations to consideration of deeper issues, and may have helped us both in our family relationships. ‘Nuff said about that.
Tomorrow may be difficult. Because of the scheduling changes, too many of us are going in separate directions, and I have to spend time with Maria to sort out finances and flight tickets. Don’t quite know how to handle this, and also take care of planning for the kids during the day. Well, we’ll see.
Monday, August 08, 2005
August 5
So the Safari has been underway now, since Tuesday. I had intended to keep a daily log of the event, but that quickly went into the dust bin of good intentions. So let’s try to catch up a bit.
Logistics: We gathered in Arusha, in the Meru House on Mon, then we were in the Arusha National Park Tue and Wed, camping in two-person tents for those nights. Thursday we returned to Meru House mid-morning to transfer all our stuff from the Victoria Expedition lorries to the Fortes Safari lorries for the rest of our trans-Tanzania jaunt, then spent the afternoon in Tarengira National Park, and the night at Migunga Forest Camp. Friday (today) we got an early start to go to the Ngorongoro Crater, then we stopped at the Olduvai Gorge Museum on the way to the Serengeti Park Youth Hostel, the only reasonably priced accommodations Maria could find for us on this night.
Impressions: Everybody seems happy with the Safari and what we have seen so far. The list of animals is really impressive. But from having done Tarengira and Ngorongoro in Nov of 2003 when things were green, I was disappointed by the much lower animal density. Last time I got hoards of animal pictures up close and friendly, right beside our lorry. This time the animals were few, and off in the distance in the brown grass, mostly too far away for decent photos. Our guides aren’t telling us that old “Boy you should have been here last week, did we ever see ANIMALS!!!!!” but it is pretty clear that it would be a much higher animal density in the wet season. Green grass = food for all.
We didn’t see a lion this time, but while we were looking for one we saw a CHEETA, which is an even bigger prize. So far, the main prize goes to the hippos for the way they splash the water and wipe and splash their broad asses with their little tails, and for their glorious pink bellies that show so well when they roll over in the water and have their feet up in the air.
Animals photographed: The colobus monkeys that are only found in Arusha National Park, blue and vervet monkeys, troops of baboons, dik diks, ugly warthogs, endless zebras, cape buffalo, Masai giraffes (official animal of Tanzania – the Twiga), herds of elephants, a python in a tree, hyrax (a cute rodent – for the longest time we thought the guide was calling the hyrax “rat”), incredible crowned cranes (the official bird of Uganda), rabbit, bush buck, water buck, wildebeests, hartbeests, the Thompson’s and Grant’s gazelles that always seem to cohabitate, camels for tourist rides (do they count?), spotted hyena, golden jackel, hippos, that cheeta lolling in the grass, a black rhino off in the distance (another prize sighting), ostriches, and a whole bunch of birds.
The Park Prize goes to Arusha National Park, where we saw the greatest density and diversity of animals. It is in the foothills of Mount Meru and gets lots more rain, so things were green and lush – good for living things. On the second day there we took a walking tour, with an armed guide. We came across four giraffes that let the kids get pretty close – Mothers were getting frightened – before they ambled away. Quite a thrill for the kids, although by now when they see another giraffe it has become ho-hum.
But we never actually saw Mount Meru, beautiful mountain that it is, even though we were right beside it. Our weather has been quite cold and continually overcast. The group is amazed that we can be here, three degrees from the equator, and be cold.
We are really enjoying having the family together. The four kids are getting along fabulously, and their excitement carries through us all. But they can be a bit much, and today we separated the boys from the girls. That helped a lot, but people are still saying they do NOT want to be in the same car with the boys for long periods any more – the continual noise is mind-shattering. We are hearing lots of sibling stories and sharing family history from multiple viewpoints – usually things that the older generation did not know were happening.
Of course there are lots of questions about Africa and African history that I enjoy expounding about, now that I am the Two Year Expert. And it is good to share about what we are all doing in life, though it feels hard to really get beneath the surface with Matt and Paola.
Sunday, August 7
Animals: Add mongoose, topi, impala, lions including several prides eating their kills, and a leopard right after it pulled its dead Thomson gazelle into a tree for safekeeping. What a BEAUTIFUL animal it is, almost iridescent in its glowing, spotted coat!
Our safari has hit its stride, as the adults subtly jockey to avoid being in the car with the boys who make loud noise non-stop. By now the girls are in one car and the boys in the other. We all hope to be in the car with Musa who provides a running commentary on Africa and its environment instead of with Msaka who merely answers questions when he can, or looks things up in a book.
But today had its snags. Shari wasn’t feeling well. Symptoms seem like food poisoning from the meal we ate at the local cafe last night, but we all ate the same stuff and nobody else got sick. So we decided cut short our game drives and head directly to our next destination, the fabulous (and complimentary) Kijereshi Tented Camp. But when we regained cellphone access, I called Maria at the Safari Office. Seems that when Majit offered the accommodations, he didn’t have his schedule with him and unfortunately the Camp was totally booked. So we turned toward Mwanza, while Maria looked into whether the Hotel could accept us a day early. They said they could.
Meanwhile I called Ann Mtayangulwa to see what was happening at my school. Nsumba, it turns out, will not reopen after the food riot – which apparently included stealing a truck, and some glass and other damage – until the end of August. So that pretty much nixes the cultural exchange programs we had organized.
On arrival, the hotel happily informed us that they had three double rooms for us. I pointed out that that only took care of six of the ten of us. Their smiles faded. Much discussion and negotiation. Finally they did come up with enough rooms for us, and things settled down.
Maria called to invite us to her home, where she had prepared a dinner for the other Peace Corps Volunteers in the region, and us. It was delicious, and the reunion with the PCVs and the discussions with my family and with Maria was immediately open and excited and engaging. My family was pretty tired from the day of travel and went back to the hotel with our drivers, and I stayed on until about midnight talking with everybody. Kara was there from Sumve, and it seems that it was definitely arson that burned down her school’s dormatories. Six students were sitting in the pokey already, and several teachers were under investigation. Kim had just come back from South Africa, and was on her way to Dar es Salaam to quit the program with no regrets. Sounds like it was a good decision for her – her school has largely disintegrated. The current Headmaster is paranoid, the teaching atmosphere has gone south, and six teachers simply did not return after the mid-year break. Kathleen is almost odd man (woman?) out, with no disasters to talk about at her school and with things basically going well.
On the way from the Serengeti, we passed a field being set up for NaneNane Day, at Igoma. We are now thinking of going there tomorrow for a few hours, and then on to the Bujora Museum. We won’t stay overnight at the Museum as originally planned, but should still have a tour there, followed by dinner and a native dancing program. Since we still have the two safari wagons, we can also take along all the other PCVs in town. Should be fun.
Meanwhile we will see if it is possible to cut short our time in Mwanza in favor of spending more time in Zanzibar. That means both finding accommodations for 10 in Zanzibar during the high season, and changing our flights – both seem pretty iffy. But who knows, until we try...
So the Safari has been underway now, since Tuesday. I had intended to keep a daily log of the event, but that quickly went into the dust bin of good intentions. So let’s try to catch up a bit.
Logistics: We gathered in Arusha, in the Meru House on Mon, then we were in the Arusha National Park Tue and Wed, camping in two-person tents for those nights. Thursday we returned to Meru House mid-morning to transfer all our stuff from the Victoria Expedition lorries to the Fortes Safari lorries for the rest of our trans-Tanzania jaunt, then spent the afternoon in Tarengira National Park, and the night at Migunga Forest Camp. Friday (today) we got an early start to go to the Ngorongoro Crater, then we stopped at the Olduvai Gorge Museum on the way to the Serengeti Park Youth Hostel, the only reasonably priced accommodations Maria could find for us on this night.
Impressions: Everybody seems happy with the Safari and what we have seen so far. The list of animals is really impressive. But from having done Tarengira and Ngorongoro in Nov of 2003 when things were green, I was disappointed by the much lower animal density. Last time I got hoards of animal pictures up close and friendly, right beside our lorry. This time the animals were few, and off in the distance in the brown grass, mostly too far away for decent photos. Our guides aren’t telling us that old “Boy you should have been here last week, did we ever see ANIMALS!!!!!” but it is pretty clear that it would be a much higher animal density in the wet season. Green grass = food for all.
We didn’t see a lion this time, but while we were looking for one we saw a CHEETA, which is an even bigger prize. So far, the main prize goes to the hippos for the way they splash the water and wipe and splash their broad asses with their little tails, and for their glorious pink bellies that show so well when they roll over in the water and have their feet up in the air.
Animals photographed: The colobus monkeys that are only found in Arusha National Park, blue and vervet monkeys, troops of baboons, dik diks, ugly warthogs, endless zebras, cape buffalo, Masai giraffes (official animal of Tanzania – the Twiga), herds of elephants, a python in a tree, hyrax (a cute rodent – for the longest time we thought the guide was calling the hyrax “rat”), incredible crowned cranes (the official bird of Uganda), rabbit, bush buck, water buck, wildebeests, hartbeests, the Thompson’s and Grant’s gazelles that always seem to cohabitate, camels for tourist rides (do they count?), spotted hyena, golden jackel, hippos, that cheeta lolling in the grass, a black rhino off in the distance (another prize sighting), ostriches, and a whole bunch of birds.
The Park Prize goes to Arusha National Park, where we saw the greatest density and diversity of animals. It is in the foothills of Mount Meru and gets lots more rain, so things were green and lush – good for living things. On the second day there we took a walking tour, with an armed guide. We came across four giraffes that let the kids get pretty close – Mothers were getting frightened – before they ambled away. Quite a thrill for the kids, although by now when they see another giraffe it has become ho-hum.
But we never actually saw Mount Meru, beautiful mountain that it is, even though we were right beside it. Our weather has been quite cold and continually overcast. The group is amazed that we can be here, three degrees from the equator, and be cold.
We are really enjoying having the family together. The four kids are getting along fabulously, and their excitement carries through us all. But they can be a bit much, and today we separated the boys from the girls. That helped a lot, but people are still saying they do NOT want to be in the same car with the boys for long periods any more – the continual noise is mind-shattering. We are hearing lots of sibling stories and sharing family history from multiple viewpoints – usually things that the older generation did not know were happening.
Of course there are lots of questions about Africa and African history that I enjoy expounding about, now that I am the Two Year Expert. And it is good to share about what we are all doing in life, though it feels hard to really get beneath the surface with Matt and Paola.
Sunday, August 7
Animals: Add mongoose, topi, impala, lions including several prides eating their kills, and a leopard right after it pulled its dead Thomson gazelle into a tree for safekeeping. What a BEAUTIFUL animal it is, almost iridescent in its glowing, spotted coat!
Our safari has hit its stride, as the adults subtly jockey to avoid being in the car with the boys who make loud noise non-stop. By now the girls are in one car and the boys in the other. We all hope to be in the car with Musa who provides a running commentary on Africa and its environment instead of with Msaka who merely answers questions when he can, or looks things up in a book.
But today had its snags. Shari wasn’t feeling well. Symptoms seem like food poisoning from the meal we ate at the local cafe last night, but we all ate the same stuff and nobody else got sick. So we decided cut short our game drives and head directly to our next destination, the fabulous (and complimentary) Kijereshi Tented Camp. But when we regained cellphone access, I called Maria at the Safari Office. Seems that when Majit offered the accommodations, he didn’t have his schedule with him and unfortunately the Camp was totally booked. So we turned toward Mwanza, while Maria looked into whether the Hotel could accept us a day early. They said they could.
Meanwhile I called Ann Mtayangulwa to see what was happening at my school. Nsumba, it turns out, will not reopen after the food riot – which apparently included stealing a truck, and some glass and other damage – until the end of August. So that pretty much nixes the cultural exchange programs we had organized.
On arrival, the hotel happily informed us that they had three double rooms for us. I pointed out that that only took care of six of the ten of us. Their smiles faded. Much discussion and negotiation. Finally they did come up with enough rooms for us, and things settled down.
Maria called to invite us to her home, where she had prepared a dinner for the other Peace Corps Volunteers in the region, and us. It was delicious, and the reunion with the PCVs and the discussions with my family and with Maria was immediately open and excited and engaging. My family was pretty tired from the day of travel and went back to the hotel with our drivers, and I stayed on until about midnight talking with everybody. Kara was there from Sumve, and it seems that it was definitely arson that burned down her school’s dormatories. Six students were sitting in the pokey already, and several teachers were under investigation. Kim had just come back from South Africa, and was on her way to Dar es Salaam to quit the program with no regrets. Sounds like it was a good decision for her – her school has largely disintegrated. The current Headmaster is paranoid, the teaching atmosphere has gone south, and six teachers simply did not return after the mid-year break. Kathleen is almost odd man (woman?) out, with no disasters to talk about at her school and with things basically going well.
On the way from the Serengeti, we passed a field being set up for NaneNane Day, at Igoma. We are now thinking of going there tomorrow for a few hours, and then on to the Bujora Museum. We won’t stay overnight at the Museum as originally planned, but should still have a tour there, followed by dinner and a native dancing program. Since we still have the two safari wagons, we can also take along all the other PCVs in town. Should be fun.
Meanwhile we will see if it is possible to cut short our time in Mwanza in favor of spending more time in Zanzibar. That means both finding accommodations for 10 in Zanzibar during the high season, and changing our flights – both seem pretty iffy. But who knows, until we try...
Tuesday, August 02, 2005
August 31
Well, the safari is underway. Most of the gang is now here in Arusha. Matt and Paola arrived on schedule with Roy and Alice, at 6:50pm via Hong Kong, Bangkok and Nairobi, and Diane and Ellen arrived at 8:00pm after a couple of days in Amsterdam. But all of us had a scare.
For my 21 hour bus ride from Mwanza, I chose the Luxury Bus leaving at 10:00am instead of the regular bus leaving at 11:00am yesterday, since it was the same price and I was glad to get to Arusha as soon as possible. Mistake. The 11:00 bus left before my 10:00 bus. At the suburban station, my bus then sat for two hours while they tried to fix its electrical system. We finally left, with new batteries, but it did seem strange that the A/C wasn’t working, and neither was the on-board TV, and when it got dark, there were no reading lights. About an hour later, we had no headlights either, so it became clear that the electric generator was not working. Having no choice, the bus stopped in the dinky town of Kisii where we spent the night behind the police station waiting for the next bus at 3:00am. It came at 5:00am, not all that bad for Tanzanian timing. So we did manage to get to Arusha before my family’s flights arrived, but it was a little tense, there. 30 Hours, Mwanza to Arusha!
Matt’s story was that with traffic and forgetting the anti-malaria medicine, they were late arriving at the airport in Beijing, so by the time they cleared customs and got to the in-transit holding area, there was no sign of where to go for Kenya Airlines. They got help from Cathay Pacific, but then found that they wouldn’t be allowed on the plane anyway because Matt’s passport expired in less than six months. It took top level intervention to clear that up, and by then they had 14 minutes to get to the gate 16 minutes away. They just made it.
Diane and Ellen had less excuse, but were enjoying the internet services in the Amsterdam airport so much, they almost missed their plane. By the time they got to the gate, it was already closed and locked. So they just made it, also.
But for all that, we had a great evening sharing tales over food and beer, talking family history, enjoying Roy and Alice, and previewing safari plans. Our food tonight, at the Meru House Inn, had nothing to do with African food. Maybe that was for the best. Save the chapati, the ugali and the chipsi miyai for later.
First impressions: Primarily, how wonderful to see my family again, and have us all together. We were really into being together with each other. But I was surprised, on coming back to Arusha after being away for two years, at how Western it is. It is full of white folk – backpackers and tourists and people involved in the UN Court here, as Arusha is the location for the everlasting Rwanda Genocide trials. Even the restaurant in our inexpensive hotel serves diner food, nothing remotely African. Diane commented on how dark the Kilimanjaro International Airport was, that even the runway looked like it was lit with candles.
Tomorrow is a “free day.” We’ll walk around, go to the market, and then pick up Shari, MJ and Allegra when they arrive from Washington at 8:00pm. Then, off and running!
August 1
We woke to a cold and dreary day, overcast and even drizzling a little. What happened to bright, sunny Africa?
We had a great breakfast at a place I remembered, Jambo’s, then walked around a lot. Went to the market, where we bought fruit for safari snacks, and Diane bought a khanga with the black, yellow, blue and green colors of the Tanzanian flag, to match the flag that is painted on her toenails (!). A young woman there said she could arrange a hat for Diane in the Tanzanian style. She spent about half an hour doing that on Diane’s head, with needle and thread to hold it in place. The monstrosity she created looked rather like Diane had a pillow sitting on her head, but at least it sure was attention grabbing. Don’t think that is the final use of the khanga.
Matt and Paola wanted to buy hiking boots for Roy. Another good project for the market. There are legions of shoe sellers in the market. Paola and Matt soon had all the vendors in the place scouring the entire market for suitable boots in the right size. They finally settled on a good pair, asking price $35. An absurd price in the market for used boots, but at least a starting point. Paola used her negotiating skills, honed in the Chinese marketplace, to bring the price down to $18 after long and hard bargaining with a large audience. She thought she had gotten a pretty good price, until they found the same boots in an adult size with an initial asking price of $15. Paola enjoys the haggling process, and chalked this up to a learning process. Who would have thought that these Africa market vendors could keep up with the notorious Chinese merchants in bargaining techniques?
Diane and I flew through the Shop Rite (a South African chain supermarket, here) and bought $125 of food for Thursday and Friday, when we will be in the Serengeti at the Taj Rest House, which can provide a cook but BYO Food. The store reluctantly agreed to put our four big boxes of supplies in the cooler for us, so we can do a quick pickup of it on Thursday morning after we complete the two days of camping in the Arusha National Park.
I am concerned about the expenses. I am paying the bills and we will settle later, but we are running over my promised budget already. In part, people came an extra day sooner, and I am paying for some meals that were not in the plan. I know we will all share the costs in the end, but I really don’t like to have this costing more than my family had planned. Well, so it goes.
The taxi service to the airport is $50, fixed price. But the shuttle driver from last night offered to give me a ride to pick up Shari, MJ and Allegra for $40. Then the hotel arranged the taxi for me at only $30. I figured that was the best we could get, and went to pick up the gang. So now we are all together, and ready to get underway tomorrow.
Well, the safari is underway. Most of the gang is now here in Arusha. Matt and Paola arrived on schedule with Roy and Alice, at 6:50pm via Hong Kong, Bangkok and Nairobi, and Diane and Ellen arrived at 8:00pm after a couple of days in Amsterdam. But all of us had a scare.
For my 21 hour bus ride from Mwanza, I chose the Luxury Bus leaving at 10:00am instead of the regular bus leaving at 11:00am yesterday, since it was the same price and I was glad to get to Arusha as soon as possible. Mistake. The 11:00 bus left before my 10:00 bus. At the suburban station, my bus then sat for two hours while they tried to fix its electrical system. We finally left, with new batteries, but it did seem strange that the A/C wasn’t working, and neither was the on-board TV, and when it got dark, there were no reading lights. About an hour later, we had no headlights either, so it became clear that the electric generator was not working. Having no choice, the bus stopped in the dinky town of Kisii where we spent the night behind the police station waiting for the next bus at 3:00am. It came at 5:00am, not all that bad for Tanzanian timing. So we did manage to get to Arusha before my family’s flights arrived, but it was a little tense, there. 30 Hours, Mwanza to Arusha!
Matt’s story was that with traffic and forgetting the anti-malaria medicine, they were late arriving at the airport in Beijing, so by the time they cleared customs and got to the in-transit holding area, there was no sign of where to go for Kenya Airlines. They got help from Cathay Pacific, but then found that they wouldn’t be allowed on the plane anyway because Matt’s passport expired in less than six months. It took top level intervention to clear that up, and by then they had 14 minutes to get to the gate 16 minutes away. They just made it.
Diane and Ellen had less excuse, but were enjoying the internet services in the Amsterdam airport so much, they almost missed their plane. By the time they got to the gate, it was already closed and locked. So they just made it, also.
But for all that, we had a great evening sharing tales over food and beer, talking family history, enjoying Roy and Alice, and previewing safari plans. Our food tonight, at the Meru House Inn, had nothing to do with African food. Maybe that was for the best. Save the chapati, the ugali and the chipsi miyai for later.
First impressions: Primarily, how wonderful to see my family again, and have us all together. We were really into being together with each other. But I was surprised, on coming back to Arusha after being away for two years, at how Western it is. It is full of white folk – backpackers and tourists and people involved in the UN Court here, as Arusha is the location for the everlasting Rwanda Genocide trials. Even the restaurant in our inexpensive hotel serves diner food, nothing remotely African. Diane commented on how dark the Kilimanjaro International Airport was, that even the runway looked like it was lit with candles.
Tomorrow is a “free day.” We’ll walk around, go to the market, and then pick up Shari, MJ and Allegra when they arrive from Washington at 8:00pm. Then, off and running!
August 1
We woke to a cold and dreary day, overcast and even drizzling a little. What happened to bright, sunny Africa?
We had a great breakfast at a place I remembered, Jambo’s, then walked around a lot. Went to the market, where we bought fruit for safari snacks, and Diane bought a khanga with the black, yellow, blue and green colors of the Tanzanian flag, to match the flag that is painted on her toenails (!). A young woman there said she could arrange a hat for Diane in the Tanzanian style. She spent about half an hour doing that on Diane’s head, with needle and thread to hold it in place. The monstrosity she created looked rather like Diane had a pillow sitting on her head, but at least it sure was attention grabbing. Don’t think that is the final use of the khanga.
Matt and Paola wanted to buy hiking boots for Roy. Another good project for the market. There are legions of shoe sellers in the market. Paola and Matt soon had all the vendors in the place scouring the entire market for suitable boots in the right size. They finally settled on a good pair, asking price $35. An absurd price in the market for used boots, but at least a starting point. Paola used her negotiating skills, honed in the Chinese marketplace, to bring the price down to $18 after long and hard bargaining with a large audience. She thought she had gotten a pretty good price, until they found the same boots in an adult size with an initial asking price of $15. Paola enjoys the haggling process, and chalked this up to a learning process. Who would have thought that these Africa market vendors could keep up with the notorious Chinese merchants in bargaining techniques?
Diane and I flew through the Shop Rite (a South African chain supermarket, here) and bought $125 of food for Thursday and Friday, when we will be in the Serengeti at the Taj Rest House, which can provide a cook but BYO Food. The store reluctantly agreed to put our four big boxes of supplies in the cooler for us, so we can do a quick pickup of it on Thursday morning after we complete the two days of camping in the Arusha National Park.
I am concerned about the expenses. I am paying the bills and we will settle later, but we are running over my promised budget already. In part, people came an extra day sooner, and I am paying for some meals that were not in the plan. I know we will all share the costs in the end, but I really don’t like to have this costing more than my family had planned. Well, so it goes.
The taxi service to the airport is $50, fixed price. But the shuttle driver from last night offered to give me a ride to pick up Shari, MJ and Allegra for $40. Then the hotel arranged the taxi for me at only $30. I figured that was the best we could get, and went to pick up the gang. So now we are all together, and ready to get underway tomorrow.
