Okay, Arusha is way too close to Moshi to have Police opening fire on violent protesters. This is shocking. Interesting talking to an older local guy (whose opinion on local politics I respect a lot) at work who had a very interesting perspective on how the situation escalated. Let's just say...Kiwis: don't take it for granted that back home people with differing views to the county's leaders have the freedom to demonstrate peacefully/have a say back home without a fear of Police-acting in the interests of the ruling party- allegedly beating them and an escalation of a tense situation into 'Gunfight at the OK Corral'.
My weekend in Moshi was pretty tame by comparison. My peeling, mildly frost bitten from-Kilimanjaro-climb fingers are healing okay. Somehow staggered through a 2 hour training run-was happy but sore afterwards. Read books, relaxed. Watched stand up comedy on a lap top at a friend's house. Went for a swim.
I'm in a crabby mood of late. Unsettled. Work is bugging me. I'm running out of time to do some things I consider (and I thought they considered) to be important...but people seem a bit disinterested or hectic on things that don't seem that important. In dark moments I wonder how much some people working in aid/charity/development actually care about their target populations of vulnerable people...or whether so long as they get a steady, comfortable donor paid salary, they are not that fussed with doing a good job.
Development is an interesting industry fo sho...corrupting I tells you. Ah, you do what you can.
I think what's mostly putting me in a bad mood is that while I am ambivalent about the work here is a lot about living here I am going to miss a lot. The sense of freedom and rawness. Friendly people in the communities.
And don't get me started on the wildlife...sigh...
I'm reading a non-fiction book called 'Babylon's Ark' about a South African Conservationist (Lawrence Anthony) who went to Baghdad just after the end of the initial American invasion to try to restore/save what was once one of the leading Zoo in Arabia and help a score of shell-shocked, starving creatures.
Aside from some interesting insights into how you effect humanitarian changes in a war zone, the author's discussion of his affinity/respect for the wild animals and bush of his native South Africa touches a chord. I'm not even that outdoorsy a type that what's so funny...but I will miss the outdoors here a lot. A big lot. Its a difficult feeling to articulate without coming across as some rock hyrax hugging vegetarian, animal rights hippy...
but its more primal than that. Go stalk an elephant on foot some time in your life, you'll get what I'm on about.
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