the wanderer
Friday, March 10, 2006
Kilimahewa and baby Agnes
We visited a school this morning just outside of town called Kilimahewa. This place started when one father (in the red shirt on the picture) decided to home school his kids - but it very quickly grew into 90+ students when everyone in the neighborhood asked him if their kids could attend too. He and his wife (the woman next to him of course) now welcome all of these children into their home every day. He's got a huge heart, and you can tell just by how happy the kids are. I think I gave more high-fives to these little ones in half an hour than I ever have in my life! We gave them lots of school supplies, a children's book, and some cupcakes, and as a thank you they put on a little song and dace routine before we left. It was great.
Yesterday my mom and I went to Upendo Children's Home, the place she volunteered at for three weeks in September. It was a stark contrast from what we saw today. There are caregivers, or nannies, who bathe and feed the kids and change their diapers, but there is no palpable love at Upendo. The nuns who run the place don't seem to get directly involved with the kids either. At least, I told myself, these babies aren't in the streets. My mom's favorite boy at Upendo, Filippo, is being transferred shortly to a home in Dodoma that specializes in HIV+ children. He looks healthy and vivacious for now, and I hope he fares well in his new home.
So of course after visiting Kilimahewa I couldn't resist the urge to go back to Light in Africa. I playes with some other children, but mainly I just wanted to see my sweet Agnes. I've been thinking about her daily for the past week and a half. I don't know what it is about this girl that tugs at my heart strings, but I just can't resist her pretty face... She pops into my mind every night when I go to bed. Mama Lynn told me today that Aggie came to them because her mother died in childbirth, and the father had no means of taking care of her. I'm happy to find out she didn't have as traumatic a reason for winding up there as some of the other kids had... I'll probably go see her again before we leave.
¶ 3/10/2006 03:56:00 AM 3 comments
We visited a school this morning just outside of town called Kilimahewa. This place started when one father (in the red shirt on the picture) decided to home school his kids - but it very quickly grew into 90+ students when everyone in the neighborhood asked him if their kids could attend too. He and his wife (the woman next to him of course) now welcome all of these children into their home every day. He's got a huge heart, and you can tell just by how happy the kids are. I think I gave more high-fives to these little ones in half an hour than I ever have in my life! We gave them lots of school supplies, a children's book, and some cupcakes, and as a thank you they put on a little song and dace routine before we left. It was great.Yesterday my mom and I went to Upendo Children's Home, the place she volunteered at for three weeks in September. It was a stark contrast from what we saw today. There are caregivers, or nannies, who bathe and feed the kids and change their diapers, but there is no palpable love at Upendo. The nuns who run the place don't seem to get directly involved with the kids either. At least, I told myself, these babies aren't in the streets. My mom's favorite boy at Upendo, Filippo, is being transferred shortly to a home in Dodoma that specializes in HIV+ children. He looks healthy and vivacious for now, and I hope he fares well in his new home.
So of course after visiting Kilimahewa I couldn't resist the urge to go back to Light in Africa. I playes with some other children, but mainly I just wanted to see my sweet Agnes. I've been thinking about her daily for the past week and a half. I don't know what it is about this girl that tugs at my heart strings, but I just can't resist her pretty face... She pops into my mind every night when I go to bed. Mama Lynn told me today that Aggie came to them because her mother died in childbirth, and the father had no means of taking care of her. I'm happy to find out she didn't have as traumatic a reason for winding up there as some of the other kids had... I'll probably go see her again before we leave.
¶ 3/10/2006 03:56:00 AM 3 comments
Wednesday, March 08, 2006
Water Tables and Common Ground
Back to work this week. Monday we rested for most of the day but tried to get in touch with a surveyor from the Ministry of Water who had agreed to meet us. He was out of town and we were told to call him the next day. In the early afternoon a power outage struck once again. We were home at the time, and the proprietors of this house, who run a travel agency and a law office out of the building in front of our house, and who rent our apartments above their offices as well, decided to install a rather unwelcome surprise: a new, more powerful, generator.
This sounds as if it should be a good thing, but the generator is meant to power only the offices, not our house or any of the apartments, and it’s mind-numbingly loud. When they got it running, my mom went outside to check on the cause of the new, infernal noise, and was given a broad smile and an enthusiastic thumbs-up by one of the owners. They’re so proud of their new machine. I guess people here don’t know yet about noise pollution - or worse - the dangers of carbon monoxide poisoning. The generator sits right behind our house and the fumes were making us so nauseous on Monday that we had to leave for a few hours. Luckily when we returned, they had turned it off, and it hasn’t run more than an hour at a time since. If they decide at some point to run it for a full day again like they did on Monday, they’ll be hearing from us!
Yesterday we finally got to meet the chief surveyor, an experienced geologist. He assured us that he could get us a full written report on the water table in the Maasai village within a few days of performing a survey. He wanted to be paid before committing to an appointment, so we quickly came home to get some money and returned to his office within the hour. The survey is happening Saturday, and we’ll have the report by next Wednesday. Anthony and Solomon immediately took off for Arusha. Today they’re at the Maasai village letting the elders know exactly what’s going to happen and when. A “heads up” like this would take 10 minutes on the phone at home, but with the Maasai it takes two days in six different dalla-dallas (crammed minivans used for cheap public transportation) in order to deliver the news in person. The things we take for granted at home…
Last night we met with the engineer from Toronto at Deo’s, a favorite local grocery (groceries here turn into bars, and often restaurants, at night). Unfortunately he can’t join us on Saturday. I hope the Maasai aren’t too disappointed by this – they trust him and might be wary of our surveyor messing around on their land. In any case, once the survey is done and we have a full written report to work off of, we’ll know exactly what can be done as far as deciding on the best type of pump and getting the Canadian government to help with funding.
Also at Deo’s last night, I found out that Godfried, a very kind mid-30s shop-owner who helped us get the appliances we needed for our house (even taking us to neighboring shops, if he didn’t have certain items), has a tattoo. This really surprised me. Even though he’s friends with our friends, part of the hipper, younger crowd in Moshi, none of them have any tattoos, so I certainly didn’t expect this quiet, church going guy to have one.
The reason I found out is that it was so hot last night that I decided to roll up my shirt sleeves a bit. I’ve been wearing long sleeves in public every day here, loose button-ups over tank tops on the hottest days, partly to shield myself from the sun in the day and the mosquitoes at night, but mostly to avoid attracting too much attention. People already notice me enough with my white skin, tattooed hands and ears, and discreet, but curiosity arousing, earrings in my stretched earlobes. Now that I’ve been to Deo’s several times and seen the same people there, last night I figured “okay, might as well, it’s dark here anyway”.
When Godfried showed up and joined us at our table, he made chit-chat for a few minutes before politely asking who had tattooed me, how far up my tattoos went, and why he’d never seen them before. He was surprised, to say the least, when I told him both my arms, my back, and lots of my legs are covered in tattoos!
I explained to him that my husband tattoos for a living. I also told him why I prefer to be more discreet in town, and that at home, large tattoos that cover the body (or significant parts of it) aren’t such an uncommon sight. He was fascinated. Then, all of a sudden, he says “I have a tattoo too”. He unbuttoned his shirt just enough to pull it off his shoulder and I pulled out my flashlight to expose a spotty, homemade anchor tattoo on his upper arm. He regaled me with the story of him and his friends taping together some needles and emptying a ball point pen for ink so they could tattoo one another. I drew him a tattoo machine on a piece of paper and he listened attentively while I explained how it all works.
He told me how worried he was of his mother finding out (even as a grown man!) and how common the perception is here that only bad people have tattoos. He still wants to get it redone so that it looks nice.
I showed him the anchor tattoo I have on my ankle and he laughed. “Yours is much better than mine!” he said. I told him I was glad to find out that he had a tattoo. He was obviously proud of it, and happy to share it with someone who understood. There’s a kind of magical feeling of kinship that happens in moments like these – when you realize once again that urges to decorate the body transcend race, background, gender, religion, continents, and time. Just like when the Maasai welcomed me with open arms and excited curiosity, what I could have expected to be somewhat of a culture clash turned out to be a common bond instead. ¶ 3/08/2006 08:22:00 AM 1 comments
This sounds as if it should be a good thing, but the generator is meant to power only the offices, not our house or any of the apartments, and it’s mind-numbingly loud. When they got it running, my mom went outside to check on the cause of the new, infernal noise, and was given a broad smile and an enthusiastic thumbs-up by one of the owners. They’re so proud of their new machine. I guess people here don’t know yet about noise pollution - or worse - the dangers of carbon monoxide poisoning. The generator sits right behind our house and the fumes were making us so nauseous on Monday that we had to leave for a few hours. Luckily when we returned, they had turned it off, and it hasn’t run more than an hour at a time since. If they decide at some point to run it for a full day again like they did on Monday, they’ll be hearing from us!
Yesterday we finally got to meet the chief surveyor, an experienced geologist. He assured us that he could get us a full written report on the water table in the Maasai village within a few days of performing a survey. He wanted to be paid before committing to an appointment, so we quickly came home to get some money and returned to his office within the hour. The survey is happening Saturday, and we’ll have the report by next Wednesday. Anthony and Solomon immediately took off for Arusha. Today they’re at the Maasai village letting the elders know exactly what’s going to happen and when. A “heads up” like this would take 10 minutes on the phone at home, but with the Maasai it takes two days in six different dalla-dallas (crammed minivans used for cheap public transportation) in order to deliver the news in person. The things we take for granted at home…
Last night we met with the engineer from Toronto at Deo’s, a favorite local grocery (groceries here turn into bars, and often restaurants, at night). Unfortunately he can’t join us on Saturday. I hope the Maasai aren’t too disappointed by this – they trust him and might be wary of our surveyor messing around on their land. In any case, once the survey is done and we have a full written report to work off of, we’ll know exactly what can be done as far as deciding on the best type of pump and getting the Canadian government to help with funding.
Also at Deo’s last night, I found out that Godfried, a very kind mid-30s shop-owner who helped us get the appliances we needed for our house (even taking us to neighboring shops, if he didn’t have certain items), has a tattoo. This really surprised me. Even though he’s friends with our friends, part of the hipper, younger crowd in Moshi, none of them have any tattoos, so I certainly didn’t expect this quiet, church going guy to have one.
The reason I found out is that it was so hot last night that I decided to roll up my shirt sleeves a bit. I’ve been wearing long sleeves in public every day here, loose button-ups over tank tops on the hottest days, partly to shield myself from the sun in the day and the mosquitoes at night, but mostly to avoid attracting too much attention. People already notice me enough with my white skin, tattooed hands and ears, and discreet, but curiosity arousing, earrings in my stretched earlobes. Now that I’ve been to Deo’s several times and seen the same people there, last night I figured “okay, might as well, it’s dark here anyway”.
When Godfried showed up and joined us at our table, he made chit-chat for a few minutes before politely asking who had tattooed me, how far up my tattoos went, and why he’d never seen them before. He was surprised, to say the least, when I told him both my arms, my back, and lots of my legs are covered in tattoos!
I explained to him that my husband tattoos for a living. I also told him why I prefer to be more discreet in town, and that at home, large tattoos that cover the body (or significant parts of it) aren’t such an uncommon sight. He was fascinated. Then, all of a sudden, he says “I have a tattoo too”. He unbuttoned his shirt just enough to pull it off his shoulder and I pulled out my flashlight to expose a spotty, homemade anchor tattoo on his upper arm. He regaled me with the story of him and his friends taping together some needles and emptying a ball point pen for ink so they could tattoo one another. I drew him a tattoo machine on a piece of paper and he listened attentively while I explained how it all works.
He told me how worried he was of his mother finding out (even as a grown man!) and how common the perception is here that only bad people have tattoos. He still wants to get it redone so that it looks nice.
I showed him the anchor tattoo I have on my ankle and he laughed. “Yours is much better than mine!” he said. I told him I was glad to find out that he had a tattoo. He was obviously proud of it, and happy to share it with someone who understood. There’s a kind of magical feeling of kinship that happens in moments like these – when you realize once again that urges to decorate the body transcend race, background, gender, religion, continents, and time. Just like when the Maasai welcomed me with open arms and excited curiosity, what I could have expected to be somewhat of a culture clash turned out to be a common bond instead. ¶ 3/08/2006 08:22:00 AM 1 comments
Monday, March 06, 2006
Serengeti and Ngorongoro
What a beautiful, relaxing, happy weekend we had on safari. The game drive started before we even got to Ngorongoro on Friday - the further north we went the more wildlife we saw by the highway. We saw giraffes, baboons (you can see the babies on the left), elephant tracks, and antelopes by the road, on top of the usual Maasai goats and cows that roam around everywhere!
The scenery was breathtaking and got significantly greener as we got to within an hour of the Ngorongoro Conservation Area. It was refreshing to see so much green after being in a much drier climate for two weeks. The rain season is about to begin here (it's very late), and the grass and crops are struggling to wake up after being too thirsty for too long.
Unfortunately for me, I was not feeling well at all on the morning of our departure. Wednesday night I started feeling really bad - I suspect it was the first symptoms of an amoebic infection. About a week and a half ago I inadvertently drank about half a litre of tap water before I realized it tasted funny... Anthony had filled up one of our empty water bottles with tap water, and even though he put his name on the label so we wouldn't mistake it for "clean" water, I didn't see it. I felt fine for a week but a lot of these illnesses can take about a week to develop, or so I've read. So I found myself starting a course of antibiotics and packing the Imodium (just in case!) the morning we left. I was nervous about going on a camping safari with an intestinal parasite... The antibiotic definitely made me feel nauseous for the first few hours of the drive - but luckily it had passed by the time we got to Ngorongoro and I felt ok the rest of the weekend. They don't really let you out of the car to pee in the bush in these parks - you never know what might pounce on you!
So Friday night we set up camp on the rim of Ngorongoro, had dinner, and went to bed rather early. Saturday morning we left the camp at dawn and spent 4 hours in the crater, then drove about 2 hours to Serengeti while millions of wildebeest,
zebras and antelopes grazed as far as the eye can see on the plains by the road. Saturday night we camped in the Serengeti and went to bed really early, which is great because we were awakened at 4:30 in the morning by the creepy "ooooo-ooooop!" of hyenas near the camp. It was a bit nerve-wracking to be honest, but oure guides assured us that we'd be safe in our tents or in the food area. These campsites all have caged areas for humans to eat and hang out in... A human zoo of sorts, to keep the animals from stealing our food, or eating us instead.
Nevertheless, they told us about a tour company cook who got much too drunk on Konyagi, the favorite liquor of Tanzanians (I have yet to try it), one night months ago and fell asleep halfway in his tent, with his leg sticking out. They say his leg was attacked by hyenas while he slept and later needed to be amputated. He was either really, REALLY drunk, or they were messing with us. My guess is option #2!
Sunday we did a four hour game drive in the Serengeti, came back for breakfast, and then got on the road so we'd have a few minutes to check out Olduvai Gorge on the way back. Throughout the weekend we saw lions, cheetahs, zebras, wildebeest, hartebeest, warthogs, a black rhino, elephants, a leopard, jackals, giraffes, hyenas, baboons, hippos, more species of birds than I could ever remember, and more.
Some thoughts on our weekend, as my time is limited:
The African sky is bigger than any sky I've ever seen. At night it's because you can see the stars all the way to the horizon. During the day it just seems to envelop you whole. I love this.
"Siringiti" is Maasai for "endless plain". It's an appropriate name to which I would add "endless pleasure". I think one could spend a lifetime in this park and never get tired of it.
The higlight of the trip was watching these lions mate in the Serengeti. They were maybe 20 feet from us, probably less. Lions mate for 5 days straight, away from their pride. They don't eat during this time. On days 1, 2, and 3 they mate every 15 minutes or so. By days 4 and 5 they're tired, and go at it less and less. This must have been day 5 because the female had big wounds on her back. We waited almost 45 minutes to see them get up and mate... for 15 seconds! Talk about a quickie.
Nevertheless, it was amazing to watch. The male shot us a look when they were done that seemed to say "happy now?", then he went right back to sleep next to his lady.
I have a list of thoughts in the notebook I keep with me, that I want to add to my blog sometime... Some things I've noticed about Tanzanian culture that either irritate, fascinate, or inspire me. I'll try to get this done soon.
This picture that was taken right before we left Serengeti. Clockwise from left: Me, Amos (our driver), my mom, Solomon (the best cook in Tanzania), Anthony (tour guide and giant brat), and Richard, a goofball friend of theirs who jumped in on our picture. Lots of laughs were had all weekend!
More to come, baadaye!
(pronounced bad-eye, Swahili for "later"). ¶ 3/06/2006 07:30:00 AM 0 comments
What a beautiful, relaxing, happy weekend we had on safari. The game drive started before we even got to Ngorongoro on Friday - the further north we went the more wildlife we saw by the highway. We saw giraffes, baboons (you can see the babies on the left), elephant tracks, and antelopes by the road, on top of the usual Maasai goats and cows that roam around everywhere!The scenery was breathtaking and got significantly greener as we got to within an hour of the Ngorongoro Conservation Area. It was refreshing to see so much green after being in a much drier climate for two weeks. The rain season is about to begin here (it's very late), and the grass and crops are struggling to wake up after being too thirsty for too long.
Unfortunately for me, I was not feeling well at all on the morning of our departure. Wednesday night I started feeling really bad - I suspect it was the first symptoms of an amoebic infection. About a week and a half ago I inadvertently drank about half a litre of tap water before I realized it tasted funny... Anthony had filled up one of our empty water bottles with tap water, and even though he put his name on the label so we wouldn't mistake it for "clean" water, I didn't see it. I felt fine for a week but a lot of these illnesses can take about a week to develop, or so I've read. So I found myself starting a course of antibiotics and packing the Imodium (just in case!) the morning we left. I was nervous about going on a camping safari with an intestinal parasite... The antibiotic definitely made me feel nauseous for the first few hours of the drive - but luckily it had passed by the time we got to Ngorongoro and I felt ok the rest of the weekend. They don't really let you out of the car to pee in the bush in these parks - you never know what might pounce on you!So Friday night we set up camp on the rim of Ngorongoro, had dinner, and went to bed rather early. Saturday morning we left the camp at dawn and spent 4 hours in the crater, then drove about 2 hours to Serengeti while millions of wildebeest,
zebras and antelopes grazed as far as the eye can see on the plains by the road. Saturday night we camped in the Serengeti and went to bed really early, which is great because we were awakened at 4:30 in the morning by the creepy "ooooo-ooooop!" of hyenas near the camp. It was a bit nerve-wracking to be honest, but oure guides assured us that we'd be safe in our tents or in the food area. These campsites all have caged areas for humans to eat and hang out in... A human zoo of sorts, to keep the animals from stealing our food, or eating us instead. Nevertheless, they told us about a tour company cook who got much too drunk on Konyagi, the favorite liquor of Tanzanians (I have yet to try it), one night months ago and fell asleep halfway in his tent, with his leg sticking out. They say his leg was attacked by hyenas while he slept and later needed to be amputated. He was either really, REALLY drunk, or they were messing with us. My guess is option #2!
Sunday we did a four hour game drive in the Serengeti, came back for breakfast, and then got on the road so we'd have a few minutes to check out Olduvai Gorge on the way back. Throughout the weekend we saw lions, cheetahs, zebras, wildebeest, hartebeest, warthogs, a black rhino, elephants, a leopard, jackals, giraffes, hyenas, baboons, hippos, more species of birds than I could ever remember, and more.
Some thoughts on our weekend, as my time is limited:
The African sky is bigger than any sky I've ever seen. At night it's because you can see the stars all the way to the horizon. During the day it just seems to envelop you whole. I love this.
"Siringiti" is Maasai for "endless plain". It's an appropriate name to which I would add "endless pleasure". I think one could spend a lifetime in this park and never get tired of it.
The higlight of the trip was watching these lions mate in the Serengeti. They were maybe 20 feet from us, probably less. Lions mate for 5 days straight, away from their pride. They don't eat during this time. On days 1, 2, and 3 they mate every 15 minutes or so. By days 4 and 5 they're tired, and go at it less and less. This must have been day 5 because the female had big wounds on her back. We waited almost 45 minutes to see them get up and mate... for 15 seconds! Talk about a quickie.Nevertheless, it was amazing to watch. The male shot us a look when they were done that seemed to say "happy now?", then he went right back to sleep next to his lady.
I have a list of thoughts in the notebook I keep with me, that I want to add to my blog sometime... Some things I've noticed about Tanzanian culture that either irritate, fascinate, or inspire me. I'll try to get this done soon.
This picture that was taken right before we left Serengeti. Clockwise from left: Me, Amos (our driver), my mom, Solomon (the best cook in Tanzania), Anthony (tour guide and giant brat), and Richard, a goofball friend of theirs who jumped in on our picture. Lots of laughs were had all weekend!More to come, baadaye!
(pronounced bad-eye, Swahili for "later"). ¶ 3/06/2006 07:30:00 AM 0 comments
