African travels

I'm still having trouble accessing my e-mails. I can see that I have some but I can't open them! Tanzania and Orange are just not very compatible! So thanks to all of you who have been trying to get in touch and sorry for the lack of replies - I would love to e-mail you, just can't get things to work properly here! Hope this makes up for it a little bit, and I'll catch up with you when I'm back in Oxford!

Well, I've nearly come to the end of my African adventure and it's gone way too quickly! I left CCS and Tengeru last Saturday - all a bit sad as I'd got to know some of the volunteers quite well and as most of them live in the US, we're not likely to meet up for a while, if ever. Though having just bumped into Brian from the US, who I'd met in Peru, maybe there's more chance of meeting up again than I thought!

Last Konyagi with Kelly in Club Said, the bar next door to CCS

And even though I'd only been at the nursery school for 2 weeks, it was sad to say goodbye nonetheless - those kids are so full of energy an enthusiasm to learn, and I wish I could have helped them more.

Moivaro Nursery, with teacher Joyce and mama Nay

And as in Peru, they were all a bit young to really understand that I was actually leaving and not coming back. And what made it more strange on my last day, was that the teacher didn't show up as she'd been involved in an accident with a car crashing into a daladala (minibus) she was on the previous day - she'd been to hospital and was ok, but at home off sick, so I only managed to say goodbye to her on the phone. And I was left with all the kids on my own for the whole morning, with only the help of the pastor who was around at times, who spoke hardly any English! I survived, but it was an odd last day ...

And saying goobye to the CCS staff and some of the locals who have become friends was really tough! People are so genuinely friendly here, and I hope we'll manage to keep in touch. I'd like to come back sometime - maybe to climb Kili - anyone interested?! I've met a good guide who'll take us!

So last Saturday I left Tengeru with another volunteer, Sarah, and we caught a flight from Kilimanjaro to Zanzibar. If I'd had more time, I'd have liked to catch the bus to Dar and then take the ferry, but that would have taken nearly 2 days, so not possible this time. So within hours we were thrown into a different world - finding ourselves on a very exotic, hot and humid island, along with a huge number of other tourists! The hotel (Malindi Guest House) we'd booked was fine - great inside but very near the rough port area, with a sign on the door saying don't turn left after 7pm - good job I was here with Sarah!


View of fish market from hotel room

On the Saturday afternoon we just strolled around Stone Town, along the coast and through some of the backstreets - it's a good place for wandering, if you can keep away from the tourist traps. And that evening we had dinner at Mercury's (did you know that Freddie Mercury was born on Zanzibar?) - and we sat outside with a beer and enjoyed the sea views ...

On the Sunday we booked ourselves onto a Spice Tour, and for 10$, we were taken to a spice farm to see, smell, and taste various spices and fruit - cloves, cinnamon, pepper, cardamon, star fruit, jack fruit, lemon grass, nutmeg, and others that I should have noted before as now I can't remember the names! We then had lunch in a local village - very simple, but delicious food - spiced rice, spinach, and vegetable curry. And after a quick trip to a cave that used to be used for hiding slaves when the slave trade hade been made illegal some 100 years ago, we headed for a lovely little beach, with white sand and gorgeous blue sea - perfect!

Clove trees - once Zanzibar's main business, now it's tourism

Local lunch

Relaxing beach, and not a sting-ray in sight ...

That evening we met up with some volunteers, Hayley and Suzy, who had bravely taken the bus from Arusha to Dar and then the ferry, and we ate in a great restaurant where we sat on the floor on cushions and enjoyed some more delicious spicy food.

We had planned to head for the northern coast on the Monday morning as that's where all the nice beaches are, but at 6.30 when the alarm went off, it was pouring with rain! Not quite the plan, so we decided that we'd stay in Stone Town instead, and spent most of the day wandering round the backstreets again, exploring the central market, sitting in cafes relaxing, and hoping that the clouds would clear, but they didn't!

That evening we had the best meal yet - and the cheapest by far! We decided to brave the outside market in Forodhani Gardens, and it was well worth the risk - we had succulent fish kebabs - spicy lobster and tuna, and grilled king fish, with chapatis, spicy potatoes, and coconut bread - quite a feast and all for 6,000 tsh each - about 3 pounds!

Tuesday was our last day on the island, and as we hadn't made it to the beaches in the north, we took a boat out to Changuu (or Prison) Island to see the giant tortoises and to spend some time on a beach - it was wonderfully quiet and exotic, and a great end to our short stay here! And no sting-rays ...

Feeding the 150-year-old tortoise!

We flew back to Kilimanjaro on the Tuesday evening and for the first time I was on my own in Africa! Sarah headed to a village outside Moshi where she has contacts and is going to help them build a school there. And I headed for Moshi - it was actually quite exciting, and really not at all scary, though I'd probably have felt quite different if this was the beginning of my trip. Elly, a friend from Tengeru, had a booked a hotel for me, and before I got there he'd been checking that everything was ok! The hotel is fine, and really very good value for 15$ a night, and would have fantastic views from the roof bar, if only Kili would come out from behind the clouds!!

Yesterday I wandered round Moshi and covered most of it in a few hours - there's not a lot to visit here, and I've pretty much finished with shopping for souvenirs! Elly put me in touch with a friend who works in a hotel here - a nice Kenyan woman called Hanifa, who has an Italian boyfriend, Francesco. So last night I had a rather bizarre evening at the hotel they work in - chatting with an Italian chef, eating pretty authentic Italian pizza, and watching U2 videos in the attic bar!! Not very African, but fun, and maybe it'll help me reacclimatise to Europe ...

And so today is my last whole day in Africa - I'm hoping to catch up with Sarah at some point, if she comes into Moshi, and I might meet up with Hanifa and Francesco this afternoon and go out into the countryside. In the meantime, I'm catching up with the blog and taking it fairly easy. Would be nice if Kili decided to show, will have to wait and see ...

I'll be back in Oxford this Friday night, hopefully, so let me know when you'd like to catch up!

Small world!

I'm now in Moshi, right next to Kilimanjaro, though I haven't seen the mountain since I've been here as it's very cloudy ... and I've just popped into the hotel's internet cafe. And who should I bump into in the cafe but Brian, an American student, who had volunteered in Ayacucho Peru with me last December! Neither of us had any idea that we were in Tanzania, so quite a coincidence. And he'd only popped into the internet cafe for an hour, and is now on his way to go and work with the Maasai ... small world indeed!!

SOS Children

In my last week volunteering I managed to organise an afternoon trip to the north of Arusha to visit an orphanage run by SOS Children, and Sarah and Kelly came with me. I had found out about this charity before leaving the UK, and had offered to help out with some editing on a voluntary basis when I get back in July. They suggested that I try to visit their village in Arusha - I'm glad I went; it was a very moving experience ...

SOS Children was founded in Sweden in the 1940s and they now have over 100 villages all over the world - 2 in Tanzania - 1 in Zanzibar and 1 relatively new house, started in 2000 in Arusha, and they are hoping to build another in Dar es Salaam too. All the villages are based on the same principles, and it was great to see one in action!

Some of the houses the children live in

We were shown around by a very helpful Mr Molel ... The Arusha village houses 100 orphans who have come from destitute backgrounds - there are 10 houses in the village and each is lived in and run by a 'mother' who looks after up to 10 boys and girls of different ages, who live there together as a family. Siblings always stay together, and the children grow up in the same house - the house we visited had children and a mother who had been living there together for 7 years. The mother is provided with a budget and she is responsible for buying and cooking the food for the children - children help her to shop and cook and so learn about normal family routines. There are bedrooms, each for up to 4 children, and another for the mother - any babies sleep in cots on the same room as the mother - no dormitories here.

In the village there were a lot of green areas to play in, and also a playground and a communal village hall - all very pleasant. SOS Children also runs 3 schools on site - a kindergarten, a primary school, and a secondary school - for the orphans, but also for children in the community who pay subsidised private school fees. We visited the kindergarten which was lovely - another world from the nursery I've been working in! Part of me wished that some of this could be spread around more thinly to more, but then it wouldn't be the same, so maybe better to have a really good model for others to follow?

The kindergarten - a world apart from where I'm working!

We also learnt that the orphans keep in touch with any extended family and sometimes go to stay with them in the holidays. Also, when the children are 18 they move into a youth section, and live semi-independenly with a youth leader supervising them. And even when they leave to go to work or university, they keep in touch with SOS Children and are able to contact them for help and advice.

At the end of our tour we spent a while just playing with some of the younger children and they seemed really well adjusted and happy. They are clearly very well cared for and loved here, and despite really sad backgrounds, it's encouraging to see that they are being given a good chance of a happy life. Apparently other orphanages are now trying to follow this model. Tanzania has a long way to go to care for all their orphans, but this gave me hope!

If you want to find out more about this charity, go to: http://www.soschildrensvillages.org.uk/. I've also added the link to the right-hand column.

Hakuna Matata safari

Aimee, me, Sarah, Temba, Liz B, Liz R, and our Landrover

The weekend safari was brilliant - we had a lot of fun, saw some amazing scenery and a wonderful array of animals! 9 of us went with a local company called Hakuna Matata ('no worries') and the name proved to be a good omen - Elly and Temba, who run the company, plus another guide and a cook (nicknamed Mr Delicious), did a great job, and it all went really smoothly. Elly and Temba don't have much experience as yet, and it's hard to get started in this business as it's so competitive, but they certainly have a lot of enthusiasm and hopefully that'll get them a long way. They certainly deserve to do well, and we were very pleased to be able to support them.

We drove off from Tengeru in 2 Landrovers on the Friday afternoon and after Arusha headed west towards Manyara National Park, stopping off at a snake park with camel riding along the way. This was fun, but certainly not the highlight of the trip. Can't say I took too well to camel riding ... can take that off the list of career options!

Then there was a couple of hours' drive through the countryside - passing wide open spaces, mountains in the distance, herds of Maasai cattle along the roadside, and the occasional town or village. The countryside opened out, and for the first time I sensed how vast this country is. Even before we got to a national park, we stumbled across some giraffes just grazing near the roadside - it was quite a surprise and very exciting to see them in the wild! And then our luck struck again when we found a herd of elephants, just strolling along, or whatever elephants do!

We stayed at a place called Twiga Lodge, near Lake Manyara, and got there early evening - in time to wander along the main street before it got dark, though we didn't hang around as the street was full of tourist shops and we were hassled to purchase - it's much more touristy here than in Tengeru! But we did enjoy a tree absolutely full of storks, and as the sun set it was great watching their silhouettes. Maybe I could get into this bird-watching lark after all ...

The next morning we were up early and off by about 8 - headed for the Ngorongoro crater, which took about 2 hours, driving along incredibly bumpy roads (reminded me of Peru!) and for most of the journey we were driving in pretty thick morning mist, with only the odd glimpse of lush green forests, or the odd rugged hill. It was also very dusty, and as the earth is red here, a lot of the roadside and hedges were covered in a thick layer of red dust, and we left a huge trail of dust behind us too. So it was great to finally reach the crater and drop down into it to find some scenery ... and of course some wildlife!

The mist and clouds hung around the ridge of the crater in the morning, but down in the crater visibility was good. I'll add animal photos when I get home, and they'll hopefully speak for themselves (if they are any good) ... It was wonderful to be able to see relatively close-up so many animals that I've never seen in the wild before - zebras, lions, buffalo, wildebeest, flamingos, pelicans, hippos, vervet monkeys, baboons, warthogs, to name a few, and an amazing array of small birds. OK, so the photos aren't anything extraordinary, but they are mine!! I've spared you the blurry blobs ...

One of the more rare and exciting moments was sighting a cheetah that was stalking prey, though while we were there it was not successful in catching anything. I was kind of relieved ...

The following day we went on safari closer to the lodge - in Manyara National Park, and saw a similar selection of animals, but also elephants, and incredibly close to our van! And a lot more monekys - baboons were even beginning to get boring! It was also a prettier terrain, with a large lake and a lot of green forest, which was very pleasant.

And after lunch back at the lodge and a photo shoot with us all wearing our newly acquired Hakuna Matata T-shirts (gifts from Elly and Temba) we headed 'home', wishing we could have stayed longer.

So thanks again to Elly and Temba for a great weekend! Take a look at the Hakuna Matata website at: http://www.hakunamatatatz.com/. I've also added it to the links on the right-hand column. I've offered to help edit Hakuna Matata publicity ... maybe I should add safari guide to my list of career options?

Elly

Temba

Karibu Tanzania

Well, it's the end of week 2 already and I'm sorry that the blogging has been rather scarce - internet isn't a big part of village life here! And I'd love to upload some more photos to show you, but the computers can't cope, so you'll just have to wait until I get back. I'm taking lots of photos, don't worry! [some now added!]

I'm settling in quite well and am enjoying the experience - a shame it'll all be over in a few weeks! Everyone is extremely friendly here - we're greeted all the time with a welcoming 'Karibu Tanzania' and I'm getting quite good at my Kiswahili greetings and responses. I've also picked up quite a bit of Kiswhahili classroom vocab as a necessity - sit down, stop, no, etc!

The teaching is going really well - the teacher Joyce is very sweet and encouraging, and leaves me to it a lot of the time. Occasionally I have to go and get her if the kids go wild though - it's hard to get a bunch of 3-year-olds to behave in a classroom in any language - they should be playing really, but there's nothing for them to play with! Some of the time we split the group up and Joyce takes the 3-year-olds leaving me with 20+ 4-6 year-olds - still quite a handful!

I've taken in a handful of books (thank you OUP and Leo!) and the kids absolutely love them! They ask for them all the time and stay in the classroom at breaktime so they can look at them. There have also been tears when they haven't been able to get one! I'm going to leave them at the school as they'll be well loved!

Bright was singing the ABC song and wanted his photo taken doing this!

I've also tried making some worksheets - things to count and colour mainly - but drawing pictures for 30 kids is a bit tiring - if only there were a photocopier! I can see why Joyce resorts to whole-class repetition, but I know they need to be more actively and individually involved so I'm trying out a few interactive activities - it's taking a while to get them used to it, but they like it and they seem to be learning! It's a bit awkward with no desks though ...

I also made some smple alphabet cards to get the kids to differentiate between capital and small letters as they've been learning by rote 'Capital A small a' and seem to think it's all one thing, and also so they can practise putting the cards in the right order - simple, but very new and exciting for them!

And I bravely took in plasticine this week - and we went into the church next door to play with it as there's more room there and the floor is concrete rather than earth. It was a big hit!

We also been singing LOTS of songs - they love it and it's a good way of keeping everyone involved. Sometime adults pass by and stop to watch from the entrance of the classroom - I just keep going. 'Sing a rainbow' is a new one that I've taught them to try to teach colours - here they are performing it!

And Mama Nay comes in every day on a voluntary basis to make the porridge - she has 8 children and her husband is an alcoholic. She's the leader of the women's group who started up the school to help the poor kids in the community. Quite a special lady!

Outside work, it's been fun, though there's not a lot to do in the evenings. I spent last Saturday in Arusha and drank lots of real coffee, and yesterday we had a day trip over to Moshi and admired Kilimanjaro. There was live music in the bar next door last night, so that was fun. And I'm off on safari for the weekend in about an hour, so more soon!!