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