Tanzania, nakupenda kwa moyo wote

It's been a busy week back here in Arusha. And let me just say that time has absolutely flown by! I feel like I just got back from Dar and Zanzibar yesterday, but it's already Saturday night! I'll chalk it up to the great time that I've been having since we've been back.

On Tuesday, we spent our afternoon at a center called the Girls Foundation of Tanzania. It is an organization that allows young girls to come and live there during their summers so that they can continue to study and receive school lessons while their regular schools are not in session. There are girls from age 12 to 18 there, and they are all incredibly bright. We went and talked with them for a couple of hours, answering questions about things such as life in America and our college experiences. We actually covered topics ranging from how we want to change the world to what going on a date is like, so there were definitely no constraints on what the girls wanted to know about. They were all so impressive with some of their responses to our own questions; one 12 year old was more insightful about religion and flaws in the education system than many adults here and in the US. We had such a great time talking to all of them, and at the end we gave them our emails so that they could continue to ask questions and stay in touch. I have high hopes for these future judges, accountants, and neurosurgeons (yes, these are their actual career goals), and I am sure that they will be able to have a positive impact on Tanzania in the future. Once they finish their schooling at Oxford, that is (another actual goal, and I'm sure they'll be able to achieve it)!

Us with the girls.

On Wednesday, we had a free afternoon so that our non-profit studies students could prepare for their table talk that evening on how to run a successful non-profit. At the beginning of our stay here, we met the principal of TCDC and introduced ourselves along with our areas of study. When she realized that we had several non-profit students, she asked them to put together a presentation on how to run a successful one for her. What was first taken as a joke was eventually realized as a serious commission, and Wednesday was the culmination of their hard work towards the presentation. TCDC advertised the talk to other non-profits and universitiesin the area, and close to 50 people other than our own group attended. Our students did such a good job with leading the discussion. We were all impressed by them and their abilities to field the various questions thrown at them by the many attendees. The table talk was definitely a success!

On Thursday, our excursion was to a place called Safe Water Ceramics. There is a large issue with obtaining clean water in Tanzania. Even the tap water has to be boiled or otherwise purified before consuming. The issues that arise from constantly using boiled water are an increased level of fluoride consumption, which impacts teeth and other bones, and the air pollution that is emitted from the burning of charcoal, which is how many families heat their stoves. Safe Water Ceramics therefore approaches water purification from a different angle. They craft ceramic pots that include a certain type of silver that is able to suffocate harmful bacteria. Also from the way the pots are heated in the kiln, a layer of charcoal is formed in the middle that filters out the sediment from really dirty water. The director of the organization showed us the dirty, brown water that goes into the pot, and then poured and drank the completely clear, uncontaminated water that drips from the bottom of the pot. It was incredible how clear the water was! The organization is completely self-sufficient, and the only funds it receives are those from purchases of the filters. They also take donations that go towards providing filters to families who can't afford them on their own. Up to this point, they have provided 3,000 filters to the surrounding community, and this number will only continue to increase! It was a really fantastic organization that I'm glad I got to get a peek into.

On Friday, we took a fun trip to one of the homes of a TCDC employee and visited his coffee and banana farm. First, he showed us how to pick the beans, which we then went out and did. Then, he explained the shelling and drying process. After this, he showed us the roasting process; we got to participate in stirring the beans over the fire. After the beans were done roasting, they went straight into the grinder and then the coffee maker! Freshest coffee I've ever had, and it was sooo good! I wish I could have coffee like that all of the time!

Coffee beans, pre-roasting

We also watched him knock down an entire banana tree, because this is apparently how you harvest bananas. They only produce once, and new trees are continuously popping up in place of the harvested ones. You learn something new every day!

Today was our last day with our homestays. In the morning, a bunch of us went into town to do last minute gift shopping at the Maasai market. As always, it was an overwhelming, exhausting experience, but I think we were all pretty successful. After getting back to TCDC, we had a late lunch and celebration with all of the homestay families. We were basically thanking them for welcoming us into their homes and taking us in as one of their own. All of us have had such incredible experiences with our families, and I know we're going to miss them all. 

There's a farewell party at TCDC tonight for all of us Oklahoma kids, our final hurrah if you will. And finally, a last minute trip came together and we get to go to Mt. Kilimanjaro tomorrow!! We're leaving bright and early in the morning, we'll get to hike around and explore for a bit until early afternoon, then we'll head back to Arusha for last minute showering and packing before heading to the airport around 6 pm! Time is running short, and it is so crazy to me that we'll be on our way back to Oklahoma in fewer than 24 hours! I'm getting very sad to leave, but I'm also quite ready to be back. It's a very bittersweet time, because this has been one of the most incredible experiences of my life and it's definitely sad to see it coming to a close, but I miss my loved ones very much and can't wait to be back with them, either. I'm so blessed that I had the opportunity to come on this trip, and I am beyond thankful that it has gone the way that it has. 

I'll post again after we're all safe and sound back in the states, but until then, Kilimanjaro or bust!!!

Pictures from Zanzibar

I was told than none of my pictures from Zanzibar uploaded in my last entry, so hopefully this will work.

The boats we took out to snorkel

On the snorkeling boat

The giant tortoises

10 year old tortoise

Ethiopian food

The coconut tree the man climbed to the top of

Fresh coconut water

The method of eating coconut

Grass crowns at the spice plantation

Audience outside of the women's co-op

My day on Zanzibar

Paje Beach

Sunrise on Paje Beach

Across the island

Thursday, June 6th we spent in Stone Town, as well. And it was definitely my favorite day on the island so far! In the morning, we headed down to the harbor and hopped on a couple of boats to go snorkeling! We had a fairly long boat ride out to the coral reefs where we stopped for awhile and swam around. The reefs were so beautiful! I loved seeing the incredible diversity present, both in fishes and coral. I hadn't been snorkeling in something like 9 years, so I was very happy to get to swim with the little fish again. There were definitely little clear jellyfish present, so they weren't quite as fun to have around, but we still had a fantastic time swimming around! 

On the boat.

After finishing up with our snorkeling, we all got back onto the boats and rode over to a nearby island. It's called Prison Island because its original purpose was, surprise, to be a prison, but now it is just home to a tortoise sanctuary and a hotel that is currently undergoing renovations and is not even open to guests. We hopped onto the island and over to the tortoise area, and basically just played around with them for an hour or so. We were allowed to walk up to them, feed them lettuce leaves, and even massage their necks! It was so fantastic. The tortoises were really impressive as well; they were all huge and many of them were incredibly old. The biggest one there weighs over 100 kilos and the oldest grandpa was 189 years old!! Imagine all of the things he's witnessed...probably a lot of leaves of lettuce. I absolutely loved playing around with them. After we had our fill of tortoise feeding, we went down to the beach and walked around for a little bit before getting back on the boat to head back to the main island. 

HUGE.

Side note: the motor cover on our boat was a Clemson one...what?! This was the second time I had seen something with Clemson on it since being in Africa. I also happened to actually be wearing my Clemson t-shirt that day. Small world, or something. 

That night, we went out to an Ethiopian restaurant for dinner. I had never had Ethiopian food before, so it was neat getting to try out some new cuisine! Ethiopian meals are done communally, so our table ordered several dishes, and then they were shared between all of us. We got some lamb, pumpkin, chicken, cabbage, and more...and every single bit of it was delicious! Ethiopian cuisine gets a 10/10 in my book!

On Friday morning, we went on a really cool spice tour on a local plantation. This entailed waking around the plantation and looking at, smelling, and tasting all kinds of different herbs and spices. We tried everything from cinnamon bark to ginger root to coconut water and meat. The process of obtaining the coconuts was especially interesting, as a man who was nicknamed Butterfly demonstrated his coconut tree climbing abilities, going all the way up the tallest tree around and SINGING AND DANCING THE ENTIRE TIME. I kid you not, he was over 100 feet up in the air, just singing at the top of his lungs and swinging from side to side. It was simultaneously fascinating and terrifying. Obviously he was very skilled at his task, but it was still pretty nerve wracking to watch! We called him "crazy coconut man" from there on out.

Crazy coconut man.

The tree he climbed to the top of.

Drinking water from the fresh coconuts he cut open for us.

At the end of the tour, we were given the opportunity to purchase spices straight from the plantation, and then we sat down for a fruit tasting. We tried many different fruits, such as star fruit, passion fruit, and custard apple. It was neat getting to sample varieties that we don't typically have in the states (especially not fresh picked on location like these were). Before we left, the workers presented us with crowns and baskets sewn out of some type of grass. We were quite a sight with all of them on, for sure. The spice tour was overall a really great experience!

Passion fruit, one of my favorites here.

Our new headwear.

After leaving the plantation, we went to another women's cooperative. This one was in a village called Kidoto, and the 20 women there make soaps to supply to tourists and local hotels. The specific name of the cooperative is Tusifemoyo, a Swahili phrase that means don't lay down your heart. It was a more exclusive operation than many of the co-ops we've seen up to this point. The women who work there are the original 20 women who started the operation, and any woman who wants to join has to pay a fee that is well beyond any reasonable amount for a typical Tanzanian woman, especially one who would be looking to get into co-op work. It was an informative experience, though, and it was especially funny because a ton of children from the village saw our whole group arrive and peered through the windows of the co-op building to see us. The reactions of most children here are pretty funny--they're obviously intrigued by this huge group of white people (wazungu), but they're too shy to actually talk to us. We just get a lot of stares from up close and waves from a distance. 

We attracted quite the crowd.

Inquisitive and adorable.

After leaving the co-op, we made a stop at Jozani Forest to look at red colobus monkeys, which are very rare/endangered and are only found on Zanzibar.  We also walked through a mangrove swamp in the forest. It was a beautiful pit stop!

After this, we finally made it to Paje Beach as the sun was setting behind the trees. We were able to get dinner at our hotel, Paradise Beach Bungalows, before heading off to sleep. The next day, Saturday, was designated beach bum day. We did basically nothing except lay on the beach all day long. Once I got out there after a sunrise jog along the beach and then breakfast at the hotel, I only left the beach twice--once to eat lunch and once to get a massage up at the main hotel area. It was glorious. The water was beautiful and at a perfect temperature. The tide was interesting and quite extreme. In the morning, it started fairly close to our beach and then receded to close to a mile away. At this point, local women come out and collect seaweed from the now-dry seafloor to make soap and other things for their businesses out of. There were tons of people just walking around the huge empty space collecting seaweed or whatever else was left behind that they could use to their advantage. The tide started coming back in around noon, and it just kept coming until it was right up at the entrance to our hotel area. There was literally no beach left for us to sit on. Several of us stayed out and played in the waves and on a small boat that a fisherman had anchored there that morning until we were finally satisfied. We sat around and talked and read for awhile before dinner, which was a wonderful Zanzibari-style meal that the hotel staff prepared for us. There was octopus, kingfish, fresh fruit, and more. All in all, it was a pretty perfect R&R kind of day that I think we all needed.

A good summary of how I spent my day.

The beauty of Paje.

Sunrise on the beach.

Sunday morning, we were all sad to leave the beach to head back to Dar. We had a 10 am flight out of the Zanzibar airport, so we said goodbye to Paje/Paradise Beach at about 7 am. After making it back to Dar, we went to the Tanzania National Museum for a little while to learn some more about the vast history of the country. After that, we headed to lunch and then to the hotel that we had stayed at for our first couple of nights in Dar at the beginning of the week to stay the night before our marathon 12 hour drive back to Arusha all day Monday.

We had an interesting experience on our drive back. Much of the police force here (like many government officials) is corrupt and searches for ways to obtain bribes from citizens. Today, our bus got pulled over by a traffic cop who said we were speeding (we weren't). The cop didn't have a speed reader or any other way to actually prove his point, and our TCDC mama, Yusta, started laying into them.  We all wished that we knew Swahili so that we could have understood exactly how she was handing it to them. At one point, Yusta told us to pull our cameras out and act like we were taking pictures of the cop, because this had happened before in another instance of crooked cops trying to obtain money in illegal ways, and those pictures had ended up in the news and all the cops involved had lost their jobs. These cops obviously didn't want this to happen, so they started freaking out and telling us to delete the pictures, all while Mama Yusta was still yelling who knows what at him in Swahili. A few minutes later, we drove off without having to pay a thing, as the cop pulled out his camera to take pictures of us in retaliation. We weren't as opposed to them as he had been and just smiled and waved as we drove away. So that was our excitement for the day, but we won't be taking those methods back to the states with us if we run into a traffic cop back there.

So to conclude, this week on Zanzibar was just beyond wonderful. Stone Town was a great place to explore for a few days, and Paje Beach was seriously paradise. I can't speak for all of our group, but I think that most of us are pretty sad that our "vacation week" is at a close. Starting this morning, we'll be back to our regular class/excursion schedule for our remaining week at TCDC. 

Friends and family: I miss you all so much, and I can't wait to see you in just about a week from now. Until then!

Stone Town in a nutshell

The last time I left off, we were getting ready to go on our walking tour of Stone Town, Zanzibar. This ended up being really beautiful and interesting. It was a different feel from anywhere we have been on this trip up to date, partially because it has a definite touristy feel in many parts. We did escape from the foreigner-filled streets during our tour into the local market. This was much like any other market that we've experienced so far, but with the added seafood section. It was a good reminder that we really are on an island! Seafood is a much bigger part of people's diets here, a fact that I will not complain about. 

My first meal on Zanzibar: fresh fish!

The hardest part of our tour, as well as all of our subsequent wanderings around town, was seeing the extreme wealth discrepancy between the many tourists and the extremely poor residents of Zanzibar. Because the Arusha area isn't too touristy, we hadn't before witnessed this very prevalent discrepancy. Other than this, Stone Town is great! We walked through some old slave markets and even slave quarters, so making contrasts between these and the slave markets of South Carolina that I grew up learning about and visiting was interesting.

The group during our tour, on stairs outside of a church that also used to be a slave market.

After our tour, we got to have a good lunch at a local establishment. Many of us got fish or prawns to celebrate that we were finally in a place where we could do so. 

My yummy dessert: basically creme brûlée with passion fruit in the middle.

We had time after lunch to wander around, so I went down to the beach with Darby and Wesley and played around for a bit! The weather was fantastic, and it felt so nice to wade in the ocean for a little while. And Zanzibar is just beautiful!

Beach time.

Before dinner that night, we went to a nearby hotel to grab drinks (because their restaurant is too expensive for us to eat an entire meal at) and listen to a taraab band play. The band sounded really good, and it was nice to just sit for awhile, as well!

Taraab band.

We then walked over to a central boardwalk area in town for dinner. Each night, tons of vendors set up in the square and basically have a giant barbecue. There was something for everyone--fresh fruit, chicken, seafood, crepes, pizza, and the list goes on. It was a really strange experience because all of these vendors were fighting for our business. Everywhere we walked, there were more people begging us to come eat from their table. I eventually settled on just a bunch of fruit and was a happy camper. It was fun, though, because including all of the tourists, there were people from all around the world gathered there, and it was just a cool atmosphere in general!

Terrible picture, but these were some of the tables to choose from. There were probably over 50 in total.

The next morning, Wednesday, we got up to visit a couple of different women's co-ops around town. The first one we went to was called Sasik and the women mainly made pillow cases and clothing. It is a group of 47 women currently. Any woman who is in need of employment is able to join, and they get to work in a more comfortable atmosphere than may have been available to them before, and they have a secure place to sell their creations, as well. It seemed like a great organization for impoverished women who need a helping hand to get into work. Our next stop was at a place called Upendo (which means love). This was different from Sasik in that they also run a training school there so the women can become very competent at sewing before moving on to selling goods. It was very well-run, with an incredibly bright and beautiful woman leading the organization. It also seemed like a really good opportunity for women to partake in.

Sewing room at Upendo

All of this year's students

Upendo means love.

After these visits and lunch at whatever local establishments we felt like, we went to the Ministry of Health for Zanzibar and listened to the minister speak. This was pretty awesome because the Minister of Health is a woman. It was so great to see a woman in such a position of power, so hopefully more women will be able to follow in her footsteps. We also went to the local hospital to look around and listen to some doctors there.

All of us with the Minister of Health in the middle.

The emergency room at the hospital--it's definitely still developing. I'm not sure that I'd want to get treated here, but the health system here has come so far in such a short amount of time that it is still incredibly impressive. They're improving by leaps and bounds here. 

After our many NGO visits throughout the day, we got to unwind on a sunset dhow ride. Dhows are these big sailboats that are very common around here. There were a couple of local musicians on board who serenaded us the whole time, as well. It was absolutely beautiful and fantastic and I loved every minute!!

Our many snacks on our ride.

It was the perfect way to relax and rejuvenate; we all had an incredible time.

And now it is midnight for me, which is about 3 hours later than I'm usually up, so I'm going to stop here so I can sleep and not be a zombie tomorrow and write about today (Thursday) later.

Hugs to all!

Change of scenery

On Sunday, we drove the route down to Dar es Salaam--all 12 hours of it. It was definitely a long drive, but it wasn't as bad as I was expecting it to be. This was partially due to the fact that the natural scenery was constantly beautiful--we would go from lush, green mountain terrain to open plains and back, eventually catching sight of the flora that accompanies the coastal region. The other thing that made the drive go faster was all of the people alongside the road on the way. It was so interesting to be able to catch snippets of so many people's daily lives as we flew past--this was an aspect of driving we don't really get to experience when on the interstates of America. I felt like I was getting a split second view of these people's lives that I could never witness otherwise--the children playing hopscotch in the dirt outside of their houses, the men shaking hands after what had maybe been a business deal, the women sitting underneath the shade of a banana tree, likely sharing the latest gossip--all going about their daily lives, oblivious to the assessments that I was making about their simple actions during that millisecond in which I passed by. It was quite an interesting experience for me, and such observations made the time pass more quickly. 

From plains...

To mountains...

To coast.

Snippets of daily life.

We made a quick stop on our way to Dar at a chapel where David Livingstone, a forerunner of humanitarianism in Africa, had been. He was also buried in a nearby location that we passed by, as well. We also caught our first glimpse of the ocean from this road, which got us all very excited. We finally began to drive into the outer reaches of Dar, and it was apparent right off the bat how different this place is from Arusha. It has such a big city feel, as it should--it has a population of 6 or 7 million people. Don't hold me to that number, but the largeness of it is partially due to how spread out Dar is. But it's also just a really big city! After getting into the hotel and dropping belongings off, the group headed to an Indian restaurant for dinner. I (and Jennifer) stayed behind because I was tired, not hungry, and by god, I was not getting back on that bus after already spending 12 hours on it that day. So I got a good, long night's sleep and was ready to go in the morning!

Monday morning, we got up and had breakfast at our hotel. After breakfast, we headed to the US Embassy! I was so excited about this trip, and it was so not a let down. We met with a few people in the USAID (US Agency for International Development) department, and they told us all about what the US is doing in Tanzania and the various programs that they have implemented here. USAID was started under the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, and the three main tenets of the program are diplomacy, defense, and development. They have various development portfolios that are as follows: Agriculture and Food Security, Democracy and Human Rights and Governance, Environment and Global Climate Change, Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment, Global Health, Science, Technology and Innovation, and Water and Sanitation. We heard a bit about each program, and it seems like all the work that is being done has been quite beneficial to Tanzania. For example, their health program has decreased the malaria rate on Zanzibar from 25% to less than 1% just since 1995. The hope is that we will be able to help Tanzania improve economically to become a middle-income nation so that the US can step out at some point, but the development steps that have been taken can be up kept by the Tanzanian government and people. Each program within USAID is designed with an exit plan in mind--the purpose of the program is development, not dependency. This was my favorite briefing that we've attended since being in Tanzania, and it was just an added bonus to technically be on American soil for a couple of hours and listen to a bunch of people with American accents talk--it was a little slice of (very educational) home!

After this visit, we went to see the University of Dar es Salaam. It was in many ways a lot different from our traditional universities in the states, but it was the same in that the students walking around have the same agendas as most other students, including ourselves--they go to class, they chat with friends, and they work to further their future career goals. It was a beautiful campus, filled with green space and giant trees. We only stayed for a little bit, and we then headed to a nearby mall to pick up whatever supplies we might deem necessary for our Zanzibar trip. We were able to pick up a few things (and to give me enough time to cause an accidental ruckus with my camera in my bag setting off alarms at the front door, requiring me to be escorted into a back administrative room where they could search my bag, only to eventually apologize for wasting my time). After this, we went back to our hotel and had a short break before class. A few of us took this time to walk down to the beach. It was so beautiful! I love the ocean, and now that I'm displaced from a coastal state into the middle of Oklahoma, I don't get to the beach nearly as often as I would like. And this beach trip was a special one because I got to stick my toes in the Indian Ocean for the first time! We only stayed for a few minutes, but we left knowing that in a few days, we will have plenty of time to spend on Zanzibar's beautiful sands.

How beautiful is this?! 

Indian Ocean.

Happy on the beach!

We had a quick lecture from one of Dr. Bass' former students who is now living in Kenya doing NGO work, and then it was time for a quick dinner and off to bed because we had a change of plans for getting to Zanzibar in the morning. Since the water between Dar and Zanzibar is considered some of the roughest in the world, our thoughtful trip leaders decided to save us the seasickness and book us flights over to the island instead. The only downside to this is that we had to be leaving the hotel by 5:00 am in order to catch our 7:00 am flight, so it was a very early morning for all.

And after our 20 minute flight, now we are in Zanzibar, just checked into our hotel for the next couple of days, with this killer view:

I can live with this.

We're about to start our walking tour of Stone Town, so it will be great to check out our new surroundings for the next few days! We're all so happy to be here, and can't wait to see what comes next!

Until next time!