A mish-mash of everything so far!

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Hey everyone,

So I have no idea what happened with the other website I was using but I've tried everything and I can't log back onto it, so hopefully this site will be better. Also, I can upload photos so my entries should be a bit prettier 😊

I'm just going to put the 3 entries I've made so far onto this one page so they are all in one place rather than scattered across facebook/apparently now none-existent sites! And I'm going to try and add some pictures...wish me luck...




MAY 1st


So I'm here 😊 arrived safe and well, admittedly having only got 1 hour sleep on the plane, but wasn't too distraught because the film selection was pretty impressive! Went straight from the airport to the house which is really sweet, can't see any reason why I won't be happy here. There are a few things I'll have to get used to like no hot water and having to fill the toilet everytime you want to flush it but it all adds to the adventure methinks.

So far I've just been riding the dala dalas around the city with Peter (guy looking after me) trying to get orientated, though I have a feeling this might take me longer than expected since as it happens people speak very little English and all I can say in Swahili at the moment is 'Thank you' which doesn't exactly cover ' Where the hell does this vehicle go and how much will it cost?' I'm doing a lot of smiling and looking vacant at the moment, but then I guess that is nothing new. On the plus side, I'm predicting I'll be pretty fit on my return since staying put on the dala dalas appears to involve the use of your core muscles to quite a dramatic extent. The weather is pretty humid but not that hot at the moment. Yesterday the whole main road to the house flooded after a downpour. I personally found wading through the wading highly amusing, but apparently it loses its appeal, especially since cars don't think twice about slowing down when approaching you - my skirt was soaked!

So far the people seem lovely. They aren't scathing of my lack of Swahili at all which is nice. What is a bit daunting at the moment is the fact I haven't seen a single other white person, but I think I feel more conspicuous that I actually if that makes sense! As for the food, lets just say a vegetarian celiac would shrivel up and die here - its all about the meat and carbs! But I've brought some fruit and veg from the market to keep me nutrient-ised. But the local beer is amazing and pretty much the only thing people drink out apart from coke, so a good thing too!

Right, thats all for now, just to let you all know I'm alive and well and settling nicely.

Much love,

Carly/Carlish/Carloosh/Woo xxx







MAY 12th


Hello all!

Hope everyone is dandy 😊 Things are all grand my end, there is so much to tell I could write a thesis!

Well lets start with the fact that in true 'Carly' style I forgot my laptop cable which is actually massively annoying because I can't find an Acer one here and apparently it'll cost a fortune to send mine from home so not really sure what to do at the moment. This means I'm sharing a computer in the office with someone else so can't really justify spending ages emailing/on facebook etc at the moment. Hopefully this situation will amend itself shortly though 😊 Also, for some reason my Tanzanian phone won't work properly - I can send messages to England but cannot receive replies, so for the time being please text my English phone if you need/want to get in touch avec moi and I can reply on my Tanzanian one 😊

Ok, so general 'life' here is great. The week days consist of being based in the office 9-5 a lot for me at the moment, but it is currently broken up with visits to schools and Swahili lessons on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons. I'm slowly starting to get a feel for what it is I'm going to be doing when everything gets rolling. To begin with I'll be in charge of at least 3 Roots and Shoots clubs at secondary schools in the city. I'll be visiting all of them weekly and will be helping the kids with ideas as to how they can help conserve their local environment and generally improve their communities etc. The schools I've been allocated sound really eager which is nice so hopefully we can get some good projects running by the time I leave! On top of that I'll be visiting YATIMA orphanage once a week and possibly another orphanage too. Most the kids there are AIDs orphans so one of the projects we want to get set up is testing for all the kids because chances are a lot of them are also HIV +ve. Then hopefully for the ones that are we can sort out some free treatment. Then on Saturday mornings I'll be helping out at Dar Dar Clinic which is the HIV/AIDS clinic in Dar Es Salaam. We go and look after the kids and teach them about the environment/talk to them about health issues etc while their parents/guardians pick up their treatment. All the kids there are HIV +ve too and on behalf of the clinic they are given free treatment which is great. I'm being eased in gently, so at the moment there is at least one other person from the office coming with me, but I think eventually I'll be running the R&S clubs/running classes at Dar Dar clinic etc on my own. Eek! And there will be lots more to get involved with as more ideas arise - it always seems to be about change here! This week for example I'm hoping to visit some local HIV-based NGOs to get some information on the local patterns of the disease and hopefully some teaching resources. At the moment no-one in the office is specifically focused on HIV awareness and the 'boss' seems pretty keen on me taking it on so I'm feeling a bit daunted about this at present!

In the evenings I've generally been hanging out with Pete who I live with and other guys from the office - Alex, Othman, Hassan, Deus, Erasto etc. I'm the only girl at the moment, so last week I got dragged into watching the Chelsea/ManU and the Chelsea/Barcelona UEFA matches at the local bar. Was actually pretty fun though - everyone is really into their English football here! It is so nice you can sit out in the evenings too - our house backs onto a beach and about a 10 minute walk down the coast is a wicked beach bar - all the furniture is drift wood/old boats etc and when it gets dark they bring out lanterns and insense to keep the mossies away (which incidentally is great because it so happens the mosquitos absolutely love my legs - I've been bitten to death, *puff* goes my theory that I wouldn't get bitten!).

At the weekends everyone goes clubbing which is sooo amazing here. You go out about 1am until 6am, it's pretty crazy. Last weekend we did Friday and Saturday night at two different clubs (which admittedly I found a little hard considering I'd only arrived the day before and hadn't slept at all on the plane!) but this week just Saturday. I'm loving the local music called 'bongo flava' and they play loads of South African, Kenyan and Ugandan music too. And everyone loves to dance which is right up my street! The very local coastal music involves a particular dance where everyone gets in a massive circle boy-girl and slowly dances round the dance floor in quite an..how to put it...'erotic' fashion - I would elaborate but not exactly sure who is going to be reading this!!

The only down side of going out here are the toilets..which consist of a hole in the floor. Now, Hole In Floor + A Few Drink + Carly Dizziness = Disaster at some point in the future. Which do we reckon I'll do first?!...

a) Drop my mobile in the hole
b) Put my foot in the hole
c) In an attempt to hover over the toilet, slip and end up stuck in the hole or
d) Some other currently uncomprehendable activity which is nonetheless entirely probable when I'm involved

I'm open to bets 😊

Right, back to the serious stuff. Last week I went to visit a couple of primary schools with Alex which was really funny because kids aren't too good at being subtle and they literally all run to the window to stare at me and shout things like 'Shikamoo mzungu!' which means 'hello white person!' You here 'mzungu' quite a lot while just walking around which took a bit of getting used too becasue obviously we wouldn't shout 'black person' at someone in the streets at home. But here it isn't considered derogatory at all. At the end of the classes they all ran up to me and blabbed on in Kiswahili, laughed at me everytime I smiled at them and stroked my hair - apparently everyone finds straight hair amazing here - so many people have asked me if I cut my own hair too, yet to understand why...!!

Then on Friday we took a group of 16 secondary school kids from various schools to the local recycling centre to learn what can be recycled in Dar. All the kids turned up at the house then we literally just rented a dala dala off the street for the equivalent of 5 quid to take us all there. It was a pretty successful trip - think it inspired a lot of the kids to want to set up some form of recycling at their schools which is great, and the centre offers free training so we are hoping to organise some kids to take part in this in their upcoming schools holidays. The only down side to the day was that it was really really humid - felt like you were stood in a steam room, and there was no fresh air in the warehouse we were in at all. This coupled with a particular dodgy stomach on Friday meant I fainted, which was a little embarrassing cos I came round on the floor with loads of people staring at me! It is really difficult getting used to being in this kind of heat and having to wear so many clothes - I really don't know how the locals wear jeans and cope! But I was fine after some water and a wee sit down 😊

On Saturday two girls who are in the equivalent of English lower 6th came to the house to take me shopping because I really don't have enough clothes to account for how much you sweat here! I think I'd imagined Dar to be much more Westernized than it actually is. In fact it is the first city I've ever been to not to have a McDonalds or some sort of western equivalent and in fact their first and only 'shopping mall' was built in the last two years and is still nothing like a British equivalent. So 'shopping' here consists of going to one of the many markets and sifting your way through clothes on stalls - much like a carboot sale! Was quite funny too cos the girls kept picking me out all these 'British' clothes I would never actually wear at home and all the ethnic-esque stuff I liked they thought was horrible and boring! Anyway, I managed to get a few bits to wear for work then we had 'chips mayai' for lunch which is effectively a chip omelette and really popular here for lunch, as are fizzy drinks, people drink them all the time and find it quite strange that I'd rather have water!

Then both girls took me to their respective houses. I really like the fact that everyone here lives with their extended family so there are always so many people about. Homes here basically consist of a room with a bed (which from what I can gather everyone shares...) - all the cooking etc is done outside so there is no kitchen as such. People sit on the floor to eat and generally eat with their hands and eating is definately a social occasion - everyone must eat together. The grandma of one of the girls was amazing and has invited me back because she wants me to try her cooked banana - pretty excited about that!

...And that pretty much brings me to today! Sorry I've gone on a bit - there seems to be so must I want to tell you while it is all so new - I promise I won't blab on so much next time though!

Much love to all and please get in touch, just because I'm far away doesn't mean I've stopped being nosy :P

xxxxxx





June 4th



Hello everyone! Sorry it has been a while since my last entry, but it is actually pretty hard to find the time to sit down and write for an hour or so, so this entry I’ve had to write in bits here and there so sorry if it sounds all disjointed!

For fear of boring you all to death I’m going to try and pick out a few key events of the last three weeks rather than attempting any day by day account! So, the week after my last entry I ended up going to Deus’ house one night for dinner which was a pretty wicked experience. It has made me realise that the area in which I’m living (Mikocheni) is reasonably developed, cos when you get off the main road it feels so much more like how you’d imagine Africa to be - ‘roads’ with no lights apart from the oil lamps on the side of the road lit by people selling food, tiny shops etc. There is a form of transport here also called the bijaji (basically an Indian tuk tuk) and I swear to God I don’t know how they stay upright going down these roads! First we went to a really local bar and had fried green bananas and mishtaki (beef on skewers) both really nice. But then we went back to Deus’ house and his family had cooked rice, and potatoes, beans, peas and fried chicken. Now you all know how good I can be at stuffing back the food but hell I was stuggling despite it being amazing. Still not entirely sure how you are supposed to eat beans in a sauce with your fingers though - they let me have a spoon! Oo, and Deus’ brother has a baby girl and she was soooo adorable, she just sat on my knee and sucked my fingers and stared at me, possibly the first baby even not to cry in my company. I want to steal her. And I also found out what the bucket of water in the toilets is for, and incidentally also why it is very rude in Tanzania to eat with your left hand (something I’m struggling with). I’ll leave you to think about that one…

At the end of the week I went to visit Yatima orphanage for the first time and as I predicted it left me feeling a wee bit blue. It is just so sad to think that many kids don’t have a family. And there was this one really tiny baby who had arrived the week before and all the kids are so clingy L I really wish the orphanage was nearer (despite still being in Dar, it take around 2 hours just to get there with changing dala dalas/ traffic etc) because even though it is quite saddening, you really feel like you are making a difference to the life of the children.

On Friday of that week (15th I think) it was Bob Marley day here in Tanzania so we all ended up going to a Reggae night which was so much fun! Erasto, despite being married with children, was getting really into it - he is such a legend! I think we all ended up slightly high from passive smoking as well which was a quite amusing.

On Monday 18th I headed up to Moshi - a town in the foothills of Mt Kilimanjaro in the north of Tanzania for a week. Roots and Shoots have a conservation site up there and work in schools etc too. Also, some American students were coming for the week so I went to help Joe and Sam, the volunteers up there - not that they really needed much help cos the students were all 20+ so I effectively got a mini holiday! The 8 hour bus journey with no air con and one toilet stop was slightly painful but could have been a lot worse, at least I was on proper roads! During the week we went to a waterfall, learnt about Chagga history (the tribe that traditionally and still do occupy the mountain), went into the African jungle and carried out some fieldwork there and saw Colobus monkeys, visited a farm on the mountain and also a primary school and visited the conservation site. The primary school kids were brilliant - they all stand about 2 metres from you and just stare at you even if you speak to them in Swahili. We managed to get them to do the Roots and Shoots dance with us and then (God know’s what possessed me) I taught about 50 of them the birdie dance (‘cheza na kuku’) !! The day we visited the conservation site was beautiful, it is pretty high up the mountain and all the Mamas greeted us with traditional dances and cooked us traditional food on their sustainable stoves. It is all about mixing beef and vegetables with bananas in Moshi - I have to admit I wasn’t too keen on the local porridge made with oats, beef and banana, especially when I found what looked like an artery. But at least I tried!!

One thing about Moshi is there are loads more white people, or at least there are more relative to the population size. It actually felt really strange being amongst white people again, even after only a couple of weeks! And though Moshi is a beautiful town (the final day I was there the mountain finally appeared from behind the clouds and it really was awe inspiring) I am glad I’m based in Dar - I like the busy city life!

Not too much to report from last week when I returned from Moshi apart from getting a pretty nasty cold - funky snot, not like your English cold! General stuff like visiting schools, committee meetings etc. We went to the cinema one night and then another I made Alex watch Borat which he found totally hilarious and has become obsessed with quoting ever since! On Friday night everyone convinced me (despite my own good opinion) that it’d be a good idea for me to go with them to a different club. I was introduced the joys of Konyagi - a local drink which is basically a cross between gin and vodka and is less than a pound for a bottle with about 6 shots in…had a brilliant night dancing away and finally rolled into bed at 5:30am only to have to wake up 2 hours later to go and teach at Dar Dar Clinic. I was definitely not 100% sober when I arrived, but my class on animal adaptations actually went really well and I think the booze killed the nerves!

When I got back to the house I was pretty knackered so went to have a dose on the beach where there is a breeze. I took a towel rolled up in my bag as a pillow and just as I was nodding off I felt this slight tug and looked up to see this man trying to open my bag! There was nothing to take but I still got pretty angry and he just walked off. So not going to try that one again…! That night we went to ‘Slipway’ which is basically a ‘Mzungu’ place to hang out overlooking the sea, really nice. I got sausage and mushroom pizza that tasted like actual heaven! Then I went out again on a second wind (I’ve actually gone crazy) and was literally the only white person in this local club and about 4 people asked me where I learnt to dance, as if we are genetically incapable of dancing without being taught, hehe! Actually pretty flattered though.

And that pretty much brings me up to now…so far this week I’ve been riding round town using the dala dalas on my own (not as scary as I initially perceived!) and doing some research for a new HIV/AIDS project R&S are currently writing a proposal for. Work with schools has gone quiet this week because they have exams and then next week they break up for a month so will have to find other projects to keep me busy! I’ve finally managed to get my laptop sorted (vaguely, long story!) so hopefully can check my mail more. Also, Naomi can text me on my Tanzanian phone now - we still have no idea why some people can and some people can’t, so just in case my Tanzania number is [phone], feel free to try! Also, some of you have asked for my address - it is:

99 Bagamoyo Road,
Mikocheni A,
Dar Es Salaam,
Tanzania,
POBOX 727

Apparently my Nana sent me a letter today and they told her it would take about 10 days to reach me, but I think they are a bit funny about sending some stuff so check first because I don’t want you to end up spending a fortune just to send me a bar of chocolate or whatever!

Which comes to my final interlude…on the whole I’m having a fantastic time but there are a few small materialistic things I’m missing about England I’d like to share with you all, in no particular order,

1) Chocolate
2) Cake - especially a good slice of moist coffee and walnut
3) Cheese
4) Salad
5) Coffee shop culture (though I have found this one coffee shop that sells cafeteria coffee with little biscotti - English prices, but good for when I need a fix!)
6) The washing machine. This hand washing malarkey is really hard work and the colour of the water even after I’ve rinsed my clothes 3 times worries me…
7) Sleep. If it isn’t the crazy loud frogs or the bats that keep me awake (which if you’ve never heard one before make a continuous noise sort of like the sound of a microwave beeping), it is the mosques waking me up at 5am every morning or random people entering the house. One morning I’d only been back from the club one hour when I was woken up by a girl actually in my room who came to tell me she’d dropped off a parcel. And then in Moshi, the night guard woke me up at 4am knocking on the door because he had left his phone in the house on charge…?!?
8) Having clean feet. Despite soaking and scrubbing them everyday and moisturizing them they remain gross! And I can’t find a pumice stone anywhere here - somewhat distressing!

Ok, that’s all for now folks. Miss you all, update me on life! I shall leave you with my current favourite Swahili word….Matikiti Maji, pronounced how it sounds (Work girlies - as soon as I can I’ll send you a video recording of the spelling!). Means watermelons. And fyi, Nzuri means ‘good’ or ‘nice’. So boys, not that I want to encourage you, but do the Math and use it as you will….


Much love xxxxxxxxx

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Photos

Beach!
This one is about 30 minutes up the coast from my house

Traditional Chagga home
This one is in a village on the slopes of Mt Kilimanjaro

Children!
This was a primary school in the foothills of Mt Kilimanjaro - just before we left they all stood and sany to us :)

Mamas dancing
The secondary school kids are dancing in the middle too

Mt Kilimanjaro
When it finally came out from behind the clouds!

Comments

[Amber]

Goooooooorgeous photographs, Carly! Can't wait to look at them all properly! xx