Blogs from Africa - page 3333

Hello all!!! Hope all is well with you. Sorry for the delay (for those that are bothered?!) So after heading back to my cousins in Benalmadena, Spain after Morocco, i lived the life of luxury for a few days, eating plenty, drinking too much and having the use of things like washing machines????? I think it was a good decision though, got loads of admin bits sorted and Morocco will still be there another day!!! I flew back to Bristol on the Monday, then straight to Heathrow where i got my flight to Nairobi via J'Burg - absolutely ridiculous way to do it but its the only way my ticket worked?! I got to Nairobi at about 6pm, arranged my transfer to Marangu the next day and went to my hotel. Nairobi: Busy, heaving and contrasting ... read more

Some of you are more familiar with the work I’m going to be doing here as compared to others, so I will try and catch everyone up to speed. For those of you who already know what I’m doing or aren’t that interested in my actual work, you can skip to the next journal entry describing my arrival in Zambia and my impressions from my first week here. I am working as an Engineers Without Borders volunteer partnered with a locally established non-governmental organisation (NGO) named International Development Enterprises (IDE) (there are a lot of acronyms in development, I apologise now for how much I’m going to overuse them). EWB always partners with organizations that are operated by local people because development is about building a countries ability to help themselves and reducing their dependency on ... read more

Hello again, I have finally arrived after only 5 days of traveling and is it ever hot here! I don't have a/c at my place so am quite hot, even with the fan on. Apart from the heat, it's been quite an adventure so far. Due to freezing rain, my plane from Calgary was delayed, thus causing me to miss all my connections to Dar. So, I was delayed by two days in Toronto - thank you again so much to my family, the Palis', for taking such great care of me! I was taken to the office on the afternoon of my first day here and met all the staff. I am now currently reading some information brochures on my organization and trying to figure out my responsibilities. I'm not sure what to expect regarding ... read more

Tuesday 8th February When 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, ... read more

After one more overnight stay in Dar es Salaam, we headed North for another night in Tanga. It was nice to be familiar with the place upon arrival. After a 9-hour, uneventful bus ride, we arrived at 9 pm and had our choice of taxis. As it turned out, our driver was instrumental to our functioning over the next couple of days. We went back to the Inn By The Sea, otherwise referred to as the ‘Inn By The Theives’ because someone stole our binoculars from our room last time. Still it was the easiest and cheapest place to stay. We were just more careful. We spent our time in Tanga taking care of business - planning our trip to the Island of Pemba, emailing, posting cards, co-ordinating boat and bus tickets, etc. Everything takes about ... read more