The End

So obviously I have not updated in a long time. I am, as I imagine everyone knows, back in America now. In any case, I will recount how I spent my last 10 days or so in Arusha.

Thursday, 4/24

Thursday was our final day teaching for that particular group of stuents. We taught about treatment options and AIDS symptoms. As usualy for the last day of the week, Mama Betty came in to give her talk about living with HIV and the natural remedies to reduce symptoms. Usually on the last day, we have a medical team come in and do free testing. However, the clinic called during class and told Rita they would not be coming. This was frustrating, I feel the free and, more importantly, convinient testing opportunity is important, but alas T.I.A: This is Africa.

We have a questions box that we leave in the classroom all week, in case there are questions that the students don't want to ask aloud to the whole class. One such question we got today was if having sex with a virgin can cure HIV. This is both a very popular and very dangerous myth in Tanzania, and we are constantly having to tell the class that HIV has absolutely no cure.

Because the class this week was younger (17/18), and because with no testing, we now had lots of extra time, we decide to do a jeapordy-esque review game. It went extremely well- the girls liked it and knew almost all the questions, which makes be very glad.

After class was over and we had packed up all our materials, we started walking to the main street to get the dala-dala back to the office. Sumeet was holding the questions box, and he started going up to peaople and asking in swahili if they had any questions. Everybody thought he was a crazy mzungu and Rita and I were cracking up. He is a silly man.

Friday, 4/25

For the weekend, Megan, Sumeet, and I had planned a 3-day safari to the Seregeti and Ngorongoro crater. When we left Arusha early in the morning, it was raining quite hard. This had us worried, but by the time we arrived in the Serengeti 5 hours later, the sun was shining.

One of the first thigns we saw was a cheetah. It was laying on the side of the road, very close to us. It was pretty awesome and a good welcome into serengeti. Shortly after this, we saw the wildebeest migration. Wildebeest are constantly migrating in search of good water and grass. They all move together, RUNNING in a single file line. The quantity of wildabeest in this never-ending line of running creature is indiscribable. If yo look to the left and then to th eright, you see the black, thin line continuing on to the horizons. I think there are about a million or so wildabeest running right by us. Interestingly enough, the wildabeest are led/herded by the zebras. In an endless line of wildabeest, there is also about 100 zebras organizing and standing by importantly. It is pretty neat.

On this day we also saw a lion (female and far away), many many zebras, giraffes, jackals (kind of like a fox/small dog), and several hyenas.

Hyenas are very ugly creatures. However, they play an important role in the ecosystem because they eat carcasses (dead animals, for my brasilian readers). When a lion/cheetah/leopard catchs a wildabeest/buffalo/antelope, it naturally gets to eat first. Once the cat is satisfied, the Jackals will come in and eat whatever is left over. Next, vultures eat. Finall, the hyenas finish off whatever may still be remaining, so that only bones remain. Every once in a while, we would drive by a skeleton of an animal, but we only saw one carcass during the entire trip- a sign that the hyenas are doing their job well.

We arrived at our hotel arund 6 PM. Despite the fact that this was the cheapest hotel in the Serengeti, I found it pretty nice and by far the nicest place I will stay in during my time here. Sumeet, Megan, and I were all thrilled to eat non-African food, but what I was really excited about was the shower. I had only had one real shower since I arrived in Africa; back on my 2nd day here in the hostel. And that one had been cold. So it was quite amazing to have a hot shower and wash my hair without the use of a bucket. In Africa, it is all about the little victories!

Saturday, 4/26

Serengeti means endless plain, and that is exactly what it is. The landscape is totally flat grasslands, with sporadic trees but no heavy forestry. This allows you to see the animals even if they are far away, and the only real difficulty is camoflage. The grass is more yellow than green- and the big cats blend in.

Fairly early in the day, we found a lioness in a tree and an elephant directly behind the tree. Because the lioness was quite close, there was soon 8 or 9 jeeps around the area. I noticed that the elephant had started moving towards the road, getting closer and closer. Soon, it was right up next to one of the jeeps, apparently perturbed. The jeep started slowly moving away, and the elephant followed after it. Then, it icked up some dirt and threw it at the people in the jeep! It was pretty funny. After this, the elephant got bored and walked away.

In the meantime, more jeeps had gathered around the lioness. I was sitting up on the roof of thejeep, looking at the lion, when a guy in a neighboring jeep addressed me. He was European and about 30 years old, and had two other european men in the jeep with him. He held out his camera for me to see a picture he had just taken and ask what I thought of it. When i looked, I saw that he had taken a picture of me! Unsure what to do, I laughed awkwardly and asked why he had done that. He said that he couldn't see the lioness very well, so he just took a picture of me instead. I found the whole thing strange and just continued to laugh nervously at them until we drove away.

Other animals seen on this day: alligaor, hippos, buffalo, wildabeest, hyenas, zebras, girafee, antelope

We saw 4 or 5 lions total this day, all female and all pretty close to us. The closest one got about 4 meters away.

It was already the end of the day and we were heading out of the park when we spotted a leopard asleep n a tree. Leopards are hard to find in safaris because they are nocturnal. But this one was VERY close, very beautiful, and facing the road. Needless to say, we got to see it very well. It was the prettiest animal we saw on the safari, and it was a great farewell from the Serengeti.

After this, we started driving to Ngorongoro Crater. We would spend the night at a nearby hotel, so that we could enjoy the park starting early the next morning. Although this second hotel was not as nice as the first, it had an amazing view of the entire crater (and a fairly hot shower as well).

Sunday, 4/27

Ngorongoro Crater is basically is big hole in the ground. The impression you get is that an astriod came from space and slammed down into earth, causing the hole. In reality, the area is a collasped mountain. In any case, today the crater is an absolutely beautiful landscape.

At this point, we still had not seen any male lions. We were told that they are hard to spot because they spend so much time sleeping and just laying down. However, we finally got to see some male lions on this day! The first one was just walking in the field, and eventually it started walking on the road, so we were able to get very close. Shortly after, we saw another male lion laying down right on the side of the road. It was EXTREMELY close to us! The female was also lying next to him, but she was mostly hidden by the tall grass. It was very cool to see the lions so close up, and everyone was taking lots of pictures.

The day continued pretty normally, seeing all the usual animals that we had seen in the Serengeti: zebras, wildebeest, buffalo, elephants, antelope. At lunchtime, we went to a campsite to eat. This area had several little monkeys, and we were told to be careful for them not to steal our food. Almost as soon as we got there, a monkey jumped through the sunroof into the car, opened our cardboard lunch boxes, and stole a piece of cake! Our tour guide told us that if we sat on the ground and ate, the monkeys would be too scared to try to steal food. Sumeet and I decided to play it safe and eat in the car, while Megan and our guide Eli sat down on the ground. While they were eating together, the monkeys left them alone. As soon as Eli was finished and stood up and walked away, however, a monkey jumped around Megan, trying to steal her food. She freaked out and screamed, and then our driver came over to help her. When he did, another monkey came down from the tree and stole his sandwich! It was quite humorous.

After lunch, we were headed back to Arusha. All and all, the safari trip was so much fun and I’m so happy that we got to see all the cool animals, and close up too!

Monday, April 28

This week we had to go back to teach, just as we had the first week. The village was quite small and quite religious – church twice a day, everyday. We were staying in the nicest house in the neighborhood: electricity (turned off turning the day, though), four rooms (including the living room), and walls (many other homes divide the rooms merely with a hanging cloth). The pit latrine and bathing room were both outdoors. The family we were staying with was a teacher, his wife, and two sons. The whole family was very kind to us, and spoke pretty good English.

Class was given in a church. Unlike the first time we came to the village, this church was fairly large and comfortable. The class consisted of about 25 people, aging from 16 to 46. Most students, however, were in their mid to upper 20s. For the first time, we also had several male students, and we were excited that we would be getting opinions from a different point of view. The first day went smoothly, with no particularly interesting or shocking questions/comments from the class.

A couple hours after class, Sumeet and I decided to attend church. It was very lively, with a lot of singing and drum playing. People danced to the music, and some got really into it! The kids would sometimes stand in the front of the church and dance with the main singing lady (who happened to be the wife of the pastor). At one point in the mass, the pastor started introducing us to the group. When he asked if we wanted to say anything, Sumeet (always one to jump at the chance to talk to the people!) nodded and walked to the front of the church. With no other choice, I followed after him. To my shock, he spoke for several minutes: introducing himself, thanking the people for inviting us in like family, saying how much he liked the village and the church, and even giving a mini-sermon! I quickly introduced myself and thanked everyone for being so welcoming, and we sat back down.

Tuesday, 4/29

One of the “life skills” we teach in our classes is effective communication. Because women in Tanzanian society tend to be very submissive, they may not feel they can say no to sex or discuss sex issues like wearing a condom with their partners. For this reason, it is important to teach how to communicate your feelings. We had finished giving our lecture on passive/aggressive/assertive communication, when an older, quiet man asked a question (in Swahili, of course). When the class started laughing during his question, I knew we were in for a good one. Rita translated: “What do I do when I want to have sex but my wife says no, and I’m trying to be assertive but she just keeps saying no and I just really want to have sex with her.” I was amazed that someone would ask such a question in front of an entire classroom, and amused by the question itself. We answered that romance goes a long, doing nice things for her, flirting and cuddling, foreplay, etc. Sumeet also added that sometimes a partner is just not in the mood and you have to respect their decision and hope for better luck next time.

Another question we got was where and when and how HIV began. This question is an understandable curiosity, but it obviously has no real answer.

When we discussed condoms, the class said that they had heard the condoms take away all pleasure (not an uncommon myth). One man also added that many people don’t use condoms because they don’t know how. Thankfully, we always do a condom demonstration, so that problem was fixed (not to mention the fact that condoms come with instructions).

After class was over, Sumeet, Michelle, Rita, and I decided to take a dala-dala back into town and go to a restaurant/bar for lunch. Stiggy’s is probably the nicest restaurant in Arusha-town, and it serves mzungo food to mzungo clients. To our delight, it also has a pool table, which is free! We had a great time eating pizza and playing pool all afternoon.

When we were riding the dala-dala back into the village, there was a man who was saying something in Swahili out loud, to no one in particular. When we noticed that people were looking at us and laughing, we knew that he was saying something about it. Once we got off at our stop, the man working the dala wanted us to pay 500 shillings each. Dalas are typically 250-400 shillings per person, so we weren’t having this unheard of price. Rita was arguing with the dala man, when the other man who had been talking about us started to get involved too. As the argument become more intense, I started to get nervous and just wanted to pay and get out of that situation. In the end, we paid a little less than 400 each, and went on our way. When we asked Rita what the first man had been saying about us, she said that he was actually talking about her, saying how here was this educated African who was speaking English and helping out tourists who don’t belong in Tanzania, suggesting that she was betraying her people by working and being friends with us. It was all pretty shocking to us, and very upsetting to her.

That night, Sumeet and I had a long chat with the teacher who we were staying with, talking about the Iraq war, education in Tanzania vs. in the United States, the upcoming American elections, and technology. It was really cool to have such an in-depth talk with a Tanzanian and get a better understanding of their world.

Wednesday, April 30

Some interesting questions we go on this third day of class:
• If abstinence is 100% prevention and condoms are 97%, why don’t we just teach abstinence?
• How can I express love for my husband without sex?
• What should I do if I am HIV+?

On this final day, we also had the doctors come in and test everyone. Because I had never been tested and because I wanted to set a good example, I decided to get tested as well. It was all very quick and easy: just a prick on the finger and results (negative!) within 20 minutes.

This would be my last day of teaching. I was very sad to know that I would not be teaching anymore. It has been so fun and eye opening to teach to these people and to listen to their questions, comments, opinions, and arguments. I love listening to them participate in class and learning about the culture that way. And I love answering their questions and seeing that they really understand and have learned something. Stopping the spread of HIV in Tanzania has a lot of cultural obstacles, but I really believe that education is the first and most important step. I am so happy to know that I played a role, however small, in laying that foundation and giving the people the knowledge to protect themselves from this very preventable disease.

Thursday, May 1

Since there was no class on Thursday, I had a free day. Megan and I decided to go volunteer at one of the many orphanages in Arusha. The directions we were given, however, were terrible. We go completely lost. We circles around the area for a long time, asking people, calling people, all to no success. It did not help that neither of us knew the Swahili word for orphanage. Instead, we went around asking people if they knew where the “children without families” were. We got some weird looks, to say the least. After much difficulty, I was able to speak to someone at the orphanage who spoke decent English, and we eventually got picked up and driven to the orphanage. Although we had left for the orphanage at 9:30 AM, we did not arrive until 12:15 PM.

When we got there, we were taken into a small living room to meet some of the people working here, including the founder. He is about 70 and he runs the orphanage with the help of his wife, daughter, neighbor, and other volunteers (both African and mzungo). There are only about 15 children, aging from infant to 9. I think the average age was about 5 or 6. Some of the kids are true orphans, but others have HIV+ mothers who can’t provide for them. According to one of the staff, all the children are HIV-. I do not really believe this, but can only hope it is true. The young kids attend nursery school at the orphanage, while the older ones go away to the primary school.

The orphanage is pretty small. The living room is conjoined with the founder’s bedroom. Ten the kids sleep in two rooms, boys’ and girls’. The beds are all bunk beds, but are in good shape. Next, there is a large room for the nursery school, dining, and general playing area. Another small room for storage, and finally an outdoor toilet/bathing room. There is also some space outside to play. The orphanage has several chickens in this outdoor area, which I can only assume is to be used as food.

We met the kids, who were very excited. The boys were rambunctious and tend to wrestle with each other, while the girls are much more calm and like to sit on our laps and cuddles. With our limited Swahili, we organized simple games like duck, duck, goose; red light, green light; what time is it; and catch. We also sang and danced a lot (hooky poky, twinkle twinkle, old mcdonald, etc). and played clapping games. When I took pictures, the kids went crazy and had a tough time understanding that you need to be a little far from the camera. They would pose and then all start moving forward, trying to get in front of each other, in order to appear in the photo. Everything from my hair to my plastic bracelet (which they eventually broke) was something to play with.

A lot of them were clearly in need of affection, as they loved holding our hands, sitting on our lap, being picked up, etc. They actually fought over who would sit on my lap at times.

Overall, a very good experience. Sad, of course, but I’m glad I got to meet and play with the kids and hopefully cheer them up for two days (we returned the following day).

After leaving the orphanage, Megan and I went to the craft market for a little bit (she wanted post cards), and then we went to dinner at a pizza place, where we met up with Michelle, Sumeet, Jeneya, another volunteer Tara, and Jeneya’s friend (and our safari guide) Eli.

Friday, May 2

Friday morning it was raining, so I did not leave the house until about 11:30. When I finally left, I went first to the GSC office to do my exit interview with Jeneya. This was quick and easy, just a few general questions about my impressions, complaints, suggestions, etc. After this, Megan and I headed for the orphanage. I donated a couple things I had laying around, like a small shirt, picture book, and notebook.

We stayed until about 6 PM. We had planned with Sumeet and Michelle to meet at Stiggy’s, the restaurant/bar with the pool table. On our way, a street vendor started talking and walking with us (this is very common, they make small talk as a way of practicing their English and then try to sell you something). During our chat, I told him I was teaching HIV, and he started asking me questions about HIV: how do I protect myself, can I get it by sharing utensils, can I get it from an HIV+ friend, can I get it when removing a condom after sex, what fluids carry HIV. Although it was a little awkward talking about it while walking down the street, I happily gave him an impromptu HIV lesson.

We arrived at Stiggy’s, and hung out there for about 3 hours; eating, drinking, playing pool, socializing with our mzungos. Stiggy’s is pretty much all while people, so we took that opportunity to meet and chat with new people. Once we got sick of Stiggy’s, we headed for a near by nightclub called Masai Camp. The club was a lot of fun; I loved dancing and meeting people. There were two tribesmen in full gear of jewelry, robes, and walking stick that we met, and it was funny to be 4 mzungos dancing with two tribesmen. By the time we left, it was 3 AM, and the four of us spent the night in a hostel.

Saturday, 5/3

My last day in Tanzania! Rita had invited Sumeet, Michelle, Megan, and I over to her house for lunch. Her house was a good 25 minute walk, but the food was good and it was cool to see where she lived. The house itself was pretty nice by Tanzania standards; maybe a little worse than the house I had been living in. The surroundings, however, was pretty run down.

After lunch, the five of us headed to Snake Park. Snake Park is a small zoo with snakes, turtles, alligators, birds, and lizards. The snakes themselves were not that exciting, but the alligators and birds were pretty neat. We also all got to hold a baby alligator and a small snake.

Directly across from Snake Park is the very small Masai museum. This museum has statues dressed up as the Masai tribe, doing different activities: slaughtering animals, circumcision, building a home, etc. It was not too exciting, but interesting enough. Once you exit the museum, you end up outdoors, with a bunch of little huts that serve as stores selling Masai jewelry, carvings, paintings, etc. I was looking around these stores when one of the sales girls said that you could pay $4 to dress up as a Masai and take photos. I liked the idea, so Michelle and I went for it. The pictures turned up very well!

We eventually left the Masai Museum/Snake Park around 5 PM. Once we were back in town, I had to say bye to Rita, which was sad.

Sunday, 5/4

When I was sleeping Sunday night, I started to hear a woman yelling, coming from somewhere outside. This was at about 3 AM. Soon afterwards, I heard lots of other people start to yell as well. This was of course, all in Swahili so I had no idea what was going on. I noticed my hallway was turned on, so my family had woken up and were walking around. I considered getting up and going to see what was going on, but decided I was too lazy. After about 20 minutes of continuous yelling from all over, the noise stopped and I went back to sleep.

When I woke up the next morning, I asked my Uncle Edward what had happened. Thieves!!! Apparently our next-door neighbor had gone outside in the middle of the night to get water from the well. He was hunched over, pouring the water into a bucket, when a man held a sword up against his neck and told him to walk back into his house without saying a word. There were two thieves, both with covered faces. The one with the sword walked the man back into his bedroom, where his wife had been sleeping, told him to get into bed, throw the covers over his head, and stay quiet. Then the thieves walked out to the living room. When they left, the husband got up and locked the bedroom door from the inside. At this point, they both started yelling to their neighbors, “Help! There are thieves here, come help us!” It is tradition in Tanzania to yell out like this (police are useless, and the thieves had stolen the cell phones). However, in total darkness and when houses have no street number, the neighbors take some time to figure out which house is being robbed. So, they yell back “Where are you? Which house?” That is what all the yelling was. Eventually, the house was found and the neighbors ran off the thieves. If thieves are caught, the mob will beat them up and often burn them to death. In the end, the thieves took a DVD player, about US$60, and some cell phones. It was all very shocking (especially since it was the house right next door), and I’m really glad it happened on my last night, so that I wouldn’t be scared going to bed every night.

I spent the afternoon in town with Sumeet and Megan, going to the main market in order to find a gift for my family. It is recommended that we give something practical, that the family can use to make their lives easier. In the end, I decided to buy a hot plate. For those who don’t know, a hot plate is just a small electric stove. While my family did have a stove, it did not work well and took a long time to heat up. Instead, they typically used a little barbeque that sat on the ground outdoors to cook meals. After purchasing the gift, we met up with Michelle and went to lunch. My last Tanzanian meal was rice, fried fish, and fried egg. After lunch, it was time to say goodbye to Megan, Sumeet, and Michelle and head back home to bathe, finish packing, say bye to everyone, get a taxi, and head out.

I needed to take a taxi to a nearby hotel, where I would get a shuttle to the airport about an hour away. Even though the hotel was only a five-minute drive from my house, my whole family (excluding Mama, who stayed at home to entertain neighbors) came in the taxi with me. I was particularly sad to say bye to my little “brother” Kevin, who had been so cool to me and provided me with lots of good times. I said gave hugs and said bye to everyone, got on the shuttle, and was off to the airport. It was the end of my Tanzania experience!

My time spent in Tanzania was absolutely amazing. Before I came, I was nervous about so many things: safety, disease, disorganization, my home-stay family, food, being a good teacher, having too much free time and being bored. However, I can sincerely say that this trip was everything and much, much more than I ever imagined. Everything went so well, I never stopped enjoying myself, and I was always learning something new about the country, the people, and the culture. Global Service Corps did a great job preparing us for teaching, and everything ran much more smoothly than I ever expected. Teaching was extremely rewarding, and was definitely the highlight of my trip. It is an amazing natural high to know that you are educating somebody. The safaris were beautiful and so much fun. Going out, dancing in Tanzanian nightclubs, always meeting new people, having conversations with the locals, it was all so eye opening and allowed me to see a totally new lifestyle and point of view. Staying with my home stay family was a breeze; I never clashed with them or had any problems. Everyone was so nice to me; they were always wanting to learn more about me, and always wanting to keep me happy in their home. The other volunteers, Rita, and Jeneya were all a blast, we had so many good times, and I hope to see them again someday. I was sad to leave Tanzania, I would have been happy to stay longer, but I could not be happier that I decided to go through with my dream to go to Africa and do this trip. It was truly remarkable!

Thanks to everyone for reading. For those of you without facebook, you can see my pictures at

http://www1.snapfish.com/share/p=46371210224143903/l=373882522/g=1251113/otsc=SYE/otsi=SALB

The email address is: Afeilhaber@aol.com
The password is: Africa

Part Three

I'm back to give you updates...

Saturday, 4/19

Safari day! Our fees with GSC include a one day safari to Lake Manyara National Park. The fact that I had never heard of this park and that it is only about an hour away from Arusha led me to keep my standards quite low for the trip. However, I ended up LOVING it!

Even excluding the animals, the park itself is beautiful. It is in the Great Rift Valley, and about 2/3 of the park is covered by lake. Therefore, as you drive through the park, you have the huge ridge of the valley on one side (all covered in green), and the lake on the other side. The portion of the park that is land is partly forest area and partly open fields. Adding to the beauty of the park was the fact that it was such a glorious day. Sun shining, not too hot, very few clouds, and no rain. As for the animals, we saw: giraffes, zebras, monkeys, hippos, flamencos, antelope, wild hogs, buffalo, ostriches, and elephants. We also saw a lion, but it was really, really far away and could only be seen with binoculars.

A couple cool things:

1. A lot of them are in mating season, so almost all the animals had little babies in their herd (3 weeks, according to our guide)
2. We were able to see pretty much all the listed animals close-up, only a couple meters away; which made the safari that much better.
3. We saw SO many of each animal, especially monkeys, giraffes, and hippos.
4. Even the birds in the park are cool, because they are really colorful
5. We had a picnic lunch by the lake, with a herd of giraffes strolling along about 10 meters behind us.

All and all, a really glorious day!

Sunday, 4/20

On Sunday, my mama had planned for me and her to go to a village called Moshi to visit her various relatives. I was, to say the least, not too excited about this plan for several reasons:

1. We would have to get up at 5:30 AM
2. Moshi is about 3 or 4 hours away, and we would be traveling by dala-dala (the overly-crowded vans)
3. Visiting relatives did not sound too fun to me
4. We would be sleeping there, and leaving at 5 AM the next morning so that i could be back in time for work.

For all these reasons, I decided that it was imperative for me to come up with an escape plan. When I woke up that morning, I had a bit of a stomach-ache; so basically I just exaggerated my pain and pretended to be really sick and I was free! Mama Chaula went ahead without me, and I went back to bed.

Most of the day was spent hanging out at home, but at four I took my "brother" Kevin and his little cousin Papi (who is now also living with us) to a futbol game in town. Sumeet brought his own homestay brother as well.

Despite there being a lot of people, most of the game was pretty calm. However, when a team scored in about the 70th minute, there was MAYHEM! The whole team ran around the field, took off shirts, screaming, dancing, the bench ran onto the field as well. The crowed yelled, cheered, ran around, played drums. It was pretty cool. When the game ended 1-0, the same celebrations happened again, and many of the fans ran onto the field.

When we arrived home, there was a black-out. The kids got bored quickly (we were all just sitting in the living room, doing nothing), so I decided to liven it up by moving my flashlight around quickly, dancing like crazy, and yelling "disco!". The kids loved it, and we were all dancing around in the living room. I think my uncle Edward thought I was ridiculous, but anything to entertain the kids, I suppose.

Later, the power came back on and then it stared pouring rain. Kevin and Aunt Kayrn took buckets outside to collect the rainwater. I noticed them carrying in bucket after bucket of rain water and putting it away in the kitchen. When I later asked Mama Chaula why they did this, she said told me that it is the water they use to clean clothes and dishes.

A couple random remarks that don't belong in any particular day:

1. One of my neighbors has an extremely loud cow that starts moo-ing around 5 Am. It is quite an unpleasant alarm clock and I have yet to get used to it.
2. Papi and Kevin will find absolutely anything to play with. Kevin found a piece of plastic that looks vaguely like a video game remote control. When futbol games come on the tv, he holds this and pretends he is playing a futbol video game (pressing down on imaginary buttons and everything). Kevin also used 4 bottle caps, tapes, two tooth picks, and a piece of cardboard to somehow make a little toy car. I continue to be impressed by their creativity.
3. Movies are sold here not individually, but in a collection. A single CD will have anywhere from 5 to 48 movies on it. And there are sold for $4-10 each. These movies are clearly pirated, but the quality is actually pretty good.
4. Megan, one of the volunteers who arrived at the same time as me, told me an amazing story about her first day with her host family. The family had prepared a special sausage dinner for her arrival. Unfortunately, Megan does not eat meat. When her "dad" asked her what she ate for protein, she said that sometimes she eats chicken. At this point, the whole family and Megan got into the car and started driving to the market. They bought a live chicken, put it in the front seat of the car (no cage), drove back home, slaughtered and prepared the chicken, and had it for dinner that night.

Monday, 4/21

Monday we stared giving classes to a new group. Whereas last week it was just me, Sumeet, and Rita this week we had many more people. GSC is currently training new translators, so two of them came with us. Also, Michelle, who had been volunteering in a different village, has now joined the HIV program, so she was with us. One last guy had interviewed for a translating position, but had not been hired. He, however, showed up on Monday and asked if he could sit in the class and volunteer. We found this to be weird, but had no objections. So there were 7 of us in total.

The class was given to students in a vocational school. Specifically, our classroom is usually used as a sewing class, so the "desks" were actually sewing machines. The group was all girls, aging from 15-18, 8 girls total (in the following days, this number would grow to 12).

The class ran pretty smoothly, despite the fact that the new translators are not nearly as good as Rita.

Once we finished lecturing, we opened the floor for any questions. After some pretty standard questions, one girl asked what masturbation was. Sumeet, who had been answering all the questions, struggled for a moment to decide (1) how to describe this in words, and (2) how far to go in detail on the subject. He explained pretty well, however; and when the girl translated, she actually added in the hand gestures (had to stop myself from laughing at this point). All of a sudden, the random "volunteer" guy, stood up and started addressing the class in Swahili. When i asked the translator what he had said, I found out that he had told the girls that masturbation is discouraged because (1) it is bad for your muscles and makes them weak, (2) it makes it harder to get turned on during regular sex, and (3) it hurts you psychologically and makes you not want to get married.

I pretty much became furious at this point and had one of the translators say repeatedly that none of this was true, that masturbation does not hurt you, that it is normal, and that it is a personal choice. Random guy sat down quietly.

Tuesday, 4/22

Happy Earth day! Tuesday morning I went to the craft market in town. The craft market is basically a bunch of tiny stores that sell wooden carvings, masks, drums, paintings, sculptures, and other souvenir-like things. Despite the constant hassling of the shop keepers for me to buy from them, I enjoyed the craft market a lot.

After the craft market, I met everyone at the school to give the second day of class. For me, the most interesting part of teaching is the questions, comments, and rumors we get from the students. Here are some of them:

1. Why do people perform oral sex?
2. Why are girls at higher risk to contract HIV?
3. Why does Africa has such a high rate of HIV compared to the rest of the world (not exactly the easiest question to answer).
4. Rumor that condoms stop all pleasure during sex
5. Comments that only men say I love you first
6. Comments that saying I love you is equivalent with having sex with that person
7. Comments that only men initiate sex in a relationship

After class, me and Sumeet went to town for a bit, and then I went back home.

Wednesday, 4/23

Today was a pretty slow day. I spent the morning at home, playing cards and watching A Series of Unfortunate Events with the kids. At 1 PM, I went to the GSC office to meet up with everyone, and then we headed to the school to start class at 2:30.

We took the dala-dala to get to the school. For the four of us (Rita, Michelle, Sumeet, and I), the ride costs $1000. GSC had given Rita money to pay for the ride in a $5000 note. Once we got off the dala and started walking into the school, Rita realized that she had forgotten to get her change. I went back with her to try to find the dala-dala.

To put things in perspective, trying to find a specific dala-dala in Arusha is kind of like trying to find a specific taxi cab in New York City. Additionally, the $4000 that she had forgotten to get back is equivalent to about $3.40. However, 4000 shillings is also half of her weekly paycheck; so you can see where her concern came from. If the lost money comes out of her paycheck (as I imagine it will), it will be a lot to lose. Of course, we never found the dala or got the money back, and Rita (who is usually very cheerful and light hearted) was visibly upset.

After class, I had lunch and am now in the internet cafe. That's all!

'

Part Two

Hey guys,
It hasn't quite been a week since my last entry, but I found internet so decided to go ahead and give you some updates today.

Sunday, 4/13

Sunday was a slow day. This is probably a good thing because the first week had practically been non-stop. Everything starts to close around 2 PM on Sundays, so the town was much more quiet than usual. Basically all I did on Sunday was go to town to use the internet and then played soccer a bit with Kevin and his friends. Kevin doesn't have a full size soccer ball, so we played with one of those little balls about the size of a coconut. This is probably a good thing though, because the area we played in was only about 4 x 5 meters, in the backyard. Nighttime was spent watching tv, reading, talking to the family, and eating dinner.

Monday, 4/14

Monday was "planning day." Sumeet and I would start giving HIV lessons the following day, so we had to plan our lessons and figure out what we wanted to say, how we would split up the lessons between ourselves, what activities we wanted to do, and what posters we would use. This basically took us all day, and we didn't leave the office until about 4 PM. After that, we went to a different part of town that we hadn't really check out yet. Summet wanted to get his shoe fixed- so he found some guy on the side of the street to glue his soles back on for 600 shillings (less than 60 cents). We headed back home shortly after this.

Once I arrived home, I started to pack. We would be giving lessons in a village called Moshono, and we would actually be staying in the village from Tuesday to Thursday. We were told there were going to be about 30 people, from ages 20 and up. We were also told however, that this type of information is pretty much always wrong. After packing, I had dinner, bathed, watched movies, and read until bed time.

Tuesday, 4/15

First day of teaching! So today we had to arrive at the office at 8 AM. We packed supplies, tape, posters (not made by me, Helen!!), soda and bread for the students, and then Sumeet, Rita, Frida, and I were off. Frida is the in-country coordinator for GSC, which just means she is in charge. She goes with us just to check out the place and make sure it is okay, but doesn't stay. Rita, who would act as our translator during lessons, stays with us though. Even though class was planned to begin at 9 AM, we did not even arrive in the village until about 9:30. Moshono is pretty much in the middle of a corn field. It is made up solely of dirt roads, has no running water, chickens and goats roam freely, there are only a couple of small supermakets, and the rest is homes or farm land.

Lessons are given in a very tiny church with just 3 pews and a chalkboard. We set up and wait for our students to arrive, and finally begin class around 11 AM.

The class consists of all women, 14 in total. Two of the women bring their young kids with them, and I have to make sure not to stare when one of them starts breast feeding in the middle of class.

The class itself goes very well. I think Sumeet and I both did a good job at explaining the important things, and doing it in a fairly simple manner. Rita is also good at translating clearly, letting us know what the students are saying, and keeping up a good pace to the class. Our students seem to age from 20-40, and I am happy to see them participating openly with discussions and activities. For the most part, they are more knowledgable then I expected, but I am shocked when they all agree that condoms are ineffective because they have tiny holes that allow HIB to pass through. We discuss modes of transmission, facts and myths, progression of HIV into AIDS, and the basics of the immune system. Then we give out lunch (peanut butter sandwich with soda), and the class is dismissed for the day. The whole class takes about 2.5 hours.

After giving class, there is pretty much nothing to do. Sumeet, Rita, and I just hang out in the room until lunchtime, eat lunch (rice, cabbage, meat), and then decide to go explore what little there is to be explored. Walking down the road, we see lots of people strolling along, seeminly with nothing to do. Some people walk with their cows, sheep, or goats. We walked up to the primary school, and all the kids are just getting out of class for the day. They all stare and laugh at us because we are white. When we turn to head back home, the kids started following us, and soon there were about 20 kids following us down the road, whispering and laughing to themselves!

After dinner, we decide to go on a second, much shorter walk in the opposite direction. On this second walk, we watched as a mom yelled at her 6 year old (estimating) son, hit him quite hard with a branch, and the boy ran off screaming. Rita translated the situation for us: the boy had been sent to the store at 3, and was only returning now (past 6). Seeing themom start to smack the kid in the middle of the street was totally unexpected, but frankly I found it to be pretty hilarious.

Wednesday, 4/16

Our second day of class went pretty quickly- less than 2 hours. We covered prevention methods, did a condom demonstration (which induced laughter), and discussed effective communication.

Discussing communication is important because many women in these villages do not know how, or don't feel they can, have discussions with a man about sex and being safe. There was a lot less resistance and discussion about this topic than I expected, and I just hope that they can take something from it and try to apply it to their lives in someway.

After class, there was again nothing to do. Eventually, we went on another walk and strolled through a lot of farm land. Once you get out of the residentual area of the village, it is all open field. During a two hour walk, the only buildings we passed by was an orphanage and a hospital. It was pretty cool, since it is pretty much impossible to find such open land in California or most of the US.

Later in the day, we were sitting in the yard, just relaxing, when two men came in with a goat. One of the men tied the goat to a tree in the yard, and then went into the house. We asked one of the girls that lives there what was going on, and she told us that the goat was a gift for the owner of the house. The goat would be eaten the following day.

Thursday, 4/17

Our last day of class covered HIV treatment, gender roles, and stigma/discrimination against HIV+ people. After this, we had Mama Betty (she was the HIV+ speaker who talked to us during the first week about symptoms and treatment for HIV) give an extremely long speech to the students. Everyone was also tested and given their results 15 minutes later. Of course, I do not know the results of the HIV tests since they are confidential. After this, we ate lunch, packed up, and headed back to town.

All of the volunteers had decided that we would go to Via Via that night, a restuarant/bar that plays live music on thursdays. We would have to stay in a hostel, because we would be leaving late and all our host families lock the doors around 10 PM. There were 7 of us in total: Sumeet, Megan, Michelle, Tai (all volunteers with GSC), Genea, Genea's friend Eli, and me. Via Via was a lot of fun. There were lots of other mzungos (white people) around, and we got to listen to music and dance.

Friday, 4/18

Today, I just relaxed and am now using the internet to post this blog. I wanted to have a mellow day, because tomorrow we are going on a one-day safari, and on Sunday I am going to a town called Moshi to visit Mama Chaula's parents. Both should be full days.

That's all for this time! I miss everyone!

Week One

Jambo! Hello all! So I have been in Tanzania for one week now, and I have lottttts to tell. This entry will probably be ridiculously long, so feel free to skim. Here we go...

Sunday, 4/6

I landed in TZ on sunday. Once the plane landed, I realized that one of the other volunteers had been sitting right in front of me the whole time. We introduced and walked into the airport together. Her name is Megan and she lives in Chicago and she is my age. The airport is very small, just three rooms: (1) entering room/visa application, (2) baggage pickup, (3) meeting point/exit. The application for a visa was just a small card with basic info (name, age, nationality, etc) and a $50 fee. We got our bags and met the Global Service Corps (GSC) representative right afterwards. We also met out driver, and we were off to Arusha.

First thoughts/impressions:

1. the streets are very dark, there are hardly any street lights
2. you drive on the right side of the road
3. even though it is 10 PM and the beginning of fall, it is very warm outside
4. you can see so many stars!! I don't think I have ever seen so many, and its pretty amazing.
5. the radio plays american music and the station playing is called KISS! It has hardly any commericials and I quite prefer it to the KISS FM I know back home.
6. Speedbumps occur in random places, they seem to serve no purpose
7. There are NO traffic lights whatsoever. Despite this, the traffic is quite organized (even now, after being here a week, I can say that there are no traffic lights anywhere and that the traffic somehow manages itself).
8. Everything is only one story high. The only exception to this are some hotels, which often seem out of place.

We arrive at the hostel. It is pretty basic. It has several small buildings all close together. The main building has a dining room, lounge, kitchen, and bathrooms. The other buildings are the rooms where we will stay. Me and Megan are sharing a triple room. It is pretty large, with its own bathroom (most of the rooms don't have a private bathroom). The toilet is normal, but the shower is just a shower head (no bathtub, no curtain, no door). We also meet Sumeet, the last volunteer. He is an Indian-American (not to be confused with an American Indian!) and is 24. He lives in Atlanta and will be applying for medical school once he goes back.

Monday, 4/7

The day starts at 7:20 AM. Wake up, get ready, eat breakfast (eggs and toast). At 830 AM, a GSC worker comes to pick us up. Her name is Rita and she is around 17/18 (just finished high school) and is a bit shy. Rita is one of the "counterparts" which just means she will be helping us and translating for us when we give our HIV lessons. The GSC office is about 20 minutes away, and I get to see the town for the first time in the daytime. It is more or less what you would expect. The roads are paved, but the sidewalks are not. There are lots of people walking and riding bikes. There is a lot of green: trees, grass, bushes. A lot of people say hello to us as we walk down the street. Despite the fact that there are virtually no trashcans in Arusha-town, the streets are surprisingly clean.

The GSC office is pretty nice. White paint and tan wood, it gives a very clean appearance. We meet Genea, who will basically be in charge of us on a day-to-day basis. She is a mizungo (white person), from Montana, young, very outgoing, lighthearted, funny, and pretty outspoken. I like her.

The first thing on the list today is Swahili class. We will have two hours of class for the first three days here. After this, the itenerary is as follows:

1. swahili class
2. introductions of staff
3. rules/expectations/questions
4. walking tour of arusha
5. lunch in town
6. health/safety
7. get weekly allowance, 15,000 shillings (about $15 dollars)

I will only talk about the more interesting parts: the tour and the lunch.

The town is a little far from the office; walkable, but takes about 25 minutes. We take a dala-dala to get to town instead. A dala-dala is basically a large minivan which is made to fit about 14 people. But in reality, there is no limit to how many people can fit into a dala-dala. During rush hour, you can see about 25 people in there. It is madness. Once in town, we walk around and see the restaurants, landmarks, post offce, banks, internet cafees, futbol stadium, and market. It is me, Sumeet, Megan, Genea, and Rita. Despite the fact that it is a holiday (first president's birthday), the town is quite busy. Not surprisingly, everyone tries to sell us something.

We stop for lunch. All the restaurants serve pretty much the same thing: fish, chicken, meat, rice, beans, french fries, vegetables, bananas. You can mix and match these as you see fit. The fish, chicken, and meat are all fried. There is no such thing as grilled fish or chicken here. I get fish and rice. The fish comes in its entirerity: head and tail (eyes removed) and you have to spit out the bones as you go. It is actually quite good, and I am pleasantly surprised to find that my expectations of TZ food was too low. The rest of the day is pretty bland, and we head back to the hostel around 6 PM. After dinner, I go to take a shower. You are supposed to press a button which turns on the hot water, but this button is useless and I end up taking a VERY cold shower. Not fun at all. Shortly thereafter, there is a blackout. (Blackouts are very common here, they happen almost everyday. Luckily, they usually only last a couple of minutes.)

Tuesday, 4/8

Schedule for tuesday:

1. swahili class
2. "living positively with HIV" lecture
3. lunch
4. overview of healthcare system in TZ
5. history of TZ
6. dinner

Tuesday is actually a pretty boring day. The living positively with HIV lecture had the potential to be really interesting, but it is instead almost completly useless. The HIV+ speaker (Mama Betty) runs through a LONG list of symptoms and then gives an even longer list of natural medicines which can help these symptoms (garlic, onions, carrots, nuts, fruits, etc etc). The healthcare and history lessons are similarly boring. For dinner, Summet, Megan, Genea, and I go to a italian restaurant (there are a handful of mizungo resturants here) to eat pizza. It is very, very good. We take a taxi back to the hostel and are asleep shortly thereafter.

Wednesday, 4/9

Wednesday was a big day because we moved into our home stay families. Also, we did a home visit (details coming next).

After our last swahili class, Megan, Sumeet, Rita, and I went to the WIA office. WIA (women in action) is another non-profit organization which focuses on helping women with HIV and other chronic dieseases. GSC works wtih them sometimes, and so we went. MIS visits very sick patients at home and provides basic services: change sheets, clean wounds, feed if necessary, provide counseling/company. We went on one of these such visits.

The home we went to was in a full-on slum. It is hard to capture what the place looks like without a photograph, but I will do my best. The "neighborhood" is behind a clay wall. On the other side of the wall there are some low-quality shops (fixing shoes, selling beads, selling fruits, whatever). Inside the wall, the floor is dirt and muddy. There are very small kids running around everywhere, in rags and usually barefoot. The kids are very excited to see white people, and they come up to us and shake our hands and say hi over and over. I notice that the adults, oddly all women, do not look so thrilled. The "houses" are just one room, with a very low ceiling, no lights, no bathroom, no kitchen. Basically it is a bed, a couple plastic chairs, a small table, and a bunch of random crap everywhere else (laundry, clothing, soap, towels/rags, food). The door is just a piece of hanging fabric. You can hearall the neighboorhood noises (screaming, babies, dogs). The room is quite dark (no windows) despite the fact that it is sunny outside. The room is about 1.5 X 2.5 meters.

The person we are visiting is named Joyce. She has AIDS. She went to the hospital yesterday for high blood pressure but they coule not do anything for her, and sent her back home. She tells us she feels very sick today( with Rita translating). We learn she lives in this house with her 13-year-old daugher and now her sister who is helping out. You can tell she has little strength to talk and sit up, so we don't stay long. It was very intense.

Skipping ahead (the rest of the day is negligable), we went back to our hostel around 5 PM to get our bags and move in to our host family homes. I was very nervous! We met and had tea at the hostel before departing. As could probably be expected, at first it was a bit awkward; but it got better quickly.

My mama is Mama Chaula. She is pretty old, probably around 70. She is short, very dark, missing her two bottom front teeth, speaks english but with a very strong accent and very quietly, smiles and laughs a lot, and seemed geniualy excited to meet me and have me stay in her home.

Also with her is 13 year old grandson Kevin, and her son/Kevin''s uncle Edward with daughter-in-law Karyn. Kevin knows all sorts of western things (MTV, Lion King, Superman, gameboy) and asks if I want him to call me dude. His english is very good and he is very obdient of his grandma, as far as I can see He has already asked me to buyh im a gameboy, toy race car, and soccer ball. Him and I have good conversations because he talks plenty, is funny, knows about everything, and I can understand everything he says.

Edward talks A LOT and sometimes I get quite tired. His english is also good. Karyn is pretty quiet and doesn't talk to me much except for hello, goodbye, good morning, etc.

Mama Chaula has 7 kids (5 boys, 2 girls). The husband and at least one son has died (didn't quite understand). I am taken aback when she tells me this, since I just met her an hour ago. Excluding Edward, all her kids live in Dar es Salaam. I have no idea why Kevin lives with her and not his own mother.

A couple tidbits about the house:

1. To get to the house, you walk down one of the four main roads and then turn into a little dirt road. A car can only go so far on this road because 1) it becomes too narrow and 2) it is blocked by banana trees. Luckily this little dirt road only takes about a minute to walk through (important if it is nighttime!).
2. The walk through this dirt, surrounded by trees, gives the impression that that house will be very run-down. However, the house is quite nice. On the outside, it looks like a little cottage. Inside, the house is simple but neat and well-kept. 90% of the decorations are religious. The rooms are surprisingly large, but have no closets. My room is about the size of the guest room back at home.
3. The most exceptional thing about the house is the bathroom. It is split up into two side-by-side little rooms: toilet and "shower." The toilet is down on the floor, like in Japan. The shower, however, is nonexistent. There is merely a drain. To bathe, you heat up water (in a rice cooker, no less), put it in a bucket, and pur the water over yourself with a large cup. It is not too much fun.
4. Helen, this one is for you: When I first arrived at the house, Kevin turned on the tv. To my amazement, the tv showed the Nsync HBO concert from circa 1998!! It was vey nostalgic and surreal.

Thursday, 4/10

Nothing too excited happened today. We did HIV training from 9 AM - 4 PM (excluding an hour for lunch). Basically Genea gave us the lessons that we will be teaching starting next week. The curriculam is pretty basic: what is HIV/AIDS/Immune System, methods of transmission, prevention, treatment. We also talk about "life skills" such as communcation, decision making, and self-confidence.

After this we get our cell phones (!) and Sumeet and I decided to go to town to explore some more. We got calling cards, used theitnernet, went to the supermarket, and generally just got to know the town better. By the time we were done, it was nearing 7 and starting to get dark, so we decided to get a taxi. Our taxi got lost taking me home and I had a mini-panic attack when I realized that I didn't know where we were. But we called GSC and got everything straightened out.

I got home around 7:30. Literally five minutes later, a DOWNPOUR of rain started. I guess I was pretty lucky! Had dinenr with Edward and Karyn (Kevin and Mama Chaula were still out). Then there was a kidogo (small) blackout. Me and Edward talked a lot this night and I found out that he used to be a soldier and then a DJ and is now a miner. When he was younger, he won several town competitions in disco dancing, karate, tennis, and squash. He also plays guiter and drums and supposedly can bench 100 kilos despite being pretty skinny. I told him he was a renaissance man (after explaining the meaning). Upon telling these stories to Sumeet, he said that maybe Edward was just a compulsary liar. I guess you never know. Edward also has an 8 year old daughter, but I have no idea where she is in the world.

Friday, 4/11

We finished learning our HIV lessons today, and gave practice lessons. We were done with work by noon, and didn't have much to do. Sumeet and I decided to go to town again to try to figure out something to keep us busy. We went to McMoodys (a burger joint and a internet cafe) for lunch. Afterwards, we stopped by the futbol stadium to try to figure out when the next game would be. When we got there, we realized there was a game going on, so we paid 500 shillings (about 50 cents) to go in and watch the game. The soccer itself was really poor, it was a third division game; but it was cool to see the atmospere. I was pretty much the only girl there.

Saturday, 4/12

All the volunteers were supposed to go hiking at Mt. Moshi today. In addition to Sumeet, Megan, and I there are two more girls who arrived here 2.5 months ago: Tai and Michelle. Sumet and I are both doing HIV prevention, so we live close to each other and will be working together. Megan, Michelle, and Tai are all doing Agriculture (teaching farmers how to farm better), and so they all live in a smaller town about 20 minutes away. T ai is going back to America after next week. Michelle will switch into HIV with Sumeet and I soon. Anyways, we didn't get to go hiking because it was raining much too hard. Typically it rains here from 10 PM until 10 AM, and then stops during the time. This is a good thing because if you can't go out during the day, you get bored quickly.

Since I didn't go hiking, I slept in until 10ish, when the rain stopped. Mama Chaula said that she and Kevin were going to a wedding and that I was welcome to come. I was pretty excited to see a Tanzanian wedding. We took the dala (the minivans) into the next town to go to the church. A band was hired and when the wedding started, there was a lot of music and everyone was dancing. All the street kids came out to see what was going out and they started dancing too. Everyone seemed to be having fun except the bride. I noticed that the bride didn't really smile throughout the whole affair, and I found it very weird. So the band played a lot, then there was the church ceremony, then more band playing for a while. Then everyone got into cars (Mama Chaula, Kevin, and I got rides with family friends) to go to the reception. The reception was basically just a big room with plastic chairs lined up and facing three tables. On one table was the family of the groom, on another was the family of the bride, and in the middle was the bride, groom, best man, and maid of honor. The Dj said a bunch of stuff and there were some short speeches (I, of course, did not understand any of it), and then it was dinner time. For dinner, we just go down a line and people put stuff on our plates. Dinner was rice, noodles, meat, fried bananas, watermelon, some other kind of rice, potatoes, and cake. The rice and noodles and potatoes were good. The meat was not good (very tough and fatty) , and I don't like fried banana. I couldn't eat the watermelon b/c raw fruits are a no-no unless you peel the outside (like a banana).

During the reception, the power kept going on and off. A couple of kids would stare at me and wanted me to take pictures of them. One girl in particular, Flora, kept following me around everywhere. It was a good experience though, and I'm glad I got to go!

And that was my first week in Tanzania!