Beach life. It's rough.

---

Hey everyone,

Sorry no images for this one, as I hadn't actually intended on writing a blog journal at this point in time.

Alot has transpired since my last message, some good, some bad and some observational. Hmmm which to start off with. We'll lead off with bad. A few days after my last message I fell ill. Not a little bit ill, not sort of ill but completely knocked off my feet ill. The natural tendency in Africa (unlike western nations) is to assume that an illness is the worst possible thing imaginable and work backwards. Thus, when one day at the project site I felt faint and much like I'd been kicked in the head by a small hippo I was allowed only the night to get better before a trip to hospital was in order. Over that night I suffered from a fever, chills, migraines and the tendency to self bathe through profuse sweating. It was less than pleasant, and a hospital visit was in order.

The hospital is up the road and built by German missionaries. By African standards it is amazing. Though the filing room looks like a stationary store exploded, it is all surprisingly organized. Much like my room in University actually. The malaria test is a pin prick (new needle unwrapped in front of me) of my finger and then a blood smear. Half an hour later, results back and no malaria. Great! The cure is actually worse then the disease in its early stages. You essentially drink toilet bowl cleaner and hullucinate for three days straight. The result did leave us with no real clue what was wrong with me. I then mentioned that more then half my class appeared to have flu like symptoms, and I was given medication for the flu and told to look out for the tell tale signs of meningitis as well. In the end that's what it turned out to be (the flu, that is) a massive case of an African strain of flu. Over the course of the next few days I progressively got better and am pretty well fine now. Guess I got caught in the embrace of too many dribbly noses and clammy hands. The result though was that for the mid project break I was not in good enough shape to climb Kiliminjaro. A disappointment for sure, but not the end of the world.

Everything else is well. Instead of Kili some of my project mates and I have come to Zanzibar and have spent the last few days on a beautiful white sandy beach taking in the local sights and hanging out. Today we went fishing in the morning (my fishing weights were old spark plugs) and painting lessons from some of the local artists in the afternoon. I knocked together a competant version of two Masai tribe people using oil paints. We head back to Machame and the project sight tomorrow where we had just finished erecting the walls of the building to eight blocks high. I also worked on the carpentry associated with the roof supports which I was pretty good at. The whole experience has taught me how much I enjoy working with my hands and building things. Guess that's the Broadbent blood in my veins.

Some things of note observationally. As I'm sure you are all aware, regardless of what people tell you or how the media spins it, it is still a very male dominant world out there and Tanzania is no exception. Women are viewed as baby factories, cooks and cleaners, nothing really more to a man here. It's thus hard being brought up in a progressive western house and not having bouts of disappointment about some of the situations here. I'm mostly talking about my class, where the only kids that really care and do well are the little girls. It's not even close actually, the girls dominate the boys in every school category. Yet the boys are going to get all the opportunities in life and the girls will get nothing. The examples are endless, on one trip on the dala dala there was a firl who had earned a full scholarship to a Univeristy in Dar Es Salaam however her father wasn't going to let her leave the house because that level of education was not suitable for his daughter and she needed to help around the house. In school the boys spend the afternoons playing sports, yet the girls spend it cleaning the school... endless. A shame but it's also so culturally ingrained that a hundred years from now nothing will have changed. A shame.

The other thing that I've found frustrating is actually trying to get to know Tanzanians. It's not that they're opposed to being open, however everyone and I mean everyone is looking for some sort of financial compensation which cheapens the whole experience in my opinion. I blame other white travellers who must have gone around handing out money, candys and pens by the bucketload. Unfortunately you end out creating this attitude where, when approached on the street you immediately assume that they're just going to harass you for cash. Practically noone begs here, but they always want to sell you something. Whether it's a bracelet made from old car parts, or as a tour guide for some local sight, or on behalf of someone (usually their brother) for some service. I understand they're trying live but sometimes it leaves you with a bitter taste in your mouth. I've met so many locals here that I've loved, that have been honest and wanted nothing in return. I've also met many where I've had a great time only to at the very end have them ask in a very meek tone "Money?". I don't believe in handouts. The only thing I've given to someone who has begged was food was in South Africa to some homeless little kids, and them I made follow me to a grocery store. I'm finding that the prevailing opinion of white people by much of the African population is one of handouts. We are meant to give them things, and because so many people do it it propagates the problem further to one of dependance and materialism. The African culture is so strong on its own that the last thing in my mind I want is for them to become more like us.

This may be a different tone blog from my usual "Everything's great" experience and upon rereading it I feel that I haven't really done the subjects justice and could add to them endlessly. Perhaps I'll let you all use this as a jumping off point for your own opinions and we can talk about it all when I return. I should also point out that overall everything is great :-) I am enjoying my time out here and it's making me think about things in ways I haven't considered before, and that in my opinion is why everyone has to get out there and travel.

Anyway hope all is well.

Cheers,
Michael

---