Gotta lot of loose ends to tie up, less than 1.5 weeks of work to go. Then I got an urgent query from a fellow volunteer about land law and what legal power allows the displacement of a whole village...arrgh, I freakin' hate Tanzanian land law.
Feeling flat all week, monitoring the news from home and the steadily increasing death count from the Christchurch earthquake. Those are my brothers and sisters. It's been dislocating to have the normal life of Tanzania rolling on around us, while a tragedy is going on at home 1000s of kilometres away.
Yet I am uplifted by the stories about Kiwis pitching in in small and big ways to help each other. My respect for my sister nursing and giving triage in that devastated landscape is off the chart, so proud.
Last night the wife and I went and had dinner with a manager and her husband at their house. I think I needed that family kinda vibe at this time. It was relaxing chatting outside (no power) as bats, hedgehogs and the odd monkey capered around. I'll miss the human connections you make with people after being in a context for a while. Having a meal. Sharing a joke. Giving and recieving sympathy. There is more that makes us 'the same' than makes us 'different'.
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Shit
(Spire of 100 year+ Christchurch Cathedral collapsed)
Woke up Monday morning African time to the news from New Zealand about another earthquake in Christchurch. One of the worst since the '31 quake in Hawkes Bay. Those poor, poor people. Thoughts and prayers for all people affected and the families/friends of those killed. Felt sick looking at photos of devastation, crushed buses, traumatised people...awful, just awful.I thank God my sister is alive. Spoke to her on the phone, it sounds unreal. I'm real proud she is using her hard won nursing skills to help people on the ground.
Our first National State of Emergency ever. Probably the worst disaster New Zealand has ever seen.
My home part of the world has taken a kicking this year, what with the mine explosion, earlier earthquakes in Christchurch, floods in Australia etc Kia Kaha
Cheeky Weekend at Lake Manyara/Karatu Pt 3-Finale
‘We are elite athletes.’
Despite having a few drinkees last night, four of us decided to do a high altitude (Karatu is at 1800 metres) run near the dense bush that marks the border of the Ngorogoro Conservation Area. One of us is doing the half marathon next weekend, the other three have ambitiously decided to do the full marathon.
Commence 45 minutes of puffing and panting through wet grass, over muddy roads and past some beautiful views of rolling bush.
(The Elite are on the move)
(a banda(hut) and bush stretching off into Ngorogoro as we huff and puff along)
Lots of fresh elephant dung on the trail. The tembo come foraging at local farms at night before melting back into the Ngorogoro bush. A source of major annoyance to the local farmers and coffee growers (while tembo will not eat the coffee they will stamp all over it to get to other tasty greens.) Lamentably, we did not run across any stray elephant.
(c'mon mke!)
Later we went for a walk and took in Intrepid’s classroom she’s put together. I felt proud to see where she taught. In a very Kiwi, roll up your sleeves and get on with it kind of way, she’s really made something out of nothing there and is making a real difference to the learning of some poor as hell kids.
(class is in session)
Respect, Intrepid. We saw some local kids shyly watching us doing our tour as they collected water from a local tap. Coffee fields stretching and rolling off into the distance. Can I say again this is such a tranquil setting?! Might be due to the recent heavy rain and greenness. They will need more of it though if the maize crop is going to do well though.
(trays for gathered coffee beans to be placed on to dry)
After a lunch in Karatu-where Franatee enjoyed the chance to have a captive dog audience for petting-we said goodbye to Intrepid and with Bexter at the helm we drove off. Bexter, being a novelty of a blonde woman driver attracted a fair share of comments from other road users. My favourite was the ‘Kwa Nini? (Why?!)’ a guy yelled at us as we drove past and pointed at Bexter. Otherwise, a nice dusk drive back to Arusha, watching the colourful Masai and their herds that wander the plains.
‘Attack of the Zombie Child Swarm’
On getting into Arusha we dropped our gear at Daudi’s house (we were going to stay the night) and went to local bar for some beers and chipsi mayai. In retrospect my omission to change from shorts into longs was probably unwise. My Hawaiian shirt/shorts combo drew a lot of attention from a nearby group (gang) of children. Soon we were swarmed by the cheeky youngsters, begging for soda, money anything. Hope they weren’t the same kids that Bexter saw stoning a stray dog this one time. They followed us for a ways back to Daudi’s flat. Guess you haven’t lived till you’ve been swarmed in the dark by a gang of feral children. Maybe ‘feral’ is too strong a word. Ah, they were just trying their luck. But don’t turn your back on those cheeky tykes (shudder)!
Our stay at Chateau Daudi was certainly proceeding eventfully. But after getting back inside and nailing every door and window shut to stop the little horrors getting in (kidding. but not really) we watched a movie and relaxed. Had a great night’s sleep. Said goodbye to Daudi and Bexter and bussed back to Moshi for a cheeky late start to work Monday under a vista of Kilimanjaro covered in snow (due to the recent short burst of heavy rains).
Great weekend. I felt sad though on Monday. Gonna miss the friends I have made here. Quite a bit.
Despite having a few drinkees last night, four of us decided to do a high altitude (Karatu is at 1800 metres) run near the dense bush that marks the border of the Ngorogoro Conservation Area. One of us is doing the half marathon next weekend, the other three have ambitiously decided to do the full marathon.
Commence 45 minutes of puffing and panting through wet grass, over muddy roads and past some beautiful views of rolling bush.
(The Elite are on the move)
(a banda(hut) and bush stretching off into Ngorogoro as we huff and puff along)
Lots of fresh elephant dung on the trail. The tembo come foraging at local farms at night before melting back into the Ngorogoro bush. A source of major annoyance to the local farmers and coffee growers (while tembo will not eat the coffee they will stamp all over it to get to other tasty greens.) Lamentably, we did not run across any stray elephant.
(c'mon mke!)
Later we went for a walk and took in Intrepid’s classroom she’s put together. I felt proud to see where she taught. In a very Kiwi, roll up your sleeves and get on with it kind of way, she’s really made something out of nothing there and is making a real difference to the learning of some poor as hell kids.
(class is in session)
Respect, Intrepid. We saw some local kids shyly watching us doing our tour as they collected water from a local tap. Coffee fields stretching and rolling off into the distance. Can I say again this is such a tranquil setting?! Might be due to the recent heavy rain and greenness. They will need more of it though if the maize crop is going to do well though.
(trays for gathered coffee beans to be placed on to dry)
After a lunch in Karatu-where Franatee enjoyed the chance to have a captive dog audience for petting-we said goodbye to Intrepid and with Bexter at the helm we drove off. Bexter, being a novelty of a blonde woman driver attracted a fair share of comments from other road users. My favourite was the ‘Kwa Nini? (Why?!)’ a guy yelled at us as we drove past and pointed at Bexter. Otherwise, a nice dusk drive back to Arusha, watching the colourful Masai and their herds that wander the plains.
‘Attack of the Zombie Child Swarm’
On getting into Arusha we dropped our gear at Daudi’s house (we were going to stay the night) and went to local bar for some beers and chipsi mayai. In retrospect my omission to change from shorts into longs was probably unwise. My Hawaiian shirt/shorts combo drew a lot of attention from a nearby group (gang) of children. Soon we were swarmed by the cheeky youngsters, begging for soda, money anything. Hope they weren’t the same kids that Bexter saw stoning a stray dog this one time. They followed us for a ways back to Daudi’s flat. Guess you haven’t lived till you’ve been swarmed in the dark by a gang of feral children. Maybe ‘feral’ is too strong a word. Ah, they were just trying their luck. But don’t turn your back on those cheeky tykes (shudder)!
Our stay at Chateau Daudi was certainly proceeding eventfully. But after getting back inside and nailing every door and window shut to stop the little horrors getting in (kidding. but not really) we watched a movie and relaxed. Had a great night’s sleep. Said goodbye to Daudi and Bexter and bussed back to Moshi for a cheeky late start to work Monday under a vista of Kilimanjaro covered in snow (due to the recent short burst of heavy rains).
Great weekend. I felt sad though on Monday. Gonna miss the friends I have made here. Quite a bit.
Cheeky Weekend at Lake Manyara/Karatu Pt 2
I woke up a bit crabby in the morning from lack of sleep due to mosquitoes. Planes raced at low level over the campsite taking eager tourists to the nearby proudly named ‘Manyara Airport’ ie a rough strip on top of the escarpment.
After chewing eggs and red bananas in Mtu-WaMbu, we headed into the Lake Manyara park for some safari action. Lake Manyara was last on our priority list of Northern Safari Circuit Parks, but it certainly was well worth it.
We saw lots of baboons and monkeys, hippos grazing in the daytime (unusual), zebra fighting and biting each other and tons (literally)of elephant. The first elephant we saw was wandering in the mid-distance so I cheekily popped out of the car to get a better photo. Ah, the wind was blowing towards me, all good.
(hippo)
Just as we resumed tootling along in the car, a big shape pushed out of the foliage by the side of the road. Hatari! Tembo! The elephant and our intrepid driver were equally startled as we began a stealthy reverse. I wasn’t that freaked out but I got a little bit serious about telling my fellow passengers not to shriek or make noise.
(phew he's moving on)
Thankfully, the elephant relaxed and ambled on its way. Soon we were driving through a large spread out herd of mothers, adolescents and babies. We saw a massive tusker dwarfing the other elephants around it. Possibly the herd matriarch? Magnificent.
(what a monster)
(elephant everywhere we drove!)
Had a lunch break near-ish Lake Manyara proper. Some giraffe wandering in a stately manner in the distance. The lake is growing smaller year by year apparently, the water certainly looked quite far away.
(Giraffe wanders past with Lake Manyara in the distance)
After exiting the park, we met up with our friends Daudi and Bexter who had driven up from Arusha. After a cheeky beer we drove off in convoy to the town of Karatu proper. At least we drove until stopped by some cops angling for bribe money. They were making ridiculous claims like one of our cars had no current fire extinguisher sticker (it did) and that the car was a ‘bus’ for the purposes of fine levels. We stuck to our guns and were soon on our way, without having to pay. Something about cops here angling for money always sickens me, no matter how long I stay here. ‘Serve and Protect’ my CUSS.
‘Practice your mudslides’
(hmm...bit of mud)
One of our drivers had to bail to see a friend in hospital so, 6 of us had to cram into the remaining small 4WD vehicle. Ouch. We turned onto the off-road mudtrack that led to the place Intrepid was staying. She warned the driver to practice his mud sliding on the good parts of the road, as due to a recent spell of heavy rain, the way would be a mire. She was right. A couple of near misses and slides, a big ditch and one epic race through a huge puddle, left the car coated in mud and the passengers equally exhilarated and terrified. We are not all as intrepid as Intrepid.
We arrived at our destination about 5pm. A former colonial building now a religious community for Catholic Brothers and guest house.
Intrepid has been staying there while she waits for a flat to be completed for her near the primary school she volunteers at. The surrounds of the Brother's House were beautiful. Rolling coffee plantations leading off to dense green bush marking the boundary with the Ngorogoro Conservation Area.
Notwithstanding, the poverty of the locals in the area, I took guilty pleasure in feeling relaxed in a peaceful environment. Had some sundowners while watching a colony of chattering weaver birds settling down for the night.
Felt like I was unwinding.
(Volunteers relaxing)
The rest of the evening we spent in fellowship aided by some cheeky bottles of wine. Intrepid showed us some handstands. I reflected on my atrocious upper body strength and my need to get back to a gym when we get home ASAP. We planned to get in a dawn run so I needed my beauty sleep, so retired to a big comfy bed with zero mosquitos.
To be Concluded.
Monday, February 21, 2011
Cheeky Weekend at Lake Manyara/Karatu Pt 1
‘Watch out for baboon roadkill’
Been watching all three 'Bourne Identity' movies with Dr Bob's, our American friend’s house. Am constantly struck between the similarities of a black ops assassin working for a shadowy government program and my work.
The wife and I had Friday off (as we had worked the Muslim holiday we recently had on Wednesday) so we planned to head west of Moshi. We were going to stay Friday night at a camp on the Rift Valley escarpment before travelling Saturday further on to see where our good friend Intrepid Kat works in the Karatu District. Our volunteer handler was in Moshi to meet with our bosses (p.s they gave us glowing reports-yusss!), so he gave us a ride to Arusha. As we drove we talked about Uganda and travel insurance-or lack thereof- (‘you can buy an AK-47 in Kampala’ he said deadpan) and the ins and outs of volunteer living. Will miss our handler when we leave, he’s a solid guy. It’s all gone so fast, seems just like yesterday he was picking us up from the Kilimanjaro airport in March '10.
In Arusha, we crammed into a ‘speed taxi’ minibus and shot off at speed for Karatu. I got off to a bad first impression with the driver who asked me to open the door as we drove. On me doing so he started screeching in Swahili...other passengers told me he had meant ‘window’. Awkward.
We passed zebras and the town of Mtu-WaMbu (mosquito river) then started trundling up the high escarpment that marks the boundary of the Great Rift Valley (ie the 6000km long trench that extends from Syria to Mozambique.) Nice views of Lake Manyara as we climbed up. We got to the top of the escarpment and following Intrepid Kat’s instructions we jumped out.
(Lake Manyara)
(that escarpment wall is deep, yo)
(the wife taking in the view)
The ‘Panorama Campsite’ was a 500 metres walk off the main road, so we settled in there and chilled out with some beers taking in the dramatic view of the Rift Valley floor.
(not a bad view for a beer)
Intrepid turned up around 6pm with a couple of friends, including one from Uganda. We were soon picking the brains of our new Ugandan chum for information about her home country. It sounds epic.
As the sun set and a red moon rose, we rolled in another friend’s car back down to Mtu-WaMbu dodging a baboon squashed on the escarpment road and grabbed a bite to eat at a local pizza place - the food there was awesome!
Back at the campsite, I didn’t sleep well, Mtu-WaMbu (mosquito river) is well named and despite the height of our campsite there were mosquitoes everywhere. Including in our tent. Efforts to squash them proved fruitless and finally we fell asleep out of exhaustion.
To Be Continued
Ugandan Election concluded (I hope)
http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/africa/02/20/uganda.election/index.html?hpt=T2
Didn't even click the Ugandan election was held Friday Feb 18th. No surprises on the winner in this race. Another five year term for long time President Museveni. I just want it to be quiet for another 3 weeks or so, so we can get in and out.
Getting a fatigued of internally/externally debating on the merits of our Ugandan sojourn with various people-both informed and ignorant. For every person who has recently done the gorilla trek and loved it, there is someone happy to tell us of potential dire outcomes of the election or remind us that Joseph Kony (of the dreaded Lord's Resistance Army) is apparently still at large in the DRC area bordering Uganda's Southwest. Met a Ugandan women on the weekend funnily enough, she rang some tour operator friends in Bwindi forest at the moment...it is all quiet and peaceful.
When does legitimate concern become scaremongering? When does a calculated risk become flippancy? Just going to treat this like the Kili climb and take it one day at a time...if at any time it feels fishy, we out.
In other news, some time ago, my friend Doctor Bob on outreach to a village saw a girl near death, in a poor family situation. The wife and I pressured our staff to get our NGO's contacts in the community to look in on her. They are doing so and now a sick girl has a better safety net than she had before. Just shows that for every apathetic local there are people who care and that if an individual engages with the right people and picks a discrete battle, they can achieve something positive.
Didn't even click the Ugandan election was held Friday Feb 18th. No surprises on the winner in this race. Another five year term for long time President Museveni. I just want it to be quiet for another 3 weeks or so, so we can get in and out.
Getting a fatigued of internally/externally debating on the merits of our Ugandan sojourn with various people-both informed and ignorant. For every person who has recently done the gorilla trek and loved it, there is someone happy to tell us of potential dire outcomes of the election or remind us that Joseph Kony (of the dreaded Lord's Resistance Army) is apparently still at large in the DRC area bordering Uganda's Southwest. Met a Ugandan women on the weekend funnily enough, she rang some tour operator friends in Bwindi forest at the moment...it is all quiet and peaceful.
When does legitimate concern become scaremongering? When does a calculated risk become flippancy? Just going to treat this like the Kili climb and take it one day at a time...if at any time it feels fishy, we out.
In other news, some time ago, my friend Doctor Bob on outreach to a village saw a girl near death, in a poor family situation. The wife and I pressured our staff to get our NGO's contacts in the community to look in on her. They are doing so and now a sick girl has a better safety net than she had before. Just shows that for every apathetic local there are people who care and that if an individual engages with the right people and picks a discrete battle, they can achieve something positive.
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
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