Celebrity!

It was a rainy weekend at home, but turned out quite eventful afterall. Friday I went to church, worked with my tutor in the afternoon, and then went to house for dinner. Since her father is my Bangla teacher, the pressure was on to use my Bangla skills. It wasn't too bad. They were happy I was trying. Since much of my conversational skills revolve around what I like and don't like, what I eat and don't eat... I found a specially prepared meal of favourites! There were Bangladeshi sweets beforehand, coffee without sugar, then dinner with prawns, beef, vegetables and "rainy day" rice. Afterwards....CHOCOLATE. I was so full, but it was really great. A little embarassing since normally I just eat what's there instead of having my preferances so known.

Yesterday we had planned on going to the Bazaar which sells the clothes made for American shops, but after 4 days of constant rain, and flooded, congested roads, this seemed like a bad idea. I walked to New Market instead for an interesting glimpse of how locals shop and did buy a few things myself. I passed on the goats heads and scrawny pitiful chickens however!

As soon as I arrived home, my hostess asked if I would like to go with them to Gulshan, the posh part of town that I hadn't really been to yet. I said sure, sprayed some perfume to hide that I'd been out in muggy weather and worn the same clothes for two days, wiped the top layer of dirt off my face and put on some make up, and threw on my Keen flip flops. We arrived to the opening of a very glamorous shop which features special designs all in black and white. My hostess supplies the shop with fabric and clothing. We had barely entered, when a photographer asked me (the lone 'bideshi'in the place) to pose looking at some items. Soon there were a slew of photographers asking me to do the same. I was granted a bit of a reprieve when Bengali model became the focus of attention, but later had a few more poses and tv brief (and awkward) interview to conduct. It was definitely a scene to cause mixed emotions. 1) Why does the colour of my skin make me 'special', 2) Photogenic model I am not! 3) I was certainly the grungiest person there 4) I absolutely do NOT have the funds to buy these products like they think I have, causing me to feel quite the imposter. Still, I have to just laugh and enjoy my 7 seconds of fame, which are now used up, I'm afraid!

weekend

our weekends here are on Friday and Saturday, so church is on Friday, and Thursday afternoon is the big rush to travel, shop.... Last Thursday, I joined these masses to go to Mymensingh where there are 2 other newbies studying Bangla, and an old timer, Reba, who has been here a year and serves as our resident expert and guide! I have to say that maneuvering around a place that not only does not speak English but that has even different numbers is a challenge. Since this was my debut, I had someone take me to the bus station and get me on the bus. Hopefully my Bangla will include necessary vocabulary for this next time, but at the moment it's difficult. I have been paying exhorbatant prices for travel and such because I don't really know the numbers they say, can't bargain, and throw money at them until they seem satisfied. Since drivers are more clever than me, they don't get that face until I've paid double the going rate. So, this weekend I'm devoting myself to numbers. BUT, I was still telling you about last weekend!

I eventually arrived around 7 pm...in plenty of time for Cic's birthday party. Her host family was downstairs cooking a special, rice free meal for her, and she had made a cake as a special treat. Dinner here is typically served between 9:30 and 10:30 pm....Yes, you heard me right....dinnertime is what I consider BEDTIME. By the time food comes, I am typically starving, grumpy, and find graciousness to my host difficult. But, with all the special food, mishti (sweets) and fruit with custard, plus the chocolate cake, on the menu, I was able to be a bit pleasant.

The next afternoon (Friday) we took a rickshaw, bus and bike cart to another MCC house. This is a family that has been here 3 years. They have a one year old (well, we celebrate her birthday NEXT week) who can show you "how big"she is in Bangla and English with equal bravado. Their house is a bit remote, in an indiginous area which is really pleasant and beautiful. Of course, this is after much deforestation and banana tree planting so it must have been stunning before. Here Mondi people live. The women traditionally wear skirts instead of the shalwar kamiz (pants and tunic) and they are matriarchal people....which is refreshing coming from typical Bangla communities where women don't have many rights, and in fact, are often hidden away. They do some beautiful weaving there and I got a great bag, wrap skirt fabric (which may more likely serve as a table cloth), and some towels.

Everyone was excited to go swimming, but I said I hadn't been in Bangladesh quite long enough to get in that water. Brown, green, murky.... But as the heat intensified, it did start to look tempting. We had dinner with the priests and sisters at the mission, and spent the evening at the MCC couples house chatting since the power was out making games or such difficult. They mentioned snakes en route so I tried to get a good nights sleep in spite of an overactive imagination. At one point in the night some dogs were snarling at each other. My first thought was that it must be the dogs like the creatures in Lady in the Lake or whatever that movie was that was out this summer. I hadn't given a thought to that movie and wasn't sure why I'd expect supernatural animals over real ones. Cic said perhaps because my whole life is a bit surreal right now, that I've come to expect that.

Saturday we rode "bikes" to a deer reserve and outlook tower. The bikes are Chinese, heavy, and not real great steering capabilities, so manuevering through the mud was a bit interesting. The view from the tower was beautiful. It's too bad I didn't have my computer to show you.

I had planned to leave that afternoon but had to stay due to political activities in the area. they went swimming again while I worked on my Bangla homework. We had dinner with one of the local families, which meant that it came very late, and I was certainly ready to sleep when we finished eating. Mondi people eat pork and although we had our own food - fish cooked over coals in a small pit and mashed potatos ("bideshi"/foreigner food!) they gave us a taste. Very tasty sauce but the "pork"I had was really just fat which I couldn't quite manage. The fish and potatos were sure good!

To get to my class the next morning, Phillip drove me by motorcycle to a nearby town and I rode the bus to Dhaka. I had just enough time for a quick snack and face wash, and was partically coherent for class after a short night and long (4 hour) journey.

For those of you who send me glimpses of your days/weekends, I sure love it!

Bangladesh reading club

It has been quite a week just adjusting to life here, studying language, settling in. I think the highlight is the moments I took from my studying to read The Hungry Tide by Amitav Ghosh. I have previously read The Glass Palace which is about Burma. Amitav Ghosh is a wonderful story teller, and one of my favourites. The Hungry Tide was especially relevant since MCC staff will visit the Sunderbans in October. I am hoping to add a tiger viewing to the other majestic animals I have seen. If you want other reading recommendations, let me know.

I'm off to Mymensingh for the weekend. One of the staff is having a birthday. No break from the studies. I can now read Bengali script like a 5 year old! Typically you learn pronunciation and can read anything which makes study a bit easier. I'm finally able to make Bengali flash cards which I hope will help. I have to say I think my Bengali is already better than my IsiNdebele was. For one thing, one language is spoken instead of a combo or 3 or 4. Another, it's at least written even if it does initially look like squiggles! But it is a slow go for me, hence the reduction in blogs. I'll try to have more interesting updates next week!

Home life

I have enjoyed some of your comments and suggestions. Thanks for the language advice. I am coming along a bit, but basically spend most of my day on it...except when I'm emailing/blogging!

Kirsten, I will try to think of behaviour worthy of the undivided attention I receive from the locals. Since nosepicking is fairly well accepted, I may have to be more creative!

Photo 1:
Jahanera...she feeds me and keeps me company when no one else is around. She is the cleaner at the house where I live. She does not speak English but now knows "I don't know" very well (my constant response to whatever she says) and she repeats it with a giggle. She was so pleased when I wrote her name in English and has been copying it.

Photo 2:
Request for view of my orange attire....I'll post a bad picture I tried to take of myself in my room with the camera batteries dying. But you can get an idea of my bed and room and attire!

Photo 3:
Showermate....This lovely was in the shower, and I continued to nonchalantly wash. I thought the spider was stealing soap, but instead it was holding it's egg sac, as I was told by my host. I thought this was all the more reason to kill it immediately, but she didn't seem to have the same response. It had disappeared by morning so I don't know it's fate. I don't think it could have made the journey to my room that fast, so that's ok!

Sirajganj

Maybe a bit of a mouthful, s is pronounced sh if that helps a bit. This will be my home for the majority of the next 3 years so I was pretty excited as was D who will be there for 9 months. I have been saying I was not coming with expectations since it is my experience that that is the best way to approach working in a developing country! As we were getting closer though, I did admit that a scenic river was something I was hoping for. D has been hoping he will be able to have a goat. So, different strokes for different folks I guess! Anyway, as I said before, we were approaching the bridge crossing the Jamuna river just as the sky displayed the pinks of the sunset, which was a really nice time. I believe it was another 10 km or so to the town. Sirajganj has about 80,000 people...small compared to the other places we'd been. Streets are congested with rickshaws (passenger bikes) rather than busses and cars like Dhaka. And the river and surrounding scenery are beautiful! Maybe not quite my pleasant creek in Oregon, but not as bad as some of the hot dusty places where I have also lived.

I was warned that you are always a center of attention as a "bideshi" (foreigner)in Bangladesh. Being in towns, I found there were a lot of stares, but not too troublesome since you are not expected to greet, nor are you touched or propositioned as sometimes happens in Africa. After a nights rest and overview of MCC's PARE program, (Partnership in Agricultural Research), we set off to see a home like where I will live (quite nice - 2 bedroom, 2 bath, kitchen, living area, tile floors, 2 balconies)and then went to the river for a boat ride. They left us on the road while Bengali's went to negotiate a fare without "rich" Badeshi's present. As we stood there waiting, more and more people gathered, just to STARE. They don't talk to you, they don't try to touch you typically, they just gather like it's the best show in town and they want to see it. While very used to attention, this is like nothing I have experienced before. I'll admit I found the attention in Africa exhausting at times, but it is interactive which maybe seems more 'normal'. Later on we were in a village, and the crowds just followed us. Even sitting in the van people just come watch you. One older lady with grey hair, stood right next to the van window looking at us. I would smile at her, she would smile back, and just stay looking. I found it really bizarre, but if anyone reading this has some insight into this, please let me know!

Anyway, we went on the boat ride, which I will post photos of, and later went to see some of the projects PARE works with. I overall thought my house was more luxurious than expected, the town is a reasonable size, and the surrounding beauty I think will make it a nice place to live. To our knowledge D&I will be the only expats in the area, so it looks like my goal to escape the expat culture of Zambia has been accomplished! Also, English is not widely spoken in more rural areas, so the pressure is on to do my homework!

Orientation trip day 3

We started out visiting a paper making trip. The photos show some of the process. For cotton paper they start by cutting t shirt type material into small strips. This is then boiled for 6 hours and disintegrates a bit in the water. It is drained into vats where women stir it vigorously and then begin using screens to pull out one layer at a time. They build up a number of layers with a muslin cloth separating each one, and eventually take it to a hydrolic compressor which was developed some time ago by an MCC service worker. After this, the sheets are placed on large metal frames with hot fire burning underneath. The end products are very nice (they sell to Oxfam and 10,000 Villages so you may have seen them).

We later went to an agricultural project where they are doing research and helping subsistence farmers with things such as increasing the number of female offspring of talipia fish with genetic modification (I got a long technical explanation of this, but since I'm hoping I got that brief summary right, I won't expound), rearing rabbits and introducing them into peoles diets, and raising goats in small pens with suplemented food so they don't eat everything in site and gain weight much more quickly increasing the profit. We visited another MCC couple who is also doing this kind of work and had a wonderful meal of 2 types of greens, dal, pumpkin, chicken....and of course, rice followed by the standard sweet milky tea. I gues I should mention each of these stops involved an elaborate tea presentation, so we certainly have not been going hungry. Apparrantly guests must always be fed, and you won't hear me complaining!

We stopped briefly at the Catholic mission where the father, originally from the US, has been working for around 55 years. They do a lot of work advocating for the indiginous people who have been in danger of having their land and culture completely taken over as well as operating an orphanage and adoption, and working with MCC on the agricultural projects.

After words, it was on to what is to be my home for the next 3 years. My anticipation was growing as we neared Sirajganj, and coming over the large bridge crossing the Jamuna river as sun was setting, things were looking good!

Orientation trip day 2

Wednesday our orientation schedule was slightly interrupted by a "hartel" or strike. People don't go to work and you can't drive motor vehicles. None of us minded a day on foot and rickshaw after the long journey the day before. We first were told about the projects based in Myenmesingh which are primarily in job creation. They are working with projects to develop their products for selling. MCC has been very successful in this. There is a popular shop called Aarong that was started by MCC, and they are in the process of making a marketing/distributing company called Source independent. We visited a place that makes woven and paper mache items first. They provide income for women who are maybe widowed or divorced or underpriveliged in some way. We also visited a project which provides employment for handicapped people. There was a young man drawing with his mouth, a deaf and mute man who does these amazing carvings with such expressions, people unable to use their legs doing weaving or making paper cards. It was really remarkable. I maybe have mentioned 2 others that came with me. Since this is public domain I won't mention names, but they are both in the MCC SALT program which are service opportunities for people 18-27 for one year. They are both studying language in Myenmesingh so they were getting oriented to that. At the end of the 2 months of study, the young woman will stay there and teach English at a Catholic mission, and the young man will go to the area where I will be headed a month later.

Orientation trip

Tuesday morning (just yesterday, but does seem like ages ago now!) we left at 6:30 for our trip north to visit our sites and some of the programs of MCC. Leaving Dhaka, it seemed the city was never ending and I began to fear Bangladesh was a giant suburb. At last we were surrounded by lush green rice fields rather than sky scrapers and congested markets. We bypassed Mynmeshingh, where we would spend the first 2 nights, and drove further north until the India border was in site. Our destination was a Catholic mission which is a recipient of funds from MCC to support the children who live and study there. The air at the mission was hot and thick, but the lush greenery, clear skies, and bright buildings made it a refreshing site. We were warmly welcomed by 2 sisters and ushered in for nescafe instant coffee (a special treat in Bangladesh), coconut crepes, and coconut pie made especially for us. After tea were were welcomed with songs and dances and presented with freshly cut flowers from the children. It was really beautiful, and still feeling a bit sad from all the goodbyes at home, it helped me remember of what a special privelige it is to view and participate in another culture. We had a tour and viewed the place where Christians gather each October for a pilgrimage and services. The sister escorting us expressed how vulnerable they feel as Christians who are such a minority (3%)in a Muslim country. The tour continued and we met the priest and others before being ushered in for a huge lunch. There were two types of chicken, rice, and vegetables followed by bananas and home canned pineapple. They presented Ethel (our Country Rep) with a giant bag of fresh coffee beans, so if any one has any roasting tips, do let us know. It's something to look forward to for sure.

The journey back to Myenmesingh was kind of surreal, so maybe I'll describe it at a later date. I'd just never even seen rice patties(?) before, and suddenly I've seen rice planting and cultivation at all stages. There's like rotatiller thing that goes throught the swamp preparing the soil (muck?), people ankle deep in mud planting the rice plants, and I don't know what else. There were people bathing in large murky ponds. There were congested market areas filled with rickshaws, food, craftspeople, fabrics, everything you can imagine (ok, well, I didn't see any ice cream shops or espresso stands, but the essentials were covered).

We eventually arrived at the MCC office/guest house which is really nice. They are really simple, but have ceiling fans and showers which, like I've said before, just make life good.

A day in the office

Today is Sunday....weekend for you, but in Bangladesh, the beginning of the work week. We started it off with a staff meeting at the MCC office. Everyone here seems really friendly and helpful....a bit of a change from some other places I've worked but I won't expound on that to protect identities. We had orientation to go over finances and policies, lunch at the Shanks, then free time which has allowed me to connect my computer to Broadband, get my cell phone going, and catching up on some other things. One priority I have is to track down Diet Cola! I was craving it so much at 2 am when I had insomnia....I think because I also had a bit of a headache and was slightly nauceous. Nothing has been particularly eventful. I cut Cicely's hair last night and am thinking that could be a back up career for me when I finish this job. I also am thinking all the support and help (people to cook for me, clean for me, wash my clothes....) is going to make me absolutely USELESS!

Tomorrow I will meet the family I will live with for the next 3 months, which I look forward to. Tuesday morning we will leave at 6:30 a.m. for a trip to see some of MCC's projects. We heard about the Arsenic program today. It's pretty amazing....all these tubewell's were put in to give people water and then found out people were getting arsenic poisening. MCC is helping to install rainwater catchalls and also researching alternative models which will be most effective and efficient. I'll tell you more about the programs and post some photos after my little tour. I'll be back by the 2nd, after which I start language study...groan! hope to hear from you!

First impressions

Well, here I am in Dhaka....jet lagged but hanging in there! I have to say, my first impressions are positive. I had heard so much about crowds and getting so much attention, but I am now thinking perhaps those people had not been in Africa! Granted, there are 140,000,000 people in a country the size of Wisconson, and they are prone to staring at the strange white people, but just the fact that they only stare rather than hoot, whistle, grab, or holler "white person" at you, or try to entice you to buy their wares or ride their vehicle just makes it amazingly unbothersome. Now their driving here....absolutely INSANE. Red lights/green lights...MEANINGLESS. I'll expand on that more at a future time.

Today our orientation agenda was for the gals to go shopping and buy fabric and clothes. Cicely and I both tended towards the bright orange, so we'll be two beaming pumpkin looking people perhaps....subtle! The fabrics are FANTASTIC though, and cost so little. We then had lunch at the home of a woman who is in charge of the income generating programs. We ate until we would burst, and then her husband asked if we didn't like it since we weren't eating more....groan! I'm still full several hours later. The food was really good...rice with dhal, beef, chicken, pumpkin and another vegetable fried in batter, and then dessert of a sweet rice dish, sweet (very sweet) yogurt, and two fried patty things, one made of palm and the other of soy. Quite tasty. It is warm but we have showers and ceiling fans which just make life good.

love to hear from you!!!

farewells and hellos

I was able to spend six days travelling around the UK seeing friends, which meant more meals, good laughs, a few more tears....but I was really lucky to be able to spend some really quality time with special people before embarking on my new life. Since a plot was supposedly thwarted to take explosives through Heathrow airport, my travel style (not particularly light) was a bit cramped. Hence, I am currently travelling "Heidi style"....for those not familiar with the Shirley Temple movie, she wears all her clothes on her journey. It was fine through colder climates, but a bit sweaty in Dubai! All in all, I made it through heightened Heathrow security pretty much unscathed....apart from having my lipstick confiscated. No make up, no lipstick, no soap or shampoo, no toothpaste....and no, it's not pretty! I still have about 4 hours before my flight to Bangladesh, so keep posted for my first impressions.

Bangladesh or bust

I am currently preparing to head to Bangladesh. Times are busy with a lot of farewells and preparations. It's difficult to leave, but I am looking forward to immersing in a new culture and starting my work developing HIV programs. Please keep me in your thoughts and prayers as I enjoy my last few days in Oregon and head out across the world to all new languages, food, experiences, and adventures.

Christmas in Malawi

I was debating what to do for Christmas with the office closed for a week, limited funds, and no desire to spend too much time on busses. There are 2 other Crisis Corps Volunteers who did their Peace Corps assignments in Malawi. They invited me to join them for a trip to Malawi. Bill, Meghan and I left Lusaka at 6 a.m. on Christmas Eve to head first to Chipata, still in Zambia, then to take a shared taxi to the border, to take another shared taxi to the nearest town, and then a minibus to Lilongwe. A bit gruelling, but we reached our destination before dark and settled in to the Peace Corps transit house after a Christmas Eve feast of burgers and chips. The house was empty aside from one volunteer whose planned trip to Zambia was postponed due to stomach troubles.

Bill and Meghan had turned in when this other volunteer came in with a wide eyed look and a question of what to do about a certain guest hovering near his backpack. It was a hairy, fat tarantula, probably 4 inches long. I watched to make sure it didn’t make any moves into the backpack, while he went and got a security guard who used his club to bludgeon it to death. Thank goodness for security!

The next morning we hit the road around 7 to head to Senga Bay. This involved taking 2 minibuses packed to the rim with people and goods, then hopping into the back of a pickup truck, followed by a bicycle taxi. This was my first time to experience the latter. Skinny boys with rickety bikes have a padded plank on the back of the bike and they transported us with our packs and all for about a dollar the final kilometres to the lake. I have to admit, I was pretty terrified and felt really bad for the poor guy straining to transport my bulk! Unfortunately, the first place we went to had no rooms available so we had to take the bike taxis one more time. On the sandy potholed roads with speeding cars passing occasionally, I was really not sure we’d reach our destination. This was Meghan’s first time away from home for Christmas but she pointed out it didn’t really feel like Christmas lugging our packs around in sweltering heat. We finally were checked into a room which we were given at a substantial Peace Corps discount, cleaned up a bit, and headed for something to eat.

We apparently had found a very popular place for Malawians to have their Christmas dinner. After 2 hours and multiple enquiries, we finally had something to eat, by which time I was really grumpy! My festive entry was vegetable curry (green bean and potato) with rice. They had no dessert, no chocolate, no ice cream---nothing. IMAGINE! Christmas without sweets!!!! I had a 15 cent box of stale animal crackers for dessert. Talk about not feeling like Christmas!

We walked on the beach for a little while but before long it started to rain so we went back and watched tv in the room….a rare treat although we lost reception through much of the film we were trying to watch due to the storm.

Bill headed back to Lilongwe the next day and Meghan went to her Peace Corps village to see some kids she is supporting to go to boarding school. I went to see about some activities on the lake, particularly hiking and sailing. On my way, I encountered a hotel employee who was so concerned the people would overcharge me for a sailboat. He connected me to a friend who said it was $40 for 3 hours….out of my price range. Instead I went hiking with another friend of his for $8. This is a lot of money in Malawi. Later I found out I was being scammed, but luckily it was just for the $8 and not the $40! I went on a really nice hike in the hills with stunning views of the lake. Bouldering down the hill in the heat wasn’t quite so much fun. The guide took me to his sisters for lunch of nshima (corn meal porridge), fish and beans. What I really wanted….a bowl of ice cream! A hot lake shore without ice cream just didn’t seem right! No diet coke either although soda water sufficed on that one.

I was really tired by the time I got home but did stop and book the one sailboat (catamaran) in the area…which is $10 an hour….for the next day. So Tuesday I went for a quick morning sail before hitching a ride to town to catch a minibus to Blantyre and Mount Mulanje. Also on the bus were two German aid workers who were also headed to Mount Mulanje but a day after me.

I reached Blantyre around 5… a backpacker with a popular bar and good food but really smelly dorm rooms. I shared a room with a chatty Peace Corps Volunteer from Namibia. Despite the smell, I managed to get a good nights sleep before heading to Mount Mulanje.

Some by Train….

Some by fuel truck!

The Tazara Railway runs between a town a couple hours north of Lusaka called Kapiri Mphshi and Dar es Salaam. This is the most popular way people travel to Tanzania and being a bit of a train fan myself, I’d planned on doing this since I came. When it came to actually going, the 24 hour trip by bus sounded better than 2-1/2 days by train….not to mention the people I spoke to who’d spent an extra 23 hours on a broken down train in the middle of nowhere!

Coming back, I did hope to take the train but it only makes the routes on certain days and it would have meant staying in Dar waiting a couple days and I had done what I wanted to do and was ready to return to Zambia. Maura and I thought we were being slick taking a bus from Moshe to a town fairly close to the Zambian and Malawian borders where she was going. We quickly noticed that the bus was travelling the same route we’d came on, just passing a short distance outside of Dar. We did save maybe an hour on the bus, and spending another night in Dar which we weren’t that keen on, so it was ok. We were just disappointed that we didn’t get to see other scenery and the bus was a lot less pleasant than the bus which goes from Dar to Lusaka.

I got to the Zambian border at about 9 the next morning and when I found out that the earliest bus to Lusaka didn’t leave until 6:30 p.m. I decided hitching would be the best way to get home. One little problem…there was very little traffic! The only vehicles that passed were either local, or fuel trucks carrying petrol to meet Zambia’s ongoing fuel crisis. Just when I was going to give up and go to wait for the bus, a fuel truck came by with a driver and his assistant. They agreed to take me on board and the adventure began.

The scenery through northern Zambia was different from what I’d seen before and I was glad I managed to find one of the few ways to actually travel through during daylight hours. It was also one more cultural experience! We stopped very frequently to make sure other truckers parked on the side of the road were ok. Also, not only were most of the people we encountered spoke Swahili. All the way to Kapiri Mposhi it felt more like Tanzania than Zambia. We even ate at a West Africa restaurant in the evening…well, I did. The driver was Muslim and observing Ramadan, so he drove the entire day with no food or drink until about 6 when he had some tea, chipati and samosas.

When it got dark and I couldn’t enjoy the scenery any more, I crawled in back, finished my book, and fell sound asleep on the nice soft bed. They woke me up at about 11 p.m. when we reached the town where they were diverging from my destination. They had met another trucker headed to Lusaka who had agreed to pick me up there. They left me at a restaurant where the owner, again east African, agreed to make sure I was ok. I enjoyed chai tea and chipatis while I waited, waited, and waited. The other driver never arrived, so when the restaurant closed at 2 a.m., they took me to a guest house their family owns. It was a simple room with outhouses in the back and cost less than $3.

The next morning I caught a bus to Lusaka and was home by midday, happy to have enjoyed a great trip, and to have had such an interesting trip home having met some great people who helped me get home safely and securely!

Arusha and Kiliminjaro

As I said in the last entry, we came back from the safari and stayed in Arusha, and woke up to stunning views of Mt. Mehru. Femke had to get to Nairobi to fly back to Holland and Maura and I were going to Moshe that afternoon, so we had a number of things to arrange before we left.

After buying bus tickets, checking email,… we visited the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda which is taking place right there in Arusha and open to people who want to observe. You have to go through a security check point and leave your passport. You then have a choice of which trial to listen to. We were advised that the 3 rd floor was a high profile person and would be most interesting, but when we got up there, it was closed to the public. We went downstairs where we were given a headset, and pointed to benches where you can sit an observe through one way mirrors. You could choose which language you wanted to listen to, but the attorney speaking was French. There were a number of people in the courtroom…the UN judges, interpreters, and I don’t know who all. You couldn’t see the man who was testifying as they were behind another one way mirror. The trial we sat in on was for 3 former Senior officials from the Interim government of Rwanda – Edouard Karemera, Mathieu Ngirumpatse, and Joseph Nzirorera. They are charged with seven counts including conspiracy to commit genocide, direct and public incitement to genocide, genocide, alternatively complicity in genocide, rape and extermination as crimes against humanity, and serious violations of the Geneva Conventions. All three pled not guilty.

The attorney was interviewing someone who had known one of the men before the genocide and was making the point that he had done good things and were these the actions of someone who could commit such crimes against humanity. I think that’s the whole point of the genocide though….people who had been good, who had been friends and neighbours and done good things, went crazy with racism and hatred.

Afterwards, we wandered around town as my friends wanted to do a bit more shopping. Then we went our separate ways, with Femke heading to Nairobi and Maura and I heading to Moshe, the town near Kiliminjaro.

Moshe is probably my favourite town in Africa so far. It’s fairly small, has a variety of shops such as your Indian shops, market stalls, craft shops… It has great Indian food restaurants for a low price. The guesthouse we stayed in was clean with crisp white sheets. You’re in the shadow of Kiliminjaro. Best of all, it’s a lovely cool fresh mountain air climate. Heaven for an Oregon girl stifled by the dusty heat of Africa!

There were some people offering tours around Kili for around $70 but we decided to strike out on our own the next day. Sure, we didn’t get the cute little boxed lunch or a guide to accompany us on the mini bus, but we saved $30 each. Just to get into the park you pay $30. All fees were due to double in the new year. Then you have to hire a guide for $20. We were just going to the first level which wasn’t too strenuous. Unfortunately, cloud cover which later gave way to rain, meant we saw less of the mountain than we saw from town. I had previously wanted to climb the whole mountain, but I’m glad I did a day trip first because it ended any desire to do it. It’s too expensive, it’s too populated, and the views going up don’t seem that remarkable. We met one young woman from the UK who had spent her $800 but got altitude sickness and had to give it up. She said she really hadn’t been prepared for the strenuous nature of the trek. Clearly other people also had little awareness of what they were doing because we saw people with inappropriate gear, porters who had to carry peoples large wheeled suitcases on their head because the hikers obviously didn’t realize that a backpack might be more appropriate for such a journey. When they get to the summit I guess they hike from like 4:30 in the morning. If they reach the top and it is cloudy, they still have to start down to keep to the schedule. Anyway, it’s something great to be able to say you did, but I think it’s one I’ll remove from my list of must do’s. I did enjoy the one day…enjoyed the forest, the mountain air, the singing birds, the unique plants and flowers. Then finishing it off with a nice hot curry in town…perfect!

Photos

I'm having trouble adding photos to the entrys so here is Mount Mehru and Maura, Femka and I AFTER hot showers!

Disaster strikes!

Freshly scrubbed, and dinner of macaroni and cheese, we were crawling into our tent a bit early for a welcomed sleep. I decided on one last trek to the toilet and donned my headlamp with faded batteries. Intent on the task at hand, I passed through some people standing near the vehicles, and nonchalantly headed toward the toilet, when I realized that the sudden movement towards my direction was the tusk of an elephant who thought I’d come much to close. Judging the distance of only some feet, I completely agreed.

He continued to enter the camp, drinking from the water tank and checking out the meal a group was sitting outside eating on a picnic table. His friend soon came along for a drink of water as well. With all the tourists gawking, taking photos, shining flashlights in their faces and staying far too close to the elephants it seemed a recipe for disaster, but finally they moved on, I think with some persuasion from the rangers.

Early the next morning we were jostling down into the bottom of the crater. Because animals don’t migrate from the crater, we were looking forward to seeing some animals that had migrated from the Tanzanian side of the crater.

I took a photo as we were jostling along, and I was just playing around with the camera. I thought I was doing adjustments on that photo, so thought “format” was pertaining to that photo only. It soon became clear that with no warning, no “format disc” message, I had managed to clear the entire disc of all my photos of that past four months including Victoria Falls with my aunts, events with the kids, Zanzibar, Masai warriors, my leopard, the lion and reacting gazelle’s, EVERYTHING. I couldn’t believe it, since I had bought a large camera specifically so I would have a good zoom when I went on safari. It was so devastating, and put a damper on the rest of the day which seemed to be a bit jinxed anyway. We were on the wrong side of the river causing us to miss seeing a leopard that had moved on by the time we drove around, and didn’t see too much of anything else either. I tried to eat my lunch at an idyllic spot next to a lake only to have two large black kite birds literally snatch the food out of my mouth, gauging my mouth with their talons, and leaving me with small cuts and feeling very stunned. It then started pouring, and we had to continue the rest of the trip sitting inside the vehicle with the top closed…boring…aside from the fact that we didn’t really see any more animals of interest. One thing that was nice about the crater is seeing a variety of animals – wildebeest, zebra, gazelle, topi…. All just kind of hanging out together. We also saw hyena…rather mangy creatures, and a Cheetah, who we hoped was going to decide it was lunch time and go for one of the gazelle, but she didn’t seem to be in a particular hurry.

We got back to Arusha pretty late – around 6:00- and finally found a place to stay at the Catholic Hostel, which worked out pretty well. It had a stunning view of Mount Mehru on the outside porch, and was near to where our friend was staying so we were all able to go for a nice meal after enjoying long, HOT showers.

Pos kichizi kaona ndivi kwenye friji!

Translation from Swahili: I’m cool as a banana in the fridge! Of course, that’s figuratively, not literally because it’s blooming HOT!

We arrived to Arusha after an ever so long day on the bus. It was “luxury” though, meaning they give you a soft drink now and again. Unfortunately, that did not mean that they had air conditioning, and of course, no one wanted any windows open. It was quite a scenic drive through the mountains, but Kili was hiding when we went through Moshe.

We arrived in Arusha to be met by David, the man we had arranged our safari with through a recommendation from a friend of Maura’s. He wasn’t the British man he was expecting, and he referred to me as Sharon, which had us slightly concerned. He checked us into the hotel, and took us to a pizza place for dinner. He seemed concern to leave us alone that we would switch our booking elsewhere. We handed over our $350 each just in our hotel room with no receipt which had us both feeling a bit uneasy, particularly as 8 a.m. came and went the next morning with no sign of him. Eventually he did arrive but we weren’t actually headed out of town until past 10:00. Concern grew when I asked the guide about some camels we saw with the Masai on the way out of town. “From the UK,” he answered. Uh-oh, what were we in for now?

This was certainly an indication of things to come, for hard working and well meaning as he was, our guide Charles was certainly lacking in English skills, animal spotting ability, or any knowledge of species or animal characteristics. That’s rather unfortunate for a safari guide!

We went to Lake Manyara after lunch, which is a beautiful park. However, we whizzed by the flora and fauna so fast, we couldn’t enjoy that so much. Still we did see elephants VERY close….almost too close in fact. We also saw wildebeests, birds (no flamingos though), zebra, masai giraffe (a first), and a monkey which we initially thought was stretching languidly on the road but instead was in the throes of death having been run over by the vehicle our Spanish friends were in.

Our camping site was a bit interesting… budget safari camping central. A pretty rundown campground filled with tents, a swimming pool, two grungy showers with toilets, and a common eating area where cooks from all the companies brought tasty delights!

The next day we went to Serengetti which involved a long drive, but for a big part of it we were driving through the Ngoragora Crater area. We stopped for a view of the amazing crater, as well as a Masai “compound”.

We reached the Serengetti finally and happened upon a large number of cars spotting something. We were told it was a leopard….the member of the big 5 that has alluded me through multiple safaris and I don’t want to think how many hundreds of dollars! No matter how much people described where she was though, I just wasn’t seeing it! My frustration grew, “don’t let me be THIS close and miss it.” Finally I saw the beautiful cat camouflaged in the grass against a dead tree.

My friends with me weren’t too keen on seeking out birds, but I did really want to see a flamingo. I was told one large white bird perched in a tree was one, but I was sceptical and rightly so. Our cook told me later the guide was wrong and it was something else. Still we did see quite a bit: hundred’s of gazelle, also ostrich, supurb starlings, African Pied Wagtail, 2 jackals, male and female lions, Topi, Vervet Monkeys (although Charles referred to them as Blue monkeys, which IS the colour of their scrotum, but NOT the name of the monkey!), Yellow Billed and Saddle Billed Stork, Yellow billed ox pecker, Marabou Stork, Goliath Heron, Grey Heron, Egyptian Goose, Hamerkop, Blacksmith Plover, Mourning Dove, and Cordon Bleus.

Enjoyed a nice dinner at the camp, which is located in the park, although I watched my fluids knowing that it wasn’t a place where I really wanted to be looking for a toilet in the middle of the night….far to close to hungry animals for me!

We headed out early the next morning and one of the first things we saw was a lioness who appeared to be looking for breakfast. It was interesting because the zebra, gazelle, and wart hogs were all there, making warning signals to each other, and obviously with high anxiety, but they just stayed and only moved when she headed their direction. Then they still didn’t run, just backed up a few feet, and stood there trying to blend in to the environment I guess! I got some great video, but, well, read on!

We drove until lunch time and saw elephant, Topi, Gazelle, Buffalo, Secretary Birds, Marabou Stork, jackals, 5 lions on a rock, antelope, Kirk’s dik dik, 2 warthogs with their 4 babies, giraffe’s, impala’s, vultures, ostrich, crocodile- 2 small and 1 large, vervet monkey’s, plovers and weavers. Then we were back at Ngorangora Crater.

This campground had a gorgeous view of the crater and supposedly had hot showers as well, but, well, that didn’t really happen! We still queued up though, and endured the frigid wash. Many of the other people said it was their first wash of the whole safari (for some 4-5 days!). I managed to wash everyday since budget or not, going without washing is just not going to work…particularly with thee amount of dust that gets in your hair and skin. I suppose I still have a few prima donna tendencies, but hey, I can certainly make do with just a few cupfuls of water!

OK, you probably need a break, so let’s continue this on another entry.

Zanzibar or bust!

For the past five years, the exotic sounding Zanzibar and Mount Kiliminjaro, the highest mountain in Africa, have been top of my places to visit. Finally, on October 9th, I was beginning my 28 hour bus ride there!!! I traveled with another Crisis Corps volunteer, Maura Carroll, who just finished her six month assignment in Livingstone. We arrived in Dar es Salaam around 9:30 and were happy to plop into beds at the o so luxurious “Econolodge.” Actually, it was luxurious for $20! Very clean, bathroom in the room, and breakfast included. The next morning we did some banking errands and made it in time for the 10 a.m. ferry to Zanzibar.

Tanzania is full of “touts”, boys who will pounce on you offering you tours, accommodation, to carry your bags, whatever you could possibly want – or not want. One man at the ferry, in addition to ferry tickets, was keen to book our accommodation as well. He made the arrangements, but we didn’t want to pay him as that seemed rather sketchy. We arrived, saw the room, decided the “deluxe suite” – 2 rooms, bathroom, satellite tv, and breakfast included- was certainly worth $20, and stayed there 2 nights. Turns out the other guy was legit in that we could have paid him, but it would have been $30. The owner said to make sure not to tell him we stayed there, since he would have wanted his $10 commission. Seems a bit steep, doesn’t it?

We were in Zanzibar during Ramadan, the Muslim period of fasting. We were given information at the hotel about how to behave….eat in hotels that are serving, not on the streets, dress modestly, and behave decently ie- no kissing in public. That last one wasn’t a challenge, but it took us a little while to find places for food, and it was pretty hot an humid to wear too many clothes.

We wandered around Stone Town, looking at the crafts and shops. After the sun goes down and all the Muslims are racing home to eat, we found a great restaurant overlooking the harbor where I had coconut curry prawns, spiced coffee, and we split a passion fruit tart. Isn’t the holiday about the food anyway!

The next day we had booked a “spice tour” where we saw the spices growing and learned about them. I won’t bore you with too many details but a few highlights….you can mix turmeric and sandalwood to treat pimples…although on white skin, not sure the orange skin would really be an improvement! Boil cloves in water reducing 3 cups to 1, drink, stay near a toilet, and soon you will have an o so “clean” stomach. Peppercorns are little round green balls, and the black, white and red pepper are all just dried and treated differently. Nutmegs are beautiful seed pods with vibrant red covering. After seeing all this, we were given lunch using some of the spices we’d seen, and then of course had an opportunity to buy some. We then went to a slave holding cell. Slavery continued to exist in Zanzibar long after it was illegal, so these cells were down in the ground, surrounded by trees, with hidden paths to the shore. It’s hard to imagine the horrors that occurred there. We then had an hour on a beautiful sandy beach before heading back to town. That evening we went to a park on the sea shore where vendors have heaps of seafood of every type on skewers which you have grilled, piled onto a chapatti, and enjoy all for a few dollars. I think I had swordfish, tuna and lobster.

Maura is a scuba diver, so she arranged to go diving and I tagged along to snorkel. The few times I’ve snorkeled I’ve loved it but been a bit terrified as well. I’ve always been a bit creeped out even going to glassed in aquariums. Here the water was so clear, and the coral and fish so beautiful, I soon got over my initial panic, and had a wonderful time. In fact, I was the only snorkeler left in the water when the boat went to pick up the divers and was slightly concerned I may be snorkeling back to Stone Town! We pulled up to a white sandbar for lunch, and then the divers went out again, but the water was very turbulent so we were stuck on the boat trying not to get sea sick!

As soon as we got back, we grabbed our bags from the hotel and hopped on a local bus to the north of the island called Nungwi. This area is where they build dhows (the hand made sailing boats), fish, and host a lot of tourists…in spite of being a rather rural, conservative village. Here our accommodation went up to $25 but we had a great little cabin looking right out on the sea with little evidence of the bars and tourists slightly down the beach. We ended up running into two Americans we’d eaten with the night before… another public health person who is working for Red Cross, and a corporate lawyer working in Hong Kong who wants to make a move to more humanitarian endeavors in the near future.

Not realizing the wet suit and stripped off all traces of sun screen on my snorkeling venture, I found myself hobbling around in sun blistered pain for the next number of days. On the second afternoon I went sailing on a dhow (they do pretty well actually), snorkeling, lounging on another beach, and enjoying sundowners on the way back with a group of overlanders (people who see an insanely large section of Africa in a reasonably short period of time riding around in very gigantic trucks!) Again enjoyed a sea food feast for about $10 which was a lot for Tanzania but when you think what it would cost at home!

The next day, our beach paradise had to come to an end, so it was back on the dalla dalla (local busses, but differently from other parts of Africa, Zanzibar has these more open truck types which were kind of fun although dusty!) to Stone Town and the ferry back to Dar.

We never managed to find much of interest in Dar aside from a good Indian restaurant and a friend of Maura’s had been mugged there a couple times in as many days when he was there, so we were pretty cautious. We did buy our tickets to Arusha, where a whole new adventure was waiting!

Transport

One friend of mine suggested that the large number of pajeros on the road is most likely indicative of the number of aid workers in Zambia….no small number! But perhaps the number of imported bikes on the road are indicative of the number of peace corps volunteers! Yes, this is my mode of transport which has made my Lusaka experience particularly thrilling! Bicycles are a very common mode of transportation here and considered by many to be a luxurious mode of transport at that! For those who have cars, vans, busses, trucks,… however, bikes are an insignificant nuisance and have no right of way. Although I was prepared somewhat by Oregon pick up truck drivers who also see bikes as something to run off the road, I have been caught off guard by vehicles turning directly in front of me, or pulling off the shoulder forcing me to slam on my brakes and swerve quickly (not without a few obscenities shouted by me!) I have developed a bit of a system of judging when to take some initiative and when I should not chance it. For example, I usually presume that a really nice car won’t want blood on their shiny hood so therefore will stop. I also presume police officers, soldiers, and health workers might want to avoid extra work from running over a cyclist. I was doing some racial profiling, thinking people who looked like they weren’t originally from Zambia might have a bit more of a cycling friendly attitude, but after a few close calls realized that many of these people have developed a “when in Zambia, do as Zambian” attitude and will run me over as fast as anyone else! There is also the incessant honking which means either, “hey, do you want to ride my bus,” “hey, why don’t you take my taxi,” or “hey, if you proceed on your current course, I’m going to run you over.” On a bike, it’s usually the latter! I do have some added protection as being such an oddity as a white girl on a bike with a helmet that many give me a wider berth! Also as a cyclist, I am higher on the chain than a pedestrian, so then it is my turn to wield my power and clear the path with a little ring of my bell! All said and done, not sure the bike is any less safe than other modes of transportation I have used including minibuses, private taxies, hitch hiking, sitting on top of high piled bags of mealies (corn), or sharing the back of a flatbed with pigs on their way to an uncertain fate. It is certainly a more pleasant means of transport anyway! Added benefit….I cycle right past the huge cars queuing for hours to get a few gallons of the very scarce fuel available in Zambia at the moment.