05 August 2013 (Monday)
The thing that
makes me the happiest in life is when I know I had a positive influence or
impact in someone else’s life.
Ellen and I went to Pendo’s home to give her money for
groceries this week. The people of Tanzania are the most hospitable people I
have ever met. She immediately began fixing us something to eat and drink. She
is funny because she expected us to eat a whole bowl of friend sweet potato
wedges along with slices of papaya, small bananas, and our hot milk. They are
just very gracious with their belongings and enjoy sharing them with others. It
meant a lot to me.
We also found beef patties at Shoprite! This was
exciting news because now Pendo could cook us burgers for dinner. They were
delicious.
It has been raining lightly every day for the past week
now. It is refreshing to me and still warm enough weather, but to the locals
it’s freezing. Many of the locals here wear their winter parkas all day.
We had our first family home evening tonight. It’s a
shame we didn’t start sooner, but this last wave is the first time that our
team has consisted only of LDS people.
I really am getting along with everyone well and the
longer I am here with this team the more fun I have. We are becoming bonded
together and I really enjoy everyone’s company. I do like being around people
in general, but I like our team. We were meant to be together.
06 August 2013 (Tuesday)
We spent most of
our day with Terry, who is a close associate with Martha, the founder of the
Albino Peacemakers. I love meeting with her because she takes us around in a
company vehicle. She is also one of the most Christlike people I have ever met.
She works for a major NGO here.
We went to pick up
supplies for the kitchen garden as well as the needed cement to build the
trough for the pig pen. She treated us to lunch at an mzungu place called The
Blue Heron. I ordered lamb shwarma and fresh passion fruit juice. To die for…
We then proceeded
to Marilyn’s home where she makes Maasai sandals and kikoi, hand woven
kanga-like shawls. She sells them at wholesale price and custom makes them to
order. One can pick a favorite design and color combination.
Then we went back
to The Blue Heron for dessert. Terry really wanted to have dessert earlier but
time didn’t allow it. She was talking about how we would have to come back
another time for dessert. Ellen and I both assumed in our heads that it wasn’t
really a serious commitment. We thought it was like how most Americans are with
making plans, “Oh, we definitely need to do this sometime!” and then it never
actually ends up happening. We were surprised when we actually went back to
have dessert. I ordered a chocolate brownie with chocolate syrup on it. It was
pretty good, but not like the brownies in the States. It was the probably the
best brownie one could find here in Tanzania though.
Then we went to the
Central Market in search of pilipili kichaa (crazy pepper) for Alysha. We were
led astray and bought one that turned out to not be the real thing. Terry
bought dried sardines for her cat. She feels bad because dried sardines are
usually too expensive for most locals to buy and yet it is cheaper than cat
food. The vendors are perplexed when she says it is for her cat. I also had my
first ripe passion fruit. They go from green to yellow to purple, purple being
the ripest. They almost look too old to eat at this stage in its lifetime, but
he fruit is the sweetest. It goes from extremely sour and tart to sweet.
It felt like we got
so much more done today in such fewer time because we had a vehicle and a guide
that has lived here for the past 2.5 years. We wish we had met her sooner, but
if we did we probably would have spent much more money on all the wonderful
places she was showing us around town.
07 August 2013 (Wednesday)
Africa time kicked
our butts this morning. Moses showed up 1.5 hours late… T.I.A. We bought
materials for the skylight project and installed them today.
Yesterday we found
out that we can’t do the eye camp, because we have supposedly reached our team
limit for money. We were given no warning at all. Ellen stayed up until 5 a.m.
working on the project proposal for the eye camp, only for it to blow up in our
faces. They didn’t give us any warning or anything that we were coming close to
our budget. Everything was in place. The doctor was ready to go, Martha was
ready to go, we just needed approval from the HELP office since it’d be more
than $200.
We walked 500 miles
today. We were searching for a fish pond
for Shaylor to check out for his projects. Nane Nane festival is going on in
Njiro which is clogging up the roads with ridiculous traffic. Shaylor and I
began walking towards home and saw one of the big, blue dump trucks coming up
behind us. We saw a few locals riding in the bed so we hoped that we could do
the same. They let us ride in the back for free. It was convenient that they
passed by our stop that we use to go home.
Pendo cooked us
chips mayai for the first time tonight.
08 August 2013 (Thursday)
Nanenane! Today was
a Tanzania national holiday celebrating the harvest and farming. We started the
day with some of us, including myself, getting interviewed for this summer’s
video for our team. I believe it was my first time being interviewed on camera.
For how simple my task was I got really nervous before the filming began. It
was only 30 seconds long and all I had to do was to describe the chicken coop
project. Ellen, Emilee, and Alysha were funny to watch being interviewed
because they had to do so many takes. They were either really nervous or
self-conscious about how they were doing it. It was a new experience for all of
us.
We had to film inside because it was raining pretty
hard this morning. I guess for this time of year it is really rare that it is
raining so much and for so long. It is supposed to be the long dry season.
We then headed to the Nanenane festival. Nane is the
number eight in Swahili. It is fitting since it is the eighth day of the eighth
month. It was very similar to a country fair. It had a million booths set up
about various things, mainly agriculture though. They had people selling ice
cream bars, which was a huge success with us. We also bought a scoop of sherbet
that had hardly any sugar and tasted worse and worse as you continued to eat
it.
It also had some local entertainers that reminded me of
a mini circus. They would do all kinds of flips and backhand springs. One guy
balanced and flipped an empty liquor bottle on a thin stick protruding from his
mouth. I wanted to represent the wazungu so I asked if I could go in the
massive circle of onlookers. They let me and I did a backflip in front of
everyone. After that they wanted me to walk around the circle to collect money
in one of the hats they had. It was fun.
I’m going to miss the fresh, quality meat here. They
sell chickens in halves or wholes. It is the best chicken I’ve ever had in my
life. I love how natural it is and free of chemicals. You can definitely taste
the difference.
We watched “Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls” tonight. I
hadn’t seen this movie in a long time and I had forgotten that it contained
some crude scenes. Shaylor is a good example to me because after the first one
or two he just decided not to watch anymore. This movie is PG-13, but it is
good to follow how you feel for any movie or situation.
09 August 2013 (Friday)
We went with Samson
to a Tanzanite mine today. It took two hours to get there on straight up dirt
roads. It was our journey to Dar es Salaam all over again. Samson is a filthy
rich, shilling millionaire! Last year his team hit the jack pot with Tanzanite
and Samson and his partner made 1,500,000,000 Tanzanian shillings! He loves
showing and telling us all of the things he owns now. He said he bought two new
cars, a motorcycle, a handgun, an apartment complex to rent out to families,
etc. We’re pretty sure he had XM radio in his minivan that he drove us around
in.
His team is digging
a fairly new mine of a couple months and it’s 75 meters deep. Normally,
tanzanite is mined at about 100 meters or more. They let us go down into the
mine! By U.S. standards we would never have been able to do that. Good thing
we’re in Africa, right? It was pretty steep, we didn’t have any hard hats, we
weren’t given any gloves to hold on to the rope, we weren’t attached to the
rope at all so if we lost control for some reason we would end up falling a
ways, no waiver to sign, nothing. It was great. Some of our guides were
barefoot too.
We didn’t see any tanzanite in the mine, but we saw
some samples later. One gram of tanzanite is three carrots and one carrot of
tanzanite costs between $200-300 depending on the grade. The higher the grade
the darker blue it is. Emilee bought a small piece of tanzanite today. I got to
hold a piece of tanzanite that was eight grams. It was like a Lego piece.
I saw a man today that had an extra finger on his right
hand protruding from his pinky. It was as small as the portion of the digit
most distal to the body and it had a nail and everything.
While Samson was showing me the properties he bought,
the families that lived there were outside talking. He greeted them and they
greeted me also. There was a little girl that was placed in front of me by her
mother. She was crying immediately prior to this. She had to have been about
two years old or younger, but I wanted to give her a high five. Her mom wanted
her to touch my gelled hair instead. The feeling of my gelled hair freaked her
out and she drew back a couple feet in fear. Everyone else started laughing at
her, but I felt bad. I didn’t want to scare her, but she was super cute when
she got scared.
The video promoting fundraising for Michael’s orphanage
was launched on Indiegogo two days ago and we’ve raised about $2,400 already! I
found out that the Grahams donated $1,000! It was an anonymous donation but
Melinda traced it back somehow. I want to thank them so badly but I know I
shouldn’t. My parents also donated $300 to it. I’m so grateful to know people
who trust me and are have the means and desires to serve in this manner.
We watched “Baby Mama” on a laptop tonight.
Yesterday we decided that in honor of Nanenane we
wouldn’t shower until we left Tanzania, which would be one week for those who
are participating. It’s funny how the very next day we get super dirty from
being in the mine.
10 August 2013 (Saturday)
This is my last
Saturday here in Tanzania and yet my first Saturday that I spent working on a
project rather than playing all day. Shaylor commenced his fish farming project
and we began work on actually getting the fish pond up to par. He found a
family that already has an area for a pond with water running to it from a
spring. They agreed to let Shaylor and the local partners to turn it into a
fish pond. Shaylor has been doing research on farming tilapia for weeks now and
he has been working his tail off.
We helped dig a
connecting canal from the main canal to the neighboring plot of land so that
throughout the year the owners can choose where they would like the water to
go.
Shaylor also wants
to move a lot of the dirt around in the fish pond to create a shallow angle
from one end to the other. Part of the pond was still flooded and we drained
the rest of it out the best that we could. We decided to remove the weeds and
vegetation that had been growing on the surface of the mud on the bottom of the
pond. It was still a little bit flooded but it helped us to remove it. Shaylor
and I, along with some locals that were helping us today, got down and dirty in
the pond. We ended up taking our shoes off completely since they made it harder
to maneuver and would get us stuck. We just used our bare hands to remove the
weeds and vegetation. It was really fun! I have never actually gotten that
dirty before or even played in large quantities of mud. I like to be clean, but
if the situation calls for it then I can get dirty too. It took me a while to
get over my hesitations and just embrace the uncleanliness. We had mud halfway
up our calves, covering our hands, and splattered over all of our clothes.
The fish pond was a
mini swamp and we saw many organisms living in it. We found small crabs, frogs,
fish, and many spiders of varying sizes. I’m pretty sure Shaylor caught and
held all of them except for the spiders. I’m not going to lie, but I was a
little bit nervous because I didn’t know whether or not these spiders were
deadly poisonous. I was also nervous about being in swampy mud with my bare
hands and feet. You never know what could enter a small cut.
We finished
clearing the top layer of vegetation and will begin shaping the pond next week.
Thank goodness there was a stream nearby to clean up in or else we would have
been in trouble. I find it ironic yet again that day two of our No Showering
Club is another messy day. I really wanted to cave in and take a shower,
especially before the Sabbath, but I can keep my commitments!
On the way home we
found a woman that was cooking fresh sambusas. It was my first time having them
hot and it might be one of my last times ever eating them.
Most of our team
ate a Japanese restaurant/sushi bar. It was our first time trying it out and it
was my first time having authentic Japanese food. Like all of the other foods I
try here it was fantastic. Their menus had pictures of the dishes themselves
and not just the name. I like this approach very much. Alysha was telling us
that in China they do the same thing.
We took a taxi on
the way home and while I was in it my iPod and a team phone fell out of my
pockets. I didn’t realize it though until after we had already paid the driver
and he was heading back down the hill to Suye stop. Right when I felt my empty
pockets I knew what happened. My first instinct was to chase after the taxi or
else I’d never see those things again and that’s exactly what I did. It was
pitch black outside and I was running down the hill. Dirt roads here have
potholes and trenches galore and are hard to maneuver even in the daytime and I
was choosing to run down it at night. A blessing was that these same potholes
and trenches slow vehicles down greatly that travel on them. This was the only
way I could catch up to the taxi before it got onto the main road again. I was
praying to Heavenly Father as I was running down this hill that He would allow
me to catch up to this taxi in time to retrieve my things before he drove off.
He heard and answered my prayer. I also didn’t roll my ankle or fall down or
anything. It was a miracle and a tender mercy from the Lord.
Even up until the
final days and hours in Tanzania I am still learning things I should have been
doing long ago. If I have short front pockets, don’t put valuables in them for
fear of them falling out somewhere that I can’t retrieve them. It’s common
sense, but it takes me while to learn these things sometimes. I won’t make that
mistake again.
11 August 2013 (Sunday)
This was the last time
we attend church here in Arusha, Tanzania. The program was heavily marked by
wazungu from HELP International. Many of us participated in giving prayers and
talks. We all helped sing an intermediate hymn, “God Be with You Til We Meet
Again.”
I took a three hour
nap today for the first time since being here and it’s definitely throwing off
my sleep schedule. It’s 1:36 a.m. and I don’t feel tired at all. It doesn’t
help that we are leaving the house at 7:45 a.m. tomorrow to crank out the
kitchen garden project.
12 August 2013 (Monday)
Ellen and I
finished the kitchen garden project as best we could today. We first met up
with the albinos that would be learning how to make kitchen gardens for
themselves. Then we went to the World Vegetation Center to take a look at all
of the different kinds of vegetables that they could plant in their kitchen
gardens and to see if we could get some free samples.
We then proceeded
to a woman's house/farm that was 100% efficient. They had five kitchen gardens
in operation and one being built. They showed all of the different ways that
one could build a kitchen gardens using different materials. This woman and her
husband were taught this a few years ago by an NGO. They had the methane gas
system set up from cow manure. They had a fully functional fish pond with
tilapia in it. It was exactly what Shaylor was looking for and I died inside
because he wasn't able to see it for himself and inquire about it. They owned
chickens, goats, and cows. They were constantly making compost piles to better
fertilize the soil with which they garden with. They had enough land to plant
corn on and to have other gardening plots. They had a big house for a Tanzanian
and their yard was well kept and beautiful. It was unbelievable to me. With how
many things they had I figured there were many workers, but the only ones that
work their land and projects are this woman and her husband. It keeps them very
busy every day. They were taught these things by the NGO to be a model for
other Tanzanians. The father of this family teaches others how to have these
projects for themselves. They used nature to sustain themselves which is really
how it should be for all of us.
Before we went to
work on the kitchen garden that Martha and the Albino Peacemakers were going to
build we had lunch at one of my favorite local places. I ordered chips kuku for
the first time since the first wave. I love the chicken here and it was a good
thing that I got half a chicken with my meal.
The kitchen garden
was put up in about two hours. We couldn't finish because we ran out of compost
to mix in with the dirt. We didn't want it to be out of balance so they are
going to wait to finish building and planting the vegetables until the
necessary materials are acquired.
We had FHE for the
second week in a row! We played a fun game afterwards called
"Adverb." A person is chosen in the group to guess what the eventual
adverb is. The group decides on an adverb while the chosen person is absent
from them. When the chosen person returns, they try to guess what the adverb is
by having any amount of players act out a scenario of their choice in the
manner of the adverb. It was hilarious.
Emilee took the
piece of tanzanite that she bought from Samson to some tanzanite stores today
to get it appraised and she found out that her tanzanite might not even be
real. She got mixed reviews. Some people said that it was real, but very poor
quality and some said that it wasn't at all. I feel bad for her because she is
just trying to get a nice gift for her mom and it ends up becoming a huge
hassle. The dust will settle tomorrow when she meets with Samson again to get
her money back.
13 August 2013 (Tuesday)
We shopped until we
dropped today. My goal for this day was to be patient and not get angry with
all of the people we would inevitably have to do business with. Bargaining with
the people here is dreadful to me and it most often makes me frustrated and
upset by the end of it.
Aaron and I first
went to try to market Utukufu's beaded jewelry to the Arusha hotel. After that
the shopping began. The Clocktower roundabout is full of self-employed vendors
that hound wazungu to buy their things. There are quite a few wazungu that pass
through that area either because of the nice hotels surrounding it or because
of the markets nearby. It is my least favorite place in Arusha. You can't get
through this place without being confronted by at least five people wanting to
sell you their business or service.
We first had to
both pull money out of the ATM for the last time here. The first one we went to
didn't work and we're nervous that it processed our requests to withdraw money
without actually giving us the money. The second ATM we went to worked just
fine. Surprisingly, this didn't phase me in the least bit. I was doing good so
far.
My second least
favorite place in Arusha was the place we went to next, the Mt. Meru Market
a.k.a. the Maasai Market to the wazungu. It is aisle after aisle of personal
shops all lined up next to each other full of "business" people all
trying to sell you the same things by scamming you. They will hassle you
obnoxiously and will not leave you alone until you go in their shop or ignore
them and continue on with your quest. Another one of my goals today was to a
blue, medium-sized Tanzania soccer jersey for Alysha for 10,000 Tsh. It's
doable, because I and other team members have gotten theirs for that price, but
it's not the easiest thing in the world.
Aaron and I had a
strategy to both wear our Tanzanian soccer jerseys today so we could display
the prizes we won for 10,000 shillings and use them as exhibits to counteract
their lies when they tried to scam us. The vendors are too stubborn. I tried
almost every shop that had these jerseys, but I couldn't bargain any of them
down to the price we were looking for. I knew it was possible, but in reality I
knew that it wouldn't happen at this market because it caters to tourists. They
get their products elsewhere and jack up the prices.
Aaron won his
battle by getting a good price for the souvenir he was shopping for, but I
failed in my first attempt. We pressed forward though nonetheless.
We headed to the
central market, a ten-block wholesale market full of busy little selling bees.
Another item on our agenda was to find pilipili kichaa (crazy pepper) for
Alysha since spiciness means nothing to her tongue. Failed again. The market
didn't carry any. It's really funny how the locals laughed at us every time we
asked where we could find this pepper. They knew how hot it is and so do we.
They probably laugh at what they think we are getting into, yet they are
uninformed as to our secret weapon named Alysha.
I was also
searching for fully ripened, black passion fruit today. Mission failed also.
None to be found at the central market because it is out of season apparently.
It stinks because I had one just this last week but chose not to buy any.
Rookie mistake.
I was disappointed,
but not discouraged yet. The future was looking hopeful for finding Alysha's
jersey. We spent the next few hours being led from jersey shop to jersey shop
and searching on our own for our coveted item with no success! We were so close
too. There was always just one thing off about the jerseys we were presented
with. The vendors either didn't have quite the right size, color, or pattern.
Aaron and I never would have expected having this problem since these jerseys
are literally everywhere in the central market. It was a bad day for
medium-sized people.
We did have moments
of success today though. I was able to buy fresh bread from Shoprite today for
the last time. This was a miracle because for a couple weeks Shoprite wasn't
carrying any bread for some reason. I thought my cheap, fresh bread days were
buried.
I was able to find
Jenna's gift/birthday present/souvenir at the desired location, Aaron was able
to find other jerseys he wanted, and we were able to accomplish buying firewood
and transporting it home on life threatening pikipikis.
It was a long day
full of walking and shopping, but good did result from it. I never really got
angry during our endless business transactions and I was able to stay polite
and friendly.
It's been six days
since I have showered. I think I'm doing pretty good on my smell too!
Emilee got her
money back from Samson for the tanzanite. We still aren't sure whether it was
real or not, but our whole team's trust was lost with him.
14 August 2013 (Wednesday)
I did part of my
laundry for the very last time this morning and good riddance. It is a tedious
process that I’m not a huge fun of. It has definitely helped me to appreciate
washers and dryers. I don’t think I could ever complain about prices for a
load. I’ve spent $12.50 to have a woman wash all of my laundry. The prices in
the states are nothing compared to that.
We were invited to eat
lunch with Michael at his orphanage. We played with the children until lunch
was served. I had lychee for the first time. The inside looks like a large,
peeled grape with a giant seed in the center. It’s not as soft as a grape
though, but it is sweeter. The outside of it is a bright, reddish pink with
long, one-inch tubules protruding from all over the surface of the skin. It
reminds me of the purple minions’ hair in Despicable Me 2.
Michael and his
wife gathered us together to give his thanks to us and to say his goodbyes. It
was emotional for everyone. Even Shaylor’s eyes were “sweating.” It’s moments
like this that make everything here worth it. He wished he could have given us
something in return for all of our help, but that’s the best part because we
don’t want anything in return. We came to serve. He asked us to pray for
orphans, specifically the children at his orphanage, and that he would have
success in accomplishing building the new orphanage. Speaking of that, we found
out that someone donated $2,500 today! We’re more than halfway to our goal of
$10,000 now.
Melinda brought
little toys for all of the kids. She gave them all a yo-yo and a jump rope. She
brought bubbles as well. It was humbling to see them so excited over toys that
seem miniscule in the United States. Kelsi noticed that the children at this
orphanage are very well behaved and they have no problem sharing the toys they
have with one another. It is much different to how children are raised in the
U.S. We jump roped with them, took pictures, and said our final goodbyes. It
was so cute because they barred the door in the gate to get out with their
bodies, because they didn’t want us to leave.
Michael escorted us
home and also helped us with the Samson-tanzanite predicament that Emilee is
in. We went to the polisi station to see if they could even help us and they
agreed to. The government and the justice system is so corrupt here that they
won’t do their duty for free. If people want them to help or investigate
something, a price will always have to be paid.
The police
accompanied us as we traveled to Samson’s house to see if he was home and of
course, he wasn’t. We also went to Samson’s parent’s house to see about
Samson’s whereabouts and the father wasn’t giving us any information. Emilee
won’t be getting her money back unfortunately… The atonement of Jesus Christ
rights everything that is unfair in life. That is a very comforting thing to
me. The next most comforting thing to me is that Jesus Christ is a Perfect
Judge and that Samson will be held responsible for cheating Emilee, not giving
her money back when he said he would, and being dishonest about the tanzanite.
Pendo cooked us
samosas tonight for our last dinner. It’s the first and the last time she will
do that.
We made a bonfire
tonight and made s’mores galore. I had five s’mores. We use packaged cookies as
our graham crackers. I also had a s’more with a bite of banana in it. I was a
happy boy tonight.
I ended my
no-shower streak tonight. I haven’t gone this long without showering ever in my
life. The last time I even came close was on my second pioneer trek, which only
lasted four days I believe. Even though the water is cold, having water
pressure and getting clean are very good things that are well worth it.
A lot of us are
sleeping in the living room tonight for out last night…
