So it's already been a couple of weeks since I've been in Tanzania, but it feels like I've already done so much. Let me talk a little about what I've done so far and what is coming up soon.
First of all, there's the flight to Tanzania. I flew from Salt Lake City to Chicago to London to Nairobi to Kilimanjaro. We had a long layover in London, so some of the other volunteers and I got to get off and see some of the sights of London. We also got some delicious fish and chips from this great little restaurant called Seafresh. The Nairobi airport felt somewhat like a converted jail, but we got on our little plane to Kilimanjaro International Airport just fine. Flying past Mt. Kilimanjaro was absolutely breathtaking! That mountain is so tall, our plane's cruising altitude was still below the top of the mountain…it was kind of a surreal experience.
We then hopped on a dala dala to our house near Arusha. Our house is amazing! It is not anything like what I was expecting. I actually kind of feel bad about it being so nice when some of our neighbors live in little mud huts. There are 16 of us living in the house though. And the electricity is on only about half of the time when we're home. And we don't have any hot water ever. Sometimes we don't have any water whatsoever. Those days when we don't have electricity or water can be pretty miserable. So there are some factors that make me feel less guilty about living in our awesome house.
Arusha is about a 15 minute dala dala trip from our house. Dala dalas are AWESOME! They're just these little buses (more like big vans) that they just completely pack full of people and that drive a circuit from Arusha to different places and back. There are seats for about 12 people, but I've been on some where they pack about 24 people in one. For those short trips, they're only 300 Tanzanian shillings (I'll let you figure out how much that is in US dollars). Sometimes they have these awesome sound systems in them and they'll just blast Swahili rap. Those are basically my favorite dala dalas.
We've been able to meet with a few potential partners already in this area. We're still figuring out what will be the best kinds of projects to work on, but there is a lot of need in a lot of different areas. There is an awesome local couple here, Erneste and Ana, who are both HIV positive. They started an orphanage for kids who are HIV positive. The orphanage also has other kids and also supports kids who cannot afford to go to school. There is a very negative stigma associated with HIV positive individuals. They are looked on like useless people that are just waiting to die. Erneste and Ana are trying to give hope to those living with HIV, to let them know that they can still be normal and productive citizens. We will probably work with them on a couple of things. One idea we've had is a revenue generating project. They have some pigs there, and two that are pregnant, but they don't have nearly adequate facilities to support them. We are talking about building a proper pig pen for them, so that they can breed the pigs, and sell them for about a 1000% profit or use them for food.
There are also some other orphanages and hospitals in the area that are doing some cool things that HELP will be involved with. There are a few vocational schools as well, and I'll have some opportunities to teach some fundamental computer skills. There are so many people here who have never even used a computer, and from talking to some of the people, it seems like the best opportunities for jobs comes to those who at least have a working knowledge of computers. I believe that learning useful skills like that will do a lot to help individuals improve their own situations, and those for generations to come.
This place is seriously amazing. Most of the people, especially those in the little communities outside of Arusha town, are so nice. Everyone always greets and responds to each other when they walk past one another on the street, whether it's "Mambo" and "Poa", or "Habari yako?" and "Nzuri sana!", or "Hujambo?" and "Sijambo", or "Shikamo" and "Marahaba". Swahili is a beautiful language, and I'm trying my best to learn it. It's coming very slowly, but it's something you have to know in order to get around here. Everyone speaks Swahili, and only those who have had enough money to be educated for a decent amount of time in private schools actually learn English. We've been lucky, though, to meet and work with people who have enough English with whom we can communicate effectively.
The landscape here in Arusha is so lush and green, and pretty jungly. There are banana trees and avocado trees and papaya trees that just seem to grow everywhere. I know that that can't be completely true, because there are so many people here whose livelihoods depend on selling those fruits at little markets or shops all around here. Right now, during rainy season, it rains pretty much every night, and by mid-afternoon, the weather clears up and becomes hot and humid. We live in the shadow of Mt. Meru, the fifth largest mountain on the continent, which is covered in the same lush landscape. However, if you go 30 minutes out of town, east or west, the landscape changes completely from this rainforest-feel atmosphere to the savannah-type grasslands that typify sub-Saharan Africa. Either way, it is spectacular here.
I'm sorry this post doesn't have pictures. I know that one picture is really worth a thousand words, though I don't think that they can do this place justice. My next post, which will hopefully be soon, will be mostly just pictures. Until then… Kwa heri!
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