Last day of School

Today was my last day as a teacher. I had the standard one class and we did an English lesson on items of clothing. When the kids were finished I gave them huge stickers my aunt Beth sent me. The kids were amazed by stickers that size. After English I had a little extra time before leaving and we played a few rounds of hang man, which the kids love to play, though they don't get the subtleties of the game. The answer to the last puzzle was good bye. When the van came to take us I said good bye to the class, good bye to Teacher Madam, good bye to Mr. James and left my boots with him for his out reach program, and good bye to Teacher Herman. One of the students, Shadrack, gave me a folded piece of paper with a small poem and an old picture of him inside of it as a good bye card. The last day of school always makes me feel both happy and sad, usually more happy than sad though. This was the first time I felt more sad than happy after leaving a school for the last time.

Yesterday I was able to give the standard three and four kids the response letters from my aunt Beth's class in Stratford. They were very excited as it was a surprise for them, and they loved the class picture that was included so that they could see what their pen pal's looked like. We wrote letters back again and I have them with me. When I get home I will bring them to the class myself and try to answer any questions my aunt's class has about Tanzania. I'll also bring pictures I took of my students writing the letters to show what they look like. My students also got Disney pins that came with the letters, which they were still wearing on their uniforms today. The many Tootsie-pop's that were in the package were divided between the Kili Kids orphanage, and another volunteer's nursery school class. They were all very much appreciated.

I am feeling just about healthy again after finishing my malaria pills yesterday. They worked amazingly fast for which I am greatful. My amoeba pills I will have to take until next Tuesday, but they are a very minor problem and aren't bothering me much. Dad has already booked me an appointment to see Dr. Scifo on next Tuesday just to be safe. I'm sure I'll be fine.

Now that school is over for me I feel more ready to come home. There is very little left for me to do here. I have finished my gift shopping and am mostly just waiting for Sunday evening. I will go out to dinner tonight with my friends at CCS and probably tomorrow night as well for one last time. I will miss my kids at school, but I know they will be alright because Mr. James runs that school extremely well. I will miss the friends I have made here as well, both within CCS and from Moshi. But I miss my family and I miss my friends back home, and its time for me to return. I will see you all soon.

Thank you for reading,

Allen

Just a little sick

So on Sunday I went to bed with a slightly upset stomach, I took some ant-acids and went to bed with the expectation of waking up feeling much better in the morning. When I did wake up in the morning, some time around 2 am I would guess, I was decidedly not feeling better. I was very hot and had a bad head ache. I spent the whole morning tossing and turning. When I tried to stand up I would get very dizzy, and only managed to get up once to get an advil from my bathroom. It helped a little.

I slept for most of the morning, well, I dozed for most of the morning, trying not to move to much. I thought I may have had the flu, it's flu season here and it has been going around. In the afternoon, because I was not getting any better, I went to the hospital. They drew some blood and quickly told me that I had malaria. The nurse gave me a shot of medicine because they were afraid that I would throw up the pills. The shot did help, and I slept much more soundly last night.

I went back to the doctor this morning for a check up, and they discovered that not only do I have malaria, but I also have ameba's in my stomach. This at least is not a very big deal, and the doctor offered to let me finish my malaria medication before starting the amoeba medication. I decided to take the amoeba pills now though, because I want to be healthy as soon as possible, and the doctor said there is nothing wrong with taking them both at once.

So now I take 5 pills a day to keep my fever down, 8 pills a day for the malaria, 9 pills a day for the amoebas, and 2 pills a day to keep my stomach settled. That's 24 pills a day if my math is right. It's not so bad as it sounds, and the medicine is working already. By tomorrow or Thursday I should be well enough to go back to school for at least a couple more days. I hope so anyways. It would be sad if I didn't get to see the kids one more time before I leave.

The Walk to School

Now that I am out of CCS and on my own in Moshi it means that I have to walk to school in the mornings. I've walked every day this week and will for my next, and last, week as well. It takes about half an hour to get from my hotel in down town Moshi to the school which is in a section of town called Pasua. Though Pasua is one of the poorer areas of town I feel completely safe walking in the morning, and even keep my passport and plane tickets with me because I feel safer to have them on me than to leave them in my hotel room. The walk itself is rather interesting, and I think worth describing.

I get up about the same time here as I did at CCS, about 6:30, just as the sun is coming up. I shower, put on my school clothes (kackies and a button down shirt) and go upstairs for breakfast in the roof top restaurant. From the fourth floor of the Kindoroko I drink my coffee, which is excellent, and look out over Moshi town. The mornings lately have been very overcast, and yesterday and today it was actually raining out as I left for school.


The first third of my walk is down the Double Rd., which is the closest thing to main st. that Moshi has. The pavement makes for a quick walk with out much mud or many puddles, and I usually make good time. When the Double Rd. ends however, and by end I mean that the pavement ends and it turns to dirt, is when the walk becomes a bit more challenging. The mud is thick, sticks to your shoes and builds up to a nice layer so that the bottom of your shoes don't actually touch the road. What is amazing is that the Tanzanians are able to walk along these roads with out getting a speck of mud on their pant leg's, and in most cases with out it even getting on their shoes. As hard as I try I always end up with at least a bit of mud on my pant cuff's and my shoes are a lost cause.

There are several interesting things that I see along the way. The end of the Double Rd. is where most of the auto mechanics in Moshi are located and outside their shops are bits and pieces of cars. Later on down the dirt road in fact there is what appears to be an elephants graveyard of old Dala-dala buses. In the background I can hear a team of blacksmiths pounding on the metal to reshape it into new pieces. Also on the dirt road is a fenced off field of mostly mud these days, and in the field are these huge birds that just sort of hang out. I don't know what kind of birds they are, though they look like large storks, or why they are always there. I have seen them in flight and know they could fly away if they wanted to, but they are always there.

It's an interesting walk and I enjoy it for the most part, thought I do not mind hitching a ride back to town on the CCS bus when it comes to get the other volunteers. I wish the mornings would be dryer so that I didn't have to wear my boots that pinch my feet just slightly, and so that I could see Kili a few more times before I leave. It's hard to believe that I only have eight more days here and then its back home again. It will be good to come home, but I will miss Moshi very much.

Moving day

Today was my last day at CCS, and I have moved into the Kindaroko hotel in down town (such as it is) Moshi. I have a very nice room with a balcony and my own bathroom, and I get breakfast included for $15 per night. I'll be there for the next two weeks until it's time for me to go on the first of June. Leaving my room was harder than I thought. Seeing it so empty, after having lived there for three and a half months was very sad. I'm sure I'll be making at least a few trips back to CCS over the next few weeks though, I wouldn't want to be away for all that long.

Everything else is going well here, it's been on the cool side for the last few days and overcast. It's not quite so cold that I would wear a sweatshirt, but I wouldn't be too hot in one either. The rain's have slowed down and mostly come at night now, today was the first major day rain storm I've seen in a while.

At school the kids are doing well, the other teachers let me teach the lessons by my self now. It go's well for the most part though I have resorted to using stickers to bribe them into keeping quiet. On last Friday I had the Standard 2 class after tea break for math. Now that they know that I will give them stickers for good behavior they tend to settle down more quickly. They like to remind me that they are being good, it's not uncommon for me to hear, "I am being quiet teacher." or, "He is disturbing the class teacher." Stickers are a very competitive sport for these kids.

That's about all for now, I've been keeping busy with many projects here. It's good because it keeps my mind busy. One reason I am glad to leave CCS is because after seeing so many of my friends leave it gets hard to be there. It feels sometimes like there are ghosts there, people who i expect to see at any moment but aren't there to be found. In two weeks I'll be home to relax, until then I've got lots of things to do.

Before I go, I would just like to throw up a few pictures from the last few days. Here we have Rose and Pendo at Kili Kids being cute, an evening view of Kilimanjaro, the Moshi bus station, Me and I believe Fredi at Kili Kids, and Nancy from Kili Kids.

It's Been A Long Time

I've been realizing recently that I have in fact been in Africa for a long time. When I left the Giants had just won the Superbowl, Republicans other than John McCain were trying to be the next President, and the east coast was just about to be hit by February snow storms. Now, though I am a little behind on news, I hear that the sun is coming out from time to time. As for me, I have filled 9 gigabytes of memory cards with pictures, and we wont even get into how much film I have used, acquired an awesome farmer tan, learned a smattering of Kiswahili, and fallen in love with about 120 Tanzanian children.

I have also learned several important things since I've been here as well:

1. The three most important things for teaching in Tanzania are a red pen, stickers, and the ability to know when it is and when it is not a good idea to let kids make mistakes.

2: Australians are pretty cool people.

3: Applying for financial aid from a third world country is really really hard.

4. Digital cameras are not meant to be taken apart by a small pocket knife.

5. My level of skill in soccer is exactly the same as that of the average third grade student in Tanzania.

6. Most Swahili words are really fun to say, for example, duka la dawa is way more fun to say than pharmacy, and Kuku may be the best word for a chicken in the entire world.

7. Going on safari, something I originally hadn't thought much about doing, turned out to be about the best thing I have ever done in my life and I cannot express just how much I think everyone should try to do it.

8. Several skills that everyone should have in life include; a good knowledge of playing card games, basic camera composition, and the ability to say a proper good bye.

9. Africa is much more like home than you would think. You find all types here, and once you get past your initial culture shock it turns out to be more familiar than you would have imagined.

That last one, for those of you who are wondering, is a picture of Andrea asleep on my lap at the Kili Kids Orphanage.

Picture day!

Today I got my package from home, and in among the pencils and stickers and massive bag of tootsie roles (thank you very much mom and grandma) was a camera cable and two new memory cards. It's very exciting for me because now i can once again upload pictures to this blog, and take even more for later on. I was down to about 50 pictures wort of space left on the memory cards I had here. I'm going to put on a bunch of pictures today, and I'll fill in some of the older posts with pictures as well, so please have a look. So here are a whole bunch of random pictures.









Ok, from top to bottom we have: 1. the largest numbers of bills I've ever held, about $250 US. 2. The home base where I live, not exactly roughing it, I know. 3. The sun set over Moshi last Saturday. 4. Regan, one of our good friends from Moshi, a local artist. 5. The sun set with Mt. Meru. 6. The Karanga road after some rain. This is the road our house is on about 1 Km from the paved Arusha rd.



I hope you enjoy, and there will defiantly be more pictures in the near future.

PS: One extra picture for John, this is me painting a map of Africa on Nikki's classroom wall. The outline is about half finished here, and was compleated yesterday. When the paing drys we'll color in the countries and paint the names on as well. Nikki deserves all the credit for this project, as she has bought all the supplies and orginized all the painting trips there.

Education in Tanzania

Today was the first day of school after a break of just over a month, and most of the children arrived for class in their green uniforms. It was nice to see the school back in full swing after having only about a quarter of the usual students there for so long. All the teachers and other volunteers were back, as was the 10:00 tea time. I spent the day teaching the standard 2 students, we had English in the morning where we reviewed plural and singular from of words, and after tea break we reviewed science an spelling. I was working with Claire, a volunteer from another organization, and class went relatively smoothly. I was happily surprised to find that I remembered many of the names of the children whom I have not seen in over a month.

The students at TCC are very advanced in terms of the curriculum when compared with students at other schools in the area. The education system here is not quite up to the task of educating all the children in the country. It is not uncommon for one class to be over 80 students, and I have heard that in some of the more remote villages an entire school of 100 or 200 students may have only one teacher. Partly this is because compulsory education in Tanzania is a newer concept, and the system has not yet been able to expand to the new demand. Another problem is money, or the lack there of. Even public schools require a small fee for the students to attend, and some family's are simply not able to pay.

But despite the problems and short comings there is hope as well. Teacher colleges have sprung up all across the country to help meet the demand, and new schools are built as often as possible. Every morning we see hundreds of young and old kids walking to school in various uniforms, some green, some red and white, many blue, and a few in green, yellow, black, and blue, the colors of the Tanzanian flag.

(the computer is giving me trouble, and may not save this post if I stay on much longer. I'll finish it at a later time if possible.)

Five Good bye's and a Wedding

Yesterday was interesting. We said good bye to five more volunteers yesterday who have gone back home to the US and Canada, four of whom were healthy. (sorry Blake, I'm sure the malaria will clear up with the medicine) Now there are only seven of us left at the house, and soon most of the rest will go. In a couple weeks there will be a huge group of new volunteers, 27 or so, and the house will be full again.

I spent a good couple hours yesterday drawing a map of Africa on a school room wall. Nikki is painting her nursery school room and wants to put different designs on the wall, numbers, letters, and in my case, a map of Africa. I've drawn the outline in chalk and today will go over the lines with black paint. Hopefully I'll get the chance to fill in the countries with different colors, and I also plan to do a map of Tanzania on another wall. It's fun doing these paintings on the wall, makes me feel like a Renaissance artist.

Last night we at CCS were all invited to a wedding. I'm still not entirely sure who's wedding it was, but Mama Thea, who's house we live in, was the organizer of the wedding. I believe it was one of her nephews who was married. We didn't go to the ceremony it self, but to the reception afterwards.

The reception was held in the YMCA hall in Moshi. We got there a little after eight in the evening and the place was packed. The walls were white painted cinder-blocks covered in white cloth, and white and green cloth was draped from the walls to hanging plants down the center of the room. Inside the cloth and along the walls were lines of small white lights. The hall has a ribbed tin ceiling held up with red rafters, and some of the green balloons had floated up and moved back and forth in the breeze. Most of the hall was filled with white covered tables, and most of the tables were filled with people. At the head of the room sat the bride and groom along with several other important people, behind them the wall was covered with white flowers and lights.

In the back were several rows of folding chairs for people who came late, like us. We sat down and were brought drinks, but after only a few minutes a table was offered to us and we sat down. The reception was like many I've seen, with the bride and groom sitting in nice chairs while lots of people take the mike to make sort, or not so short speeches. It was all done in Swahili of course, but from what Mama Lilian translated for us it was all pretty standard stuff. We had drinks, and when it was time for food we tried to get just a little but ended up with full plates.

There were several things that were a little different about the reception from one's I'm familiar with. The first being that they didn't start off by cutting a cake and feeding it to each other, but instead had a roasted goat (imagine a full roasted pig with the apple in its mouth but the head still had the fur and horns on it) which was cut into small pieces and fed by the bride and groom to the various family members. A cake was brought in later and the ceremony repeated. Also, the whole event was very late, we got there after eight and didn't leave until almost midnight, and when we left no one else had. I have the feeling they were there for several more hours. The bride wore a beautiful white dress like in a wedding back home, though the groom had on a white suit instead of a tux. And in one corner there was a small brass band, and one of the trumpets would occasionally punctuate something said by whom ever was speaking.

My favorite part had to be the presentation of the gifts however. What happens is that everyone who was invited comes up in groups, family members form the bride and groom's sides, friends, and co-workers. the bride and groom stand at one end of the hall with the best man and a bride's maid, and the group is announced and with their gifts dances in a line down the length of the hall to music provided by the band. You dance up, drop off your present, shake the hands of the wedding party and offer congratulations, then dance in the general area while the rest of your group does the same. Then there is a small speech given by some one in your group, and then you dance your way back out in a line again so the next group can do the same.

As I said, we left around midnight, and the dancing hadn't even started yet. All in all it was a very interesting experience, though I felt somewhat under dressed for the occasion. When I get a new camera cable I'll be putting up pictures so you can get a better idea of what I'm talking about.

Quick News

Ok, sorry I haven't been updating as much as I should, but things have been extra busy around here lately. I haven't been this busy since I first got here. I'm on the home base computer that has a habit of truing it self off at very bad times so I'll keep this short and to the point, or points as the case may be.

In excellent news little Parcely is home from the hospital and back with the Kili Kids and his brother and sister! His skin is clearing and he is eating again. We saw them all yesterday and all 23 kids were doing well. It's so hear warming to see them all running and having fun, they all have such sad stories. Every time we show up they run to us and hug us around the legs two or three deep. The two hours we spend there at any one time always fly by, and I never notice the language barrier. There is a Kili Kids web site for those interested in looking, which I can't seem to find just now, sorry. When I get the address I'll post it.

Today I was able to change my flight home until the first of June, so I'll be home on the second or third depending on how my flights turn out. There was a fee, and I didn't have the money on me today to pay so I'll have to go back tomorrow to get the actual ticket. Hakuna matata, it won't be any trouble.

I've been having a wonderful time with my students lately. They have always been good, but now I've been having success in teaching the standard 2 students simple division and telling time. They have picked it up amazingly fast. I only started both on last Monday and they already have the basic idea. They can tell me the hour when I draw a clock on the board, and the minutes in 15 minute intervals. Tomorrow I'll introduce more of the minutes to them, and I'll try to show how division and multiplication (which they already know in the basic form) work together. I must admit, I have much more appreciation for basic math after having been teaching it for several months. The simplicity of it is so beautiful a nine year old can grasp it.

Last weekend we had a little adventure. All 12 of the volunteers currently at CCS decided to take a small trip up Kilimanjaro for a night. We made the arrangements and were picked up on Saturday morning. Our first clue should have been the state of the van and truck that picked us up.

I was in the van with three other volunteers and as we got passed the paved roads and onto the dirt roads things got interesting. We stalled out several times and were slightly worried that we would be stuck. But we made it to our first destination, an hour hike to a waterfall. The hike was pleasant and cool since we were higher up the mountain. It was rolling country side that could almost have come out of Europe. It being the rainy season the water fall was impressive to say the least and we could only get so close with out getting covered in the spray.

Back in the truck we made our way farther up the dirt "road" toward the Kili View Lodge. Unfortunately the last stretch of road was just a bit too steep and a bit too wet and our trucks tires were a bit too bald and we had to walk the last 500 meters. Fortunately I didn't bring much with me. At the lodge itself they tried to put us into too few rooms with too few beds, fairly standard practice, but after a bit of discussion led by Dave (aka papa Leo) we got it all straightened out. We were the only people there and more rooms weren't really a problem.

The view from there was incredible. We were able to look down on Moshi, and up to the peak of Kili (even that far up we were still well below the tree line and vary much in the rain forest area). The night was cool and rainy, and our beds were extremely comfortable. In the morning we awoke to find ourselves in one of the clouds that often sticks to the side of Kili. I could see the peak vaguely through the cloud, which was ironic that Kili was out but we weren't. We were served some excellent coffee that I had too many cups of and after breakfast we came back home. Because of the rains the road was even worse going down and we had to walk back to where the van and truck had stayed since yesterday. We slipped and slid down the mountain, but made it safe and sound in the end. It was the kind of trip where you need a vacation to recover from, but it was a good time.

That's about all I can think of just now, and it's getting late and I want to try calling mom again before bed. I've been sent a camera cable from home so with any luck there will be pictures again on the blog soon. I hope every one is good back state side and abroad.

Not coming home just yet

As I said a little while back I was given a gift by my parents to take a trip after my program here in Moshi ends in May. I thought about it for a while, and many possibilities came to mind. I could see more of Africa, I could stop over somewhere in Europe on my way home, I could even go on another safari while I'm here in Tanzania. But after being away from home for so long, and being here with the volunteers and my school for so long as well the thought of traveling on my own really isn't very appealing. All those places I thought about going are still worth the trip I'm sure, and god willing I will someday get to see them.

So I have come up with an alternative. For the same money that I could spend a week in Amsterdam I can spend the better part of a month here in Moshi. I'll move into one of the hotel's in town and work during the days at my school and possibly at the Kili Kids orphanage. Kili Kids is going to have a gap of volunteers in a couple weeks and I may be able to help fill it for at least a little while. I'll be able to be around my friends from CCS and will be in a familiar place.

I'll be home some time in early June, I'll be able to say once I get my plane tickets changed. I miss everyone at home, but one extra month wont be that long. It's hard to believe that I have been here for almost two and a half months already. I'm sure the next month and a half will fly by as well.

I'll see you all when its warm out.

A Day in the Life

About a week ago I joined Mr. James, the head master of my school, on one of his out reach programs. Mr. James works with various programs in the area to help support people living with HIV-AIDS in the villages out side of town. Last Tuesday Mr. James, a couple other volunteers from the school, and I took a dala-dala up to Marangu, about an hour north of Moshi.

Up in Marangu, which is higher up on Mt. Kilimanjaro but still very much in the jungle, Mr. James works with a program called the Hope Foundation. We were introduced to the woman who runs the foundation there and were served tea and fried banana. The Hope Foundation runs an orphanage there and helps to support the local people with HIV-AIDS.

We met with a woman named Esther at her home, and brought a bag of donated clothes for her children. Esther was her husband's second wife, the first had died after having four children. Of those four children two died of AIDS. After his first wife died the man married Esther. He died one year later, and Esther was pregnant. When her son was born she had herself and her son tested and they were both positive. Esther has to work to support her son Gideon, and one of the children from the first marriage who still lives with her. The older of the two children from the first marriage is away at school, the younger who still lives there is also positive.

We sat in her home, a dark and cool concrete room with a tin roof, on little stools. Her son Gideon is about eight now, and you wouldn't know by looking at him that he is sick. Gideon sat on one of the other volunteers lap's while we talked, and the other child stood behind her mother in her blue school uniform. Esther cried a little as we gave her the clothing, and as Mr. James read her letters from her pen pals in America. Mr. James asked us if we wanted to say anything, but I didn't know what to say.

Later we went to visit the kids in the orphanage. There are 28 children at the orphanage we saw that day, 11 of whom are HIV positive. Mr. James had letters for one of the positive girls who was about 11 and in grade 4. All of the letters came with stickers, and one was a letter that played music. One thing you don't expect to here in a situation like that is "Who let the dog's out."

After running various errands with Mr. James I got back to the CCS house a little after 5:00. I sat on the back porch and read a book. Megan and Nikki got home around 5:45 and joined me there. They had just come back from visiting the kids at the Kili Kids orphanage, but first they had gone to see little Parcely in the hospital.

Parcely (actually spelled Parcel but pronounced like parsley the food) has been in the hospital for a couple weeks because of a rash all over his body. The rash is a reaction to his AIDS medication. We had visited him several times before, each time he had gotten a little worse, and this time was no different. Megan showed me pictures of Parcely, covered in a white lotion and with a feeding tube in his mouth. His lips are so chapped that he cant open them. They bleed sometimes. The girls told me that he could hardly hold him self up because he was so weak.

That was a long day. Some day's are just like that here. But you get through them. Going to my school or to Kili Kids always helps my mood. And if you get too depressed you wont be any help to anyone. You take these things one day at a time.

Much about nothing.

This is one of those days where I really don't know what to write about. Lot's going on as usual, but sometimes it almost becomes so commonplace that you don't notice it. Of my original group of volunteers only two of us remain, Megan and I, and Nicki from the last group is also still here. other wise everyone I have met here has left, and the three of us find ourselves surrounded by strangers. Soon enough they will be friends, but for now there is a disconnect as they go through their orientation.

Last night after a game of charades, which is the almost nightly past time here at CCS, John became very sick. Nicki and I stayed with in the room with him as he slept, partly because of worry, and partly because we were enjoying our conversation. John leaves today to fly home to Australia, and after two months of good health this is terribly ironic timing to get sick. I have to admit that I'm a bit worried he may have malaria, but he is determined to get on that plane and go home. If you have to have malaria it would be nice to at least be home. Thats sick John to the right, and yes, I put an American flag sticker on his face. In order to be fair I have also added a much better looking picture of John from the next day when he had mostly recovered from his one night sickness.

My parents have given me a gift, they want to let me go on a trip before I leave that they will pay for, within reason. I'm extremely excited about it, but now I have to decide where I want to go. There are so many options and I really don't know where to start. Should I go somewhere in Africa? Even here in Tanzania, another safari maybe (I would love that). Or to Egypt, my dad has always talked about seeing the pyramids and I would love to do that. I could go to South Africa or Morocco, or a now more stable Kenya. On the other hand I could also pick a destination in Europe to stop over in on my way home, Amsterdam, London, Berlin, Paris, and Madrid all sound quite intriguing. I can't thank mom and dad enough, but this will require some real thinking. I'd love to go to Australia but even with my parents help I don't think I'll have enough money for that.

Anyways, that's enough babbling for now, I'll have something more substantial to say next time. For now, good bye to all my friends who have gone home, safe journey to those still travailing, and may God hold you in the palm of his hand till we meet again.

PS: John, you will never find all of the American flag stickers I hid in your luggage. :-)

Pictures

At first I was going to give another long and well thought out post, commenting on some subtlety of life in Tanzania, but then I though to my self I'll just put a bunch of pictures up instead. So with out further interruption, we have the children of TCC;

Because right now we are technically on a break from school the kids only come in for half days. Only about 20 of the usual 80 kids come, and they don't have to wear their uniforms. We start with math, then move on to English. Above we have Davis studying, several of the children being John Cena before class (WWE wrestling, which they love), And Debora and Dorthy, Teacher James' kids. Below are Zena on the see-saw with her file balanced on her head, little Fatuma also on the see-saw, and Mohamed with his sticker page. Stickers are very important in teaching here.

And just for good measure, a couple picture of Kilimanjaro, now with snow from the rainy season.

Kili Kids

One of the placements for volunteers here in Tanzania is a nursery school called Kili Kids. The nursery is very well run and has had a string of volunteers from CCS who love working there. All of the children there are real orphans, (meaning that both of their parents are dead, not just gone, or un-able or un-willing support them) from toddlers up to about 6 years old, or at least the ones I have met are that age. Holly is currently the only volunteer working there and she absolutely loves it, she tries her best to teach them numbers and letters and what ever it is you teach such small children. She's really wonderful with the kids. It's going to be really hard for her to leave next week when her program in Tanzania ends.

A couple days a week Holly organizes trips to the nursery in the afternoon for other volunteers to go and play with the kids, though I'm sure she would be just has happy to go back with or with out any one else. I've gone a couple times and I can see why she loves it so much. The building is clean and the staff is caring and has a good knowledge of caring for children. The children themselves area completely adorable, since Holly has to teach in the morning we mostly just play in the afternoons.

The kids call us uncle and auntie, at first we were all auntie but we have Finalay convinced them to call John and I uncle. We read to them which they love even though they don't understand almost any of the English, and almost any game is fun to them. They have their own games that they love to play as well, one of the favorites being for one to sit in the wheelbarrow while another grabs the handles and runs as fast as he can with it. Fortunately that isn't very fast. John and I are also very popular because we can pick them up and toss them in the air, some things are fun for children the world over. The kids also invented a game where by they stand on a three foot high banister, call out, "UNCLE JOHN!!!" and jump into your hopefully waiting arms.

One of the children, Parsley, is 22 months old, but because he has AIDS he hasn't grown much past the size of a 9 month old. He gets sick often and has only been healthy one day when I was there. Parsley is probably ever one's favorite kid, he is simply too adorable and we hold him for the entire visit usually. He can't walk yet, but on good days he comes close and we hold his hands while he takes steps. On his bad days though he's just too tired to hold him self up. It's so hard knowing there is nothing you can do to help such a wonderful little child. I think most of us would take him home if we could. Here's a picture of me holding Parsley, just knowing him breaks your heart a little.

Taxi

The village where I live is a couple kilometers out side of the small city of Moshi, and when we want to go into town (most days) we can either walk for an hour or take a cab. Now don't get me wrong, the walk is very nice and perfectly safe and I make the trip on foot at least once a week, but an hour in the mid day Tanzanian sun is not something to be taken lightly. A cab to town from Karanga village only costs 4,000 tsh (roughly $4) so if you get a couple other people to go your only looking at about a $1 to get to town.

Where as in America to get a cab you would either call the company or just hail one on the street depending on where you were here in Tanzania, and probably a lot of Africa, you can actually call your favorite cab driver on his cell phone. Our favorites are Regebu, Tom, and Juma who all know us well and give us fair prices. They all speak English very well and Regebu especially likes to quiz us on our Swahili. What is also nice about them is that they know all the places that we mzungu like to go, ie; the Internet cafe, various restaurants, and the better souvenir stores. Their cars are clean and run well. From time to time Regebu will let one of the volunteers, usually Nicole, drive his car for part of the way home. Over all it's always nice to get a ride from any of these guys.

Where the adventure begins however is when you get a ride in a cab you just pick up on the street. When we are in town and want to get back we sometimes just pick up a cab who is waiting on the street like you would in any city back home. We usually try to pick a cab that belongs to the cab company, they have white cars with a blue stripe and white licence plates. Then first thing to do is see if the driver knows where we want to go. Karanga village is a little out of the way (as in way down a dirt road) and not all the drivers in Moshi know how to get there. If you cant give directions, and usually you cant, you find another cab. It's not much trouble to find any number of cabs, they seem to sit around for most of the day. If they can get you where you want to go the next thing to do is agree on a price. Cab's here don't use meters and prices are negotiable like most services. In and around Moshi we know about what we should be paying, and if a driver wants to charge too much you simply walk away. The driver will either give in and take you for a fair price or another driver will jump at the chance to take you.

The cars themselves are always a gamble, you never know what you will get. With our favorite drivers we know the cars are well maintained and clean, but there are times you are surprised that some of the taxi's you get in can make it as far as Karanga. Cracked windshields are not uncommon, and if you are in the back seat the windows may or may not open. Since I have been here I have been in only one cab with working air conditioning (it was actually a random street cab) so an open window is critical. It is also not unusual for the cab to have to stop for gas on the way. I don't think I have seen any cab with more than a quarter tank of gas since I have been here, and most are on empty the entire time.

Over all though things work rather well, and we have never not gotten to our destination. We may from time to time get stuck in a herd of cows or be unable to cross a flooded road, and on the dirt roads you will almost inevitably bang your head once or twice. But we have always made it. It's always an adventure.

Mt. Meru

I decided several weeks ago that I wanted to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro, one of the volunteers here had just come down and told us all about it. Once I saw how expensive it was to climb Kili however ($1,000 - $1,500) I began to look for alternatives and discovered Mt. Meru just out side of near by Arusha. Since I had a five day weekend over the Easter break it seemed like the perfect time to go. So I borrowed some equipment from other volunteers here at Karanga (thanks to Alex and Elise for that) and took the bus to Arusha last Thursday.

Most safari companies also do mountain climbs where they provide equipment and food for around $600 per person for Mt. Meru. I discovered however that for about half the price I could climb with out a safari company and do it on my own. So my plan was basically to spend a night in Arusha and get my supplies then make my way to the park the next day (Mt. Meru is in Arusha National Park about 30km from Arusha).

My night in Arusha went well and the next morning involved various modes of transportation (I was let off at the wrong stop, an old woman stole a clip from my bag, the land rover i was on broke down, we almost crashed into oncoming cars twice, and the roof of the land rover almost took my head off once) to get me to the Momela gate at the base of Meru.

At the first park gate I had to get out and pay the fee's for climbing the mountain. these included entry fees for the park, ranger fee's for the ranger who went up with me, and a rescue fee. All together it cost me $280. The man behind the desk then asked if I had a visa, and I started to panic because my passport was one of the things I didn't think to bring. All I had was a copy of my residency permit, so i showed that to him. He looked at it confused for a moment then realized the mistake. "I mean, do you have a visa card? We cannot take cash anymore." I was enormously relived and swiped my bank card. Lucky for me I don't have American express.

My ranger was a man named Gideon who would go with me up the mountain. You are required to have a ranger with you when you climb Meru, not so much to show you the way, though they do know it very well, but mostly to protect you from wild animals if the need arises. For that purpose Gideon carried with him a rifle slung over his left shoulder. It's not very often that a ranger has to use their rifle, and even more rare for them to have to actually kill an animal, but from time to time it does happen. Mostly its the water Buffalo that cause the problems, but sometimes and elephant will take offence to people walking too bye.

The first part of the climb was over open yellow grassland, Gideon told me that often there are hundreds of buffalo in that area, but that day there were only a few off to the side in a watering hole. We quickly entered an area of scrub brush and began moving up the slope. The forest at the base of the mountain was surprisingly like a forest back home in New England, I was very much reminded of various hikes I have take in CT or NH. After about an hour of walking we stopped by a small stream so I could rest and eat. I hadn't had a chance to eat lunch that day because of all my transportation issues. Gideon told me about his family in Arusha, and I talked about America.

Most of the first day was walking up hill through open grassland and we even came upon a group of three giraffe's grazing not too far away from me. Gideon took my picture with them in the background, he has an interesting sense of composition. Actually he insisted on taking pictures of me at most of the interesting points, I have more pictures of myself from last weekend then from the last six months. Just after the giraffes we also saw a family of warthogs.

Having never done any mountain climbing or serious hiking before I think i did well over all, but the weight of the pack was something I wasn't prepared for. It wasn't terrible, but every step up was made that much harder. Each day only consisted of 1000 meters of elevation, but the heat and the weight make it seem like forever sometimes. The sweat was dripping off my nose, it ran down my arm and hand and across the back of my camera before falling to the ground. I think i drank about 3 1/2 liters of water on just the climb that day. I found it best not to think about the whole mountain at once, just to take one step up, make sure my balance was good, and take another step up.

Once we were up higher we entered a part of forest that seemed almost like a rain forest. I asked Gideon about it and he confirmed my thoughts, saying that because of the clouds that hang on the side of the mountain and the rich earth from the volcano the eco-system there was a cool rain forest. Up in the trees we saw monkeys that were colored like skunks. Many of the trees in this area were enormous and covered in moss that hung down to the ground in places.

We came to the first group of bunk houses at about 5:30, and I had just enough time to take a cold shower and eat before night fell. The view was wonderful, I could see across the planes between Meru and Kilimanjaro and as it got dark there was a lightning storm down below us. I slept very well that night.

After a quick breakfast of carrots, oranges, dried fruits, and peanuts Gideon and I were off. We left around 8:30 and it was much cooler walking in the morning than in the full afternoon sun like the day before. It was another 1000 meters in elevation and even though I had eaten a full day's worth of supplies my bag seemed at least as heavy as it did the day before.

Along the trail we came across buffalo tracks only about 300 feet from the bunk houses we slept in the night before, sometimes the buffalo wonder into the camp at night Gideon told me. You have to be careful when you go out to the bathroom at night. Later we saw elephant tracks on the side of the trail as well, Gideon believes they were the tracks of a mother and her baby. I had no idea that animals that big came so far up the mountain, but Gideon told me it's not uncommon.

A bit more than half way to the next bunk house the trees changed from large hardwood's to scrubby pine trees and tall grasses. The air was getting cooler as well, but the strain of climbing kept me more than warm and the cool breezes we got from time to time were very nice. We got to the second bunk house at about noon, and I fell asleep almost as soon as I put my bag down. I wanted to eat first, but I was just too tired.

I got up around 1:30 and ate. While I was eating it began to rain outside, then it began to hail. It must have rained and hailed until 4:00. It was much colder at this point, I don't know how cold, but I could not yet see my breath. To keep warm I was wearing most of my clothes and my rain jacket. Gideon suggested that I go to bed early because we would begin our assent to the top at around 2:00am in the morning, so after eating as much as I could of peanuts and crackers dried fruit I went to bed around 8:00pm.

Everything after this point seems kind of like a bad dream. Gideon woke me up at 1:30 and we left the camp at 2:00am as planed. I had emptied my bag and only took water and a little food and my med kit so walking wasn't nearly so bad. The weather had also improved and by the time we were really climbing I was quite warm.

We quickly got past the point where plants of any size grow, and were on bare mountain. mostly at the start of the climb that night the ground was rock, but as we went up there would be more and more sections that were pure volcanic ash. We entered the a cloud layer and my visibility was very low. I could only see for about 100 meters in any direction, and what I could see was just the mountainside before and behind me. For the most part it was just Gideon and me, him leading and following the trail, and me following him. There were places where we walked along the ridge lines, some rock and some ash, where the mountain sloped down away from us on either side into the fog disappeared into the darkness. In other places we climbed up ash slopes that I could not see the top of in the fog, only the dark shape of the mountain seeming to go on forever. Like on the other sections of the mountain I just kept putting one foot in front of the other, and on we went.


What kept me from getting to the top was the rain. Maybe about an hour and a half into the climb (I didn't bring my watch) the rain began to come down and the wind picked up. The wind blew the rain into my right side and the mountain was always on the wrong side to shelter us. I walked on hoping the rain would stop, but after half an hour my legs were soaked and the wind was not slowing down. I asked Gideon how much farther we had to go to the summit and he told me that it was only 300 meters higher, but it would still be about two hours because the last part was very steep. I decided to turn around.


We were back in the bunk house before dawn, so I would guess it was around 5:30 or so. I took off my wet clothes and crawled back into my sleeping bag and tried to sleep. With the exception of my feet I was able to get warm again, though the best I could do for clothes was my shirt and a only slightly damp pair of boxers.

Gideon woke me up around 10:00 and asked me what I wanted to do, to go back down or stay there for the night. I decided to head back down, if not to the entrance than to the first bunk house where the weather would be warmer. I put on the dryer clothing I and packed the wet clothes away, a couple pairs of socks were beyond hope and were left there, and we set out back down the mountain in a light rain.

Once we were moving again I felt much better, and we stopped not long into our walk to take off our jackets. Going down hill is much faster, but it isn't really any easier. I was very glad when we reached the first bunk house just after 1:00 and stopped for lunch. I ate more peanuts and my last two oranges. I threw away what food I could do without and which had gone bad, and emptied my water bottle's into my nelgene. With my much lighter bag I felt like continuing on and going home that day. Also, I had no dry clothes to sleep in so going down the mountain seemed like all the better idea.

On the second half of the trip down, from the first bunk house to the gate, my knee's began to hurt. It's a lot of stress to put on your legs at one time, even with the lighter bag. But the sun was warm and the animals were our and we came across several groups of people going up who were breathing heavily while we almost ran down. I was in a good mood as I anticipated a warm shower and clean clothing only a few hours away.

Just before getting to the gate we were walking through the open grass field at the base of the mountain and came upon a group of giraffes eating small low to the ground plants. We walked by less than 100 feet away and they looked up at us, then went back to eating. There were adults as well as children, And it was a wonderful way to leave the park.

On my way out I hitched a ride with a group of German tourists who had also climbed the mountain (and made it to the top), and then caught the Arusha-Moshi bus back to Moshi. Walking the last kilometer back to the home base I was picked up by a fellow volunteer Nicole who was driving a taxi. Rigabe, a local taxi driver who we like, sometimes lets her drive the last mile back to CCS, and that day just happened to be one of those days.

It's taken me at least three trips to the Internet cafe to get this all written down, and after almost a week my legs still hurt a little when I go down stairs. I hope the length of this post makes up for a week with out any, and I'd like to send a special thank you to Alex and Elise with out whom my climb would not have happened.