Tanzania Trip
Habari!
I am sitting in the Arusha hotel in Arusha (duh). I am catching up on my blogging since this is the only Internet connection I’ve had in a week. There is running water, electricity and Internet. Things I take for granted every day. Things that have been scarce until today.
May 13, 2011
Friday evening – Arrival
· Mass confusion in the JRO airport. Where do I go? Get my visa or show my passport? Bottom line, we paid $100 for our Visa but could have probably walked through without showing a visa or a passport.
· The road to our hotel the first night in Moshi, the Park Inn, was a destination not known by the driver. We heard it was suppose to take 15 minutes… Took 45 minutes.
· The Park Inn… A down-graded Motel 6. At least they served beer in their “bar.” They do have good beer.
· Wear your flip flops in the shower. Don’t drink the water.
Saturday, May 14
The Road to Shigatini
· Went shopping in Moshi for supplies: Paint for the guest house in which we were staying; and basic groceries, including a box of wine to have at night.
· The road to Shigatini was very bumpy. It was up a mountain with no pavement.
· Arrived in the guest house in Shigitini. A few hundred feet from Shigatini Lutheran Church.
· We had quite the welcoming committee. The ladies of the church brought out tea, jam and bread.
· The Pastor Mwanga came for a visit. Jeff Carithers, one of my travel mates, indicated that since I was Lutheran and went to church, I would be the one to say a few words at the Sunday service. The Pastor indicated at about 5 p.m. in the evening that I was going to GIVE the SERMON! There was no power so I had to “write” my sermon by candlelight.
· In addition to the power coming in and out, there was very little water and the bathrooms were pretty dirty. Rumor has it that Bethesda Lutheran Church in Ames sent money to “fix” the bathrooms. Not sure they used in on the bathrooms.
· Dinner that night was rice, and other things I don’t eat. I am eating a lot of potatoes this trip. They serve potatoes pretty much every meal. I won’t talk a lot about the food. Most of it I won’t eat. Thank goodness for my Full Bars and Protein bars. I can survive on that.
· We did have mosquito nets in our rooms over the bed. That was about it. We fell asleep to the sound of monkeys. I do have a chest to store items. No one else has anything in their room.
Sunday, May 15
Preacher Bryan – Grandpa would be proud of me!
· Sunday brought the church service. I was preaching John 12 verses 12 – 19.
· The singing in the service was incredible. The congregation was like a choir. They sang in harmony! The choir itself was really good. You could tell they had The Spirit in them.
· It became sermon time. They invited me up to the pulpit with the interpreter. Luckily I just had to say two sentences, then, have it interpreted in Swahili. That gave me time to think about what I was going to say next. It lasted 20 minutes much to my surprise. Jeff took a video of my in my sermon debut. One of the parishioners actually thought I was a pastor. It was just the Lord speaking through me, just as a prayed with the congregation before I started my sermon. My Grandpa Brude would be proud of me for even giving a sermon, let alone in Tanzania.
· After church there was a fundraising auction outside the church. They auctioned off their farm produce, including their coo-coos (chickens). We eat a lot of chicken… they run wild outside our guest house.
· After lunch we took a walked down to the primary and secondary schools. It was a shock to see the environment where the children have to learn. Big dark and dirty classrooms with bars on the windows. There are cows walking around right outside of the classrooms.
· The secondary students live at the school. We went into their dorms. You can’t believe that children can learn and live in this environment. It was an open air dorm with self supplied foam for their beds. They have very few possessions. Only ones that fit in to a small tin box (to keep the critters out). The students invited us in and were happy to see someone.
· Their lunch includes Rice and Beans: Morning, Noon and Night. They get beef once a month.
· We saw a bunch of girls singing and carrying one of the tin boxes up the road. They were trying to keep the spirits up of a girl that needed to leave school because her family did not have enough money to keep here there. Her friends walked her up to the bus. It was quite sad.
Monday, May 15
Today I am a Citizen of to Nada roo-roo
· I tried to take a shower. About two drips at a time came out of the showerhead.
· Monday brought a field trip to visit the Mossai Tribe in the village of Nada roo-roo. We were going to the grand opening of a small clinic, funded by Empower Tanzania, Inc. out of Iowa. Jeff and Ali Carithers funded a major portion of the clinic. We were going there to celebrate with the Tribe.
· It was a long, bumpy right to the middle of nowhere in Africa. There were no roads to Nada roo-roo … barely a path. It took hours of bumpy riding in the back of an old Toyota manual Forerunner.
· We were about two hours late because our ride with two hours late. The natives weren’t too restless. When we arrived we were treated at guests of honor. We were under a makeshift tent (a tarp being held up by sticks). It rained. It was muddy. They look at the rain as a blessing. I guess it doesn’t rain too much in the village.
· Chief Isaiah, the leader of the Mossai Tribe was quite a servant leader. He was the first to serve us food as well as serve to his tribe. The food was a bit scary. The first true test for our stomachs. We ate very little but did what we could so not to offend people.
· We met a person, Eli, who is coming to Iowa in October to meet with the people of Empower Tanzania. I hope to see him in Des Moines.
· The clinic opening was quite emotional. There was a ribbon cutting ceremony with people of the government, the assistant Lutheran bishop of the synod, Jeff and Ali. Once the ribbon was cut, a short tour of the clinic was had and Jeff and Ali have the birthing suite named after them… “The Jeff Carithers, MD Birthing Suite.”
· After the ceremony we went to the main area for an auction/donation plea to raise money to build a house for a teacher next to their school. Jeff brought two chickens and presented them to the Chief and another lady from the Tribe.
· Rob Craig, a professor from Drake, joined Ali and in donating to the cause. We each put in 100,000 shillings each or about $60.00. We were mobbed like rock stars. They have very little and very little to us can be big to them. I was able to say a few words that were translated… “Today, I am a citizen of Nada roo-roo,” to take a quote from JFK in Berlin.
· After that ceremony we walked about 1.5 miles through the African brush to look at the school. This is a one room school. The teacher’s house was a pile of rocks. Each family of the village brings a pile of rocks if they can’t afford the shillings to donate to the cause.
· We continued through the brush to the Chief’s compound. A few mud shacks they call home. The Chief wanted to hold my hand as we walked. It was quite awkward, but I just went with it. I wasn’t alone. He grabbed Rob’s hand as well.
· We finally got back on the bumpy road. We did not go back to Shigatini, but to The Elephant Hotel in Same.
· When we arrived at the hotel, something wasn’t right. It turns out our driver, Lummock, bought some goat meat from the tribe and it bled all over the floor and onto Ali’s skirt. She was not happy. Rosemary, from the Lutheran diocese, lives in Same and provided her with a lovely sweat suit to wear.
· The accommodations were not very good. We THOUGHT we were going to get a good shower… not so much. I did have a club sandwich to each at the restaurant.
Tuesday, May 16
Back to Shigatini
· Before we returned to Shigatini, we decided to do more shopping. We wanted to find toilet seats for the guest house. We looked at several hardware stores before we struck gold.
· We discovered there was a small refrigerator in the guest house. If the power would work, we could have cold beer. We bought a case of Kilimanjaro beer and hoped for the best.
· The streets of Same reminded me of visiting Juarez in the late 70s. Very primitive. Very dirty. Very poor.
· We arrived in Shigatini shortly after lunch. We had lunch. Jeff and Rob were trying to figure out how to stop the leaky toilets. It was quite entertaining. With no TV or anything to do, that was our entertainment.
· The church choir practices outside of our window. Right next to the guest house. We got to listen to them everyday practicing for their competition set for Sunday. Choirs from all over the area come to compete.
· We took a bit of a walk down the road. A cute little girl grabbed my hand and wanted to walk with me. As Ali, Rob and I walked, Jeff went to the clinic.
· We ate what we could, had a warm beer and went to bed.
Wednesday, May 17
Teacher, Teacher, Teacher
· Carla’s 50th Birthday today. Hope she enjoys my surprise. She also had 50 pink flamingos in the front yard!! I wish she and the girls were here to experience this with me.
· We were given a textbook on Tuesday evening from the Pastor with the chapter that Ali, Rob and I were to teach. It was about writing an essay.
· We met with all of the teachers at 10:30 a.m. before our 11:00 class. Not sure what we were supposed to do in the meeting. The headmaster had to start the formalities. There wasn’t much discussion. We discussed a few things, then, went to class. Again, quite awkward. I don’t think it was set up very well as to what we were doing there.
· The English teacher took us to class. We were teaching “Form 3” which I think is about 7th or 8th grade. The class stood up and welcomed the teacher (as I am sure they do every day.) The teacher said, “Today I am a student,” and proceeded to sit in the classroom as we started the lesson. He quickly left. Reminds me of my student teaching days.
· Just like in our schools, there were several levels of skills in the class. Just in our schools, the teenagers can be quite moody and can seem disengaged. Ali, Rob and I took turns running the class. They were doing writing exercises so we could go and help individuals.
· One thing that made it difficult is that there was ONE textbook for up to TEN students. The books are collected at the end of the class so the only exposure they have to the lessons is hearing someone barely read them or they need to read upside down. This is not an effective way to learn needless to say. They are writing essays. These kids are aware of their surroundings. Topics they chose included:
o Poverty in Tanzania
o AIDS/HIV
o Government in Developing Countries
o Development of Tanzania
· The class seemed to loosen up at the end when we were able to just talk to them about where we were from and about America. They even laughed!
· After class we had lunch and were anxiously waiting for Ali’s women’s group meeting. First, the Pastor took us to their “nursery” where they were growing seedlings of trees that they would like us to re-plan. He took us to where he would like them re-planted. Interesting that it is in a small cornfield.
· Well, it turned out to be my woman’s group as well. The women of the church came up with their crafts. Ali got to learn about all the crafts they were doing. It turns out that they want us to sell their crafts back in the U.S. We are still working thorough that one.
· I was the photographer. I took stills and video. I quickly transferred them to my computer. The ladies were fascinated by looking at themselves on the computer. EVERYONE, mostly the kids, love seeing themselves on the little screen after we’ve taken their picture. The smallest things give them joy.
· After the women’s group, we went up to see what was up with Jeff in the clinic. The clinic is nice by Tanzanian standards but it needs work. The clinic is quite dirty and unorganized. They want to be certified to be a hospital but it needs work. We worked about four hours on cleaning one room to convert it into a nicely organized clean storage room. It is working on the clinic that will make a big impact, hopefully, being able to save lives. We worked until dark. When it is dark and there is no electricity, which is about all you can do.
· We went back for a cold Kili, a bit of food and went to bed about 10.
Thursday, May 18
Teacher, Teacher, Teacher Part Duce
· 11:00 and it was back to teaching. We decided to spend much the time reviewing since we realized we went too fast yesterday. We had the kids gather around us in the front of the room and write on the chalkboard themselves. My guess is that most of the time they are sitting at their desks and not asked to move. This may have increased engagement a bit.
· The kids seemed to be more engaged today. Were getting used to each other a bit. It is hard to come into the middle and make an impact in two days. I think the kids enjoyed it but not sure we made a huge impact. Ali got a note from a couple of girls asking her to sponsor her family or even take them back to America to continue their studies. We also received a nice note from some girls thanking and blessing all of us for being at their school and inviting us back anytime.
· That ended our teaching for Form III. We may be set up to teach the primary school kids next week.
· After lunch, we went up to the clinic for some major work. We spent several hours going through boxes looking at things that the government sent and donations of medicine and medical supplies that have been sent and going unused. We started sorting through all of the boxes.
· The biggest project of the day was to get the Operating Room cleaned and usable. It was pretty filthy. There was bat poop everywhere. We disinfected, mopped and equipped the operating room so Jeff could start doing procedures there next week. There is a doctor visiting over the weekend that will be quite surprised on the work we’ve done one the clinic over the past couple of days.
· After a hard day teaching and at the clinic, we finished with a chat with the Pastor. We heard him coming so we hid the beer like a bunch of teenagers when they heard their parents coming.
Friday, May 19
Civilization
· After breakfast, Godfrey, my driver picked me up for a three hour drive to Arusha. Tomorrow, Drake will play the first American football game on the continent of Africa versus an all-star team from Mexico. As luck would have it, I am here at the same time.
· Ali, Jeff and Rob were left behind in Shigatini. I left the pack alone. It took me about 30 seconds after I reached my room to strip down and get into a real shower. I tried to get them to go (I really think Ali wanted to go). They will be sorry they missed a great opportunity to get a real shower, real food and a real bed with more than a foam, dirty pillow. I probably won’t tell them about it until we get home (but then again, maybe I will).
· It is now that I am catching up on my blogging. It is almost 4 pm and I am having a cold Kili and catching up on e-mail. I have not seen anyone I know yet, but this has given me time to reflect. I am not sure that I will have any Internet connection for awhile, so perhaps I can have an entry tomorrow, but this is all for now.
Hassante Sana (Thank you very much).
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