Hujumbo Tanzania:

March 9th, 2007 - March 15th, 2007

Hamjambo!

One week has passed since I have arrived in Tanzania, but I feel like I have been here for months already.

If you don't know, Tanzania is in East Africa. It is located just below Kenya and above Mozambique and Malawi. The Democratic Republic of Congo (formerly Zaire) along with Rwanda, Burundi, and Zambia are to the west. Tanzania's largest city, Dar es Salaam, is on the Indian Ocean along with its most famous group of islands, Zanzibar.

Anyway, geography lesson out of the way, myself and most of the volunteers arrived late on last Saturday night. We were on the same direct flight from Amsterdam to Kilimanjaro which is the town at the base of the famous Mt. Kilimanjaro. From there, we were 45km away in Tengeru Village near Arusha (the entry point for most safari's).

We spent Sunday getting used to our Home Base, which is the nicest compound in the area and has a three-story structure with rooms for the volunteers. We sleep four to a room on a pair of bunk beds. There are about 35 of us here right now and I'm roomed with a "grandfather" from Newfoundland, a "recently quit my job" lawyer from New York and a forensic art therapist from Napa, California who is originally from Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario.

Most of the volunteers are from the USA, but we have a strong contingent from Canada and as well as a few from Europe as well. The placements vary in length from 3 weeks to 12 weeks and from a variety of tasks from teaching in schools to working at a hospice for orphans with AIDS to helping the Masaii Warrior women set up their own businesses.

Me, I was assigned to Akeri Primary School. Unfortunately, I have yet to attend my placement. I became ill last Monday which included a visit to an African hospital and a double-dose of antibiotics when my fever reached well above 40c or 102f. However, I have since recovered and will spend my first day at school on this Monday. As a result, I have also extended my stay and volunteer placement by one week and will now be returning home April 8th.

Despite being sick, I was able to participate in some of the initiating activities. I was able to go on a tour of the city of Arusha including where to get banking done, clothes made, etc. It is a nice city, but there is not much more to it. The important part is that the people are friendly. Oh, and everyone has a cell phone.

A few times last week we had Swahili classes taught by a very animated man named Kisanji. I'm able to communicate in basic Swahili which the locals truly appreciate. We have more classes this week so hopefully I'll continue to learn.

On Wednesday we visited St. Lucia's which is a hospice for orphans with AIDS. It was sad to see the kids living in such difficult conditions, but they had such big smiles on their face when we came to visit them and play games with them. I ended up playing soccer for half an hour with a few of the younger kids and they seemed to be having the times of their life with someone to play with them.

One night we were visited by Kesuma, he is a Masai Warrior. Some of the people in our group are placed in his organization. Kesuma is working hard to help empower the Masai women and as part of it, he runs cultural tours to traditional Masai villages. There are a lot of Masai in Tanzania and they can freely roam into Kenya as well, since that is considered traditional Masai territory. They wear mostly red colours and live off the animals (mostly cows) that they heard. They are a fascinating people and we will spend next weekend in one of their villages about 4 ours from here.

This weekend, we are off on a safari to a few places including The Serengeti and the Ngorongoro Crater. Until then, best regards...

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