Item requested: 1 X rain

'All I can say is that my life is pretty plain...And I start to complain that there's no rain'
Blind Melon 'No Rain'

We have a pair of bundi kubwa(big owls) hanging around our house at present. They sit on the roof screeching at dusk before presumably hunting the bats that flit around. Pretty cool to have those haughty birds as neighbours.

Glad to see our neighbours (human) are chilled out about it. I’ve heard that Africans can be superstitious about owls, bats etc e.g the bird sanctuary I stayed at week on in South Africa in ’08 was shunned by the locals due to the many owls they had there. Or maybe that was just that it was run by an ex-army South African with a sniper rifle (he showed me) and no hesitation about shooting trespassers....anyway.

I’m pretty tired at the mo, one month of work to go. The heat in Moshi is mental. Needed a change of scene for the weekend so Franatee and I got on a crowded bus to go to Arusha and catch up with some Kiwis.

The landscape on the way to Arusha is reverting back to the brown dust bowl we saw as we first arrived here in March. No rain until April. Huge dust devils swirling like mini tornadoes. No green and no food for animals. It looks rough. Our mate Intrepid who lives in Karatu (north of Arusha) said that the ‘short rains’ (that we had over December) were too short out that way and people’s maize could be seriously affected. ('We wait for rain' said the mzee (older man) grimly whom I talked to at work about this issue subsequently)

An oil spill on the main road into Arusha meant traffic had to divert off road. Somewhat less than fun sitting in a hot, crowded bus for an hour or so waiting for a chance to use a single land bridge. Traffic cops around? Don’t make me laugh.

Got into A-Town, had a bit to eat while 3 children stood beside us asking us for food. Sigh...picked up some Konyagi and headed to our mate Daudi’s pad. Intrepid soon joined us and after the requisite Kiwi banter we headed out on the town. We picked up some more people from the Arusha Backpackers, ate, argued heatedly about development and cookies (don’t ask) then went off to meet more friends at ‘Lively Lady’ a plush little boutique-y bar. I was starting to feel quite...er happy. I petted a stray dog outside while some of my fellow revellers worried about rabies, I think?

We all headed to Colobus the seedy karaoke bar that has gone somewhat downhill. I still enjoyed belting out poor Karaoke. We met yet more Kiwi volunteers who were randomly at Colobus. I think if a bomb had gone off at that place, we would have lost 70% of the New Zealand’s contribution to development in Tanzania!

I got crabby that some of our girls shot off (WeWe!) to go dancing without me, the Dance King with them, so as my mood started to flatten, a contingent of us decided to call it a night. I was happy to tell everyone on the car ride at length home-with visual aids- what a great dancer I was and how the cuss could other people go dancing without me...I think the wife tuned out at some point.

The next day, Sunday nursing sore heads we grabbed a ride home with a mate to Moshi and tried to stay out of the heat. I kept thinking about kids watching me eat my lunch in Arusha, dust bowls and failed maize...donkeys tied up by the side of the road with no shade or water...just not things we have to worry about back home in NZ ai?

Being Sunday and having the post drinking Catholic guilts, on a whim I opened the Good Book at random and found a passage from Micah ‘He will teach us of His ways and we will walk in His paths’. I found that oddly comforting. Gotta stay on the path. That home stretch path.

Random P.S
If you wanna remember what my sweet voice sounds like check out the stellar animation work of my friend Neil-O at this link:

http://vimeo.com/19364350

Awesome effort Neil-o!! I think I make a more dapper spaceship captain than a volunteer.