Blogs from Moshi, North, Tanzania, Africa - page 7

Talk about a walk in the clouds! Edgar and I arrived in Nairobi, Kenya on September 11 and took a shuttle to Moshi, Tanzania, a small town at the base of Mt. Kilimanjaro. The shuttle ride there was wild. It took 7+ hrs and had to be on some of the worst roads I have ever been on. At some points we were literally bouncing out of or seats. However, it was worth it as we saw the country side and the people who live there. A lot of Masai tribesmen and women who were herding there flock along the road,including goats and cattle. The colorful clothes and jewelry they wear as they watch their flock is quite something to see. What struck me was the amount of small children who were out in the middle ... read more

Since I got here I’ve wanted to visit a government school. Having seen them on Blue Peter and Comic Relief I wanted to see for myself how cramped the classrooms are and how few resources they have. Up until this week they’ve been on holiday so I only got to go yesterday to Meserani Primary. The school took about 30 minutes to walk to from the road across dust which was occasionally crossed by huge chasms; these are rivers in the wet season. I can only imagine how muddy the dust gets! As we walked, three white girls and a Maasai man, Alex, who was wearing a woman’s Christmas sweater under his Maasai blanket, we gathered a crowd of children mysteriously on their way to school halfway through the school day. Normally we have to return ... read more

Even een kort berichtje vanuit TANZANIA. Best bizar om zo even 750 km verderop te zijn. Gisterenmorgen zijn we op het vliegtuig gestapt naar Kilimanjaro International Airport. Daar aangekomen moesten we ons eerst een weg banen door alle taxichauffeurs, als zij zeggen dat er geen bus gaat willen wij dat niet geloven, eerst zelf zien. Had ik al verteld dat we maar een klein beetje eigenwijs zijn? Toch met de bus naar Moshi (eerst een stukje taxi, tot het kruispunt) en daar een hotel gezocht. Moshi is erg dichtbij de Keniaanse grens, dus moesten we toch eigenlijk ook daar even kijken en een stempel halen. Wij met de bus en een stukje lopen, nee we willen echt niet achterop de motortaxi! Lopen kunnen we heel goed, jullie mogen best een stukje meerijden, maar we stappen niet ... read more

the internet is infrequent and unreliable in africa. much like telephones, roads, public transport and prices. enough said as to why this blog is delayed i think. so we arrived in moshi mid afternoon, having caught a local bus from arusha (where our taxi driver from the airport had categorically told us that if we caught that bus we were going to be mugged and killed so of course we must take his taxi all the way. he even roped his friends into going along with the story. we ignored them all and it was fine) where a mountain guide called nick insisted on telling us all about the tours he did and about his friend that ran tours and that we must meet the friend. stepping off the bus at moshi was pretty much my ... read more

Tuesday, March 24, 2009: Just a quick line: Today we went to the grocery market and handed out tracts in Moshi ( for every one tract you hand out an estimated 10 people will read it!) and Brad taught at the Moshi Bible School. We went back to Arusha that night. ... read more