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Published: October 16th 2007
Mt Kilimanjaro
The tallest mountain in Africa, home to year-round glaciers that are melting, and are expected to be gone in the next 10 years!! These waters are the main water source for the surrounding community. Stop global warming!!!
Habari gani? Nzuri sana!
Wageni, mwakaribishwa
Tanzania yetu, hakuna matata " translation ...
"Hello, hello sir
How are you? Very good!
Visitors are welcome
In Tanzania, no problem!" Sunny, sizzling Africa. Tanzania, land of Kilimanjaro, home to the giraffe, and one of the most welcoming cultures I've ever had the pleasure of experiencing.
I've been here for 4 days, and I already feel so at home. And, every day has been an adventure! Even the trip here was exciting. 12 hours between 4 African airports. Landing in Dar Es Saleem, the heat immediately flushed over me as I walked down the stairs onto the dusty tarmac, sun blazing, melting my jeans to my legs. I had a 4 hour layover, so I sat in the 1 room departure gate in the waiting zone, watching a few flights to Kili. leave without me. My route took me through Mwanza, then to Kili. Eventually I climbed on my plane, arrived in Mwanza's domestic airport 1.5 hours later. There were 2 mzungu's (white people-ask me, I'll explain it to you) on my flight, and the airport was minute. Unsure if my luggage would follow me to Kili, I
asked a worker what to do, and it was immediately apparent that there was a language barrier. The whole flights luggage was unloaded and piled into an opening in the "arrivals" gate, and the sweet man hauled my big-ass bag around in circles until I was clearly able to explain that I am supposed to get on another plane and fly to Kili. Apparently I had flown past Kili on my way to Mwanza, and my obscure route was never utilized by normal travelers. Thank you online booking. So, I climb back on the same plane, confusing the stewardesses, and 1 hour later, I'm finally in Kilimanjaro!!
The CCS homebase is really cozy, clean and comfortable. I'm bunking with 3 girls, 2 from the states and 1 from Scotland. They are so much fun, and we became fast friends. I also immediately bonded with many other people here. There are 25 new volunteers, and about 15 "veterans" all living in the complex. We are all so f***ing cool. Everyone loves traveling (obviously) and I've heard stories from Peru, Kenya, Saudi Arabia, the Netherlands, and the list goes on and on. The food is delicious!! We have the best cooks, which
cook authentic Tanzanian food with American staples. I'm eating like a queen! And the bananas are delicious!! They are mini sized, and much sweeter than their larger relatives. nummy!
That night, I slept soundly ... until the dogs started barking. At 3am, the Muslim prayers started! Currently, until Friday 12. Oct, is the month of Ramadan, and Eastern Tanzania has a strong Muslim influence (as well as Christian, Pentecostal, and over 120 native African tribes, living peacefully in harmony). So, many people are fasting, and they pray 5 times a day, loudly 😊 I woke up to the sound of roosters in the morning. I live in Rau, a village on the outskirts of Moshi, and most of the residents of Rau are farmers who own chickens, goats, roosters or cows. These animals are more than food and income, they are also the primary means of telling time. Tanzania runs on flex time, TFT, which is exactly as it sounds like. People wake up with the roosters, eat lunch when the cows go home, go to church when the bells chime. This approximate manner of telling time means that people and appointments are not as punctual as we are used
to. A 2pm meeting may begin at 2.45, a 10 minute wait for a taxi may turn into a half hour. Thats just the ways it is, their culture is much more flexible with their time.
Another interesting thing about the time in Tanzania is their clock structure. 7am Western = 1am Tanzanian through to 7pm Western = 1pm Tanzanian and so on. 12 hours of daylight, 12 hours of nighttime.
Perhaps one of the reasons why things run late here is the tendency of the Tanzanian culture to exchange greetings with EVERYONE on the street, friends or strangers. There are no strangers in rural Tanzania, as I have already made dozens of African friend. We yell to each other "Hujambo!" (hello), "Sijambo!" (response to Hujambo), "Mambo?" (How's it?), "Poa!" (cool), "Habari!?" (how are things?), "Nzuri!" (good), "Shikamoo!" (Respectful hello), "Marahaba!" (reply to shikamoo), "Karibu!" (welcome!), "Asante!" (thanks!) and so on. Children run up to us, fists outstretched in their form of a high-5, and adults give us their special handshake, holding tight throughout our whole conversation. We are all rafaki (friends), and they welcome us warmly to their country. It's absolutely heart-warming. Tanzanians are proud of their country, and
they love seeing visitors here.
The African Market What a site to behold! Every market I've seen has been jam packed with any and every immenity any African would ever need. They are laid out on blankets, or hung up in wood-framed booths. Fresh fruit like mangoes, papayas, oranges, tomatoes, and vegetables like onions and cucumbers are stacked up into pyramids of produce, freshly slaughtered lamb and beef hang from the frames of the booths and are hacked into pieces with machetes, fresh ginger, finger millet, coffee beans and spices are held in woven baskets, grains for making beer are spread out on blankets to dry in the sun, brightly colored fabrics called kangas, tangas or batiks are hung from the booths frames, providing some shade from the beating sun, rubber shoes scattered about on blankets, soaps, detergents, cell phones, jewelery, you name it, they've got it! And, oh man, so many bananas! One of Tanzania's main agricultural industries is bananas (as well as coffee, and they are also the biggest producers of cashews!), and there are plenty of bananas in their markets. My favorite kind of banana is the small, mini banana, sweet and flavourful! I
African Dancing
We joined in with local dancers! also tried numerous dishes with cooked bananas, they are delicious and extremely filling!
The marketplace is full of bartering, the locals do it and expect it. Most of my experiences were that people enjoyed it, playfully making fun of the suggested price and eventually settling on a reasonable one. As a westerner, I have no problem paying a bit more than what others might, I mean, come on. We get the chance to barter, which we don't do much back home, and this money is going straight to the salesman, its not like its being pocketed by some middle man. The prices are already cheap, I feel that if I can help a sister out, I will 😊
It's my Birthday!! I'm such a lucky birthday mtoto (child) ! I visited one of the world's most famous safari sites in the world 😊 Ngorogoro Crater (actually, its a caldera) the remains of an ancient volcano whose eruption caused by an earthquake literally fell into its-self, leaving the walls behind and creating a massive bed over 20km^2 in area, home to a large fresh water lake, a woodland area, acres of flat grasslands, and thousands of animals. 16
of us volunteers went on safari through our neighbor's tour guide, Jafari. We had 8 to each van, and the van had a pop-up roof so that we could stand up and get a good view. But man, what a bumpy ride!! I think we could make a roller coaster out of it 😊
We saw so many animals. Zebra, wildebeest, water buffalo, lions, elephants, hyenas, hippos, and baboons to name a few. Terry, our tour guide, was funny and informational. Did you know that elephants live to be 80 years old, and their memory lasts for 20 years?? Or that they live with their mummy until they are approximately 15 years old (don't ask where daddy is). Lions are hardly the king of the jungle, for they rarely kill their own food, instead they scavenge from hyenas, and they also have some of the smallest baby-making appendages in the jungle. Hyenas are born with teeth, and they eat anything and everything, which makes their poop white because they even eat bones!! Hippos are the most dangerous animal in Africa, and their blood-shot eyes are scary enough to frighten our whole car!! They don't have sweat glands, so they stay
in water all day and eat grass at night, covered in mud. Baboons are one of the only animals who have sex for pleasure, and we were "lucky" enough to see one pleasuring himself. Ngorogoro Crater was Astounding.
That evening at dinner, I was surprised with a birthday snickers-bar and a birthday cake!! It was so sweet, and I already feel that I am making great friends here. We all have similar interests (I mean, you'd have to if you decided to move to Africa as we all have!) and our experiences are bringing us closer. Afterwards, some of us went to a local dance club to banjuka tu! (shake it!) Dancing in Africa is a part of their culture, their tradition. Everyone dances because they love to move, and they have such great music and rhythm!
Speaking of dancing, the day before (Friday) we stopped at a Masai Village, and danced with the Masai! The ladies jump up and down, the children sing and the men grunt the bass line, jumping sporadically. They wear beautiful beaded earrings, bracelets and necklaces. This tribe wear ear plugs in their earlobes, and have all sorts of beautiful beaded jewelery. The Masai men
are warriors and farmers. Cows are their form of money, and they must kill a lion to become a warrior. Within the Tanzanian culture there is no outright racism, which is evident when Masai men occasionally marry western women. Being there was one of the most unique experiences I've ever had.
The last day of our safari, we went to Lake Manyara National Park, home to a ground water forest. Streams, swamps, Lake Manyara and rivers fed by Lake Victoria cover 220km^2 of this 330km^2 park, and this lush vegetation attracts thousands of animals! Animals like baboons, zebras, water buffalo, wildebeest, impalas, dik-diks, tree-climbing lions (they have to get dry somehow!), elephants, giraffes, blue monkeys, hundreds of beautiful birds including flamingos, pelicans and kingfishers to say the least. One of the monkeys we saw had pastel-blue colored balls! They were so pretty, all of us girls in the car swooned 😊 Nature sure got that right!
During our safari, we camped out in the ethnically diverse market town of Mto wa Mbu (River of the mosquito). Camping + mbu = Kirsten was a feeding ground. Good thing they don't have malaria in this part of Tanzania!!
Kiganoni Nursery School Neighborhood Kids
Welcoming us home after our Safari :) Now, you probably were starting to think Tanzania is no work and all fun and games, but let me remind you that I came here to volunteer. Every morning, I walk a half hour through Rau village to get to Kiganoni Nursery School. We walk through the neighborhoods of our students, and we often run into the same people on our trip, so we stop and say "Hujambo! Habari gani??" Other children join up with us to hug and hold our hands, walking out of their way just to be by us. We walk past chickens, goats, cows and banana groves (and we joke about eating the "alarm clock" roosters for dinner 😊 ) and if we're lucky, the skies are clear and we get a magnificent view of Mt. Kilimanjaro. The pride of Tanzania. There is truly a spiritual aura around her. She stands tall, so close to heaven, theres no wonder the ancients believed her to be a god. Often the clouds cover her, and we joke that she has gone of safari. When she comes back, we ask her "Habari za Safari?" (How was the trip?)
On our walk to school, we often run into neighbors
Baobab Tree
Also known as the updside down tree, its leaves are medicinal and its fruit is nutrutious, and is used for storing water or even as a home! and our students who live on the way, like Oscar and his mama, who just had a baby girl Irene days before I arrived. She is so happy, always laughing, proud of her beautiful children and welcomes us into her house every time. Nearby, an older woman sweeps the dirt path every morning, and we greet her with "Shikamoo", she replys with "Marahaba" followed by a torrent of Swahili that unfortunately we just don't understand! As we continue on our way, she always says a little prayer, wishing us safari njema (a safe trip). Then, we walk past the orphanage, which is home to 2 of our students, and also home to a few chickens and to 2 pigs named Mac and Lisa, named and donated by one of the previous volunteers at Kigangoni.
Just through the banana groves we get to school. Currently, we hold class in a church that is under construction, which has one giant main room, and 2 smaller rooms off to both sides. There are no doors or windows. only frames opening to the surrounding banana groves, and there are construction materials laying about both indoors and outside. Our classroom is one of the smaller
rooms, we have 8 benches, 1 chalkboard, and 45 students, ages 3 to 7. Our nursery school prepares these students for primary school, so our curriculum is to teach the numbers 1 though 10 including addition, basic colors and shapes, and introductory reading skills such as reading the ABC's and writing their name, all in both English and Kiswahili. The teacher speaks very little English, but she's so sweet and very happy to have us there. On occasion, we have a local volunteer to help us and to translate our lesson plans, but so far we have gone through 2 of them, lost them both to school. Like that is more important! 😊
These kids are adorable and wild. Singing is an intricate part of their schooldays, and every morning when we arrive, they sing "Karibuni Mwalimu, Shikamoo!" (Welcome teachers!) to which we reply "Marahaba". Then, they attack us 😊 Well, that may be a bit of an overstatement, but I suggest to anyone planning on teaching in African schools to genetically engineer extra arms and hands, so that you can share your hugs with all of your students.
We come up with new and innovative activities to add to
the teachers lesson plan, but its challenging given the circumstances. They literally have nothing. We bring in pencils, exercise books, crayons, everything. We use games and songs, as well as the exercise books and chalkboard work to teach. We also take a few "playground" breaks, quotes because the playground is an uneven red, dusty plot of dirt, earth native to this region of Kilimanjaro. Everything here is red and dusty, including our clothes, skin, hair, shoes, even our underwear (how does it get under there?!?) We all end up so filthy, especially after the kids have rolled in the dirt and then proceed to run up and hug us. But thats cool, I love having an excuse to be dirty!!
We play "Chui, chui simba" (Leopard, leopard, lion), analogous to Duck, Duck, Grey Duck, relay races, the hokey pokey, and a version of tag based around Simba catching and eating Daddy's children. We also bring in balls and bean bags with games in mind, which turns into hit and steal my friends ball/bag.
We end the day with songs in both English and Kiswahili, like "If you're happy and you know it" , "Twinkle", "Old McDonald", "Sisi Simba". These kids
Chagga Tunnel
Climbing down!! LOVE Sisi Simba, and they are so cute when they dance! They jump up and gather in the front of the class, shouting on the top of their lungs. After school, we walk home and the kids who live on the way insist on carrying our bags until they get home.
As our work at Kigangoni has progressed, we've had to face quite a few difficulties there. The students have so little, and despite their enthusiasm in their schoolwork, it is so easy for them to fall through the cracks. Once we notice a child who needs more individualized help, it is often hard to inspire them, especially since we don't speak Kiswahili. And, when the naughty ones start acting up, they act as if our failed attempts at discipline are a game for them. Kids will be kids, I know, but our collective educational experiences in America and the UK certainly didn't prepare us for this. I'm not complaining, I'm just explaining reality. Some of the students are so bright, and can whistle off their ABC's and jumlisha and kutoa (addition and subtraction) in their sleep, but others don't recognize letters or numbers, colors or shapes. These 4 topics
are our syllabus, including basic addition and writing their names, and they must pass an exam before they progress to primary school at age 7. Since the nursery school has children from ages 3 to 7, and they have such limited (aka 0) resources, many students who will be taking their primary school exams in December just aren't prepared for it. And there are only so many ways us English speakers can try to teach them, before they get bored and run off, finding some garbage construction material and tying up their classmate. But, let me stress, that through all of these hardships, these children are some of the cutest, sweetest kids I've ever seen. Outside of school, we see them running errands, collecting water (in buckets on their heads) and doing laundry for their families. They run up to us and hug us, and again insist on carrying our bags. These kids are more chivalrous than most boys I've dated! 😊 They are interested in our games, like alphabet bingo, drawing shapes on the chalkboard, and they love balls and beanbags. They speak to us now as if we know Kiswahili, and I just tell them "kidogo kiswahili" (little
swahili) and proceed to tickle them. Some of them are impossible to resist, they are so cute!! I'm amazed at their ceaseless joy, their ability to keep on playing even after being beaten by a classmate (sure, there are a few tears, perhaps they hit back, pole sana ...) and their enthusiasm. Like I said ... Kids will be kids. And, after a bad day, they return the next day all smiles, with a renewed spirit. I will miss these kids soooo much!
Marangu Day Trip Africa never ceases to amaze me. CCS let us take a day off from school and took us on an educational tour to Marangu, a village up on the mountain.
Our first stop was a chagga blacksmith, where we got to see traditional spears being made by hand. The chagga tribe is indigenous to the Kilimanjaro region, and they are known to be industrious, hardworking, peaceful people who love their banana beer. They had a lot of cool spears, hammers, knives, and even carved wooden cups, saucers, food platters and musical instruments.
Next, we climbed down into a chagga tunnel dating back to the 19th century. The chagga women dug these
tunnels to hide both people and livestock in, away from their enemies, such as the Masai. They vary in size and length, but the tunnel we climbed into was no higher than 3 feet, and was connected to over 300 km of tunnel!! They lived in these tunnels for months, underground during the daylight and only coming out during the night. But, it paid off. As neighboring countries, borders dictated by colonialism, suffered through civil wars between waring tribes, Tanzania remained peaceful due to the actions of the chagga tribe.
Later in the day, we visited an old chagga village. Their traditional houses are no longer in use, but when they were a whole family would share their house with their livestock. The Masai believed that all of the worlds cows were rightfully theirs, so they would steal neighboring tribes cows. Cows in Tanzanian tribal life are gold! They use cows as money, gifts, reconciliation between quarreling friends or family, and bridal endowments. So, in order to protect their cows, the chagga brought them into their houses. 2 beds split by gender and a fire pit in the middle, as well as a loft for drying bananas (for banana beer,
of course!) took up the rest of the tiny, windowless, ventless grass thatched hut.
The highlight of the day was visiting the waterfalls. Fresh water fed from the glaciers atop Mt. Kili, nested into a green valley surrounded by trickling waters and lush vegetation, the falls and its cascading waters are breathtaking. We climbed the rocks, waded in the streams and plunged into the frigid pool.
Awesome The hike down the valley walls was pretty intense, not for those with bad knees or a fear of heights, but the trek was so worth it. I wish I could have stayed there all day, bathing in the waters and feasting off of the hundreds of banana trees.
Mt Kilimanjaro View Lodge Rustic, eccentric, overwhelming and breathtaking were the words used by CCS volunteers to describe their experiences at the lodge, and I agree wholeheartedly. My weekend started off with a bang - literally - when I received word that our transportation had run off the road and totaled itself in the process, just down the road from our house. Alright... so our SUV was replaced with a regular taxi, driven by an eccentric local, who told jokes and
jabbered on and on throughout our ride. He explained how he hates driving to the lodge, because the roads are so bad. Comically, next thing we know, we are pushing the taxi up a rocky, 100ft incline along with some of the locals. I switched of driving with him (he seemed to think he was stronger than me...) and eventually we pass the impassible hill. 5 minutes later, we're stuck again. And, let me divulge into the road quality - rocky, dusty roads and spinning wheels lead to rocks flying astray and a dust cloud as thick as one could see. We were filthy and bruised afterwards. One can only approach these situations with humor, so my friend, our driver and I laughed through the rest of the ride.
As we arrived at the lodge at the top of the hill, we were welcomed at the gate by some traditional chagga dancers. They sang us welcoming songs, danced, and played traditional musical instruments. One of the greatest parts of Tanzanian culture is their open-arms attitude. They have native cultural songs intended to express their joy to guests in their country. How sweet is that?!?
Afterwards, our guides and us went
on a walk, relaxed in a field of wildflowers, and talked about culture, poverty, relationships and education as we watched the sun set over Tanzania. They loved how I had driven the car, the mzungu hero! 😊 Our cultures are so different, our history's are so distant, but we are all people, we embody the same dreams, desires and emotions. That night was the first time I have been cold in months! (haha, yes, I laugh at my lovelies in MN) I shivered in bed until my dreams swept me away ... knock knock at 5.30am and we watched the sun rise over the foothills.
That day, the 4 of us hiked in the rainforest of Kili for 6 hours. Our hike began with a lucky sighting of a pack of Black Monkeys, swinging, jumping, falling and flying through the tree tops. There were dozens! Our guide was hilarious, calling out to them in monkey tongue to provoke them 😊 We also saw some African Crown Cranes gliding through the air. As the forest thickened, our path dwindled with overgrowth, the mossy vines multiplied and the mud deepened, our guide used his tapanga (machete) to clear our route. I'll never
forget that hike - surrounded by green fauna highlighted with flowers, ducking under mossy vines and climbing over fallen trees, running over patches of fire ants and stamping our feet afterwards to shake them off of us, learning about the ancient rainforestmen and seeing where they lived and how they hunted, and hearing far off calls of exotic birds and monkeys. During our break for lunch, we shared animal tales from our respective cultures. You'd be surprised how much we really have in common, they just use more interesting animals in their stories!
My last day in Tanzania, I hiked with my guides to Mnambe Falls, the tallest waterfall on Kili. The hike was pretty intense, I imagine that all of the locals who live on the mountain are incredibly fit! Going down was fine, it was the assent afterwards ... But, it was so worth it. The cliffs around Mnambe are green, and sprinkled with tiny pink flowers. The fresh water pool at the bottom is cold, and the spray from the falls reaches far, delightfully refreshing under the hot African sun. In the cliff behind the falls, there are caves that one can venture into and experience a
whole new world. The water from the falls is dammed and irrigated further on, and used to water the towns fields. Waterfalls are absolutely majestic, I could sit by the pool, gazing up upon the ever changing waters and enjoying their fresh water spray for hours.
How time flies by. Now in retrospect, my month in Tanzania feels like a dream. I am so grateful that I got the chance to meet such wonderful people from all over the world, to touch the lives of my young students, and to experience life in Africa. Western society can be so preoccupied with materialism, we stress ourselves out to try to get more, and die young and unhappy. The people I met in Tanzania are so happy! The find joy in the simple things, the important things of life, they take pride in their family, their country, and their work, regardless of what it is, and they appreciate their relationships. I learned so much from them, and I miss greeting them on the dirt paths, through the banana groves, I miss my schoolbabies running up to me before class and carrying my bag after class, I miss hearing them sing welcoming,
Moshi Town
Built in memory of winning the war vs Uganda happy songs, and I miss dancing with them. But most of all, I miss the friends I met there, and I wish that I could share their love and respect for people with my friends and family, because they truly made me realize how lucky I am to have such wonderful people in my life, all over the world. Wow, that's the most Dr. Phil you'll hear outa me, in a nutshell, Tanzania has one of the most beautiful cultures I have ever experienced.
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Elise
non-member comment
WoW!!
Your writings are so amazing that I feel like I am there experiencing it all with you! I am so glad you are enjoying all of your adventures and I cannot wait to read more and hear all about it when you come home! I do miss you so I will be excited to see you when you return. If you get a chance, email me to let me know when you will be home my dear!