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May 2007 Singida group start in Dar
Moya Cutts Posted at 2007/05/27 10:41

Courtesy of Kimberly Tomaszewski, Singida May 07 Volunteer

Hello from Tanzania!!

Just writing to tell everyone that we arrived safely and have had quite the adventure already!! It basically all started when we got off the plane and hasn't stopped. There is of course too much to tell but some highlights:

Yesterday was a packed day - we saw just about every part of Dar es Salaam as one could - the good and the ugly. Our goal was to get to a beach - very touristy - but were introduced to the town and way of life on the way. The city of Dar looks like a post WWII movie - destruction next to new banks and small shops; very quiet though people are out and about. One minute you see a woman carrying supplies on her head and the next a brand new car drives by all done up. Then we took a 'bus' ... for the sake of everyone's nerves I'll leave out the details of said vehicles... to a ferry that carried about 100 of us over to an island that doesnt even have a name it's just considered part of Dar. It was an experience... We were of course the only white people but that is not what kept us a part from everyone - it is a dfiferent world here. The language isn't like spanish where I can pick up even a little and the culture is so vastly different from out own that even the way we stand or where we sit is noticed and taken note of. It's hard to explain but, according to Musa, our guide and langauge teacher, there is no racism here between black and white, but there are blatant stereotypes against westerners.
Once we did get to the beach (another 'van' ride over dirt 'roads' and fields haha) it was absolutely beautiful. The Indian Ocean!! And yup, I swam in it, watched Timmy play vollyball with some locals, took pictures of the camels walking by (camels!!..walking by!!) and then thought for a moment if I should buy a spear from the man selling them down the corner...I opted not to - don't want to have to carry it around the whole time ya know :-P And that was day one...

Today was the start of our week for language training!! It was so great and I am doing really well with it when I am not speaking to an actual Tanzanian. To Katie and Tim or anyoen else from our group I am miss Swahili .. but the second someone says Hujambo to me I say '::gulp:: hi ::darnit!::' Some decided to go back into town this afternoon but the three of us have decided to stay and write and have a day to ourselves since we have to get up at 5 tomorrow morning and have 12 hours of travel - if there is no rain, if we don't break down... etc etc. We have been staying at a salvation army and now head to a hostel type place for the week of training and then on Saturday have another really long day of travel to our villages. The training, while long, is necessary because we are left alone to our village and our work with only security guards (yes, we have security guards I just found out) starting next Monday... oy.

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May 2007 Singida group reach Singida
Moya Cutts Posted At 2007/05/27 12:45)

Courtesy of Kimberly Tomaszewski, Singida May 07 Volunteer

Mambo!!

I'm writing from Singida after another full day of language classes and a 12 hour bus ride to get here yesterday. Think off-roading in a school bus for 5 hours. I wish I was joking...It was the longest twelve hours of my life, but thankfully only five of those hours were spent "off road". There are no signs, no mile markers - there is one road (which they are presently making) and thus we travel through the valley, pits, ditches, etc.

After our first full day our leaders asked us what we expected to have seen or experienced in Africa. I didn't know how to answer this other than what I had seen was nothing that I had imagined. But yesterday, driving out of the city and into a more rural area, this is what I had expected. We left at 5 am. The bus station was insanity and really quite overwhelming. People everywhere even at that point of the morning; kids in their uniforms walking to school or getting on buses to travel. Everyone was selling something - corn on sticks, nuts, bananas and plantanes, muffins, everything! I didn't eat anything except a small 2 bite muffin but then I got so scared (everyone else was eating them no problem so I thought ok i can do this).

The radio was on NPR and talking about Israel and Palestine (all in swahili so I didn't get anything other than that and every once in awhile George Bush - which I would have obviously loved to have heard their way of talking about our country), the bus station was insanity... Going through the rural areas, sunflowers line the fields and they are endless!! (My favorite flower so this was even more beautiful to me). People, in the most beautiful colors!, walked the streets with sunken bellied cattle held together with stick halters; the women carrying buckets or sticks on their heads; kids on bikes everywhere and barefoot; houses are huts made of straw, mud, leaves, or some concrete but not much and they are only the height of the average person here...

The rest stop consisted of side of the road stuff or a 15 minute break where we encountered our first "toilet". Let me explain this. The toilet is a plastic plate in the ground that does in fact flush but that you squat over. This is no different for men, women, or whatever you have to do while in the bathroom!! .. Katie and I peed once yesterday before we got on the bus and then about 9 times fourteen hours later - yes, over a plate in the ground. We've gotten quite good at it - I only almost fell once (almost!).

There is so much to tell but everyone is finishing up and I suppose I should go myself.. We travel again (and our last time) to our villages on Saturday. I don't know when I'll write next but I'm writing a lot!! and there are obviously lots of stories to tell and we're still in week one.

love peace and afya! (health!)
Kim

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Re: May 2007 Singida group start in Dar
Moya Cutts Posted At 2007/06/10 04:23)

Courtesy of Kimberly Tomaszewski, Singida May 07 Volunteer

Hello All!!

Well it has been over two weeks since my last email! Too much has happened to share3 it all so I will try to do some bullet points (though I am not good at these, as we know)...

MVae- the village I am in is ...wonderful, overwhelming, unique, beautiful. I will have a full description of our camp in the middle of sunflowers and an open filed in the middle of ...well, nowhere when I return. I have only a few minutes at this intgernet cafe because of all of the wonderful emails I've recieved for fun, birthday wishes, etc. Thank you all so much!! Reading has been better than writing.

It has been two weeks since I have experienced a few things...some of which include internet, running water, or ya know, electricity and one's own reflection!! It has been wonderful and surprinsingly I didn't realize this until today when we were headed into Singida to do our weekly shopping. Honestly, Technology is overrated and not having it has challenged and encourgaed my imagination to the points that I think it holds me back. Still though, keep the water running for my return - I wouldn't mind a toilet that flushes or one that is elevated from a hole in the ground - I won't be picky though, I promise.

If nothing else I have to share my birthday ...

Myself, Katie, Timmy and the two other boys of the camp (jesse and Ed) went for a 14 hour hike to "the rock". This was the conversation around it:

Villagers: Where are you going? (as we rumage through corn and ugali fileds, through small villages, over rocks and around water)

Us: to the rock (we point at the big mountain range and the tip which can be seen from all over the surrounding area, including Singida)

Villagers: Why?

Us: ... because we can!

It was the most beautiful experience I think I've had. It was about 7 miles there and another back and a very very challenging hike, lift, push, up the mountain. For a girl who is afraid of heights, you would never know it. The hour we had to spend at the top, eat our trail mix (three bags of personal trail mix and 5 crackers each for the whole day as we had run out of food by thi stime in the week) was perfect. It took three hours to get there and about 2 and 1/2 back. Lots of pictures - lots of even better memories.

When we returned everyone had bought me popcorn from a can (irony: american made, arabic writing), a kanga and a cd of african music plus nutella on corn muffins!!! And before this - earlier in the week I asked for only one thing from my campmates for my birthday - to teach the village people how ot sing the village people (YMCA) and they did!!! Not only does the whole primary school know how to say Tomaszewski (more than we can say for some .. :-P) but they know to sing YMCA whenever one of us shouts It's fun to stay at the! (only me i know...)

This weekend marks the end of 2 weeks and the countdown to our last week in Mvae and volunteering. Katie and Tim and I will then move on to Arusha, Zanabar , back to Dar and then home. I wish I could write more. It will be hard to leave the friends I've made - my Irish, Australian, English and Tanzanian - to say nothing of the home I've made in my tent, under the hole where the rain comes through and the stars are indescribable. Next week I will have acces to the internet again and will hopefully be able to spend some more time.

Love Peace and Afya to all!!

Kim