THE LOWDOWN:
I had an extraordinary opportunity to volunteer overseas. While most of us can’t devote such a long period of time to do volunteer work, I found a program that would make international volunteering accessible to me. I applied for a 3 week volunteer program with Cross-Cultural Solutions in Kilimanjaro, Tanzania. The organization's mission is to operate volunteer programs around the world in partnership with sustainable community initiatives, bringing people together to work side-by-side while sharing perspectives and fostering cultural understanding. So, for my work-vacation I was assigned to teach and run a school for children from ages 3-7, who have either lost one or both parents to AIDS.
DAYS: 3 weeks: September 01- 24, 2006
WHAT I DID:
9.2.2006
After two days of traveling, I'm finally here in Tanzania. We arrived 7pm and it was already pitch black. Mama Grace greeted us volunteers at the airport, packed us in a van and we drove in the dark to the Home-Base. Africa seems flat. I tried to make out shapes. I watched dark shrubs grow into larger masses, sometimes it seemed a clearing or the dark shadows became small houses. Occasionally our headlights would shine on the back of a man's head, walking weighted by his clothes. The men appeared and disappeared with the headlight. It was the darkest night I've ever been in. All I could see and smell was a red dirt road.
9.3.2006
A few of us volunteers walked to Moshi this morning. There was a procession of people walking from church. The girls in their uniforms of black skirts, vests and ties, white rolled up sleeves. The boys in their uniforms of maroon tr
ousers and starched white shirts. There seemed to be hundreds. As we made it into the village, the sun beat down harder. Cars coughing along the way. I stop in the local Internet cafe. There's a sign warning "Do not watch pornography". Everyone sitting around my cubicle is watching pornography. Sent a quick email to family and Johnny.A little further down the Internet cafe, is G8, a fabric store, where I buy some Verita Wax fabrics. The market nearby smelled of salted fish, fresh vegetables and fruits, a bit of smell of petro, shiny kitchen wares reflecting too much glare in my eyes.
Making it back to the Home-Base, I heard singing from the open air mosque. Kileo greets me and welcomes me to sit. A patchwork of UN tarps strung up at four points on trees billows up and down, creating shelter and shade. Kileo tells me this is a celebration of the children for their confirmation into the mosque. Four rows of young girls wrapped in pale green satin, kneeling, moving and swaying their heads and bodies to the drums, singing. Tiny red feathers attached to their head scarves sway back and forth. The row of young boys stand behind them, dancing,arms flowing back and forth in their long, white gowns, heads rolling, caped with white embroidered hats. It's a mesmerizing sea of movement. Their proud parents and grandparents sit in a beautiful mass of colors, patterns and textures: red and white, yellow and green, blue and green, red and black, blue and yellow, purple and green. A young girl of 15 sits down beside me to practice her English. Her name is Jasmine. In return, she teaches me some Swahili and how to move my head to the chanting music.
9.4.2006
African dawn is noisy with animals. Roosters crowing and stretching. This begins at 4 am. I can hear the cooks, the clatter of cups and silverware. Today is the first day of orientation.
9.6.2006
The daladalas drive me to my placement. It's the second day of my placement. Adrian, the teacher, as forewarned by previous volunteers, is a bit mental, but more on that later. The school is called Warm Up, located in Mjenga. The political party CCM overtook the school building for their own meetings, so we're locked out of the building
. The kids, Adrian and I are relegated to the backyard, or rather dirt yard. There's a broken down stone shack, where we hold class. In the mornings I have about 15 kids, ranging from 3-5 years old. The second shift consists of 5-7 year olds. I spend whatever free time I have picking up all the broken glass in the dirt yard that is doubling as our recess area and classroom.This morning, I found a 4 year old who started a fire in the garbage pit. The other kids followed suit, throwing their school papers and plastic wrappers into the fire. We were smoked out of the backyard from the toxic fumes.
9.11.2006
Came in early to find that the homeless had stayed in the stone shack over the weekend. Tore down all our posters, defecated and urinated on the dirt floor. With no blackboard, desks or benches, since they were locked in the building, improvisation worked its best surprisingly.
9.14.2006
This placement has been challenging, but also rewarding. It's challenging because the progress can't be easily seen, especially in regards to the childrens' knowledge. Adrian is frustrating because it's been difficult for him to learn good teaching techniques. He often falls back to making the children repeat after him about 30 times.
Mama Gladness takes care of the discipline. She's 66. Her mode is just to yell to calm them down, but sometimes she shakes a stick or smacks a stick on the table or even the childrens' wrist to get their attention.
All my lesson plans have been thrown out the window since I've arrived. Just going with the flow. I suppose the most important things it to laugh and love these kids. You can never really measure how much the kids appreciate us volunteers and whether their lives will be changed by us. I don't think I'm making progress with them by any measurable standards. Just trying to remember that maybe I'm giving them friendship and love and excitement to learn by just being here.
9.19.2006
Tanzania is run on hydroelectric power. Our electricity is rationed from 7pm to 7am. Today we received news that there is a water shortage, so no showers, no flushing, no washing laundry. There is a generator that will provide us with sputtering electricity for us and the cooks.
I really want to bathe. I smell salty, musky, like rusty nails, tin cans. My oily nails are embedded with red dirt, caked with grime from the itch of sweat. This will be interesting once the British Engineer students come back to the Home-Base after a long day of digging trenches under the hot African sun.
Yesterday at Warm Up was another futile attempt at anything. The children were distracted by the local dwarfs. Once a week, the church volunteers take the dwarfs by their hands and walk them across into Majengo. The children can't contain their excitement. Even Mama Gladness couldn't help herself. She beckoned me to the window, "Walimu Jennifer, Look."
Today wasn't any better. Mama Gladness pulled out her razor blade from her skirt pocket and threatened the kids to slice off their lips if they didn't "shut up. shut your mouth." She did a fake demonstration with her tackie lips.
Yahaya Ali is one of the brightest kids in my class. In the mornings, I usually find him up in a tree. He's got such a bright smile. Today he found an empty plastic bread bag, refused to part with it and wore it on his head all day. Made me chuckle.
Tariq, quiet, but also bright. Found him sucking on an old rusty nail.
Margreth, is the oldest of the students and a bully. Before class, as we were waiting for Adrian, she monopolised the soccer ball and as usual made Joshua cry. A town lady saw this, scolded her and took the soccer ball away from her. That was our only ball, the ball that Wes, the previous volunteer, had given to the school.
9.24.2006
I'm filled with complicated knots in my head, throat and heart. My heart is heavy having to leave the children. Friday, both the morning and afternoon groups combined for my farewell. There were a few other kids that showed up that I had not seen before. Word travels fast about the farewells of the mzungu. Mama Gladness holds my hand. "I am sad today. The children are very proud to have a mzungu teacher. They tell their friends that they are learning English from a mzungu and they all came to say good-bye." Recess was extended to a party of jump rope, hand jives, soccer, tag, songs and tree-climbing. The loners and quiet ones cling onto me tight. I shower them all with hugs and kisses. The rest of the day was all games: hangman in Swahili and in English, bingo, Q+A on the map of the world.
Ninatoka umua! Nitawakosa! Ninawapenda wote! Asanteri sana! Mungu akipenda!
ZANZIBAR
Zanzibar is as magical as the name sounds. It's a mixture of salty, smoky, hot humid, sultry tropical air. Stone Town is an explosion of sweat, hot fire, cows and carts crossing paths with puttering black smoke of buses, cars and trucks. Muslim women covered head to toe, fabric fluttering with the slightest wind or swish of a bicycle. Our driver picked Shannon and me up from the airport and drove us straight to Nguwi. The road to Nguwi was smooth at first, but progressively grew bumpy with each police checkpoint.
Shannon and I arrive in a tiny fishing village, just at low tide. It's amazing the extremity. We could walk out 100 feet before reaching the Indian Ocean. The Indian Ocean is blessed with scintillating clear turquoise water. I lazed away my day on the sandy white beaches and swimming in the welcoming waters.
Mangrove beams painted black held up our hotel room's white ceilings. White washed walls and doors. Our accommodations at Amaan Bungalows were modest, simple, but comfortable and a step away from the beach and tidal flats.
SAFARI
NGOROGORO CRATER
The Land Rover's engine was roaring with effort of the off-off road. We pop the top up and I stand, hanging to the pole, shaking with the rib shattering speed of the dirt road. We descend into Ngorogoro Crater. Pass herds of impalas, zebras and wildebeasts. Ostriches poke amid the grassy fields. Flamingos settle around the salt water lake, a strong smell of rotting shrimp and cracked earth. We spot a pride of lions sleeping lazily. We're about 20 feet away from them. Stupidly, Raff hops out to find a stone and hurls it to stir some action. The rock skips in front of them. The young male lifts his head, looks nonchalantly and lies back down. The lioness aloofly looks up, but continues napping, the other young lioness, more disturbed, shook a look of hate and moved behind the grass.
LAKE MAGADI
By lunch, we stop by Lake Magadi, a reservoir of hippos and birds. Abbas distributes our packed lunches. I sit next to the water's edge. Unwrapping my bun of tomato and mayonnaise. Not even two bites into it, a huge black kite swoops, knocks me in my face and takes my sandwich with him. Emma has an extra and kindly gives me another sandwich. I hunker back into the Land Rover to finish my lunch safely. In the other jeep, Shannon and the rest of the ladies are having their lunches too. We decide it's much safer. We're shouting across at each other and laughing. Just one bite into my second sandwich, another black kite swoops from the top of the Rover, side swipes me again in the face, takes my sandwich and files out the window. The kite was huge, about a 2 feet wing span. How could that bird maneuver through this Rover?
The rest of the ride, we encounter Thompson's gazelles, giraffes, monkeys, young elephant bulls, water buffalos, hyenas and jackels. A group of warthogs cross our path. And the ultimate highlight of all highlights: a black rhino.
LAKE MANYARA
Hemingway described Lake Manyara National Park's hunting country in "The Green Hills of Africa." Today it's a sanctuary for many wildlife. Set in the Great Rift Valley, Lake Manyara is a lush vegetation of mahogany and acacia trees and grasslands. We were greeted by a troop of baboons and blue monkeys. Around the periphery, there is a variety of birdlife: a pink zone of flamingos, egrets, ibis, pygmy geese, pelicans, storks and spoonbills. The cacophony of calls echoes for miles. Here we also encountered a heard of hippos. A family of elephants stopped in our path. Beautiful creatures, seemingly docile, twisting branches of tress with their trunks until they fall.
MAKOA COFFEE PLANTATION
Surrounded by Mount Kili, Mount Meru and the Blue Mountains, Makoa Coffee Plantation sits high above at the mountain foothills. A deep crevice forms a natural barrier to intruders. It's about an hour from Arusha. The ex-veterinarian surgeon German, Lazslo and his wife, Elizabeth run this 400 some acre plantation. Their working farm is an assortment of wild and domestic animals, playing freely with one another. The scenery alone is worth a visit. They offer a variety of horseback riding safari activities. The different rides, like the migration ride looks amazing, but unfortunately it was my last day so I could only spend a day on horseback around the plantation. Also the meals they provide are fresh from their farm and a delicious treat.
A beautiful patriotic song taught to all primary school students
Tanzania Tanzania
Nakupenda kwa moyo wote
Nchi yangu Tanzania
Jina lako ni tamu sana
Nilalapo nakuota wewe
Niamkapo ni heri mama wee
Tanzania Tanzania
Nakupenda kwa moyo wote
"Tanzania Tanzania
I love you with all my heart
My country Tanzania
Your name is very sweet
When I sleep I dream of you
When I wake I am at peace
Tanzania Tanzania
I love you with all my heart"
PRICE:
- Tourist Visa : $100
- CCS Program: $2,650.00
- Airfare NY -JRO: $1725.00 / RT
- Airfare JRO -Zanzibar: $180 / RT
- Amaan Bungalows: $80 / night for Deluxe for 2
- Ngorogoro Crater: $50 / person
- Makoa Plantation Horseback Safari: 15,000 Shillings / day
EXCHANGE RATE: 1 Tanzania Shilling = 0.00075 USD
ESSENTIALS AND TIPS:
RECOMMENDED LANGUAGE BOOKS: Teach Yourself Swahili by Joan Russell; Say It in Swahili by Dover
