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Published: February 18th 2012
Baobab Tree
Under the Baobab tree in BagamoyoIt is now the middle of February and classes have started for the 2
ndsemester. The theology students have returned from their six week placements in the villages over the holidays and their three week personal holidays at their home villages. We’re looking forward to hearing how they got on with their placements and their shambas at home.
While the students were away, we spent Christmas here at the college and then went on holidays with our friends Greg and Dariel from Canada, to Mombasa, Kenya and Zanzibar, Tanzania. Our Christmas was quite different this year. Without all the hoopla we both agreed it was very nice. We were able to focus on the birth of Christ and what that means to us. There were five of us Wazungu (white folk) left at the college so we celebrated Christmas together and decided not to exchange gifts. We began by going to the Cathedral at 9:15 for a service. For dinner we invited along the wife of the retired chancellor of St. John’s University, Cecilia, who was on retreat here at the college. Later in the day we all gathered at our house for a traditional western dinner with turkey, mashed potatoes,
Kaole Ruins in Bagamoyo
Ancient Ruins of Arabs during the time of their slave trading. gravy, peas, dressing, some good wine and all the other fixings. We managed to get one of five turkeys that our local western style grocer had ordered in. The evening culminated with Jeannie and David playing guitar and leading us in singing Christmas carols and other old favourites. Cecilia commented at the end that she had never been involved in a western style Christmas but really enjoyed herself as we all did.
On January 3rd we began a three week holiday with our friends Greg and Dariel from Canada. We drove to Dar es Salaam and picked them up at the airport the next evening. We were a little hesitant to drive in Dar as the traffic is horrendous, but actually we got on quite well. The next day Dariel and Greg had a good sleep-in as they had been flying for a straight 24 hours before we picked them up at about midnight. When they awoke, we walked down to the docks to pick up our tickets to Zanzibar on the fast-ferry for the next week and then did a little walking tour around the immediate area in Dar. That night was early to bed as the next
The Royal Reserve
A View of the condos and the large pool at the resort. day we set off on our two-day journey to Mombasa, Kenya. The first day we drove to Bagamoyo where we had a tour of the Kolloae Arab ruins and the ancient slave markets at the harbour in the town. Our tour guide, Monkey, yes that was his real name, told us how the slaves were treated and the inner workings of the slave market. It was all very fascinating to actually be there. The road from Dar to Bagamoyo was very good and we asked Monkey how to get to the road leading to Tanga, our first night destination. He gave us directions and told us it should be an easy drive to Tanga. Well we’re not sure what bananas Monkey had been eating, but the road leading to the paved road to Tanga was the worst road we had encountered to date. It was about a 50 km. distance that took us about two hours to travel. It was a potholed narrow dirt track until about 5 km. from the paved road and as there were no signs, we weren’t even sure we were on the right road. However, the silver lining was that Greg and Dariel got to
Dinner at the Royal Reserve
Jeannie, Rob, Dariel and Greg having dinner at the Royal Reserve in Kikambula north of Mombasa. see some of the rural villages and how the majority of people live in Africa with no electricity, fetching water and living very simple lives. It was a real eye-opener for them so we claimed it was part of their planned tour (yuk, yuk). Well, when we finally arrived at the main road the rest of the journey to Tanga went very well. We arrived at about 6:00 p.m. and stayed and ate dinner by the ocean at a lovely old hotel.
The next day we began our trip to our time-share resort, the Royal Reserve, on the other side of Mombasa in Kenya. Upon leaving Tanga we were often routed off the main road which they were paving and onto other potholed temporary dirt roads, but for the most part it was good. However, the border crossing was another story. It was a two-hour ordeal where we had to visit customs, the police station, car registration on the Tanzanian side and immigration, customs, car insurance and the visa office on the Kenyan side. Nothing is simple in Africa.
Once we got through the border, we drove to the ferry to Mombasa. Mombasa is an island of its
The Tembo Hotel
A rear view of the old beautifully restored Tembo in Stonetown. own. With Jeannie’s excellent navigation skills, (which, even with a map is no easy task, as there are rarely any street signs), we made it through Mombasa and then onto our resort destination. It turned out to be a beautiful resort with two swimming pools and two restaurants, one by the ocean and the other on the other side of the narrow road. The staff was outstanding, going out of their way to make us feel at home and meeting all our needs. The food was great, the swimming was wonderful, the beach was good and the atmosphere allowed for a very relaxing week. Jeannie and I really enjoyed a little pampering after a busy first semester at the college, and Dariel and Greg needed it after their adventures in getting to the resort.
After the week here we began the next part of the holiday traveling to Dar and then onto Zanzibar. We made the trip from Mombasa to Dar in 12 hours. It was a long day in the car, but we made it with few incidents. The police here stand in almost every village waiting for you to make the slightest infraction. While Jeannie was driving,
Coconut Milk at Tembo
Breakfast on the Terrace overlooking the ocean. she passed slowly (on a solid line) a truck that seemed to be stopping on a long, very slight incline just before a village. We passed quite safely, but on the other side of the truck the police were waiting. Unfortunately, the charge was made for Tsh30,000 ($21). We had to request a receipt to keep them honest as corruption is common here. After about 20 minutes we were on our way again – a small inconvenience.
We stayed overnight in the lovely Heritage Motel in Dar and the next day boarded the fast ferry to Zanzibar. We sat in the air-conditioned up deck where we could view the ocean. Fortunately, the Heritage let us leave our car in their gated parking lot as it was too expensive to take it to Zanzibar.
Zanzibar is a beautiful island. The first two nights we stayed at the beautifully restored Tembo Hotel. It was located right on the ocean and in central Stone Town. Stone Town is an old city with narrow winding streets to explore and is famous for its magnificent old doors. One of the highlights of the city is the old Anglican Cathedral and the old slave
Anglican Cathedral Stonetown
The magnificent Old Anglican Cathedral at the former slave market in Stonetown trade market. Another highlight for us was the spice tour. This tour took us out into the lush countryside to a spot set up to exhibit all the different spices grown in the area. It was amazing to see the variety of spices and to learn not only their cooking uses but their medicinal purposes.
The last three days on the island we spent at Paje Beach at the Kitete Beach Resort which was fairly adequate for our needs. Paje Beach is famous for wind surfing where the fluctuation of the tides, the protected beach and the constant prevailing winds make it perfect. You can see them in some of the pictures and no, we didn’t try it as they told us it takes about two weeks to learn; but it was fun to watch. The beach was incredible and in low tide we could walk out about a half kilometer. The colour of the ocean was a beautiful turquoise. It was a very relaxing place to visit.
When we left Zanzibar, we spent one more night at the Heritage in Dar before taking Greg and Dariel back to the airport for their return trip to Canada. We
Forodhani Gardens Stonetown
An evening feast of food and lights at Forodhani Gardens. hope they enjoyed their home-made tour of East Africa and that they returned with a good sense of the culture and people. The next day, we had an uneventful 8-hour drive back to Msalato feeling refreshed and renewed after our enjoyable holiday.
Upon our return, we still had three weeks before school, but it is amazing how we managed to fill our time. We walked daily, students came by to share stories of their time on placement in the villages, we had movie nights, we read a lot, we worked with Moti to help her move to her own place and through a loan program, we have helped Peter purchase materials to fix a maize grinding machine and a separating machine in his placement village. Peter is very entrepreneurial and always trying to figure how he can to earn more money to eventually purchase a tractor to cultivate a larger shamba area to support his street-kids project.
Moti, our house worker, was living with her son, her sister and her four children and her husband and their niece (9 of them) in a two bedroom adobe brick home with no electricity or running water. She felt she needed
The Adorned Trio
Dariel, Greg and Jeannie with thier baskets of spice and frog necklaces. to get her own place so that she could have more room and freedom to study for school. She found a place, a two room accommodation with electricity and running water. She was moving with her son and niece without any furniture and was planning to sleep on the floor if necessary to have her own place. When we learned of this, we decided to help and bought her some basic furniture and supplies to get her started and we used funds from Reids African Mission for this. Moti is a happy single mom and is often singing when she works. We also learned that before she comes to our house she gets up at about 5:00 a.m. to bake mandazis (doughnuts) which she takes to the local duka to sell to earn extra money so that she can send her son to nursery school and help pay for her niece’s school supplies. She works for us from 9-12 and goes to school from 3-6 when Sara (8) looks after Mussa (3). Her life is difficult, but she is ambitious and hopes, through schooling, to make a better life for herself and her family.
Some of the stories we
Paje Beach Zanzibar
A beautiful kite on Paje Beach with the aqua blue ocean in the background. are hearing from the students from their village placements are of polygamy, excessive drinking of pombe (a type of beer made in the villages) and male dominated marriages. These students are trying to make a difference in the villages, but their challenges are many. We’ll learn more about this as we meet with students during the coming semester.
It is coming to the end of summer here and we have had very little rain the last six weeks. Every day the temperature rises to between 30 and 32C and the sun is hot. Consequently many of the maize crops are beginning to dry up. February is usually a dry month and short rains’ come again in March. Everyone here is hoping and praying that the March rains begin early or they will lose the maize. We have heard of two villages that are suffering from the drought and lack of food so we have donated some money for food through a member of the staff here at Msalato. We know there are many more. Please remember Tanzania in your prayers.
Take care everyone and God Bless until our next blog.
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Corie Curtin
non-member comment
Hello!
As always enjoyed your pics & stories. Have been sending some humour items your way which I hope you enjoy....warped humour some days ! Tom off to China at end of the month, then I am off to Texas. Really warm winter here....yeh! says the gal who hates snow. Tom & Simon going to Botswana in May to visit John. I will be left to take care of the "girls"...my Mom, Tom's Mom, Lauren & Taylor. Take care and keep up the great work! CC