Lake VictoriaOne of the reasons that I felt sure that I could come work at SAUT: having Lake V in your back yard.
In honor of God, Jen and I headed off to Mass in town with Sr. Esther, who works at SAUT. Later in the afternoon, we decided to kill some time by going for a walk out behind SAUT’s campus. Heading down a dirt road for a while, we eventually came down to eye level with Lake Victoria. It was definitely worth the walk. We stopped for a while to admire the view and joked about the odds of two people from Chesterville, USA, meeting up in Tanzania. One thing that I’ve noticed about Africa is the way that storms come and go. So here we were sitting along the edge of the lake enjoying the view. When we got up the energy to return back up the hill, we caught sight of some large, dark clouds heading in our direction. Almost dark like smoke, we could see the rain coming down in the hills south of us. Fortunately, we were able to pick up our pace and get back to the dorm buildings before the rain hit campus.
Armed with umbrellas, we braved the downpour, which kept up for an hour or so, to go down the road to a
Campus RearHonestly, there's a campus in this picture. The trees got in my way. On the far right is the new, dazzling library building.
teacher’s house. The professor and his wife hosted a little shindig for some of the university staff. On loan from Marquette University, the professor was teaching for the semester at SAUT. I enjoyed meeting him, particularly because he had previously taught at John Carroll and lived in Cleveland. Additionally, I got to meet a few other American transplants, including 2 with Cleveland roots. It was a bit of a teaser, as we talked about some of the spots in C-Town, which I would not be seeing at any time in the near future. In any event, it was good conversation and good food.
With the views of the lake from campus and along this route, I briefly wondered if Jen could find me some work at SAUT. Mwanza is definitely a smaller city but it has its own character. Further, you won’t find any views in Nairobi to rival those of Lake Victoria in Mwanza. If you happen to be in Tanzania, try to hit Mwanza as well and visit the lonely lion on Saa Nane Island.
I was unfortunately heading back to Nairobi on Monday morning and I am still kicking myself for not taking more pictures
of the landscape in Mwanza.
On the road through TZA lot of the houses between Mwanza and the Kenyan border are huts made of mud, clay... and various bovine byproducts.
Tanzania's Flag
Map of Tanzania