Compilation

6/26

I have not posted in a few days because I have been sick and too tired to think about blogging, so I thought I'd make this post a compilation of the past few days.

DHE work has been going well. Nik and I visited the Lulu VICOBA and decided we want to work on a pilot project with them for the summer. When we arrived, the VICOBA members eagerly showed us the briquette press they had built all on their own. I was really impressed- it was larger than the one we built and more than half the cost (the beauty of mzungu prices). They also have access to coffee husks, a major component we were looking for in our pilot project location. It doesn't hurt they are the VICOBA closest to the mountains in a gorgeous and vividly green setting farthest away from the city!

I've been noticing that the feral cats hang around restaurants (very smart- it is easy for me to feed them) and the stray dogs hang around the streets (not very smart- I have no access to food to give them). One dog, who we named Frank until I told the guys the dog was really a girl and then we named Ingrid, seemed to really have an affinity for us. Not sure if it was our smell or what, but Ingrid Frank followed us around all day. We would walk for a good 20 minutes and Ingrid Frank would follow us the whole way. We would go into a restaurant and come out an hour or so later, and Ingrid Frank would be sitting down waiting for us. We didn't shake her until the next day, when we walked out of our hotel and she wasn't there. I must admit it, I miss Ingrid Frank.

One day, we locked ourselves out of our room (not uncommon for our group) and I went downstairs for a spare key. As I was waiting, a young mzungu woman walked in with a local chatting away in fluent Swahili with him. She grabbed her key and noticed me waiting, so she asked if she could give me any help, correctly assuming I was not fluent in Swahili. After explaining my situation to her, she offered to wait with me until the hotel staff found a spare key to unlock my door. I soon learned that Lauren was from Wellesley, grew up in Michigan, and had been spending the past 2 years in Tanzania as a Peace Corp volunteer. She is actually leaving her village in 2 weeks for the end of her service work. She has been working on environmental and other aspects of improvement in the village (about five hours away from Arusha) and has completed tasks like building a library and water tanks for the community. We chatted and I told her of my interest in joining the Peace Corp after (fingers crossed) getting my degree at Dartmouth. She invited me to have a beer with her at the hotel bar and ask her any questions I had about the Peace Corp. Of course, I accepted.

It was really great talking to Lauren about her experiences before and during her stay in Tanzania. Her friend joined us as we talked, and I soon learned he was a teacher in the village where Lauren volunteered. When I found out he was married, I asked about the Tanzanian “dating culture”, sine PDA is frowned upon here and I don't even see many men and women together when I am walking around. It turns out Tanzania has no dating culture, and the traditional courtship includes a bride price instead of a dowry. A bride price is where the man's family has to pay before the man can marry a woman, thus many families prefer daughters and consider themselves wealthy if they have many. With Lauren's friend, he was best friends with his wife through their schooling, eventually became secretly romantic for a short time and then married soon after. There is no word for “boyfriend” in Swahili, only "friends with benefits” and “engaged/married”. Now in cities, though, dating is getting a bigger hold in the culture, because of American television. Yes, High School Musical is as realistic as it gets!

The Ultimate Day

6/21
Today was our first visit to a VICOBA, King'ore, about a 30 minute dala dala ride from EARD-CI's office. Once we arrived, Nick and I introduced ourselves and began asking our questions, which were translated by a staff member from EARD-CI. The VICOBA meeting consisted of around 15 women (Suli told me that apparently men consider VICOBA work a "woman's job") under a tree in an opening within cropland. As we were speaking, I noticed that there were a few chickens and even a goat nearby, as domesticated animals are very common (we learned that each household had around 30 chickens, 7 goats, and 15 cows on average). After the meeting while we were waiting for a dala dala, Nik, Suli, and I talked about what Suli studied when he attended a university.  He worked primarily on the wildlife and human conflict, especially around national parks. Farmers and other residents have many issues with animals encroaching on their land, since fences haven't been built. Suli proposed a buffer zone with fencing, to give the animals some space and provide humans with protection from the wildlife. Our dala dala never ended up showing, so we had to hitch a ride back on a bus filled with people. We ended up standing, and I got lovely views (and smells) of many people's armpits.

The view from King'ore as we waited for the dala dala

For lunch, the entire group went to a local restaurant. It was very small, but I have come to learn that those are always the better (and cheaper) options. I got a huge plate of pilau (rice), meat, plantains, and vegetables for 1,500 TSH (around $0.80). It was delicious and definitely the best sub-dollar lunch I have ever had. It's just too bad the restaurant is about a 30 minute dala dala ride from our hotel.

Views from our drive home

Aneesh and Kevin have been working on the stove project, developing a stove that uses loose biomass, not wood. They are working with one man, Daniel, on this project. When Nik and I went to visit on our day off from EARD-CI, Daniel mentioned he played in an Ultimate Frisbee league in the area. They play every Thursday and Sunday around 4pm (after our work finishes), and when I told him I played, Daniel invited me to join them. So, of course, I took the trek over to the fields (only a 5 minute walk away from the hotel) with Kevin. 30 minutes later, we divided into teams and began playing. Lucky for me, Arusha is only 1 kilometer above sea level, so the altitude didn't phase me. Kevin is from the Bay Area in California, however, so he was really struggling halfway in. Overall, it was a great workout and I played surprisingly well. Many of the people playing were from Tanzania, but others were from Pakistan and Great Britain as well. I made some friends and will bring a sharpie sometime so I can get the players to sign my disc. Overall, a productive day!

Karibou

6/19
Today, Nick and I visited EARD-CI to begin DHE work for the summer. We were picked up by Naomi, one staff member. Backpacker's Hotel, where we are staying, is located in Arusha and the EARD-CI offices are located in Usa, a town an hour away. It was a lovely trip filled with honking cars, motorbikes, and dala dalas, the death trap public transportation system in Tanzania. Once we arrived at the offices, Nick and I were introduced to all of the staff members at EARD-CI, a very small NGO with a staff of around 8 people total. We were greeted with "karibou sana", translated to "you are very welcome here". We replied "asante", or "thank you", the most useful word I have come across thus far. After learning about the organization and planning out our briquetting work with EARD-CI, Nick and I began a compost pile outside. After an hour or so of work, some staff members came outside and walked over to a papaya tree on the grounds and began knocking down some of its fruit. Half an hour later, we were invited to have some fresh papaya. It is really unfortunate that my first time trying papaya was fresh off the tree in Tanzania because from now on, I will expect nothing less.

Our work space

On our way back, Nick and I took the dala dala home, an hour long trip that cost less than a dollar for the both of us. It was definitely worth the dollar, since these dala dalas are way past their expiration date- on our way up a hill, we stalled and started rolling back down the hill. The chances of survival are higher than the chances of dying, though, so I think we're going to stick with it. Also, a dala dala seats around 15 people, but so far we've seen up to 21 people crammed in to these tiny buses. You are guaranteed entertainment of some sort whenever you are riding the dala dala!

                        Such an enjoyable dala dala ride!                                 Mt. Meru

The trip home consists of a lot of cropland (corn) and great views of Mt. Meru. I talked to one lady at EARD-CI about this, and apparently you can hike up Mt. Meru for about $40. The cost is for a guide, not to show you up the mountain but to handle the wildlife, consisting of giraffes, elephants, buffalo and such. We will definitely do this hike before we leave! After our ride, the dala dala dropped us off at a marketplace, about a 10 minute walk from our hotel. As we were walking, I saw a man on a piki piki (motorcycle) wearing a very stylish jacket.

Piki pikis- another death trap TZ transport system

That night, our group went to a Chinese restaurant, run by a man who spoke fluent Chinese and Swahili, and a little bit of English. Kevin is fluent in Mandarin, so we were entertained by him speaking to the man in a new language. Afterwards, we went to a sports bar to watch Euro. We found that not only was the game not playing at the bar, but a horse race was on instead. Nick tried to change the channel but another man at the bar yelled at him until he changed it back. We left soon after. 

The Market

6/17
Our first full day in Arusha before we start working. To my surprise, we booked the "bed and breakfast" option, so our group was able to get complementary chapati, beans, toast, and fresh fruit (pineapple and watermelon). It was a great start to the day- chapati reminds me a lot like crepes.

As we were walking out of the restaurant (the top level of the hotel), we looked out across a nearby field and realized it was a soccer field. I brought a disc with me, so I grabbed it and we all went down to toss on the field. Once we found our way to the field, we discovered there was a soccer game going on with the local soccer league. Aneesh really wanted to play, and we eventually persuaded him to warm up with some players who arrived late. It was a very informal game, and Aneesh got to play center-midfielder the entire second half! After the game ended (Aneesh's team lost), the team invited him back to play in their league games every Thursday and Sunday evening. He was very stoked, to say the least.

Once we left the field, we trekked into town and got Tanzania shillings from an ATM next to Shoprite, a local grocery store with other amenities like gardening supplies and irons. After walking around, the guys decided to be lazy and go to the closest restaurant for lunch- an ice cream parlour with (what we thought was) American-style food. I was wary of the cheeseburgers, so I ordered a veggie burger. It ended up being 2 buns with chopped up tomato, carrots, and bell peppers- a bit iffy but at least it filled me up!

After, Aneesh and I went to the market while Nick and Kevin went back to the room to sleep. We definitely  stand out here, so of course we had many market vendors calling out "mzungu" (foreigner) and offering us "very good price" on their goods. One man even walked up to us and asked what we were looking for. Aneesh really wanted a soccer jersey, so the man led us through the market to a vendor, one of his friends. While Aneesh was looking around, the man asked if I wanted to see what he was selling. I made it clear I probably wouldn't buy anything but why not? He unrolled some handmade water paintings, inspired by the local Tanzanian culture. He said they were usually $40 US, but "for you, sista, I'll give one to you for $20". I eventually bargained it down to 2 paintings for around $6. Happy fathers day, Dad!

Although my stomach is paying for it now, dinner was fantastic. The menu at our hotel offered my two favorite fruits in one salad- avocado and mango. A plate was probably around 2 avocados and 3 mangoes. There was a weird sauce on top, but I didn't mind. The avocado was very ripe and the mango as fresh as it could get. Ah, the beauties of being in a tropical setting.

Paper Airplanes

6/16
Before we even had time to get on the bus, our group was foiled by a few city locals. After getting out of the taxi, some people came up with dollies and started putting our bags on them to take over to the bus station. I knew what was going on the whole time and kept telling them "no" but no one was really listening to me- it was pretty hectic. We ended up having to pay them $20 (I wanted to barter but we didn't have change- new travelers mistake) so they would put our bags on the bus. I remember a similar thing happening in Mexico,where kids would come up to your car, wash it and then demand money. Oh well, at least our group is learning!

I was surprised at how nice the bus was. Fairly comfy seats with windows that could open. We ended up getting served soda halfway into the trip, and thankfully got a lot of bathroom breaks. My first time in a foreign bathroom wasn't so bad! There were stalls, and once you got inside there was a hole in the ground with a hose or a bucket of water close by. I just pretended I was rednecking all over again and it ended up being fine.

The bus took us through much of Tanzania as we traveled from Dar es Salaam in the South to Arusha in the North. There were many more cornfields than I expected and much of the ground was a deep red, soil rich with clay. The thatched huts were also constructed from the clay soil, so much of the landscape had a great contrast between the green foliage and the red huts. I also saw a lot of 'controlled burns' in the distance, a common phenomenon in Africa I learned about in my Geography class this past term. We followed a mountain range (Par Mountains?) throughout our trip. Dartmouth is really getting to me- every mountain I see now I have an urge to hike up.

Irresistible- how can you not want to hike that?

At every village stop, people on the streets would run up to the bus and hold up their arms high as they tried to sell us their goods. They had water, nuts, fresh fruit, and even grilled corn! There were even fresh mangoes- I still am smacking myself for not buying one. The villages had cows, goats, and chickens roaming freely. I was surprised that I didn't see very many dogs running around. I also noticed that in a few villages, there were big red Xs painted on the doors and walls of some buildings and homes, something I am still trying to figure out why that is.

The avocados are much larger than in the US and about $0.40 each

6 hours into the bus ride, I noticed a little boy in the seats in front of us staring at me. I smiled at him and he bashfully stuck his head in his mother's skirt. 11 hours is a long time in a bus for a child, so I tore a page out of my notebook and began folding it into a fortune teller. I didn't know how to make it so he'd understand the game, so I just drew a face on it and treated it as a puppet. He started giggling as I acted like the fortune teller monster was going to eat him. I tried to show him how to open and close it like a mouth but his fingers were too small, so I made him a child size fortune teller monster. We were playing with these for a while and then he began treating the monster as if it could fly. So, of course, I drafted the engineers of the group, Nick and Aneesh, into making a paper airplane. The boy and I ended up throwing the plane back and forth, until it began hitting other people on the bus. Thank goodness they weren't mad, and a few even laughed and threw it back instead of just handing it to me. Eventually I fell asleep and then awoke to the boy shaking my arm to say goodbye, because his bus stop was coming up soon. We high fived. It was great. 

So much napping!

Taking Geography was much more useful than I expected. I am now noticing a lot more things related to third world country lifestyles, like women washing their clothes in the streams and the diseases associated with this. I also noticed a large difference in the workforce- whereas in the city a majority of the people were on the streets, selling their goods and making money any way they can, in the rural areas I saw many people, men and women, sitting down and not working much at all. These sorts of things inspire me to take another Geography class. I shouldn't be surprised, but I am still very impressed with the relevancy of many of my Dartmouth courses to the real world!

Mt. Kilimanjaro as we entered Arusha

City Slickers

6/15
I woke up to the sound of chanting in the streets. It actually was not a bad sound to wake up to! I was quite impressed with the range of the man who was singing.

The change in humidity levels between night and day was extremely noticeable. I awoke sweating, though I had taken a lovely shower (no hot water was, in fact, a godsend) the night before. I didn't get a full night's rest, but I figure if I can keep myself awake through the day I'll be able to transition to the seven-hour time zone difference.

I have to say, though, that it still surprises me how men can pass out in a new location for such long periods of tie. I read half of a book, watched part of a movie, got ready for the day and still had time to listen to music before my roommate, Nick, got out of bed. Good thing I wasn't hungry until 1pm!

We went downstairs to the hotel restaurant that boasts of its 'menu of over 250 items!' An they weren't kidding. 6 pages in, I finally had to choose something on a whim, partly because I ran out of time and also didn't know what most of the menu items actually were. I ordered 'kigali toast', a pizza pocket-like food with vegetables instead of cheese and tomato sauce. That plus water came out to around $4. City living, even in Africa, sure is expensive! In rural Tanzanian areas, you can usually get a meal for around $1-2.

The plan for the rest of the day is to hang out in Dar and find an ATM, post office, and booking office for the Dar Express, the bus we will be taking to Arusha tomorrow at 8am. I am looking forward to finding ways to entertain myself on the 11+ hour bus ride tomorrow.

The view of Dar from our room

Jambo

6/15
It's 4am. I'm sitting on my bed at the Jambo Inn in Dar, and have no intentions of sleeping.

The second flight was just as good as the first. We were provided with a movie, meal, and plentiful opportunities for napping (did I mention Turkish Airlines provides every passenger with a complementary sleeping mask, ear buds, blanket and pillow? score). When we landed and I took the first few steps out of the plane, the first thing I noticed about Tanzania was the smell. It was not a bad smell. It's very unique- sickly sweet with a faint smell of tobacco, probably due to the fact that nearly everyone here smokes. Of course, it is humid, but nothing I and my curly hair can't handle!

After over an hour spent at customs (apparently humanitarian engineering work is a red flag of some sort- we were asked many questions about our work), we were greeted with a hello and a handshake from our taxi driver. Aneesh began practicing his Swahili by greeting the driver with a hearty "Jambo!". On our drive to the Inn, I was staring out the window and realized the moon was inverted. Very cool when you realize you're in a completely different hemisphere of the Earth.

So now here I sit in the room, with no lights, no AC, and water from the sink I am hesitant to even brush my teeth with. It isn't too bad, though. I just pretend I am camping. We'll see how long I can go without showering before the guys realize what's going on.

Turkish Delight

6/14
We just landed in Istanbul for an hour layover before heading off to Dar es Salaam. That may have been the best 9 hour flight I have ever been on. Turkish Airlines, "rated #1 in Europe", had a fantastic fleet of planes. Even in economy class we had TVs on the fronts of every seat. Each touchscreen TV gave you free games, TV, movies, and even WiFi. 9 hours flew by so fast; I was able to watch two movies and take a long 6 hour nap.

Aneesh and Kevin obviously did not get enough nap time in on the plane.

And to make the flight even better, we were served dinner and breakfast! For dinner, a cooked salmon meal with some sort of cheesy rice along with a salad, bread, and even apple strudel for dessert. For breakfast, I woke up to a tomato omelet with a fruit cup, roll, and assorted cheeses. One thing I noticed with the meals was that every part of the meal had some fresh-tomato component (Dad, you would have loved it). In addition being impressed with the healthful diet of the Turkish people, I was also very overwhelmed by the flight attendants, all of whom were gorgeous Turkish women who could easily become models.

After we arrived at the airport, I was determined to take advantage of being in Turkey, somewhere I probably will not come back to for a long time (thanks Mom and Dad for introducing me to Midnight Express). I found a food court and chose a restaurant (of many) that served baklava. Since I didn't know the TL to $ conversion rate, I grabbed a plate and hoped it wouldn't break the budget. I do not think the cashier understood the conversion rate either, because a plate of three baklava pieces ended up costing $10! It was definitely worth the cost, though- the Turkish people make a fine baklava. But I guess that's expected.

T-Minus 4

6/9
Less than 4 days until we leave for Dar and I'm already completely packed! It's not as if I have better things to do with my time, since our meetings end before 3 each day and I am very efficient with my "homework". For those of you who stumbled upon this blog and have no idea what's going on, I am headed to Tanzania to dedicate 9 weeks of my summer towards (hopefully) improving the lives of local Tanzanians. I will be working along with 3 other students from Dartmouth Humanitarian Engineering to implement sustainable, clean-burning technologies that aim to reduce deforestation and Acute Respiratory Infection rates. I am concentrating on the briquetting project, which provides a cheap fuel source that can also be turned into a business. Essentially, briquetting is a neat technology that presses loose, unused biomass into a round briquette to be burned. Our project summer goal is to create a pilot project in a VICOBA (village community bank) in Arusha, Tanzania, with help from EARD-CI (Enterprise and Rural Development Community Initiative), an NGO established in the area. We will use these results to determine the feasibility of expanding our briquetting project elsewhere in Tanzania, since these VICOBAs are similar to, as the scientific community would say, controlled environments. DHE sent travelers to Arusha in the spring to scope out the area for the projects. After describing the technology, the VICOBAs became very excited to learn more about briquetting. To say the least, I'm very stoked about this project's potential.

Thanks to many hours and help from my father, our travel schedule doesn't look too terrible. 

June 13th- We take the Dartmouth Coach down to NYC and arrive by noon. Fight leaves from NYC to Istanbul, TR at 11:55pm.

June 14th- After a 3 hour layover, we leave Istanbul and arrive in Dar es Salaam at 2:45am on June 15th.

This looks bad, but it is nowhere near as horrific as some other flights. We'll be taking a taxi to a hotel once we arrive in Dar, and then getting on a bus for Arusha the next day. 16 hours of flying and 10 hours of bus rides later, we are expecting to arrive in Arusha on June 16th. What a great way to spend 3 days!

So in a nutshell, this is what I will be spending the majority of my summer doing. Of course, it is not all work. Our group plans on taking breaks and going on waterfall hikes and such to take advantage of the stunning Tanzania landscape. We also plan on taking a week-long break and heading to Zanzibar to relax on the beach and go snorkeling. I will definitely keep my camera charged to take pictures!

Right now I'm sitting in my room listening to a live band play at one of the fraternities, probably Psi U. Tomorrow's graduation and once the seniors leave, the campus will be eerily empty. It is already weird enough not having Rachel but to make things even better, I was assigned a new roommate for interim period. She works on C&R, an interim job that makes beds for families staying on campus during graduation. We don't talk much, but it could be worse! I'm just glad she doesn't snore.

I forgot to mention I have never been able to keep a journal, so we'll see if I am able to keep up with a blog all summer. Somehow I always find ways to surprise myself on stuff like this.