Thursday, July 12th: Power Outages

This is just a small post dedicated to Tanzania’s power outages. The power has been on and off this week, and up until now, it has been off for 2 days. The power goes out probably at least once a week, sometimes for a few hours or a day. No one really knows why, and no one really complains. They just get their flashlights and candles out and go on with their lives. Luckily my school has a backup generator, but there is no such thing at home. I’ve become pretty used to it by now, and dinner by candlelight can be fun… Until someone knocks the candle into the stew…

Wednesday, July 11th: The Watoto Foundation

Our Kiswahili teachers take us on field trips weekly to help reinforce the language. We took a trip to an institution nearby called the Watoto Foundation today. This organization finds and recruits boys ages 13-15 from the streets, gives them a new home, educates them with a primary school educations, and gives them specialized skills like carpentry, welding, or agriculture. The foundation also secures the boys a job or secondary school education after their graduation from the program.

When we arrived, we got a quick introduction to the organization and split off into pairs with the boys. Robert approached me, shook my hand, and took me on a tour of the foundation’s compound. I practiced a ton of Swahili, and he got to practice some English! Robert is 16 years old and really wanted to come visit me in America. He also likes 50 cent, and is studying carpentry. We played foosball and he showed me some furniture he’s made for the school! The school is really self-sustaining; the boys have many jobs to help keep the school going. Some are in charge of the rabbits, others are in charge of the chickens, etc. They even use some of the cow feces for bioenergy!

I tried to ask him about why he left his home for the streets, but he didn’t seem to want to talk about it. Some of the boys were orphaned and other had terribly dysfunctional families, so they turned to living on their own in the streets of Arusha. It was a really incredible experience. Check out the foundation at: http://www.watotofoundation.nl/en/

Sunday, July 9th: Canadians and Competitive Clotheslines

Busy, busy weekend! Raelyn and I went running, which is a big deal for me since it’s the first time I’ve been running since I hurt my foot! People in Tanzania think running and exercise is funny, so locals laughed at us, imitated us, and one guy tried running next to us!

We were also extremely domestic this weekend. We cooked a traditional African meal called “pilau,” which is a meat, vegetable, and rice dish. It took probably two hours to prepare the entire meal! We also hand washed our own laundry for the first time. Raelyn and I took our friendship to the next level. She likes to say, “nobody has ever been as intimate with my intimates.”

On Saturday, we visited Baba’s friends nearby. They are former missionaries from Canada (Raelyn was excited) and have been starting up their own Bed and Breakfast, which is turning out to be more like a resort! They were having their first guests that night, so we helped clean windows! They were so welcoming, kind, and had great stories! Check them out at: http://www.dashirlodge.com/

Last night, our class met up at TCDC, watched Dodgeball, had some beers, and had a mini discotech with our very own DJ Ray Ray. Today, our Baba told us he wanted to treat us to a nice lunch, so he took us to a buffet restaurant in Usa River! We even got Ice Cream. Brenda and Rachel, one of Baba’s daughters, also came. T’was a greatttt weekend!

Beginnings of Dashir Lodge!

My new sheets..... Aww yeah!!

Woman in da kitchennnn! Watch out!

Friday, July 6th: Power strips, pizza, and paka

We had our second trip to Mt. Meru! Today was a little more relaxed than last week. There was less equipment around, so my friend Grace and I casually fixed a power strip, then took a nice little break ... the rest of the day! I explored the city of Arusha with some friends and got PIZZA for lunch! It was surprisingly good despite my snobbish New York Standards!

Also, there are these kitties that we found hanging around out work area! “Paka,” in Kiswahili means “cat,” which allowed me to make my title alliteration. I’m all about the titles. People here don’t keep animals as pets though. Dogs are kept as guards, and cats get rid of rodents. Therefore my cat at home, Charlotte, would be pretty useless because she’s just a lazy diva. 

Paka!

Wednesday, July 4th: Sokoni

This week, I’ve been assimilating quite nicely. Yesterday, I made African pancakes! Which are more like crepes than pancakes. So tasty. Raelyn and I try to help with dinner almost every night, and we’ve done dishes with our family while dancing to “Waka, Waka” by Shakira. I hear this song probably twice a day.

My teacher for the week is Mama Frida, one of THE CUTEST little things ever! She laughs at stuff that we think is funny, even if she doesn’t understand the reference. We’ve put “Take me to Funkytown,” and “I have 99 problems,” into dialogues, and she laughs hysterically without knowing any context.

Today we took a field trip to Tengeru Market. It was insanity; I was kind of pooping my pants at the prospect of haggling in a different language. TCDC gave us 2000 /= (Tanzanian shillings, Tsh) for fruit/vegetables to give to the school. For only about $1.25, you can buy 5 maparachichi (avocadoes), 3 mafungu mavizuri (heaps of potatoes), and 3 mafungu karoti (heaps of carrots). That’s a lot of produce! In addition, I bought myself a kitenge for a good price! Which will require some tailoring… 

Sunday, July 1st: IT'S A GURAFF!

Safari this weekend was absolutely incredible. On Saturday, we visited Lake Manyara. It definitely wasn’t as full of animals as we would’ve liked, but Ngoronoro Crater made up for it ten-fold the following day. We all wanted to go camping, but apparently that’s expensive.

Instead, the tour company put us in a “hotel.” When we arrived at our “hotel” Saturday night, we came to the realization that we were essentially camping! What a sick joke! Our “rooms” were tents housed over huts! They (kind of) provided us with sleeping bags and pillows, but we were satisfied because we had a beautiful view, food, drinks, and good company. Laughs were had, jokes were made, animals were seen, and sketchiness was avoided.

My only advice, tourists beware of deals! We found a 2-day safari for $200, which is SUPER cheap, but our experience getting home was really rough. The safari cars were not well maintained, and broke down, delaying our departure. But everything considered, I saw all the animals I wanted and had a great time. I posted an entire album dedicated to my safari on Facebook!

IT'S A GURAFF

Friday, June 29th: Getting our hands dirty

Every Friday, my class takes a field trip to Mt. Meru Regional Hospital in order to get our hands on some REAL medical equipment! Our first day was supposed to be pretty relaxed, ya know, get our hands dirty! [HEY! THAT’S THE TITLE OF THIS POST!!!!!!! It is indeed! Gold star for you!]

 So of course, me and two other colleagues dove right in. Ray, Daria, and I were able to put a surgical lamp back into working order. It looked really intimidating at first, but it wasn’t a difficult fix! Without getting too technical, we agreed that replacing the battery and fixing the melted wires would’ve been improbable, and perhaps impossible. Instead, we made a glorified wall lamp: input à switch à transformer à output. Other colleagues were also able to put 2 wheelchairs, an oxygen concentrator, and a hospital bed back in business today. How awesome.

From what I’ve gathered, there’s a type of hierarchy of hospitals. There are dispensaries, clinics, regional, and national hospitals. Mt. Meru is considered a pretty good regional hospital. However, we wouldn’t have known, seeing as we worked outside in the dirt, the office we worked from was dirty and disorganized, and some of my colleagues found dead and alive rodents in broken equipment.

In addition, we are experiencing Tanzania during a rough time for health care. There are typically either public or private hospitals. The private hospitals offer better care, but at a higher price that many can’t afford. The Tanzanian government funds public hospitals, including its doctors and employees. Rights for public doctors are severely lacking, and many public doctors, especially in Dar Es Salaam, are on strike. They’ve been promised a great deal, and seen little change.

Keep these doctors, and their patients who are not receiving care, in your prayers. This experience has made me even more appreciative for the availability of healthcare in our country.

Dead bug in plug!

Initial Insanity.

Ray, Daria, and I after our first successful test.