I am so happy to report that we have the internet back on at Twiga. It is a great day. The Tanzanians staff must have be very amused by the hooping and hollowing as Laura somehow managed to get it up and going. This effort is the culmination of her many months spent here over a 5 year period. I am not sure what they thought as the 3 mzungus ran to the computer and plugged in their laptops.
It has been a great week here at Amani. The standard 7 children have just sat their National Exams and if they pass they will be able to move onto secondary school. Those who do, are the privileged of the children in Tanzania. More than 50% of children finish their primary educations but only about 7% get through secondary. Not only is it expensive but challenging. As I have already reported, all of the schooling is in English versus Kiswahili in primary school. We are all so proud of these 16 children as it has been a grueling year for them especially over the last month or so. The standard 7 exam is really difficult. A British volunteer who was recently visiting said that he thought it was based on the English O levels which is sat at the age of 16 in Britain. This includes the English exam which is being sat by non native English speakers at 14 or so. My heart went out to them as I watched them straggle home around 6 pm each night having been in school since 8 in the morning. Laura, the English teacher and a couple of the other volunteers have spent each evening and a couple of hours on the weekends helping them with practice tests for the last month or so. Unfortunately as much as I would have liked my Kiswahili wasn’t up to being of much assistance. After the 2 days of exams they were able to celebrate by going out for Chipsi Kuku (fried chicken and chips) which is a real treat for them. Their week also included a Seminar Day which included all sorts of topics and outside speakers that would help them with the transition to their new independent lives. The week culminated in a staff, student soccer game. I feel that the staff took it all a little seriously but when I suggested that they lighten up and give the kids a break they responded "but what was the score last time" Yes the kids had won 7-2 and there was no allowances being made this game.
Although it isn’t usual here in Tanzania, Amani held a Graduation Day for them as a celebration of their achievements as well as a farewell to Amani. Once the children enter secondary school they either go home to their family, extended family or to boarding school if no family exists. Several weeks of planning preceded this day with all staff and students helping to pitch tents, count plates, cutlery etc and move chairs from storage downstairs. The morning started with everyone working to put up elaborate decorations and helping in the kitchen. No modern kitchen here. Nothing electric. Everything to be served to almost 200 people was prepared by hand. Want to know how many potatoes had to be peeled.... Let's just say it was a lot. The guests were supposed to arrive and the festivities start at 10 it was much closer to 12. Speeches, acrobatic and jump rope displays along with distribution of presents to the honored students followed. Finally it was time for lunch and what a feast. Fried chicken and potatoes, rice and meat, veggies galore and watermelon and of course the real favorite being soda. However the day wasn't over. The head of the social work department is also a DJ and now is when the dance party started. This also included a student competition followed by staff against staff with the students as judges. Since it is impossible to beat Africans at their own game the only way for the westerners to make any impression was through their popularity with the students or to be outrageous in their dancing style. I left at around 5 and the kids were still at it. The neighborhood kids who had also been invited had to be dragged off the swings and soccer field. For them it had also been a fabulous day. They never get to use play equipment and their usual soccer field is a patch of dirt if they can find one somewhere.
Saturday, September 18, 2010
Saturday, September 4, 2010
Harvest Day!
Today was declared as the day for harvesting the corn at the Amani garden. This is located a few kilometers up a road behind Amani. Two staff members maintain it on a regular basis and the kids and the rest of the staff help out throughout the year. This huge field consists primarily of corn with a small plot of the land used to grow some vegetables. Now, you may be asking, “What in the world do they grow so much corn for?” Let me start by saying that everyone grows corn here. The corn is used to make Ugali, which is a staple of Tanzanians’ diet .It is basically like super thick grits and it takes a lot of dried out corn to feed 70 kids and 50 staff a couple times a week. Despite the heat and multiple scratches all over our arms and legs from the dried out corn stalks, it was a lot of fun especially after the truck was loaded and everyone piled in for the trip back to Amani. The corn is stored on the ground floor and will be shucked off the cobs within the next few weeks.
Monday, August 23, 2010
8/23/10
Who knows the difference between a street kid and a normal kid here in Tanzania. Well not me. They wear the same clothes and pretty much look the same but John, the street educator from Amani can instantly tell. Firstly he knows most of the street kids and then it has something to do with aimlessness. Apparently the street kids have nowhere to go and he can tell. Two other voluneers and I had the opportunity to travel to Arusha, one of the 5 major cities here in Tanzania with John last Thursday night to observe him working with the kids on the street. He picked us up at the bus station and on the way to our hotel for the night, he pointed out 3 kids sitting on a concrete wall. He suspected they were new to Arusha and he was right as they had just arrived that day. Khasim and Lucas are brothers. They had never known their father and their mother had left one day to look for work leaving the boys in the care of a grandfather (not related). I don't know exactly what happened but the boys at some point left his care but got themselves into difficulties and tried to return. However they couldn't find the bibi. He had either died or moved away. They ended up in a town in Southern Tanzania where they met Salum and decided to come to Arusha. Salum had been living with his mother but she was unable to continue to pay for his school fees and wanted him to go work. I am still not sure what exactly happened but at some point Salum said that he was going to leave and his mother said OK.
So John explained that he would be back in an hour to talk to them which we were after dropping off our gear at the hotel. They talked for about 15-30 minutes at which point John said that we were going to walk around for a while and that they could come if they wanted which they did. Appparently this is a way for John to get the kids to start trusting him. So we walked for about 30 minutes or so visiting some of the places where the kids like to hang out ending up near the near the bus stand. Occasionally John would recognize a kid and they would talk for a while. They were all concerned about the new kids and they would say "have you got the new kids", "oh Im glad you've got the new kids" One of the older boys took us down a street and introduced John to another boy Bismum who had also arrived that day from another part of Tanzania. So with the 4 boys we headed for the Ugi stand to buy porridge.
All of a sudden about 10 kids just appeared. Homemade drums were beaten, kids dancing; one with very sexualized and provocative behaviour swayed to the beat. Most had cardboard under their arms and small bottles of glue in their shirt sleeves that they occasionally sniffed. all were strung out. I was sad to see 2 boys that I had known at Amani and had run away about 2 weeks before. Emmanueli Japhary is a talented artist. As a class project and in an effort to instil basic computer skills, the kids were designing a new Amani flag on the Paint program. Emanueli had taken the task on and truly expressed what Aamni meant to him with vibrant colours but here he was back on the street strung out like a wire. Both he and Athumani were somewhat embarrassed to see us but Emmanueli came up and thanked Susan for caring for an abcess on his foot the week before he left. It was really sad to see the difference in the kids as we knew them at Amani and in this environment; glazed eyes, arms and legs jerking and incoherent.
One boy was talking to John about meeting him the next day to come to Amani. He was even to my eyes in really bad health; very strung out with glue, extremely thin and Susan who is a nurse said that he was very nutrient deficient and if he did come would probably have to go into the hospital and not be able to eat solid food straight away. However John later told us that this boy wouldn't show. He only wanted money to get back to Dar Es Salaam which is where he had been living on the streets for many years. It was really obvious to see which of the boys had been around for a while. John said it was really important to get the kids when they are new to the streets and before they become too addicted. Otherwise the drugs would always be too enticing. He also said that he had to be really careful to bring a street wise kid to Amani because the chances are that they would only stay for a short time and when they left would most proabaly take other kids with him. That is how Emanueli Japhary left having been coerced by Athumani.
It was really interesting to watch the reactions of our 4 new boys as they intereacted with the other street kids. They had been quite cocky up to this point; showing us how they could do cartwheels and backflips, smiling and laughing but all of a sudden in the presence of the other street kids, they were hiding behind John. I think it was all a bit of a shock for them. As we left they voiced that they were scared to stay alone. They were new to the city and didn't know how to find a safe place for the night. One of the older boys said that he would show us a place that they could stay. I am not sure exactly where he intended but as we passed the area of the market John went to talk to some guys who were guarding carts that were left for the next day. They agreed that the boys could sleep under the carts for the night. John didn't know if they would look out for the boys but we headed back to our hotel.
Happily the boys were waiting in the appointed place and time the next morning and we all came back to Moshi. I have to say that bringing a boy in off the streets creates an immediate context and connection. Somehow these 4 boys are already special. I look for them in the morning and want to make sure they are OK and adjusting to life at Amani. John says that Bismus is a good candidate for reunification with his mother. He also explained that the social workers will attempt to intiate that process immediately. The sooner a child can go back to their family the better as the longer they stay at Amani, the more likely they are to not want to return home.
Friday, July 30, 2010
End of July
On Saturday night the whole Twiga family was invited to a wedding-African style. In Tanzania, this is a really big deal and taken very seriously. It took a committee of 30 to organize. By the way apparently this year is a pink year so decorations, dresses and supposedly the guests attire is also supposed to be pink and black. The first thing to arrive is the "invite to contribute" which is an invitation to contribute to the wedding expenses. Once this is returned, the invitation arrives shortly afterwards. Then the next few weeks are engaged in planning the wedding attire, hairstyle (very important), gift etc. Well as you can all guess, this part just passed me by.
So the night arrived with all dressed to the nines and off we went. We arrived and walked into the hall. Actually it was a lot like walking into a beauty pageant. The stage at the front of the building was decorated with pink and white paper, streamers, balloons and flashing Christmas type lights. White banners also strung with flashing lights were suspended from the ceiling and roses everywhere. I should mention that we didn't actually go to the wedding itself which is apparently 4 hours at church followed by a jaunt around town preceded by a brass band in a pickup truck which brings the bride and groom to the reception quite exhausted.
The 300 or so guests started to trickle in and the the wedding party started to arrive in groups starting with the little kids followed about 10 minutes later by the bridesmaid's and groomsmen and after about another 10 minutes or so the bride and groom to great fanfare and again preceded by the brass band. All of the family members were introduced personally from mother and father etc through aunts, uncles and cousins and then they all got up and danced together to the sounds of a brass band. I don't remember the exact sequence of events but a lot of music and clapping; the bride and groom alternating from being up on the stage to back down on the dance floor. At some point the cake was cut and the bride fed the groom and the groom fed the bride. However it didn't stop there. The bridesmaids fed the groomsmen and vice versa. Then a layer of the cake was presented to each of the families followed by the bride feeding the grooms family and the groom feeding the brides.
We are now about 3 hours into the ceremony and lo and behold out comes the roasted goat intact with head and tail. Then follows the same sequence as for the cake. During this whole time the committee members are acting as bar tenders. Unbelievable service. As soon as your drink was finished, it was replenished by another. Water, beer, wine, bottles of gin and whiskey; all were freely available. At some point we ate a traditional buffet style Tanzanian meal and then the brass band came out onto the dance floor. The leader managed to shimmy around with a champagne bottle on his head whilst playing the trumpet. Quite the feat. This heralded the dancing for the night.
There is one thing that you need to know about going out onto a dance floor at a Tanzanian wedding after several hours of heavy alcohol consumption and that is to BEWARE. Frank, a 50 year old English guy was a hit of the night with the guys. I don't think think that he has ever had so many hands, male or female on him at any one time before. Emily also English but 20 years old had one glued to the front and one to the rear. Luckily for me, I was constantly saved by a series of women of varying ages that would steer me to the edges of the fray. Africans relish in the female form and particularly the rear end. Dresses accentuate it and boy can they move it.
A highlight of the night was when Emily on a visit to the toilet was attacked by a rat and came out screaming only to be told by the other women "it is only a rat." I feel so privileged and fortunate to have been invited to share in this fabulous evening. Everyone was welcoming in typical Tanzanian style to the only westerners. We were called to dance our present up to the bride and groom and at the end of the evening a song was dedicated to us. And the best part is that we will have the opportunity to do it all again in a couple of weeks when the brother of the owner of Twiga home will be married. Its a blessed life.
So the night arrived with all dressed to the nines and off we went. We arrived and walked into the hall. Actually it was a lot like walking into a beauty pageant. The stage at the front of the building was decorated with pink and white paper, streamers, balloons and flashing Christmas type lights. White banners also strung with flashing lights were suspended from the ceiling and roses everywhere. I should mention that we didn't actually go to the wedding itself which is apparently 4 hours at church followed by a jaunt around town preceded by a brass band in a pickup truck which brings the bride and groom to the reception quite exhausted.
The 300 or so guests started to trickle in and the the wedding party started to arrive in groups starting with the little kids followed about 10 minutes later by the bridesmaid's and groomsmen and after about another 10 minutes or so the bride and groom to great fanfare and again preceded by the brass band. All of the family members were introduced personally from mother and father etc through aunts, uncles and cousins and then they all got up and danced together to the sounds of a brass band. I don't remember the exact sequence of events but a lot of music and clapping; the bride and groom alternating from being up on the stage to back down on the dance floor. At some point the cake was cut and the bride fed the groom and the groom fed the bride. However it didn't stop there. The bridesmaids fed the groomsmen and vice versa. Then a layer of the cake was presented to each of the families followed by the bride feeding the grooms family and the groom feeding the brides.
We are now about 3 hours into the ceremony and lo and behold out comes the roasted goat intact with head and tail. Then follows the same sequence as for the cake. During this whole time the committee members are acting as bar tenders. Unbelievable service. As soon as your drink was finished, it was replenished by another. Water, beer, wine, bottles of gin and whiskey; all were freely available. At some point we ate a traditional buffet style Tanzanian meal and then the brass band came out onto the dance floor. The leader managed to shimmy around with a champagne bottle on his head whilst playing the trumpet. Quite the feat. This heralded the dancing for the night.
There is one thing that you need to know about going out onto a dance floor at a Tanzanian wedding after several hours of heavy alcohol consumption and that is to BEWARE. Frank, a 50 year old English guy was a hit of the night with the guys. I don't think think that he has ever had so many hands, male or female on him at any one time before. Emily also English but 20 years old had one glued to the front and one to the rear. Luckily for me, I was constantly saved by a series of women of varying ages that would steer me to the edges of the fray. Africans relish in the female form and particularly the rear end. Dresses accentuate it and boy can they move it.
A highlight of the night was when Emily on a visit to the toilet was attacked by a rat and came out screaming only to be told by the other women "it is only a rat." I feel so privileged and fortunate to have been invited to share in this fabulous evening. Everyone was welcoming in typical Tanzanian style to the only westerners. We were called to dance our present up to the bride and groom and at the end of the evening a song was dedicated to us. And the best part is that we will have the opportunity to do it all again in a couple of weeks when the brother of the owner of Twiga home will be married. Its a blessed life.
Friday, July 16, 2010
6/16/10
What fun today. The students played the staff in a soccer match and happily won by 7 to 2. What a celebration ensured. Dancing around the field holding the trophy aloft. Today wasalso safi or cleaning day at Amani. It happens once a month. No school and students and staff alike don their dirtiest clothes and go for it. However cleaning at Amani doesn't really resemble anything that we are used to. The whole building is concrete so after sweeping, buckets of soapy water are sloshed around and everything including walls are scrubbed with the water being squeegied outside. You should see these kids work, even carrying full buckets of water on their heads at the age of 8 or 9 or 10. Tanzanians definitely do a better job of teaching a work ethic than we do in the west. I might have said before that they start them young. The other day I watched a woman come out of the fields with a big bunckh of corn stalks on her head followed by a toddler barely able to walk with his own pile. Anyway if cleaning was sloshing water around, slipping and sliding across concrete floors our kids might be more enthusiastic.
Saturday, July 10, 2010
For those who didn't believe it would ever appear, here, I am happy to say is my first post. It's hard to believe but I am in Tanzania after 30 years of wanting to come to Africa. What kept me? Who knows!! I am really, really happy here; feel very comfortable despite the fact that this is my first trip to a non western country and the cultural differences are huge.
80% of Tanzania is lacking electricity and 80% of Tanzanians live a subsistence agricultural lifestyle earning less than $600/year. What does this mean? It means they don't buy much. Just about anything we have in the west is absent for this part of the population. Consequently there are 2 economies here. Beans and rice are cheap but anything else from toothpaste to electric kettles cost pretty much what they cost in the west. Most Tanzanians just don't buy the like. Climbing Kilimanjaro and Safaris are all expensive unfortunately. It can cost from $50-$100 a day to visit a National Park.
Despite and maybe because of the lack of material possessions, the people here are incredibly friendly, generous, kind and respectful. Greetings are extremely important and the first thing that you need to learn. It starts with "you don't have any problems", with the answer "no I don't have any problems" and continues onto "how is your morning" with the answer good, then "how is your family", "how is ..... for whatever you want to inquire about. So each question starts with Habari za and you quickly learn that whenever you hear that, the answer is nzuri or good whether or not you understand anything else. It is considered extremely rude to launch straight into a conversation without first going through the greeting ritual. Everyone here walks or rides on a dalla dalla (an extremely overcrowded minibus; more information coming up) or other form of public transport, and I can only imagine if people were wealthier and had cars how this fabulous way of saying heollo would deteriorate.
So let me tell you a little bit more about the dalladalla. The following is an excerpt of a post that another volunteer put up on her blog.
Daladalas are little vans that provide local transportation in Tanzania. As far as I know, they are privately owned, so there is no official schedule that they follow. Luckily, they are all over the place, so if you go to a place where the daladalas stop (or if you are just walking along the road), it is usually no trouble to catch one. They are generally run by one driver and two conductors, and they cost very little to ride (usually arounf 15-20 cents). Each daladala travels to and from different areas around town. Sometimes the name of the destination is written on the front of the daladala, but you can also tell where the daladala is going because one of the conductors is hanging out the side yelling the name of the destination (I find one that has a conductor yelling “Milisita Bomasanya”). So now that you have some daladala background information, here are some of my favorite parts…
#1 Many daladalas have names written on the front of them. They are named things like "Praise God," "Grace of God," and "Thank You Jesus." As you can see, there's a bit of a theme, although there are some random ones thrown in there too, like "Mr. 32."
#2 It is very important to see inside the daladala before you decide to ride it. Even though the conductor may be trying to convince you that it is just about to leave, you must remember that it won’t actually leave until it is full. Even if the driver is honking the horn and revving his engine and even if they turn like they are about to get back on the road, chances are they will stop again to wait for more people.
#3 “Full” is a very relative term. In America, we might conclude that a daladala would be “full” when all of the seats are filled. We would be very wrong. The daldadala conductors are not satisfied until all of the available space inside the vehicle is filled, including every bit of standing room. By the time we leave, there are usually 20-25 people in the daladala, and you are usually touching about 5 of them and holding someone’s baby or bag of dead fish. Often there is no room left for the conductors and they just hang out the side.
#4 The inside of the daladalas are usually quite plain, but if you are lucky, you might get a daladala that has its own picture hanging inside. Just in case you want to admire what you are riding in, I guess.
#5 Along the way, people just yell out to the conductor where to stop. For example, when I’m getting close to my destination, I say “Shusha Margareza” which means “Stop at Magareza.” (Actually it means “Stop at the Prison.” My stop is close to the prison, so that’s what is called. Yikes.)
So that’s the daladala. I really love them, bag of dead fish and all. I think they are an ingenious method of transportation and a generally good way to get around. In fact, sometimes I joke with the children that when I grow up, I want to be a daladala conductor. I wonder if I would have much business in Tennessee…
I couldn't have said it any better myself. When I first arrived I was living on the other side of Moshi which necessitated a 10 minute walk down a dirt road. By the way "road" is somewhat of a misnomer. Even in Australia you have never seen washboards like the ones that exist here. The roads are incredibly rutted with deep cavities and would be impassable in most regular cars. Anyway after the 10 minutes on the dirt road it was another 30 mins or so walk along the side of a busy paved road followed by a 10 minute dalladalla ride and then another 10-15 minutes down another dirt road. At the end of last week another volunteeer and I moved to our current location which is just a 30-40 minute walk along rural back roads. A really pleasant walk and a great way to start the day. We are greeted by everyone from young kids to mzee (old people). Lesley and Robyn, there are no worries about getting in my10,000 steps a day since walking is a way of life here.
I am living at Twiga House www.twigahome.com. As you can see it is really, really nice with a superb view of Kilimanjaro. I have my own room with a private bath. The rooms congregate around a central courtyard area where there is the computer, TV etc. This has been a great congregating area for watching the world cup. We have access to a kitchen of sorts or can order meals. There are quite a selection of people coming and going with a few of us who will be here long term. A fabulous group of Irish just left today. They were in Moshi for 2 weeks running EFT clinics. Lesley I am now tapping!!
So what am I doing here. Go to amanikids.com. This is where I work, helping out with the Starters class and temporary library volunteer. Amani Childrens Center has the mission to provide a nuturing home, education, healthcare and sustainability to the street children of Moshi and Arusha. Can you believe that it is estimated that there are 2 million street kids for a population of around 30 million. So despite the fact that over the last 10 years Amani has cared for about 400 kids, it is just a drop in the bucket. It's goal is to reunify kids with their families or extended families if at all possible. Most of the kids here are not true orphans but are all social orphans in that they are escaping poverty, abuse or both since kids in Tanzania can be treated almost like livestock with very little recourse. If poverty is the issue Amani's social workers work with the families to make them sustainable; sometimes providing food aid but certainly school fees etc. Although primary school is free there are considerable fees to be paid and so it is actually about $150 a year which is a big part of the $600 income a year if there is more than one child. Consequently only about 50% of kids finish primary school and then it gets even more complicated for secondary school. Fees go up to about $450 a year and both secondary school and university are completely in English. Only about 7% of kids here finish secondary school and only about 1% go to university. Consequently a large % of the population is unskilled and why the majority depend on agriculture for their lives.
Amani is doing a fabulous job. It is hard for me to believe that this sweet kid that comes to me for hugs, 2 years ago was biting, kicking and extremely violent. I am surrounded by kids whose life stories would make you weep but seemingly are like any normal kids. I said above that the answer to "how are you doing" is always "nzuri" or good. Anything bad is not discussed which leads me to ponder the question where does the trauma lie? But this is the question of a western mind where we hold onto our trauma for dear life; in fact define ourselves by it. I am wondering about the fact that maybe in this society it isn't true.
80% of Tanzania is lacking electricity and 80% of Tanzanians live a subsistence agricultural lifestyle earning less than $600/year. What does this mean? It means they don't buy much. Just about anything we have in the west is absent for this part of the population. Consequently there are 2 economies here. Beans and rice are cheap but anything else from toothpaste to electric kettles cost pretty much what they cost in the west. Most Tanzanians just don't buy the like. Climbing Kilimanjaro and Safaris are all expensive unfortunately. It can cost from $50-$100 a day to visit a National Park.
Despite and maybe because of the lack of material possessions, the people here are incredibly friendly, generous, kind and respectful. Greetings are extremely important and the first thing that you need to learn. It starts with "you don't have any problems", with the answer "no I don't have any problems" and continues onto "how is your morning" with the answer good, then "how is your family", "how is ..... for whatever you want to inquire about. So each question starts with Habari za and you quickly learn that whenever you hear that, the answer is nzuri or good whether or not you understand anything else. It is considered extremely rude to launch straight into a conversation without first going through the greeting ritual. Everyone here walks or rides on a dalla dalla (an extremely overcrowded minibus; more information coming up) or other form of public transport, and I can only imagine if people were wealthier and had cars how this fabulous way of saying heollo would deteriorate.
So let me tell you a little bit more about the dalladalla. The following is an excerpt of a post that another volunteer put up on her blog.
Daladalas are little vans that provide local transportation in Tanzania. As far as I know, they are privately owned, so there is no official schedule that they follow. Luckily, they are all over the place, so if you go to a place where the daladalas stop (or if you are just walking along the road), it is usually no trouble to catch one. They are generally run by one driver and two conductors, and they cost very little to ride (usually arounf 15-20 cents). Each daladala travels to and from different areas around town. Sometimes the name of the destination is written on the front of the daladala, but you can also tell where the daladala is going because one of the conductors is hanging out the side yelling the name of the destination (I find one that has a conductor yelling “Milisita Bomasanya”). So now that you have some daladala background information, here are some of my favorite parts…
#1 Many daladalas have names written on the front of them. They are named things like "Praise God," "Grace of God," and "Thank You Jesus." As you can see, there's a bit of a theme, although there are some random ones thrown in there too, like "Mr. 32."
#2 It is very important to see inside the daladala before you decide to ride it. Even though the conductor may be trying to convince you that it is just about to leave, you must remember that it won’t actually leave until it is full. Even if the driver is honking the horn and revving his engine and even if they turn like they are about to get back on the road, chances are they will stop again to wait for more people.
#3 “Full” is a very relative term. In America, we might conclude that a daladala would be “full” when all of the seats are filled. We would be very wrong. The daldadala conductors are not satisfied until all of the available space inside the vehicle is filled, including every bit of standing room. By the time we leave, there are usually 20-25 people in the daladala, and you are usually touching about 5 of them and holding someone’s baby or bag of dead fish. Often there is no room left for the conductors and they just hang out the side.
#4 The inside of the daladalas are usually quite plain, but if you are lucky, you might get a daladala that has its own picture hanging inside. Just in case you want to admire what you are riding in, I guess.
#5 Along the way, people just yell out to the conductor where to stop. For example, when I’m getting close to my destination, I say “Shusha Margareza” which means “Stop at Magareza.” (Actually it means “Stop at the Prison.” My stop is close to the prison, so that’s what is called. Yikes.)
So that’s the daladala. I really love them, bag of dead fish and all. I think they are an ingenious method of transportation and a generally good way to get around. In fact, sometimes I joke with the children that when I grow up, I want to be a daladala conductor. I wonder if I would have much business in Tennessee…
I couldn't have said it any better myself. When I first arrived I was living on the other side of Moshi which necessitated a 10 minute walk down a dirt road. By the way "road" is somewhat of a misnomer. Even in Australia you have never seen washboards like the ones that exist here. The roads are incredibly rutted with deep cavities and would be impassable in most regular cars. Anyway after the 10 minutes on the dirt road it was another 30 mins or so walk along the side of a busy paved road followed by a 10 minute dalladalla ride and then another 10-15 minutes down another dirt road. At the end of last week another volunteeer and I moved to our current location which is just a 30-40 minute walk along rural back roads. A really pleasant walk and a great way to start the day. We are greeted by everyone from young kids to mzee (old people). Lesley and Robyn, there are no worries about getting in my10,000 steps a day since walking is a way of life here.
I am living at Twiga House www.twigahome.com. As you can see it is really, really nice with a superb view of Kilimanjaro. I have my own room with a private bath. The rooms congregate around a central courtyard area where there is the computer, TV etc. This has been a great congregating area for watching the world cup. We have access to a kitchen of sorts or can order meals. There are quite a selection of people coming and going with a few of us who will be here long term. A fabulous group of Irish just left today. They were in Moshi for 2 weeks running EFT clinics. Lesley I am now tapping!!
Amani is doing a fabulous job. It is hard for me to believe that this sweet kid that comes to me for hugs, 2 years ago was biting, kicking and extremely violent. I am surrounded by kids whose life stories would make you weep but seemingly are like any normal kids. I said above that the answer to "how are you doing" is always "nzuri" or good. Anything bad is not discussed which leads me to ponder the question where does the trauma lie? But this is the question of a western mind where we hold onto our trauma for dear life; in fact define ourselves by it. I am wondering about the fact that maybe in this society it isn't true.
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