Today was very chill. Ricky and I just ran errands in town. I had some holes in my clothes that I got fixed for 1,000 Tsh ($0.60). The one time I try to get a haircut, in a place that sells business 24/7, no one at the store is there that can do it.
I'm eating bread plain right now. I love fresh baked bread and that's the only kind they sell for $0.45-75 a loaf!
We used the internet today.
My debt is half paid with Caroline. I bought her half of the amount of ice cream agreed upon for her twurking.
We met a group of volunteers from IVHQ and they are the classic mzungus. They hang around Shoprite, the white person tourist supermarket, and all of the expensive cafes that surround it. It's a hot spot because there is wifi and more American food. Those girls had never eaten local African food, never tried ugali or anyhting. Luckily they take daladalas for transportation... I just wonder what experience they're having in Tanzania. I like my trip so far because I'm seeing so much of the local customs and culture.
29 June 2013 (Saturday)
Today we hiked up to a waterfall with Elias as our guide. It was gorgeous and peaceful. I loved it. We left at 8:30 a.m. and got back to eat around 3 p.m.
There were some children who followed us part of the way at the beginning of our hike. They are good at begging, let me tell you. They ran up to us all excited to see us. They would even hold our hands. After a couple of minutes they would say, "Give me money." It wasn't their lucky day because I'm not gullible like most mzungus. I smiled back and simply said, "If you give me chocolate, then I'll give you money." Of course they have no idea what I'm saying but they catch the word "money" again and ask one more time for money. I give the same response and they drop it. They asked several more times before leaving us. It wasn't my first rodeo. I wish I could, but I can't give to everyone.
The water in the small river leading from the waterfall and the waterfall itself was freezing. Refreshing at first until your feet have been in a few minutes. Then it starts to hurt as it goes numb.
The girls were the first ones to jump in the water and get underneath the waterfall.
I was shirtless and it felt like needles hitting my back. Shaylor and Aaron did it though.
We came back and had pizza at Mt. Meru hotel again. I worked up enough of an appetite to where eating a whole pizza was no big deal.
(Mt. Meru)I tried to play five-on-five soccer with the locals by myself, but it didn't last long.
Now we're just chilling at home reading or watching a movie.
30 June 2013 (Sunday)
Today many of us visited Michael's church, Evangelical Lutheran Church of Tanzania (ELCT). Right when we arrive Michael informs us that he thought we should sing a few songs for their congregation. We collaborated and decided upon "I Believe in Christ," "Nearer My God to Thee," and "Now Let Us Rejoice." We decided to sing two verses of each song. Luckily they had a keyboard and we had Caroline, who was offered scholarships for playing the piano.
This was my first experience at another church, besides LDS, on a Sunday. Today we were also accompanied by a youth choir that was just visiting for the day also.
They had pews just as we do just without the padding. This was a church that would sing, dance, shout amens, and raise their hands high to the Almighty during some prayers.
At the beginning, we were introduced in front of everyone. They are very friendly and hospitable. We also stood up for various things quite often as a congregation.
While we sang, the congregation did their almsgiving publicly into a basket right in front of us. After each hymn we would receive a roar of applause. Our singing wasn't nearly as upbeat as their music, but they still appreciated it.
Apparently "Nearer My God to Thee" is one of the hymns translated into Swahili that many people know. Right after we finished and sat down, the congregation sang that hymn in Swahili. It was really cool.
They had their version of the sacrament where the congregation came up to partake of it. We didn't though.
My favorite part of the service was clapping and dancing along with the choirs and congregation. It was fun!
Afterwards we were led outside and a line formed to shake everyone's hand like at a reception of some kind.
Example of their hospitality and sincere interest in us: We were fed lunch along with the visiting choir. They also announced what everyone was/had studied in school.
Then we walked to Michael's orphanage to have another lunch that his wife prepared. Classic rice and beans and fruit. I love it. We passed a stone quarry along the way.
What I love about Tanzania is that there is such a variety of terrain so close to each other. A quarry, mountain, plains, hills, jungle, forest, desert, etc.
Since we're on our own for food on the weekends. I resort to PB&J sammiches. On average, I probably eat 5-7 sammiches a day on the weekends.
Our cook, Pendo, got punched in the eye today on the way to our home. She had to get off at a different stop than usual to drop off a package and the conductor of the daladala wouldn't let her get off. She wanted her money back and he wouldn't give it so she took it from him, hence the punch. She slapped him after. Good for her. She didn't cook for us tonight like she normally does on Sundays...
01 July 2013 (Monday)
Ellen and I had an early morning meeting with Martha, a local partner for the Albino Peacemakers. She is albino. I have never seen an albino person until coming to Tanzania. Their skin is exactly like a white person's but they have African features.
She has a lot of stuff she wants us to help with: organizing another eye camp and raising funds for reading glasses for albinos (albinos have poor vision because of their condition), building another chicken coop, starting a garden, teaching classes on vocational skills such as sewing, cooking, and entrepreneurship to help create job opportunities for them.
It's been hard getting a hold of her all summer because she's been traveling a lot. She'll be out of town the next two weeks also. This was my first, first meeting with a local partner.
After that, Martha took us to Olorien Health Clinic to see if HELP could be of service to them. We need the volunteer visas though... This prevents us from helping a lot of people/organizations simply because we are technically here on "tourist" visas. They are the cheapest. (And for some other reasons unknown to me).
Then we walked to her house and I met Hawa (Eve) along the way. She was the cutest little five-year-old girl.
Similar to Carine's experience in Madagascar, we walk everywhere on dirt roads. This is one instance I'm glad we have taxes.
Then we met up at Utukufu, which I recently found out means "glory". The chicken coop got finished today. All that was left was the fence door and a mountain of ugali to eat as usual. We are coming back next week to purchase the chickens.
It feels good to complete the building of the coop and we were thanked heavily for it. The whole Utukufu group wants to give us a gift and they said that their home was our home. No better feeling. I've waited for this all summer.
Caroline cut my hair tonight... with scissors one would use in elementary school! We had no working razor and the locals butched Jeff's hair and beard. I decided to take my hair elsewhere. Caroline has only cut hair twice before, one of those times with scissors. It looks amazing for her inexperience and lack of proper equipment.
(After)
She is the most "awkward"-hating girl I've ever met. It's so funny. She's so pure and everything slightly intimate or bodily or relationshippy makes her get uncomfortably awkward. She's 20 but looks 14.
(Sorry Caroline! ;^) I didn't think you'd mind)
02 July 2013 (Tuesday)
We had to wait for our daladala to fill up with people before we could even leave for Namanga again. This happened the first time I went to Namanga. We waited for two hours for it to fill up. Similar experience today.
Normally Namanga is quite a bit hotter, but the weather was perfect. It's right on the Kenya border. The ATM on the Tanzania side wasn't working for Ellen so we were allowed to cross over into Kenya to use an ATM. It was suspiciously too easy. We didn't have to sign anything or talk to anyone really. We just walked over.
Once across the border we were immediately greeted/ambushed and swarmed by Maasai women tryin gto sell their beaded jewelry. They were the most aggressive vendors I have come in contact with since my time here in Africa. Even after saying no literally 20 times they still tried to get us to buy things. They even gave us free, small items of jewelry to persuade us to buy something. I was given a ring.
The purpose of our trip was to help the Green Eden school build a kitchen. Their current "kitchen" is outside and dismal at best. This is the same school I taught the HIV/AIDS prevention class at.
Emmanuel is the partner we're working with and he's contributing about 30% of this project's funds. HELP only requires at least 5% from our partners. Because of his large contribution we know he's truly invested in this project. He even hired a builder also. Already this is going better than the chicken coop. Most of the supplies were there ready to go and waiting for us.
Today we finished the foundation. We had to make mud by mixing water into the pile of dirt in the center of where the kitchen will be.
The foundation was made by placing slabs of rock in a Tetris-style and then covering it with a layer of mud. We did three layers of this.
Then they made cement by mixing it old school with a shovel and water in a pile on the ground. 12 buckets, 6 buckets of small rocks, and one 50 kg bag of cement.
Cement was then poured on top of these layers to finish the foundation. I left a footprint with my initials in the wet cement.
Emmanuel invited us to attend a pre-wedding reception for some friends of his. It was a double wedding: two couples. The actual wedding isn't until this Saturday.
There was a lot of hootin' and hollerin', dancing, speakers, and food. Gifts were given to the brides and grooms too. They had three cakes, two of which were delivered by the brides to their future in-laws. Soda is a staple for Tanzanians as it is for mzungus here.
The food was delicious as usual and there were no utensils to be used. It was my first full meal using my hands and fingers. Most of the meal was rice. It was quite an interesting experience. Fun, but messy.
While I was sitting and watching, I played with the kids around me. A camera is all one needs to entertain them.; Kids here love getting their picture taken and seeing themselves on the camera screen.
I had a warm shower at the motel we're staying at. They were communal showers and there was a large cauldron of boiling water to fill a bucket with. There were water tanks of cold water to mix it with to get the ideal temperature. My shower was just a bucket of water with a scoop.
I almost forgot, but he brides and grooms were emotionless during the reception. Some even looked somber that they were getting married. It was interesting.
03 July 2013 (Wednesday)
For breakfast we had hot milk with sugar and buttered bread. It was a sweet reunion because the first time I ever had hot milk and sugar was the first time I came to Namanga when Emmanuels' wife Mary fed us.
Yesterday I had my first passion fruit. They are delicious. They're yellow when ripe and slightly smaller than an orange. They're hollow, but the inside is filled with tons of seeds that look like fish eggs because they're juice-filled sacs containing an individual seed.
A lot of the walls were put up today - cinder blocks with cement in between. We sat around a lot since the builder does it a certain way. We made trips to a nearby dried up creek for sand.
We got to see the children line up for lunch today. It was sad and humbling. They're happy because they don't recognize the circumstances they are in. For lunch they were all given one cup of flour based porridge. That was it. I recognize how numb I'm becoming to those things... The longer I'm here the more ungrateful I seem to become. I'm surrounded by poverty and yet I'm still in a wealth bubble where I eat three meals a day. I never ever have to worry about being hungry. I have many changes of clothes when I see them wearing one or two outfits maybe. I have books, an iPod, and games to entertain myself. I am spoiled. Upon arrival in a second/third world country, shock from their conditions weighs heavily upon you while it's fresh. It always wears off though. I don't know why and frankly I don't enjoy or desire that outcome.
That very reason is part of why I wanted to come for three months instead of one. I wanted it to be branded on my heart forever.
I tried my first fried sweet potato with salsa from a street vendor. Delicious.
We always bring our passports with us when we travel long distances because they inevitably check them randomly to see that we have valid visas. This was Ricky's first time to Namanga. Ellen reminded him to bring his passport but he ignored her counsel. Lo, and behold, right before we depart for home we got checked and all he brought was his U.S. drivers license. That didn't fly with the Tanzanian official. He had to step into the office and we had to retrieve Emmanuel to confirm who we were. It delayed our departure by about two hours.
Our trip was longer on the way home too because daladalas are busier at night. I wouldn't have cared normally, except that tonight we were supposed to meet up with a bunch of girls from another volunteer organization called IVHQ. It was the last night they'd be in Arusha before heading to Zanzibar and then to the States.
When I got home it was too late to go and people from our team didn't want to anymore. We were going to go to a popular local club that had karaoke. I was furious that night. I know it was out of my control, but I hate disappointing people and not keeping commitments.
There was a kid on the daladala ride home that had long dreads and was headbanging to no music for over an hour straight. We are pretty positive he was intoxicated. He was interesting to say the least.
At lunch we had a sweet, deep, religious conversation with Ricky. We talked about his belief in the after life - resurrection or reincarnation. It was centered a lot on the questions,"Why is their so much suffering in the world? If there is a God, why would he allow it?" It was wonderful.
04 July 2013 (Thursday)
Today everyone got a day off due to Independence day. I got to sleep in for the first time in a while.
Caroline, Ricky, and I went out to lunch and got nyama choma again. I wasn't excited because of my last experience with getting it. It's a plate of pieces of beef or chicken sold by the kg. Usually the pieces have tons of bone, gristle, and fat. This plate was amazing though and we could eat most of it.
Then we went in to town in search of fireworks and firewood. Caroline was joking earlier how funny it would be to see Ricky and I on the same pikipiki (they rarely take two people on the same pikipiki let alone two men). Lo, and behold, a couple hours later we had to both take one to get the firewood home.
We had a Fourth of July party at our house. We invited many of the local partners we are working with. Pendo helped cook cheeseburgers and hot dogs for everyone. We also had watermelon, grilled pineapple, American chips, and soda. It was a refreshing meal.
A fire was made for the first time since arriving and the fireworks were fun for the local kids who had never used them before.
I don't know what it is about this past week but every little thing has been setting me off and making me angry/frustrated/impatient. I hate it because I never feel good after and get upset at myself for choosing to be offended in so many ways. I feel like I'm on a man-period or something. Sheesh
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