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Published: April 19th 2006
Lunch in Moshi centre
Lunch without the kids, as they were in schoolWhen we woke up, Jon-Erik had already left for work. I have forgotten how hot it gets in Moshi, and as our bodies were used to the bleak English winter, we found the night quite sweaty. Scott was still not well, he was very bunged up and sort of swollen in the face, but he had no temperature so we decided he would definitely have a go at visiting ISM later in the morning. Anja is much better at coping with the heat, but Scott finds it hard, so maybe this was one reason as well why he wasn’t very responsive, but living in his own world, behaving like the teenager he is.
Harriet amused me when we made breakfast, as she doesn't really know this kitchen well. Jon-Erik's house is very nice, but it has a sort of bachelor feel to it. Harriet is quite particular about her kitchen in Kibaya, well she has to be, as there are no big shops for miles and miles, and meals have to be thought about well in advance. This morning for example the gas had finished, so we had to cook on a rather old electric cooker which
International School Moshi
The sign greeting you in the school car park was very temperamental. We found some bacon in the fridge and eggs in the store , some old cheese and quite a few home produced jams and honey that Jon-Erik picks up from places he visits. Harriet is also a fan of Redbush tea or Rooibos tea which it's called in South Africa. We drink it a lot at home as it is caffeine free and delicious. We had a big thermos full of this tea, but no milk to put in it. There was yoghurt called Serengeti which was very tasty, both natural and flavoured. In the old days we had to make that ourselves, and in fact Harriet still does so in Kibaya. We had to keep all the old yoghurt containers, as Jon-Erik uses them to sow all the seeds he finds and is given, and these earth filled plant pots are found everywhere in the kitchen. One thing I missed was papaya; for some reason we kept forgetting to buy them. There were some dried papaya seeds though that Jon-Erik had kept and these were not for sowing. Harriet insisted I eat a teaspoon of them, as they apparently are great for your digestion and keeping
ISM Car park
The car park is shaded by lots of trees your stomach in good order as it were. I cannot even begin to explain how foul these seeds were, perhaps they were better fresh, but even then I would have had to chew them as just swallowing them was not good enough. Maybe they did help and my stomach would have been a lot worse if I hadn't eaten them.
We ate breakfast on the small veranda, nice to be able to sit outside in the morning. There are a lot of trees around Jon-Erik's house and some quite big Jacarandas grow at the front by the entrance gate, which is kept locked at all times. These trees were not in flower at the moment; however I remember when I went to ISM Jacarandas flowering on Lema road, a beautiful sight.
Paul decided to stay in the house when we took Scott and Anja to school. We were to leave them in the car park at the mercy of Vidar and Carita. I had of course arranged their visit with the headmaster Kieron White beforehand, so there should be no problem.
It felt very odd driving in to school. The car park was a bit larger than before and now
ISM School offices
If only my office would look like this there was a manned gate, which I don't think there was in 1977. First impression was definitely how wooded and bushy the campus was. Immediately to the right was the primary school boarding house Kiota, which Carita now so reluctantly stayed in. Straight ahead and to the right was the dining hall like before and to the left the school offices. Also to the left and set back a bit was a new huge sports hall, and in front of that a music centre, with some small rehearsing rooms set in a semi circle. This was as much as I could see this morning. We went to the school office to get lunch coupons for Scott and Anja; they had to pay for their lunch as they were just visitors. Vidar and Carita were at the car park just like arranged, and off they went; Scott to stay with Vidar and join in his class, Anja to be escorted to P5/6 as S2 was thought to be too old for her. I was quite proud that she agreed to this, it can't be that easy to go into a strange class all on your own. Carita was then to pick
ISM Dining hall
Looking at the dining hall from the classroom block. When I went here the trees were only small. her up for lunch and spend the rest of the afternoon with her.
Harriet and I wanted to go into Moshi town to try and buy some cheese, as the stuff at the house would have left even a mousetrap untouched. Moshi did seem familiar, although it can't have been the same as before as I know things have changed. I liked it very much and I felt comfortable driving around the streets. I was told that Moshi wasn't good for young people as it becomes virtually deserted by 10 pm and there aren't really any places for people to go. Restaurants shut early and there are not many clubs. Arusha on the other hand has a night life worthy any big town. I didn't mind, as I'm not keen on clubs any more. The lack of a cinema is unfortunate, as I can remember many films we saw as teenagers while at ISM. Sometimes the attraction of going to the cinema was not the film so much, but the company one went with!
Our first stop was a bakery. Here they said that there was a temporary shortage of cheese, so we bought some bread instead. Yet again I
ISM, lush view from the classrooms
Looking out from the class room block must say how impressed I was at both the stock and the cleanliness of the shop.
We then drove to old Moshi road, which comes off Station Road which in turn starts at the big round about with the clock tower in the middle of Moshi. Here our destination was Emslies travel agency. Harriet had told us in the morning about something quite exciting happening on Zanzibar the coming week-end. It was the biggest African music festival of the year and all of Zanzibar would be filled with musicians, mainly Tanzanian but also from all over Africa. Paul would absolutely love to go there. He would go on his own however, as it was too much for me and the children to join him, and I didn't think that Scott and Anja would enjoy standing in the crowds in the heat. Paul has a tendency to get lost to the world when he listens to music, so quite honestly he wouldn't be that much of company if we did join him. We were all going to be in Dar-es-Salaam that weekend so the timing was perfect. Harriet and I now wanted to find out about plane tickets to Zanzibar from
Class room corridor at ISM
Harriet, who never went to ISM, walks to see the English teacher about work experience for Vidar Dar and also possible ferry prices.
The travel agent at Emslies was very friendly and efficient and we got to know that tickets were still available on Friday, returning on Saturday, but we didn't book anything as I knew Paul was quite keen to go by ferry if possible. Ferry tickets were no problem we were assured, as there were many departures each day. When we left I took a business card with the phone number as I thought I'd call from Jon-Erik's house if we did want tickets. I saw the name Shafiq on the card but for some reason it didn't click that it may have been 'our' Shafiq, so we just left the shop.
By now we were dying for a cup of coffee so Harriet took me to a place called the Coffee Shop, just off J.K.Nyerere Road (old Mawenzi Road). These small places have cropped up everywhere and this was an absolutely delightful little cafe, with an inner courtyard with lots of plants and small tables with umbrellas for shade. Here we had a cappuccino each. My stomach wasn't at its best today so I got to know their toilet facilities rather well. There was
The ISM swimming pool
Anyone with blonde hair got a green tinge after a while swimming here! a group of girls sitting next to us, and we were trying to guess who they were and decided in the end that they were tourists. They didn't look quite confident enough to be IB students, and they were definitely not volunteers. You can normally tell volunteers from their clothing; they wear scarves on their heads and usually a kanga of some sort. Harriet used to hang out with them in the 70s when she came to stay with us in Mbeya. She had of course graduated from school when we left for Mbeya in 1974 and was studying at university so naturally didn't and couldn't stay with us all the time. The volunteers in those days used to drive small 125cc motor bikes and they were cheap to run but very dangerous on the road as they were not powerful enough to get out of trouble if needed. One night I remember she came home very late and very upset. She was covered in blood, and I remember thinking how horrible her jacket was as it had gone all hard and crusty. Her friend had turned into the road going to Mbeya town from the main Tazara highway, and
crashed with a lorry. His leg had been broken with an open fracture and it had been horribly difficult to get help at that time of night. He did survive but was sent back to Denmark for surgery. Harriet got so bloodied as she had cradled and soothed him until help arrived.
Today though, luck was with us as the Coffee Shop had local cheese for sale. We hastily bought some and then drove back to the house to pick up Paul for lunch. We were to go via Jon-Erik's work and pick him up as well and then find somewhere to eat before going to ISM to meet the children. Paul was ready and waiting by the gate. Jon-Erik's askaris open and close the gate as needed, and it feels very safe to know that they are there. Rafiki and Sweetie wouldn't let anyone in though, they were excellent guard dogs. Even though they are quite fierce they absolutely adored the fuss Anja made of them, and would follow her around as soon as she showed herself outside. Both dogs had become pregnant at some point and it seemed such a mystery as to Jon-Erik's knowledge they really couldn't
ISM stables
This is where I used to spend a lot of my time when I went to ISM. It wasn't as big then though get out of the yard. Love has its ways I suppose. Now they were both spayed.
Jon-Erik works at the TAF offices in the south-east part of Moshi. You drive down Mawenzi Road and then take a left over the railway and pass the saw mills. The road becomes quite poor here. We were a little early so we had time to go and visit a favourite place of mine, still going strong after all these years; the Chui Leather factory or Shah Industries Ltd as it is really called. This shop/factory was a god send in the 70s for presents. They make all sorts of things out of leather, like wallets, belts, stools, calendars, key rings, jewellery, crafts. Again the place had grown and was better than before I felt. Their jewellery especially was beautiful and I couldn't resist buying some ear rings for Anja. I also bought a souvenir key ring made especially for the ISM Reunion that took place last year in October in celebration of ISM's 35th birthday. Shah Industries is also interesting because they employ amongst others disadvantaged people with all sorts of problems, quite often physically handicapped. We didn't look into the factory today
Arab/Welsh pony cross at the ISM stables
ISM really has everything and I feel very lucky to have gone to this school as we had limited time only but we did enjoy the divine smell of leather in the shop.
Then off to pick up Jon-Erik from his offices, which were almost literally next door. We had to drive through a manned gate and then walk to his office where we met his boss who greeted us warmly. He was very polite but declined our offer to take him to lunch as he had too much work to do. He asked us however to give a lift to their secretary who needed to get to town to attend a course. It was the same course that one of Jon-Erik's askaris was doing. There seems to be quite a lot of this going on these days in Tanzania, at least the opportunities are there more and more.
We found a restaurant in the middle of Moshi where we ate outside in the shade of a big tree. This was again a restaurant with Tanzanian food. Jon-Erik had an odd dish of mashed up beans, looked like a grey porridge, quite unappetizing actually but tasted good. We others had meat, beans, sauce, rice and mchicha, no ugali this time. Ndisi (banana) for afters. It
My old dorm is being rebuilt
Believe it or not, this is the central courtyard of my old dorm Kijana was fun to sit by the road and watch all the people walk past. Jon-Erik suddenly spotted his askari on the other side of the street and shouted to him that he was supposed to be at his course. The poor man shouted back he was on his way, and all the other people around us laughed. The only inconvenient thing was that the tree we sat under was covered in woolly aphids (they look like whitish grey bits of fluff, with a rather disturbing louse inside) and subsequently we and our food were covered as well. Poor Paul looked the worst as he was wearing a black t-shirt and it looked like he had the worst dandruff ever. .
After lunch we drove Jon-Erik back to work and then made our way to ISM. Scott and Vidar greeted us at the car park, but Scott was suffering quite badly with his stuffy nose and tight lungs, and didn't look too happy. He was pleased with his morning though, and had found it all very interesting. The lunch had been an experience as well. Nowadays they go up to
Kiongozi dorm at ISM
This is my brother's old dorm a hatch to get their food, in our day we used to have the food already on the tables. The older boys would sometimes sit with the smaller primary school children and grab the best bits immediately after grace had been said. The little ones could not defend their food rights; terrible really looking back on it. Food however in the 70s was a highlight of the day, even if it was monotonous and poor. Now they didn't have to say grace anymore either. I remember a boy called Ahmed getting detention once for saying this grace; 'good food, good meat, God dammit, let's eat'. Those were the days!
Harriet had to speak to some teachers as she had lost a piece of important paper concerning Vidar's work placement that was to take place at the end of February. I was pleased to know that I am not the only one to lose important school notes. I amused myself by wandering around the classrooms, trying to picture myself 25 something years ago, treading these same concrete pavements. The old block was the same, with the library and the classrooms situated around a grassy middle bit. Now this middle was heavily
The ISM duka
Duka is shop in swahili planted with shrubs. The walls were still painted in various ways, which looked very nice. The view from the classrooms to the dining hall was the same, but there were a lot of new buildings around. The music room was great; we went in to say hi to the volunteer who was giving a piano lesson to a pupil. She was very enthusiastic and I hope the rest of staff take after her. The whole school was rather quiet, after lunch stupor possibly, and there were not so many students about. We spotted Cleis from afar but didn't say hello. When Harriet had sorted out her paper work, we briefly met Vidar's very cool looking house master, who could have come straight out of a surfing magazine. He is very popular, I understand, and good with the kids.
We then went to find Anja and Carita. We walked past the old duka and Kiongozi on our right, which was Victor's dormitory all those years ago. The swimming pool on our left was just the same, but yet again much lusher than before. Here we found Anja in the water as she had borrowed a swimming costume from Carita
ISM music centre and rehearsal rooms
These buildings were new for me, as was the sport centre. and was in her element. The pool still has the same problem of giving blond people a colour rinse, making their hair a fluorescent green. Very attractive I'm sure in alien terms, but annoying for girls like Carita. There was a swimming class being held, and their teacher came to see us and say hello. I cannot remember his name now, but he has been with the school for many years, and knew pretty much all of the kids. We had a long talk with him, while Anja was getting out of the pool, and Scott was quite happy to just sit in the shade. The teacher told us that nowadays no one is allowed to smoke in school. In my day we had two smoking areas, one by the headmaster's office, so that he could keep an eye on us and make sure any one without written permission from parents didn't join our group, and one by my dormitory Kijana where the evening smoking area was. He said he had actually stopped smoking himself as it was too much of a hassle trying to dodge the other teachers, and find smoking hideaways. That surely was encouraging for the anti-smoking lobby, to which I as a former smoker now most firmly belong! This same teacher was quite shocked when I told him how we would 'escape' from our dorms some nights and go on a secret night swim in the pool. Maybe I should have kept my mouth shut, but it was an irresistible story to tell. I didn't tell him about bats getting caught in our hair or swimming with those nasty big water scorpions that would be around at night.
While we talked to the swimming teacher, Anja had gone to Carita's dorm to change. When they came back we walked to the stables, where I had spent a lot of my time before. These had developed a lot, and there were now at least 7 horses. The old stable block was still there, but a new one had been built next to it and behind the whole stable yard were two big paddocks, which were new. Carita has riding lessons twice a week. There was one especially handsome horse, an Arab/Welsh pony cross, which Carita said could be a bit of a handful. Horses were coming and going out of the yard and the paddock was in use by someone getting a lesson.
We had a look at the old football fields and also the tennis courts and basket ball court. The tennis court gave me an odd unpleasant feeling, as I spent quite a few hours picking weeds from the cracks in the concrete, as detention for being constantly late for lessons and study hall. The whole area was wooded and green now.
My old dormitory Kijana came next. They are re-building it, making it an up-to-the-minute dorm for girls. Most of the rooms as far as I could gather were to be single with own washing facilities. The whole house was a building site and after having taken some pictures from the outside, the kind building supervisor let us in to have a look. This was very strange for me as it was so familiar; the centre courtyard with all the dorms around 3 sides and the common room and showers on the 4th. I had forgotten the small window above the door to the rooms, perhaps this is where those nasty Nairobi flies used to come in. Nairobi flies were a real pest, they were small bugs brightly coloured orange and black, and they contained an acid that would burn your skin very badly if you squashed them by mistake. What would happen would be that at night they would fall from the ceiling and then you'd crush them in your sleep. I was lucky and it never happened to me, but Ahmed's (of saying grace fame) sister Nana was burned very badly around her eyes. Carita was looking forward to moving in as soon as it was finished and she was actually going to the same room that I had shared, first with Brandy and then with Athena, all those years ago. Lovely coincidence.
I would happily let my children go to ISM if the opportunity arose. Scott would enjoy boarding I feel certain about; Anja would be better off being a day student. The school truly seemed ok to me, it is difficult of course to make up one's mind in only a day, and I can't say what the teaching standard is like these days, as I did not speak to any teachers apart from the swimming teacher. I heard rumours, both positive and negative, but then you would hear that about any school. There were staff problems, but which school is without those? Overall, ISM seemed like a great school, and if our Alumni web-site is anything to go by then the vast majority of students come away from there with the fondest memories. The school campus is very impressive, and the out of school activities interesting. Carita and Vidar go to a skate-boarding class once a week, and the week that we were there, they had skated down Lema road at great speed! How cool is that?
We said goodbye to school and drove back to Jon-Erik's house. It was late afternoon by now and it felt good to sit and rest for a little while, before dinner. This evening we were to eat at El Rancho, which is the old ISM dormitory Kipepeo, sold and refurbished as a restaurant. They have lovely curries which Harriet and Jon-Erik wanted us to try. In my day, Kipepeo did not belong to ISM, so I have no memories of it. The waitress insisted though, when she got to know that I had been to ISM, showing me the whole building. It was interesting, as it had actually not changed inside at all, and through her words I could picture the boarding house exactly. They had their own kitchen facilities and a very comfortable looking common room.
The others had started eating already by the time I got to the table, and Harriet and Jon-Erik had certainly not exaggerated the curry. We sat outside again, and this time we really needed the anti-mosquito stick I had in my bag, as they were attacking our legs quite heavily. Mr White, the ISM headmaster, happened to be eating at El Rancho as well, so I went over and said hello.
Paul and Jon-Erik drove off to take the children back, and Harriet and I went to a bar/club called Glazier, not far away. This Glazier is a new place and we ordered drinks in a sort of open bar situated in the garden. There was a big TV where a football match was being shown (Liverpool versus some other club) and a gang of youths avidly watching. Apart from them the place was empty, and Harriet was a little disappointed as she loves having lots of people around. We ordered our Konyagi Tonics, and got a whole bottle of Konyagi instead of shots. Harriet said it was quite normal, and lay the bottle on its side on the bar desk which she said was the current custom. She then told me about the old house that was Glazier. Apparently it had been very difficult to sell the house as it was rumoured to be haunted, by rather evil spirits I believe. Several people had lived there and had been forced to move due to these ghosts. Now some brave soul had decided to ignore the stories and convert the house to this bar/club. As far as I understood it had been a success and no spirits had made their appearance apart from the spirits being sold in the bar! Our Konyagi was one of them and as we picked up the bottle to re-fill our drinks, the top came loose and Konyagi spilled all over the counter and down onto the glasses resting below. Ooops! Maybe the ghosts were there after all. Paul and Jon-Erik happened to arrive just then, and they thought it very funny. Our football watching friends were also amused. They were happy now as they could talk football, especially with Paul who of course knows all the British clubs. One of these boys was a huge Ajax fan, and got very animated when talking of old matches. They spoke quite good English, although most of the conversation went in Swahili, with Harriet and Jon-Erik translating.
We didn't stay very long; we were tired as it had been such a full day yet again. This holiday was certainly not being spent in laziness, there was something happening all the time. This suited me well, as although I'm known to be able to spend the whole day in bed reading and being extraordinarily slothful, this trip was for revisiting places and getting new experiences as much as possible, in such a short time.
The children were still up when we got home, they were watching a DVD, but were only half awake.
And on that sleepy note ends day six.
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lillian
non-member comment
ex ismer
Hi I enjoyed reading your travel log which I happened to find by chance. I was in ism, P5 in 1978 and it was wonderful to read and remember. I left after 2 years but still have fond memories. I am tanzanian but grew up in Ethiopia. I am now living in England but have not been back in tz for a long time. I must go back. Thanks for sharing your story Lillian lillykfx@yahoo.co.uk Ps. Mama Adams was my house mother - I knew she passed away but not how?